Looking to get another printer that shall be printfarm compatible. What do I mean?

  • reliable
  • easy to service
  • excellent replacement part availability
  • affordable
  • affordable replacement parts
  • AMS (switching spools once it runs out & multi-color within a flat layer [not vertical/between layers])

Normally I would just buy another A1 mini (180€ without AMS) or P1S (650€ with AMS) but with recent issues with the printer & support quality & them banking hard on proprietary with Support staff who don't know what their error messages mean make me question if those are still the best option or if some other company meanwhile took the crown.

other spec:

  • approx. 256x256mm
  • exclusively used with PETG-filament
  • enclosed (keeping dust out)
  • network connected. ideally with a web service to use it remotely
  • in stock (this sadly disqualifies the Elegoo Centauri Carbon which seems to be the goto at the moment).

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[–] 1 point 1 year ago (5 children)

I have an Anycubic S1 combo. Enclosed, AMS, networked, hackable (Rinkhals kliipper) . 700 hours on it and it's been fine. Layer 1 isn't absolutely perfect across the entire bed but as long as you aren't mass printing coasters with layer 1 designs, you won't notice. It's never been enough of an issue for me to bother tweaking the defaults.

But if this for a business, you should probably cave and get a P1S.

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  • [+] [S] 2 points 1 year ago (5 children)
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (4 children)

    This is exactly why.

    To be fair, the internet is full of complaints that the P1S has problems with layer 1 too.

    Before the current P1S sale it was $600 for a Anycubic with ams vs $1000 for a P1S with AMS. But what got me to get the Anycubic was they haven't locked users out of Orca slicer and forced cloud like Bambu. Anycubic has cloud features if you want it but you aren't forced.

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  • [+] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (4 children)
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    It's more about the general thing that they are not finished products. At least not to the extent the Bambu are.

    That's like saying a Toyota isn't a finished product compared to a BMW. The Anycubic works and isn't locked down to their cloud service. You can even install open source firmware. The S1 AMS does filament drying that the p1S doesn't do without the pro AMS.

    I agree that Anycubic should sell nozzles but 3rd party nozzles are available.

    Like I said there's a temporary sale that makes the P1S a great value. The S1 is not $50-$100 cheaper. It was $1000 vs $650. Now it's $700 vs $450.

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  • [+] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

    The Anycubic has presets for .4 and .6 in brass or hardened steel. It's only missing .2.

    I couldn't care less. Drying is done in an oven.

    You can't claim the S1 is incomplete for not having a .2 nozzle presets and then turn around and say that a built in filament dryer doesn't matter when Bambu made it a pro feature. Especially when .4 is what you get out of the box from Bambu and .2 requires modifying your printer by swapping the hot end.

    Bought the P1S combo (AMS 1) for 636

    Where? I see 800€ everywhere.

    And where I "go after" Bambu is what you didn't mention: locked down firmware and no alternative slicer.

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  • [+] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Wow! That's a fantastic price!

    A workhorse is: take my money and shut up

    It doesn't have to be one or the other! It can and does work out of the box without being a proprietary ecosystem. It's not just Anycubic. You can use a Prusa, Flashforge, Qidi, etc as a workhorse without a proprietary ecosystem.

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    [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Prusa Core One with MMU or Qidi Plus 4 and the Qidi Box. The Qidi Box is at the pre-sale point now. They have been taking things slow with their AMS unit. Either printer is affordable and in the size range you want. Both are corexy, Qidi run Klipper and Prusa runs Marlin firmware. Both brands have heated enclosures to make printing fussier filaments easier. And PETG definitely benefits from that.

    If I was starting over and wanted a larger printer, it would be a coin flip choice between those 2 printers.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    I have a k1c and have pretty much printed petg exclusively. Works fine. I know creality has an amazing clone... haven't used that.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (4 children)

    I had a K1 Max I got directly from Creality in October.

    It would print ASA okay, but PETG and PLA failed like 75% of the time.

    Switched to a Sovol SV08 with a cartographer and I can't remember having a failed print since. I print almost exclusively in PETG now.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Terrible bed adhesive. Cleaned the bed multiple times. Tried with and without glue sticks. It had over 2mm of deviation.

    Prints would always warp on the right side where the aux fan was blowing on them.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I would give vote for Prusa Core one. Not the cheapest but great support and very reliable work horse. Currently only option is MMU3 but they have announced that they are working new solution

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