I am always shocked how many people assume multi materials is needed by everyone. Many of us see it as a gimmick. Most people working with funcional prints don't bother. And if you live in a country where filament costs $25 minimum then wasted filament is a serious issue
An AMS isn't just for multi-material or multi-color printing, I only use it because it gives me up to 4 roles to choose from without having to manually load anything or because it allows 100% using up a role and just have it continue with another role of the same material without manual interaction. If you think you don't want an AMS, it's probably because you have not used one yet. And it also just proofs how much control the company has over the extrusion process. The poop chute, the wiper, the cutter, ... Bambu has pushed the control over the filament extrusion process and companies that still cannot handle the same several years later are technically behind, period.
@@Hilmi12 which has its advantages, but only allows 2 filaments mounted at once and still doesn't help 100% using up filament roles 100% without manual intervention. I feel that even multi-head and an AMS are more complementary than competing. Sure, both can do multi-filament, but the way they offer it and what other benefits those mechanisms bring is different and means that you cannot claim multi-head just trumps an AMS. Ideally each head would have a filament sensor (and cutter) allowing seamless transitioning and allowing a big AMS to feed filaments to the various heads without having to retract as long as you just switch between heads.
Releasing Neptune 4 series with klipper which was poorly implemented, and then “tweaking” it to be an Elegoo flavor. Was a huge mistake. I ripped the Elegoo version off all 3 of my Neptune 4 printer and put on OpenNept4une. It’s still not perfect, but it’s such a better printer. Still requires tinkering that my Bambu doesn’t, but the Max printer with its massive build volume makes up for the few annoying bits left. Also, using a very old version of Cura, and only a PLA profile has been a huge complaint. The community should t need to hack together profiles for other filaments through trial and error. Elegoo should supply a good profile people can tweak if they want. Their lack of software support for printers shortly after launch is frustrating too. I know they are working on the next version, but leaving software support alone when the printer has a bunch of issues is not have you retain customers. Great video, and shirt!
@muuhamj 1000% agree. They threw carbon in the name to make people think it was a cheaper x1 but I'm not buying it. Probably why we don't know anything about it. They are just gonna throw whatever theu can into it at the last minute based on demand.
Your the DPS check for other 3D printing channels. Thanks again for your insights and just the facts. BTW I am a big flashforge fanboy... i made my 5m enclosure myself (clear PC roofing for a garden shed on the sides). I pre-HEAT the chamber with a 150w reptile ceramic lamp on the left side of the printer, only wish the hot end went above 300 Celsius!
Thank you for sharing your very thoughtful reflections on this 'new' printer. From what I am hearing from you about the Elegoo Centuri Carbon, I personally have no interest in it as it does nothing that I can't already do with the printers that I have now. Right now, the two main printers that I use are my Qidi X-Max 3 and Qidi X-Smart 3. Both are enclosed printers, and the X-Max 3 has a heated chamber. (The X-Smart 3 does not.) I use the X-Smart 3 to print (smaller) parts from PLA, PETG, ABS, and TPU, while use the X-Max 3 to print larger parts (325 x 325 x 310mm build volume) out of those same materials, plus PET-CF and other carbon-fiber filled materials. Multi-color printing does not interest me right now, but multi-material printing does. The only way I would consider buying a new printer is only if that printer could do something that I cannot do with my X-Max 3. That could be a bigger build volume, or two or more separate tool heads to allow for multi-material printing. My 'dream printer' that I wish someone would make would be a high-speed printer with a 400mm cubed ENCLOSED build volume, two separate print heads (for dual-material printing), and a heated chamber. Even if that chamber only reached 60C, that would be OK with me. (HIgher build chamber temperatures would be nice, but I think making a printer with a 100C build chamber would make for a very expensive printer.) If this 'dream printer' could be offered at a price less than $3000, I would almost certainly buy it.
Even without a multi material system , it's still behind the curve. Yes yes, they put a side spooler but the nail in the coffin will be a closed firmware and their own fork of an open software. If we know anything from the Neptune 4 series, we're better off not trusting Elegoo devs to handle the firmware. If something breaks, we want to be able to get in "under the hood" to fix it instead of sending days and weeks worth of emails to Elegoo support. /sigh
I have a Qidi Q1 Pro, its a nice printer with a heated build chamber but the only reasons I am not happy with the printer is the user experience apart from that everything else is great. The user experience can significantly change the outcome of the printer this I would say is the main reason other 3d printing companies are not as successful as Bambu lab and I hope that soon they will come to realize that this is the case. To be honest the Centauri has some opportunities but as this is Elegoos first Corexy and Enclosed FDM 3d printer I don't think things will go as smoothly at the beginning but there is always that chance the Centauri will dominate the market as they have shown in the Resin 3d printing market. Great video and analysis on the Centauri. 👍
One of my printers is Qidi Tech X Plus 3. Larger build volume, active heating and built like a tank. And I got it for $519 on sale. Elegoo has a large hill to climb.
I have several X1C with AMS and end up printing single color with it. I use AMS as a convenience feature vs multi-color. If I need a print colored, I paint it. But your points are valid. Not sure there's room for yet another one. The large Bambu is coming and all of these other mfgs, will have to go back to the drawing board. Anycubic, Creality, Elegoo - just copying Bambu (poorly).
Same here, plus occasionally PLA/PETG or vise versa solid (zero gap) support. Far too slow and stupid for most multi-color prints imo. (I do really like it though.) It's hard to honestly justify the cost of the AMS but I hate using my other printers with manual loading now. Kind of a life style choice. ;-)
my Elegoo Neptune 4 pro had the SAME issues that Joel from 3d Printing Nerd had on his ORANGE STORM GIGA. They can't even fix MASSIVE issues in between major releases. I spent MONTHS tryign to fix the thing, thinking it was me. But if Joel couldn't solve the issue, I sure wasn't gonna be able to! Elegoo is on my "never again in a million years" list after that Customer Service fiasco.
SOME people. Most of us just want a solid, reliable machine at a decent price point. I'm actively looking for a printer that DOESN'T try to shove several hundred dollars of useless MMS crap down my throat!
The reason why their last printer had so many problems is because they took an open source project and tried to lock it down for what who knows maybe they thought they would benefit off of it
do you think that there is good alternative for flashforge 5m? i was thinking about qidi q1 pro but i kinda like flashforge more.. but it has smaller print volume.. and i think should i wait for elegoo centauri carbon to come out or do you maybe have something to suggest ? Thank You
As much as I like the 5M/Pro, you get more value out of the Q1 Pro. I think it may be cheaper than the 5M Pro as well. I wish I had one to test, but on paper, the Q1 Pro is more versatile. It wouldn't hurt to see what Elegoo has up its sleeve just in case.
I think anything over $300 makes it compete directly with the P1S and P1P and it has so much less capability. Honestly even at $300, unless someone just really specifically needs core XY, why wouldn't they buy an A1? Honestly Bambu has done a great job of making multi material affordable and basically made any printer close in price that doesn't offer it a bad decision to buy.
I have the Elegoo Neptune 4 plus, and I'm not a fan. still need to install the latest firmware. maybe that will solve things. but as right now it has to many random crashes with klipper in it
Starting price needs to be $399.99 or it’s going to be a bust without multicolor. I already have an a1 with ams so I really just need something enclosed for abs single color printing. Anything more than 400 though I’d just buy a P1S and add a hardened nozzle for fiber printing like a lot of other would as well in case you wanted to add an ams down the road. Or just get a flashforge 5m for 300 the market is flooding with great printers at even better prices so they need to be careful and hopefully they realize this.
It feels like they gambled on Orange Storm Giga keeping them relevant and that's why they're coming out late with a standard enclosed CoreXY (and even later with multi-material). It makes me think of Anycubic and how it looks like *their* business decision was to try for multi-material before taking a dip in CoreXY or some other gimmick. The Orange Storm Giga wasn't great and the jury's still out on Anycubic's thing. It's very disappointing. I actually want both Elegoo and Anycubic to succeed, if only to keep Creality and Bambu honest
Why buying a new fresh Elegoo for 400/450 when anyone can get an already fixed K1C for 450 every week or so with a deal? They definitely need to put something new on the table. And their fdm is not the best
If it has klipper, reliable, non propriety parts, easy to work on, then it could the one. Has corexy lost the hype around it. Or people aren't really interest in 3d printers anymore.
Multi-color is definitely overrated, in its current form. The single nozzle method is kinda dumb. (I have X1C with AMS. Original Kickstarter and I love it but still.) An actively heated chamber would be very nice even for ABS/ASA. The BL X1E is a bit too pricey for "just that".
I don't agree with your argument. Design features are not something a company needs to show off. Take Nintendo for example. They buck the trend all the time. Multi MATERIAL printing is definitely something needed in this world to reduce on plastic.
The second you said proprietary firmware i clicked off this video. And that's not your fault. I simply have no interest in machines that hide their inner workings from the user given the 3d printing community's open source roots. I will like and subscribe though!
