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).
Wow! That’s a fantastic price!
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.
It just doesn’t matter at all for this use case. While personal preference does play a role, at the end of the day it’s numbers that dictate feasibility:
For cost, just run with these numbers for your spreadsheet and see for yourself the difference it makes on production cost/parts cost:
Let’s take a look at the P1S combo: 650€, approx. 15-minute setup time.
Prusa Core One + AMS + camera: 1780€. Time? Don’t know, maybe 3 hours or so and who knows how much for additional material to get the MMU into a functional package like the AMS. With labour cost and everything else, I would estimate 2000€ for the Core one “combo”.
Qidi?
previous gen: exposed mains voltage on the chamber heater => can’t deploy that (also QIDI not recognizing this as a safety hazard, refusing to fix it)
current gen: SSR catches fire => can’t deploy that either
Potential next gen? Bad track record. Wait and see.
Prusa? launching half backed product at a premium that might be fixed after release. Once fixed, they are still too expensive to be the most economical solution.
XL => pathetic. Countless design fails and that’s after significant delays
MK4 => swiftly fixed with the MK4s
AMS => DIY solution at a crazy price. Like no nice box, not entirely sure if they have a first-party filament buffer or that is also another DIY part. Has been like this for years.
Flashforge?
Flashforge 5M pro and the AD5X was on my short list. In the end the 5m pro has no AMS and the AD5X is missing the enclosure.
That’s not current gen.