I think it’s finally time to upgrade from my Ender 3, and the market has… grown substantially. I’m a bit out of my depth.
Definitely looking at a coreXY, and definitely prefer a multi-color system (multi-material really). My budget is around $600, but that’s a bit flexible.
The Elegoo Centurion Carbon 2 looks attractive, and it’s on sale. But I’ve heard good things about multi-head systems, particularly when it comes to waste from purging. Granted, that stretches my budget a bit.
What’s the move? It seems like so many of the options (coughcoughBambu) have pretty gross anti-consumer practices. Are there any good options out there?
Update: Alright, I pulled the trigger on a Snapmaker U1. It seems like it’s going to be the Ender 3 of tool changers: the open source darling that becomes the de facto standard for the mod community.
While you wait for shipment, start printing an ikea lid mount for the u1. It’s not necessary but it’s great to keep dust out. I did the beaverworks because it was first but I don’t recommend it because there are better ones now. Beaverworks version has unnecessary extra material and needs toyou to unplug the hot extruders to install.
Yeah I saw that, though I’ll probably just wait and print on the U1 when it gets here.
I’d suggest starting now because you are going to want to have your U1 busy with multi color prints. Multi color tpu is amazing. I made a mini chess set with tpu and the pieces feel fantastic.
U1 tip: make sure all the plastic trim is snapped in inside the printer, especially behind the toolheads. It took me a month to figure out why my toolheads sometimes didn’t park. It looked fine but with more pressure I got a click and haven’t had problems since.
My throughput isn’t as high as it used to be, I’m not constantly printing, plus I’ll be too busy to do much for the next month or so. That should only be what, 10-15 hours of print time tops?