This huge 3D printer was fun, but absolutely no one should buy it - Formbot Raptor 2.0 review! 

How long till they send an email begging to take this video down and "We sent it to you to give us feedback, why did you upload a malicious review!?" We have already fixed these issueS! >_> Seen this all before, 2020 it has to stop.

Releases neurotoxin GLaDOS approves

"one should not assume malice for what stupidity can explain" that's great.

Wow, what a rant!

Thanks for being honest, and telling us the real information and not the marketing spin. Appreciate it.

Ill keep rebuttal very short and simple. Some points ill fill in background. First off, compare it to anything else in the price category. Its a $1k USD machine, not $5k. That's less than a CR10S5 that only heats the center 300mm. Feedrates you're comparing a bondtech geared extruder to a el cheapo. Please keep price category of the machine in mind. Same with filament spool management. I don't like it either but its what I expect for coming with a machine in this price range. Its almost a given you'll be doing something else shortly. As for firmware safety features, aside from a batch shipped the very first week, which they openly admitted was mistakenly shipped with a bad flash, these do have thermal runaway flashed on every machine. Also as a plus, they did not hesitate to publish source. It matches a build from Marlin 2.0 Bugfix dated Sept 23rd 2018. Same date snapshot as code provided by one of the core Marlin developers to them for the Trex machine. Given that, it was a validated snapshot in most regards with issues larger than a release would have being outside what was in use on the machine. 32 bit HAL's were the primary development focus. Im not sure what other safety features you think are missing but it seems a good area to focus more on. When I put a meter on the Formbot machines I have, I get continuity from the bed to the main ground plug. Lack of one on the keenovo side is irrelevant. On the statement of the Y stepper, it is a nema 17 but a fairly large one. Not quite super whopper size but almost. I do agree it should have had more testing before going out, as the cable chain issue was addressed somewhere around 8-10 months ago and the XY drivers were changed to TMC2209 to drive a little more current and generate less heat. I wont argue those points. On the temperature claims, the bed is adhered with the keenovo provided adhesive which they rate to 250c. I have personally run one up to 180c with Kapton tape instead of PEI without an issue there. A disclaimer on print surface not withstanding full bed capability would be nice however. I had a BMG-M mounted to it with a nice mosquito running much more interesting materials (3DXTech CF infused is great stuff!). The hotend temperature claims on the other hand were born from some very bad miscommunication between Capricorn and Formbot. In part because of the way its marketed and in part because of Formbot's lack of validation, they took the 350c melting point statement and ran with it. The thermistor is rated for the temperature however so they have that much at least. I have discussed with with both Ada Fang and Mohammed Baz and the whole thing is quite unfortunate.

It can print noodles

I didn't know you had a cameraman until I saw him at 7:17.

I actually like having the heated bed on a separate power cord. I have my electronics and extruded plugged into a UPS, so a power flicker doesn’t ruin a print. A 750w bed heater would drain that quickly enough that it would be expensive to a battery or it wouldn’t last long enough to be useful. The rest about this machine though .. woof.

Did the manufacturer's competitor send this to you for review? 😁

This printer turns your house into Volcano hot end.

How do you own this machine and not print an extremely large Benchy?

I would take a Raptor over 2 Prusa's any day !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a "Trex", cousin of the Raptor. I would say these printers are valuable to small group of people. They are definitely not for everyone. I agree with so many points you have made. The wiring is horrible. Mine had a custom POS ribbon cable going to the carriage. It caught on everything. Im glad my cat chewed it in half. Weak does not begin to describe the extruders. It is a crime to call the included hot ends e3d volcanos (not even a 1/4 of the quality). But, the machine has a nice motion system that is rigid and smooth. After a few years of messing around, mine will produce prints that are better than my Ultimaker3 can make. It takes more involvment though. I upraded to 32 bit board (first week), real E3d extruder and hot end, 0.9 degree steppers, and custom bed holders. Interestingly, ive never had trouble with the steppers skipping, even at .7 amps. I now have trinamic step sticks, and they will skip if i push it to fast. It appears the only name brand item on the printer is the BL Touch sensor. I also take advantage of the large build platform for laser engraving (not the peice of crap that was included) and light rotary engraving. It does very well. Thanks for reading!

I had to use this thing for work for a year. We logged well over 1000 hours on it. At times it was great, but always, always required constant tinkering. PLA used around the hotend... Give me a break! The very fact that your hot end cable can catch on your print shows that it could have never been tested to its maximum volume.

I made the mistake to buy the original Formbot T-Rex at full price back then when I started 3D printing and knew nothing, around 2k€ ... After a few years of trying to get it to print better than "good enough", it ended up as nice supply of aluminium extrusion for my Corexy project. I could've built the same printer for less than 700€, but I guess you always get burnt when you start, especially a few years back when the choice was much more limited and less reviews were out there

If they sold just the frame they could make some money.

"they even include a laser upgrade kit, cause you know, laser are safe" i LOL'd so hard :)

"...since it has some of the essential safety features of Marlin disabled..." SERIOUSLY?? Damn. Does it come with an automatic fire suppression system? I thought not. Nice review. Maybe the best ever, anywhere.

10:36 Glados has entered the chat.

I'd love to see this printer rebuild video to make it a good reliable machine

I love the exposed ground wire randomly attached to the back of the control box

Thomas, nice to see someone really pointing out the crap.

This was so much fun to watch. This technical precise reviews are crucial do dicern the crap from good designs.

Some of your criticisms are a bit interesting, like your comment on the stepper driver heatsink. I mean isn't that the standard style found on all printers with stepper drivers? Also, the frame does have a non-conductive coating on it, but I guess that still wouldn't fly with any safety administration. I agree with you not being able to recommend this printer, and that kinda brings up the elephant in the room, and that is really no one (RU-vidrs) should be recommending Chinese printers due to safety concerns. Its impossible to make any guarantees with these low cost printers coming from China. So obviously I think that Employers, Teachers, and Parents have an obligation to only employ certified machines in their environments, but I can't help but wonder is this not a D.I.Y community? I mean our first few generations of printers were made with wooden frames and exposed wiring, and they cost the same, if not double the cost of this printer. This printers is more capable then any product on the market 6 years ago, and is far more customizable too. But I guess, based on the comments here, I think there are more Geeks than Nerds in the audience.

Tom, I understand your complaints, but at the same time I use a gCreate gMax 1.5xt at work. The gMax came with most of the same issues for a price of around $3500 USD. My opinion is for the price your getting a better priced starting point. As for your skipped steps. On our gMax, I swapped the stock pulleys for smaller ones to allow for more torque as well as using drv8825 drivers on the x, y and z. Should printers come with these problems? No, but considering what you get, I would gladly take the Raptor as a project. That said, I recently purchased a SainSmart Coreception and think it's one of the best values available. I would like to hear your thoughts. Thanks always for your content.

I really appreciate an honest review like this, I am sure it will prevent some people from burning their house down or worse using a printer they thought safe.

Well, I have a printer like this for two years now, actually two of them. But no, I won't defend it, Thomas is right, most of its parts are junk. On the other hand I have constantly pretty good results with them somehow. Both are still stock, but the plan is from minute zero to replace its motherboard and hotend-extruder combo.

Oh no! It reminds me of my Tevo Tornado. I COMPLETELY rewired it with proper 3 core flex, added fuses, changed the ridiculous 10a fuse in the PSU, changed the wiring so that it is now fused on the live and not the neutral and doesn't present exposed mains voltage to the connectors at the rear of the control box, added Protective Earth to the frame, added strain relief to the unearthed skinny mains powered heated bed cables at both the bed and control box ends, added extra insulation to the skinny mains powered heated bed cables, shimmed-out the frame to make it straight, added a bltouch and blue tape to to heatbed (after trying various other solutions like glass etc) to compensate as best as possible for the warped bed, uploaded completely new firmware with thermal runaway protection enabled, changed the power supply for a decent one, changed the solid relay for a decent one, changed the fake FTDI chip on the mainboard to allow Octopi to work and allow it to communicate properly with a computer, added a Rasperry Pi with Temperature Failsafe and Smartplug plugins to shut down power if the temps started misbehaving, added a smoke alarm linked to a hacked 433Mhz socket to shut it off if there was smoke, changed all the wirewrap, changed the SD (which had been programmed to report a fake size).... I still won't turn my back on it and it still needs Pritt Stick to print anything reliably but is at least usable. Other than that, it is great. Last time I buy anything from them...

The issue is the moving bed. The increasing mass, increases the mass moment of inertia, causing more and more unstability. A printer this large should be a fixed bed, with a full 4 stepper motor gantry that does all movements. CNC milling machines etc, are designed that way for a reason. The increase or decrease in mass is happening on a fixed location, while the moving gantry does not shrink or gain any mass..

I own the Trex 2 + it is a fine printer and with the right upgrades it prints like a dream. I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner but with the right upgrades they do perform great with large prints. I run stock hot ends and extruders and have no issues pushing filament for long prints and I get good prints with larger nozzle sizes as well. I have had no issues with wires chafing but the rex 2 + didn't come with a cable chain.

I have this machine haven’t experienced any of the issues you talk about. I’ve done several multi day prints not had any shifting. I’ve checked my wire chain and after a year of use no signs of wear at all. I’m not saying it’s a perfect machine but I really feel it doesn’t deserve the beat down you gave it

hey tom, wenn dir der drucker so eine perücke produziert. fluchst du dann noch auf bayrisch oder auf auf englisch? XD =)

So just so I understood you... it may release a deadly neurotoxin or burn your house down and it doesn't work and is expensive. Is that all? I guess you didn't like it. Maybe you're just being picky about small details haha. Thanks for the information, Thomas. Its good to see someone being honest about 3D gear. Skoal!

Well at least the aluminum frames and lead screws are great spare parts for other machines.

I’ve had the 400x400x700 for almost a year. I had a few layer shifts that I corrected by installing a better fan for the motherboard. Upgraded the hotend to the E3D V6 and use a polypropylene bed. Reasonable upgrades and it prints like a dream! No signs of any unusual wear and tear...

Thank you for your review !! I couldn't agree with you more !! This machine is dangerous !. Like you said it needs weeks to produce parts and upon printing i almost caught fire !! The wires under the bed melted !! And generally the extrusion set was weak !. The bed heat is exactly as you said also ! It bubbles when you go over 85.

This did not seem like a review, it seemed like a rant. Show me another printer with Linear rails Quality ball screws Very stable build Quiet stepper drivers 400x400x500 (or 700) That costs less then 1k dollar.. And then continue to add what Thomas wants 32bit board High end extruder setup Marlin 1.0 because its more "stable" Cable management And still make it cost under 1K

I had a similar experience with the Wanhao Duplicator 9(not as bad as this). The mark 1 was terrible, and i really struggeled to get a successful print out of it. They released mark 2 not long after, and I had to buy an upgrade kit that they should have given out for free. Tricking people into buying unfinished 3d printers and betatest them seem to be way too common these days.

1:15 "It costs between 900 dollars and 1100 euros." I like how you managed to make sure that almost no one will be able to fully understand the price range.

Having a moving bed on such a printer is unacceptable. All printers this big should have a static (except on Z) bed with a CoreXY configuration or something similar

well... about zip ties.... i don't wanna mention a highly renowned manufacturer that uses them for everything... ahhahaahah

My CR-10 V2 is better than this thing and costs less than half of the money....

videography assistant spotted! tell us about your new collegue please!

No linear rail on X. What a piece of junk. Should be called the CRAPTOR.

TOM, SORRY FOR CAPS, BUT PLEASE ... WHATS THE PROPER AND SAFE WAY TO PUT WIRES IN DRAG-CHAINS ?

one of the issues with 3d printers is that no one uses " flex" cables. so yes the cables fail but if you get proper drag chain compliant cables you should be fine. although it is a bit expensive

OUCH! i bought a formbot raptor after seeing your video. I have had some issues with it but not as bad as yours. Yes that extruder was garbage. I have upgraded to 2209 drivers and the firmware was upgraded as well from tiny machines. I have done many 40 hour print jobs with no issues. I did upgrade to the spring steel sheet and that made a big difference on the bed platform. But for the price the other options like the creality cr10max after adding all the high end options that printer goes well above the price for the raptor.

7:30 Who is that with the Camera in the picture? ;D

I wanted to see this review after looking at this printer. This seems to be a similar issue that these large volume printers have. I bought a CR-10 Max instead and have been cursing the thing since I bought it. Constant failed prints, and wastes of filament constantly. These companies need to stop building crap products.

Odd, I have one of these printers. Granted, my reseller has had the SSR that controls the heated bed modified, moved and enclosed in a grounded aluminum electrical box on the side of the printer and not under the heated bed (which is then UL and ETL certified in canada), and the firmware is not a beta version of marlin. I've had nothing but successful, large prints out of this. I only print PLA so I haven't pushed the temp settings, nor would I bother printing something like ABS in a printer that isn't enclosed. It's also quite fast, and I frequently turn up the feed rate on it to 120-140% I find that I do need to turn the temp up a bit on PLA to avoid under extrusion when doing large layers. But I'm printing tables and helmets on the thing and it's been perfect thus far. I'm coming from a CR-10 so I find it a lot tidier and better built than that. I am concerned about the wiring under the heated bed and how it will hold up over time, but it's no worse than how the CR10 managed it (I had printed the guard that supports the bed wires for the cr10 not to mention I had to print legs for the CR10s control box just so the z-axis wire could reach the top of the printer on tall prints). I'm probably 300 hours of printing into ownership of this printer and I've not seen any undue wear under the machine from the bed wires. I'm curious Thomas, what printer you'd suggest that has a volume similar to this?

Dang, dropping the "Chungus" to describe the print bed. My kids would approve.

I bought this piece of crap and it breaks down every other print. Could you please send me a full list of the upgrades you did to this so I can get it working more reliable. Extruder board died, 9-pin data cable, horned, bed thermal conductor in the drag chain. Only got like 5 reels.

I had similar fears before buying my Sidewinder X1 v4 last Black Friday for US$350. Nothing but total delight so far, but I'm keeping a close eye on it. What I like most is how well it prints those "goopy" cheap metallic satin PLA filaments. Shockingly good results with no fuss at all, using standard settings. This after wasting time, filament, nozzles, heat-breaks (and heartbreaks) on my other printers. Love the Volcano melt zone!

Nooooo! Dont break my dreams. In china shipping is always free, they have that communism there.

That printer is an accident waiting to happen. Damn why would any store sell it? If anything happens they are bankrupt. They are the ones importing it

I'm liking the second camera man. I just wish the motions were smoother, kinda jarring with the abrupt zooms and jerky panning.

And here I thought the pile of crap from the Triceratops in Jurassic Park was going to remain the largest pile of crap associated with dinosaurs!

Have you had any issues with the dasFilament? SPecifically that roll? I have a 2.3kg one as well and I've had a jam from a piece where it looks like they joined two strands of filament but didn't do a good job. That jam ultimately cost me a hotend as that was the first time I took it apart and that went rather poorly

Thanks for doing your part in keeping consumers informed and safe!

Bringing these issues to light helps the rest of us identify similar issues on other printers we have that might not have a specific review. Thanks for the warning.

Tonight at Tom's 3D: The Roast of the Formbot Raptor 2.0

Prusa had some concerns with making a huge printer with a movable y axis instead of a core xy architecture because it would be too heavy...

I love a good bad company reaming. Hate all the fake feeling positive only reviews I see so frequently.

Glad to see your results fit with my warning that it wasn't worth the time. And glad to see a nice honest assessment of the machine. Sadly many of these issues are present on earlier models as well. I'm shocked to see they remain on a newer revision. Hopefully the companies building these will take this feedback and make the needed improvements now that someone with a voice has said these things.

This printer prints nothing but trouble!

Hello Tom! I have the T-Rex 3 running here. Besides it's an IDEX machine, most of the construction is the same as with the Raptor 2.0. It still runs fine, but as you, I think some constructs on that machine are quite weird.

A friend of mine just bought this. the store selling it updated the wiring to pass CSA standards. He's been going crazy figuring out the layer shifts.

*Unleashes all the rage that has been building up for the past five years on a bed

That's crazy how under engineered the electronic portion of this machine is. Seems more like a V1 prototype then a retail ready printer.

I think the base is really nice and when the price were about 300 euros its a good base for an skr 1.3 mainboard with touch. I am shocked about the price they want to have for this unsafe thingy.

Those huge (5kg) spools of filament are awful to print from directly. Most extruders don't have enough grip to pull a full spool that has a little drag (drag from being misaligned on the spool holder a little bit or too much friction from the bearings or whatever the reason may be.)

If I ever see this printer for sale used, and I can get a good price, now I know exactly what to alter and replace. Excellent review, thanks!

Jesus. Is it a spool, or a spare tyre?

Thanks for keeping us all Alive🤓

14:00 Surprisingly enough, as far as I understand, CE is a self-issued certification: if issued by an European company, there's always the possibility to check how a device was tested, or to sue the company for false statements, but if it's issued by a non EU country... well good luck trying! Such company may easily have not tested the device at all, signed a pre-defined CE certification statement, and it would still be a legally valid certification. It makes me laugh when I hear urban legends about "counterfeit CE markings that actually indicate something else", since, if there is no official CE in the first place, there cannot be a counterfeit one... I suspect that such urban legend may in some case be purposely and maliciously crafted (or just spread) by EU companies in trying to discourage people from buying Chinese stuff...

pretty sad, that frame has a lot of potential with its rigidity but other than that everything is done sooo wrong...

BRAVO! BRAVO! Somebody who is making a living on youtube not selling our hobby and niche to the affiliate link lowest price toilet of niche destruction. I go around sometimes leaving meanish comments blasting reviewers for trying to sugar coat an obviously crappy Chinese product. The Chinese are humans and should be held to the same standards we would hold any western manufacturer to. And western companies can in fact match the price of a Chinese made product, but nobody would give a pass to POS that needed to be fixed right out of the box. BRAVO!

At the moment I am also looking at a bigger 3D printer, I found the SV01 by Sovol, buy can't find alot of reviews. IT has a 280x240x300mm printing area and is direct drive. I am wondering though, if it is superior to a BIQU B1, which is smaller and has a boden style extruder. The BIQU B1 is really quiet with 47dB, but the SV01 is really loud. Anyone got any advise, whats better in your opinion?

“One shouldn’t assume malice for what stupidity can explain” There’s a fantastic quote right there :) sums up many machines and kits Thank you for showing us how a 3D printer shouldn’t be made! Already, I am very keen on how the Voron 2.4 build plate stays static - I can see how that is a good thing when it has a 230V heater. I currently run a modified Tronxy x5 and am looking at ideas for my next printer. Note that the Tronxy also uses a 40-pin interconnect between controller and extruder/hotend wiring, but it actually serves a purpose there by lifting the interconnect ‘daughterboard’ to near the top of the frame, so the wiring from extruder/hotend is standard length while the electronics stay low-down for cooling. It seems the designers of this Raptor completely missed that purpose of having an interconnect board. Perhaps they never had to change a fan or thermistor. No malice, just stupidity :)

I like your conclusion in which you rightly point out that any MANUFACTURER willing to sell garbage like that is not to be trusted. It seems that the games industry's practice of soft releases where the customers pay to be beta testers has spilled over to the 3D printer industry. :-(

Very very interesting review. Oh Formbot *cough Vivedino. Definitely not sad... karma...

I got a CR-10 S5 a few yeárs ago, for about the same price, and it's much crappier than this one, but the only thing Creality got right was that they put in a beefy NEMA stepper for the Y axis. I was left with replacing the warped bed with a cast aluminium pláte magnetic buildplateánd silicone heater, replácing the hotend with a Mosquito Magnum, replacing the melzi board with a Duet WiFi board, installing linear rails. Now I'm looking at getting a Flex3Drive or Zesty Nimble extruder I spent more on parts than I payed for the CR-10 S5

I have an Anycubic Chiron.. Also 400x400, but only 450mm height. It has it's own set of issues, but easily tweaked, tuned and upgraded, and only about half the cost of this machine with decent support from Anycubic. And... I only need 1 plug. :)

The Schuko connector is actually fine since the alternative Europlugs (EN 50075) are only allowed for up to 2.5A or about 600W. It is perfectly OK to use a Schuko plug without its name giving Schutzkontakt actually :)

CE - China Export :-D Looks like a collection of chinese misinterpretations of specs and safety best practices and regulations. I bought a LED light once where they tried to drive a 10A LED with a MOSFet specc'ed for 6. Guess what happened :-D

SUPERB review, as usual. Have you ever contacted a manufacturer and asked something like, “What were you thinking? Didn’t you realize that customers would notice your flawed engineering?”

To go to the extent of making a full 16-minute video on this it must have been a very, very, very painful experience. Plus, usually ranting for free on youtube is like a one-way ticket to lose a big chunk of audience unless justified. (Which is the case) But... while this definitely is a big rant, is way more like a big warning. I question myself every step on ideas and things that I want to create, but whoever designed and made these is just insanely irresponsible. It's even quite fraudulent. This is the part that I hate of the economic system; when there's anything that is showing some success and becoming an opportunity for business, clueless incumbent people come and set-up shop selling garbage just for the quick profit, with zero interest in the product itself. (Cryptocurrencies... anyone?) It's probably some sort of white-label product bought cheaply from somewhere in China with zero quality control and sold with different branding to whoever wants it. Very much alike thousands of products that are on Amazon, eBay, and many of those Instagram or online stores. (T-shirt stores, caps, accessories, phone cases, etc. All the same, but with a different brand stamp.... ring a bell?) Now this is actually worrisome for me, as they can be putting dangerous equipment in the hands of inadvertent people (A clueless dad buying a cool gift for his kid?) and creating tragedy. (Burnt houses, toxic chemical exposure, tons and tons of wastage... etc) All for 'free' (that is, without taking appropriate responsibility and assuming liability for these things). Good "review" ;)

I know nothing about 3-D printing, but I used to be a cabinetmaker, so I know a little bit about handtools and woodworking machinery. I'm almost happy to see that this printer is so flawed. You know why? Because it gives an essential kick in the rear to every manufacturer who thinks that this remarkable new(-ish) technology should be cheap and available to all. But it shouldn't be, and people need to see videos like this to appreciate why. Frankly, quality still costs money! It's as true now as it was 1,000 years ago. In my field, a good woodworking chisel can cost upwards of £100. It'll take and hold an edge you can forget about, meaning you'll be able to devote every scrap of your attention to getting the job done. The tool just becomes 'you'. A cheapo £3.00 chisel won't be much use for anything more than prising the lids off tins of polish. A decent smoothing plane can cost £350. It will never let you down and will produce consistently excellent results for literally hundreds of years. Yes, really. A cheap and nasty copy will only cost £15 but it will be crudely finished, impossible to 'fettle', adjust and fine-tune, will damage the job you're working on, and will give unpredictable degrees of finish. Of course it'll let you make things, but it'll only let you do it... badly. Rather like this dodgy 3-D printer. The same applies to woodworking machinery. Setting up a workshop? Try to buy quality. You'll never regret it. Don't buy new unless someone else is paying, because you'll go bankrupt. Buy used stuff with cast iron beds, enormous old-school motors and huge, solid, heavy, finely-calibrated hand-wheel adjustments. Forget about electronics and LED screens and fancy automation that lets you run it from your mobile phone - such things are included at the expense of the bits that really matter. So a lot of people will seek out vintage machinery that's 'matured' over 60 or so years of daily workshop use. It'll be better than any of the shiny flimsy stuff built down to a price and which will need constant attention and repair and give lousy results in comparison. The old adage about a bad worker blaming his tools is entirely reasonable if the tools are decent, but it's fair criticism if you're holding a piece of rubbish in your hands. 3-D printing would seem to be no different. A few years ago these were exotic industrial machines costing £50,000 or more. So why should people think that a hobby-grade version costing £800 will be wonderful? It may be fun to experiment with, but you'll spend more time improving it than actually using it. So the hobby becomes not printing, but fiddling. Lots of people get hooked and absorbed in buying cheap then upgrading their 'toys' - which seems like a harmless enough thing in itself and is actually very satisfying - BUT it can be ludicrously expensive (be honest with yourself!) and it sends out the wrong message to manufacturers. To wit: why should they produce quality goods when their uncomplaining customers are prepared to do the work for them! Thankfully, this kind of proper assessment and review should help to stop people making some unfortunate purchasing decisions. 3-D printing is fascinating and clearly brilliant fun, but not if you're expecting to get professional results from what's basically a half-finished machine. And it's not the buyer's fault that he thinks his hobby-grade printer will be great; it's the fault of the unscrupulous manufacturer who's filled his head with unrealistic expectations. Bravo for an honest review, sir. Let's hope the manufacturers take note.

My thinking, how this could be a good product: Scrap *ALL* the electronics, wiring, tensioners, belts etc. Sell _the chassis_ incl. bed (sans heater) as a $350 (ish?) build-your-own-printer base platform.

The two power leads make sense to me. IEC to UPS for reliability - especially in rural areas. My large printer has the same arrangement. Mine was made by ADMG and Alex there has a lot of experience with large printers -- he says that everything gets exponentially harder with printer size.

Wow, they tried to steal the show with them ball screws. I don't even like the z-axis bearing system. Nowadays, there's no reason not to be using linear guide rails. The closer I look at it are those linear guide rails? From a distance They look like two separate rods with bearings. I was shocked when it didn't have a 32bit main board. They should have had dual Nema 17 running that y-axis or at least Ed Nema 23. I see what they were doing with the wiring in the bed though. But yeah, they should have put it in the Box. Or just powered it with a thicker wire. Usually when I buy printers on buying the frame anyways. However at this price point I would want a decent working printer. You mentioned something about a flexible bed. Have you found a decent material to print on that is flexible. One that can handle everything from abs polycarbonate and nylons? I still find myself using glass a lot because I gave up on buying a bunch of different gimmicks. I wish they would scrap all the parts and just sell that frame for reasonable price But I would end up Changing the hot bed anyways. So Yeah. I would be better off just ordering the parts myself. Thanks for doing an honest review That's what I've always liked about you.

To clarify for those wondering, you're correct that this machine requires CE or other electrical safety certification (UL, CSA). This is the case because there is wiring, connections, and devices working at mains voltage. Most 3d printers do NOT need this certification, provided the power supply used in the printer does have the appropriate certification, and that power supply reduces the voltage below about 60v (may vary by region). This machine requires this certification for the high voltage heated bed, because the regulators want to prevent.... This.... Perhaps the bed has UL listing itself so that's why they opted for having a second power cable, thinking it doesn't apply, but my non-lawyer opinion is that since they have connections for the solid state relay and not a straight cable from the wall to the bed that wouldn't fly.

I watched the video but still asking myself if it could be a steal for 120€ (second hand, used for ~20h)? Although I'm not really a fan of tinkering. Currently using stock ender 3v2

This looks like they mixed up their first prototype of the thing with the finished machine and sold the prototype version instead. OUCH! Sooo badly built! Carbine hooks for print cable support wich is in turn a lousy VGA cable not even standing in place, metal pins and boat parts for the rear belt roller instead of a proper bearing supported axle. Undersize motors and dangerous wiring plus also beta version software. This machine looks like a disaster to me for sure! No NO ONE should indeed ever buy this machine unless they start replacing prototype version V0.01 with finished version V1.0 or better.

Sounds like a 3D printer I would build. But then, I don't even HAVE a 3D printer yet. I'm watching RU-vid videos before I get one. They should have hired a consultant with experience before building the thing. But perhaps they did, and hired the wrong one. And the factory managers did not know enough to be able to tell that he was incompetent. They DO have a great marketing department though. They have managed to get many other companies to rebrand and sell it. Pity the product is so bad. But this is a very valuable review.

NEVER move a bed manually. The feedback generated by the high efficiency motors will KILL your printers motherboard.

What 32-bit boards did you have in mind? I only thought of the Panucatt re-arm. It's double the price of a cheap Mega 2560. Are there some new 32-bit boards out there?

This thing surely has potential . Frame and mechanicals are solid and after a few days of work it would be fantastic .... but only after those afew days :)

We have a Raptor 1 and a Raptor 2 at our Makerspace. I know just how much further you can go on... With love and enough modification they do function adequately but ask yourself how much extra money and dozens and dozens of hours you want to put into it to get to that point. For some reason these printers are really widely praised but yeah, they weren't designed by someone who knows 3d printers. Or mechanical engineering, really.