Finally! Someone "actually" showing some multi color prints and comparisons! Up until now, it was creators showing off single color prints they added together to make a "multi color" print. Thanks for sharing!
I believe AnyCubic has said they will be shipping profiles for both PrusaSlicer and OrcaSlicer for this machine. (Not so certain) they will be fully open sourcing it so a conventional build of Klipper will be available as well. I have a Kobra 3 on order and am looking forward to getting it; the fact that an add-on product will be available later this year to simultaneously allow use of 2 ace units is very attractive.
I have my kobra 2, and while it's had its ups and downs, I FINALLY have it dialed in and it is fantastic...for now. I was somewhat excited when I first heard about the K3, and I was interested, but everything I have heard and seen has confirmed my initial reservations: That anycubic STILL is not listening to their customer base and instead is going the same direction of far too many other companies, and instead of asking "What do you want?" they are pulling the standard "Here's what you get to have" nonsense. I'll hold onto my money and keep looking for something else where the customer's wants are taken into account instead of just pushing on more hype and trying to dictate the consumer preference.
Thanks for the quick comparison! It's good to know the ACE is at least executed fairly well. Lots of room for improvement. Personally, I don't think I'll get into any multi color printing that produces so much waste.
The MMU2 with mk3s had a lot of problems to reliable swap filament. You need a lot of tuning the unload procedure. This problem magicly disapeared after changing the hotend to a revo. The unloaded filament got a much better filament tip, so no problems anymore to reload the filament. Of course, the Nextruder also works pretty well. The reason the MMU2/3 works so much better with Revo, Nextruder-Nozzle and maybe TUN (Trianglelabs unified nozzle) is the integrated nozzle/heatbreak combo with a long heatbreak. This forms the still weak filament quite nice. It´s much more tollerant to not perfectly dryed filament and not perfectly tuned unload procedures. So no cut&poo is required. However, with high-flow nozzles you migh still encounter problems. Bambulab and simular printers use high-flow for high speed. Also they do not have a long integrated heatbreak. So they use cut&poo. Wich not only produce a lot of waste, but also takes quite a lot of time (1:20 min on an A1) for every filament change. On smal prints even a mk3 with MMU2 produce multicolour prints in less time. Imho the best way to do multicolour would be a hotend with a nozzle/heatbreak combo you can swap easy. Like the Revo. Insert a normal flow nozzle for filament swaps for multicolour prints. Insert a high-flow nozzle for single colour. So you do not need cut&poo for multicolour but still can print fast in single colour. However, the AMS has a very nice approch to synchronice the AMS-Feeder with the feeder in the extruder. A spring, a slider, a magnet and an hall-effect sensor inside the very smal filament buffer is used to synchronice the AMS-feeders to the extruder. The AMS-feeder pushes filament until the spring is compressed and the slider moves. The AMS-feeder stops, until the extruder has taken enough filament to decompress the spring and slider moves back (on the X1C and simular, on the A1/A1lite the "buffer" is on the top of the printhead). This way the extruder is released from the workload to pull the filament (wich is still sometimes a problem on the MMU3 with bad placed spools or to long bowden). Also all AMS-feeder are permanently engaged to their filament. I realy would like an AMS-like filament changer with open source protocoll. Filament dryer, permanently attached feeders and automatic rewind. Much more easy to load/unload spools. Still, on a printer with integrated nozzle/heatbreak combo like the Nextruder hotend, Revo or TUN without cut&poo without a lot of waste and without so much time for filament changes. Sadly it is quite expensive to buy a solo AMS or ACE to tinker with. But with other companys now copying Bambulabs approach, we might get an open source variant eventually. Actually the feeder synchronisation might be a valueable function even without filamentchange. If you print big objects, you might want to use bigger spools. A 5kg is quite heavy to pull. So an extra feeder to push filament to the extruder might be quite nice. Esp. as you can make the extra feeder as powerful as you want - its not weight added to the gantry. Also with little changes in the "buffer" (or call it "feeder synchronicer") you could detect if filament is pushed back (more than 3 mm, so no retraction but unload) so you could do a 2 filament changer without any electrical conection to the actuall printer. If a filament unload is detected, obviously the other one has to be loaded... Just some ideas...
With a Kobra 3 on order, I've been waiting for more reviews of the Kobra 3 to come out. What specifically got me to go for the Kobra 3 over the Bambu A1 was the drying function of the ACE. Being able to not only dry while printing, but to actively dry multiple spools of filament at a time without an additional piece of equipment is what really interested me. I have yet to see an in-depth dive into the ACE as its own piece of equipment, with a point-to-point breakdown between it and both the AMS and AMS-lite. The sole downside to the Anycubic setup that I've seen is the slicer situation... but software is much more readily changed than hardware, and the ACE is currently (if what I've seen can be believed) the top-end in multi-material management systems. The margin is narrow, but the dryer function is, I think at least, enough of an addition that it tops any minor downsides at the moment.
The only thing that really annoys me with this is the slicer, and as you said, that can be fixed with an update. The ACE is a true filament dryer, it has settings for everything from PLA to ABS .
@@stldenise is that the K2? Multi-colour is not a must have for me, just a nice to have. Inwas debating a K1C. They look great, but: proprietary parts, PCBs in hotends (I know that’s the thing now, but it seems like a massive point of failure), and generally they are noisy. But, I do want something modern and fast so maybe I’ll have to just go for it. Hope you are keeping well!
This is a good, common-sense review and a refreshing change from narcissistic 3-D printing influencers so in love with their voices they find ways to double or triple the time it takes to convey their messages. I am surprised that you don’t have more followers.
just found out how to control the purge volume. when printing click on the filament button and scroll down you will see flush volume I change mine to 0.4 seems to work well far less poop.
I have the Kobra 3 coming to me soon. It sucks about the poop waste I hope they fix that issue plus the issue with files they can use. For the price I had to get it. I didn’t want the A1 but the price is about the same. Ugh some times I make bad decisions. I hope they fix the issues soon.
I've had 4 Kobras and I went to Bambu because of less problems. Anycubic needs to concentrate on just putting out a solid quality printer rather than trying to be as fast as Bambu at a slightly cheaper price.
Sending back our Kobra 3...even though it says it has nozzle clog detection, it got totally clogged up inside the print head assembly with melted filament and we can't get the print head assembly off of the track. Thankfully it hasn't been 30 days yet...most of these 3D printers only seem to have a one month warranty...
Bambu X1 Carbon Combo also didn't notice the clogged nozzle. This ended with clogged AMS that could not remove the filament from the hotend and displayed an error. I managed to fix this, there was a spare nozzle, ana AMS also resurrected after I pushed manually a piece of filament through it. So there are no failure prone 3d printers ...
@@pik33100 Good to know...ours happened the first week or so that we had it, so we sent it back and didn't have to deal with trying to fix it. Plus the overflow ripped up the rubber cover on the print head, so that would have needed replacing.
I've had 4 Kobras of various models and they all had clogging among other problems. I went to Bambu and will never go back until they concentrate on putting out a quality printer rather than one that is "advanced" all the time trying to keep up with Bambu Labs. I don't go for the fastest printer I go for the one I can count on the most and Bambu has never let me down like Anycubic has.
My first printer was the kobra and I quickly bought an sv06 , sv06 plus and a K1. I put away the kobra and never touched it again. The quality just wasn't there compared to other printers. I lost faith a long time ago. If they don't come out with a core xy soon they are going to fall even further behind. They are also known for putting out printers and dropping support quickly. So I can't see them putting much effort into the software and slicer. I hope I am wrong.
I didn't know the channel, I think this was one of the best sincere videos I've ever seen on 3d congratulations!! I'm looking to buy the Kobra 3. I saw in other videos that it apparently had There will be it on the orca itself, someone who received it also received this version. Do you think that with the orca it will improve a lot?
Anycubic announced to open the source code. I think that will solve most of the poop probleme. There are solutions out there to get nearly rid of it...
its hard to beat bambu studios slicer. ive been printing for awhile now an i got 14 printer between 8 different brands an ive just recently broke over an got a bambu lab p1s with the ams, i had actively avoid the bambu lab machines because they wasn't open source like all the other printers i owned so i avoided them but having to spend so much time painting alot of the models i was asked to make i finally broke over an decided to give bambu labs a try an at first i was just going to get the a1 with the ams mini but that was around the time they was having issues with the bed power cord i think it was but they had to recall them an that pushed me toward the p1s combo, was a bit more costly than i had originally planned to spend but im glad i got it, im going to get more at some point but the ams mini just doesnt seem to be as apealing to me since u cant hook more than one up at a time compared to being able to stack 4 of the regular ams with the p1 an x1 machines so that alone pushes me toward the p1 series of printers but i wouldnt mind trying there bed slingers cause thats what most of my printers are.
I have an X1C Combo, but if I was restricted in my budget I would not be keen on any of these 2 as the poop is not contained, It would drive me mad with all the cleaning up, my X1C misses the bucket with the odd poop and it drops down to the bottom of the enclosure along with the remnants of the nozzle wipe that also misses, I have enough on my plate cleaning that up !
I might have missed it but can you tell what the print duration was for the model (A1 total print time vs Kobra 3 total print time ) . Thank you and awesome video.
a lot of factors determine print time nozzle size, print speed, infill etc. the A1 has a max speed of 500 mm/s and the Kobra 600 mm/s but realistically you will be printing closer to 180 to 200mm/s. even slower for things higher detailed but they are both pretty fast compared to some of my old school 3d printers.
I received my Kobra 3 combo just a few days ago and the printer itself works great, but the ACE started malfunctioning after only 2-3 prints. It now occasionally loads multiple filaments when it should only be loading one, leading to constant jams and malfunctions :c
@@ramirofonseca5169 I actually haven't had any issues with spools tangling when retracting. Just a problem with multiple being loaded at once. I contacted support, and they're sending me a part that should hopefully fix it.
Did you have some issues with Anycubic’s slicer ? I connected everything but I can’t painting objects. Slicer see ace pro and kobra but at workbench every labels looks blank / black without description and filaments. Version 1.4.3 and below also.
What is the best printer for tpu? I have been printing since 2012 and have had my Tevo Tornado since like 2014 It’s still doing its job but it’s time to get something new Any suggestions?
Oh wow, send that Tevo to the front porch with a rocking chair and glass of iced tea! You need a good direct drive for TPU and I think everyone has made the switch now. Creality, Prusa and Bambu have all done great with TPU (you may need to tweak a setting here and there). TPU doesn't work in an AMS or ACE, it needs a plain old spool holder. If you want a machine JUST for TPU, pick something with a short distance from the spool to the toolhead, which is pretty much all the bedslingers. And no matter how fast they claim to be, it doesn't apply to TPU, so use a nice slow print speed. Again, if you're JUST wanting a TPU machine, go ahead and grab an older machine running Marlin & you'll save some money too. Think Ender 3 S1 Pro, or MK3+.
some dude did over 10,000 hours of testing to figure out that pressing recalculate then 0.536 multiplier is the best for bambu as any less is not enough and more is well waste
You live in Stl im guessing I live in St. Chuck. I have checked out the recycle place yet but have been planning to. Although they are a bit expensive.
My biggest gripe with Bambu brand overall is I can't get them to my country without spending nearly double price of the printer. Personally, I'd choose Bambu over other brands. Yet, Kobra 3 combo is totaling me $400 vs. Bambu A1 around $600 which is very steep of a price different.
Nice video and great comparison. As you show it’s a shame about the poop issue but it will be sorted. Unfortunately quality control with anycubic has been a concern of mine for a while. How long did each print take when comparing the same models being printed? The dryer is a great idea but as with all multi roll dryers you’ll melt pla when drying higher temp filament in the dryer so mixing materials in the dryer becomes an issue. Does the anycubic have roll swap over when one roll runs out and you have another full reel loaded?
You're right about the dryer, you can only do one material at a time -- the printer can only handle one temperature setting at a time too, so you're not going to mix PETG & PLA in one print anyway. I wasn't able to track the time on those prints accurately because both machines were being silly--the Anycubic got a clog and a spool fell off the A1. I did a little editing on the time laspe to take out the boring parts. Anycubic's slicer was off, it thought it could print a dragon in 8 hours, but it was more like 12. The A1 did it in about 13, so it was a tad slower. And last, yes, if you tell the printer all the spools are the same thing, it can automatically swap to the next spool when it runs out.
@@stldenise thank you for the update and the information, I love my Bambu lab printers but they are not the final solution to 3d printing and I am always interested in what comes next. I wish someone else would take a design leap and not so much copying going around. Thank you for your great comparison videos and it nice to seen these machines being used side by side as everyone talks about how things compare but real world comparisons are very limited. As ever though hardware often outpaces software especially when it comes to slicers, I know I owned a Creality Halot mage pro for about 4 months before the slicer issues were resolved that I could get decent prints out of it.
Thanks for showing the alternative to the Bambu printers. I agree that tool changers will be the future, if they can become more affordable. My Prusa Xl has almost no waste, but was very expensive.
Anycubic is offering free shipping, so you will save at least $25 by comparison. If you live near a Microcenter, you may be able to pick up an A1 locally.
Well the bambu printers are more kid friendly than what was available before it came out. Just keep in mind all printers no matter the cost will have some issues and "quirks"
Depends on the kid and what you're trying to slice. The default settings are pretty reliable these days, it wouldn't be too hard to teach the basics. You can also set up custom profiles, so you could have a "Bobbie Sue PLA for Action Figures" setting saved. My kid learned Tinkercad & Cura way before he was comfortable changing a roll of filament (which on an old Ender required a lot of thumb strength.) He was 10 when he learned Tinkercad at school, and about 12 when we got a printer of our own. By 15 I was tired of printing things for him and gave him the Prusa Mini. 🤣
@@PatrickDG Hmmm, this might be a video idea! I have a Q1, so I just opened Qidi slicer. If you put it on "simple" mode and make the kid a go to profile that has things set up the way you like it, I think it will work. You do have to slice it before it will tell you it needs supports, which is annoying. File management might actually be harder!
use the new "anycubic slicer next" it was created by both parties anycubic and orca. Also the anycubic has the option to reduce how much you purge after the print starts on the keypad.
I wish any cubic would open source their firmware, considering they are using a version of klipper. Due to how terrible any cubic supports their printers, open source firmware would allow the user more option settings. I have the kobra 2 pro, its so limited in everyday from a normal klipper printer or even marlin based firmware. No more any cubic 3d printers with closed firmware for me.
They do, the k2 neo firmware (marlin) is on their github. (I flashed Klipper on the neo, so I'm happy. But the other models in kobra 2 are more closed down)
@@billytalentrocks345 any cubic 3dprinters need a lot of support if they want to be competitive with other machines. The broken multicolor slicer support sums up what any cubic sucks at. The closed sourced firmware klipper on the kobta 2 pro,plus, and max is a terrible idea. The web interface is what we want from a klipper machine. Edit: I don't want to hate on any cubic like what creality gets, but I own a lot of their previous 3d printers and all of them were open source marlin. They have lost their way, and it shows it, their machines are losing userbase, which was very small to begin with.
Well now I'm back to being undecided between an A1 and a Kobra 3. I still think I'm leaning more toward the A1, especially as it seems to have had a price reduction, but I like the idea of an enclosed AMS. Don't so much like the idea of the Kobra slicer issues, but that's theoretically fixable software stuff.
Go with the A1 even though the ACE is better than the AMS Lite. You don't want problems, you just want a printer that works and you can count on the Bambu printers.
Nothing stops you from using Orca slicer which will negate the poop issue just like how Bambu slicer does it. Edit: Nevermind, apparently there is an issue using Orca slicer and the Kobra 3 with ACE. There might be a fix floating around on the internet though.
The future is in multiple hotends, I believe it is = ) I guess this will be the next step, and may be Bambu will do this too. This is a good excuse to make older models obsolete. And they say "Bambulab" is an iPhone in 3d printing. And iPhones are become obsolete every years. So... = ) It is interesting to watch how companies create printers following 'the current thing'. Thanks for honest speed review. I am tired already from those 'amazing speed' devices which were 'the current thing' a couple of years already. But in fact they are not so fast as they tell that in ads. Now they do color printing, or should I say color pooping? = )
great to see that they ripped off so many things from Bambu Lab, it increased their chances of actually making a good machine for once. Now let's hope that they keep supporting it. Honestly, I can't stand behind a company that doesn't care about innovation and stops supporting their own machines 3 months after launch. Bambu has been great for supporting every model trough firmware updates, adding features and tweaking functions and actually listening to their awesome customers. Thanks for the review, great video! but i'm happy that I just purchased the BambuLab A1 combo. It's been an awesome machine so far. Innovation!
@@stldenise Do your reseach a bit more. Prusa invented the extruder, the gantry system for bedslingers (A1) and Voron invented the XY system. Bambu stole all of it. As far as the AMS goes, multicolor single extruder setups have been around for 10years+ , All Bambu did was put it in a box. Bambu innovated NOTHING , they just repackaged tech that was already out. Even their slicer is a Prusa clone. I know what your doing with your channel, You are trying to schill Bambu and hype it hoping you will get sponsored. Your reviews are nothing of the sort. They are just Bambu commercials....
@@anthonylong5870there's way too much bullshit in there to fully unpack. But show me who else did flow compensation with a LIDAR, who had first layer inspection with a LIDAR? The corexy gantries have been around for at least a decade.
@@anthonylong5870 Bambu further innovated my utilizing eddy current sensors in the nozzles to check flow while printing on the A1 series. This goes beyond the lidar and can actively control flow rates while printing. There is NO prusa tech coming close to that or any company doing that. Just remember it took Prusa 3 iterations to get the MMU right and it is a mess of cables, rollers, tubes and space. Having a cutter in the toolhead was a genius move that creates repeatable and reliable filament changes and the ability to expand to 16 colors isnt matched by the 5 filament mmu3 at all. It took years to ship a corexy XL that still have issues to this day. How many beta firmwares did they ship? They walked back the .6mm nozzle for .4mm because they could not get it to be reliable. There are a ton of folks fixing the XL because Prusa failed shipping a "just works" product. Bambu got it right on the first try and then released printers that completed directly with all of the sub 1100 printers in the prusa line up and beat the breaks off of them. A1, P1 and X1 printers all are top notch from beginners to print farms you can have a device up an running with multicolor in minutes. How long does it take to build, setup and configure an MMU3 again? Then you have the integration of printer, phone app, slicer, makerworld that allows printing completely hands free. Show me the Prusa arrangement that will print from a cell app a world away without needing to preload filament or touch a slicer. You can dislike the company, you can dislike the country but there has been NOTHING out there like it since 2022 and the FUD can be easily disproven. Maybe you should learn the difference between opensource being OPEN TO ALL. There is no theft as long as you abide by the rules. Usually code visibility or attribution. Bambu has a handy(see what I did there) link to all open source code on their wiki and git hub. So before you tell someone to "do their research" maybe you should do yours first.
Thank you for this video. I had the choice for these two 3D printers, but in terms of feel I opted for the Bambu Lab A1 Combo. And given the reviews, especially yours, a good choice. Have very good results with printing and will definitely delve deeper into the poop. But couldn't you use the poop to print another object?
There are a few companies. Creality, elegoo who are big enough to oust them I would think creality are 10 times bigger with longer history. The K1 and K1 max were just the start.
I'm never buying a bwmbulab, can't convince me otherwise. Taking all your data and spying on you. This is china we are talking about. Who knows what's in their encrypted cloud service.
@@oneanother1Its actually worse than just the data harvesting. Bambu has the worst customer support. And their machines are made from B grade parts....Out of the 5 different brand machines i own my Bambu has by far had the most issues
Bambu has earned their top spot. Even the naysayers who bring up spying gets awfully quiet when you can run the printer 100% offline or lan only which does not have any data being sent. Cloud was is and continues to be optional.* *source Run a a bambu X1C setup with zero internet and that machine is 10k+ hrs and 2 years in service with zero issues. Why would I need support when the printer doesnt break to need support? Seems the other team needs to lean into "good support" because you are going to need it for their overpriced diy projects.
@@No0o0o0o0o0 ibwmbulab is way overhyped. I don't think anyone cares anymore about 3d printers. They all pretty much haven't change in years. I care about open source, because it allows me to tinker on the machine. My cheap bed slinger does the job. I mean if you know how to tinker, just about any 3d printer can be reliable.
@@oneanother1some people want a 3D printer as a tool, not as a hobby. Bambu makes tool grade printers. Tons of 3D print shops are changing over to them for a reason. They have incredible reliability, good quality and print fast.
You do realize that Bambu Studio is also based on the core Prusa Slicer code base. Since Orca is directly taken from Bambu Studio it also is a re-skinned Prusa Slicer. So those observations we all invalid… Additionally “pop” to infill or to purge block or to an unneeded extra print are all still waste. This was very disappointing to watch, borderline a waste of time.
How is purge to infill a waste? Also it doesn't matter if bambu slicer is based on prusa slicer because they actually added the features unlike the anycubic.
@_Richard_F___ Prusa Slicer is based on Slic3r. Original Prusa Slicer was Slic3r Prusa Edition. They have never hidden this fact. On the contrary. When you start Prusa Slicer, the window title says "based on Slic3r".
Finally! Someone "actually" showing some multi color prints and comparisons! Up until now, it was creators showing off single color prints they added together to make a "multi color" print. Thanks for sharing!
I believe AnyCubic has said they will be shipping profiles for both PrusaSlicer and OrcaSlicer for this machine. (Not so certain) they will be fully open sourcing it so a conventional build of Klipper will be available as well. I have a Kobra 3 on order and am looking forward to getting it; the fact that an add-on product will be available later this year to simultaneously allow use of 2 ace units is very attractive.
I have my kobra 2, and while it's had its ups and downs, I FINALLY have it dialed in and it is fantastic...for now. I was somewhat excited when I first heard about the K3, and I was interested, but everything I have heard and seen has confirmed my initial reservations: That anycubic STILL is not listening to their customer base and instead is going the same direction of far too many other companies, and instead of asking "What do you want?" they are pulling the standard "Here's what you get to have" nonsense. I'll hold onto my money and keep looking for something else where the customer's wants are taken into account instead of just pushing on more hype and trying to dictate the consumer preference.
Came here because of Jeff G and subscribed, some great videos! Rainbow filament one from a while back was very useful. Working my way through! Thanks
Thanks for stopping by! I review printers for Tom's Hardware -- I'm getting more content posted over here very soon!
Thanks for the quick comparison! It's good to know the ACE is at least executed fairly well. Lots of room for improvement. Personally, I don't think I'll get into any multi color printing that produces so much waste.
Excellent breakdown on the differences in the printers. Very Entertaining.
Thanks!
The MMU2 with mk3s had a lot of problems to reliable swap filament. You need a lot of tuning the unload procedure. This problem magicly disapeared after changing the hotend to a revo. The unloaded filament got a much better filament tip, so no problems anymore to reload the filament. Of course, the Nextruder also works pretty well.
The reason the MMU2/3 works so much better with Revo, Nextruder-Nozzle and maybe TUN (Trianglelabs unified nozzle) is the integrated nozzle/heatbreak combo with a long heatbreak. This forms the still weak filament quite nice. It´s much more tollerant to not perfectly dryed filament and not perfectly tuned unload procedures. So no cut&poo is required.
However, with high-flow nozzles you migh still encounter problems.
Bambulab and simular printers use high-flow for high speed. Also they do not have a long integrated heatbreak. So they use cut&poo. Wich not only produce a lot of waste, but also takes quite a lot of time (1:20 min on an A1) for every filament change. On smal prints even a mk3 with MMU2 produce multicolour prints in less time.
Imho the best way to do multicolour would be a hotend with a nozzle/heatbreak combo you can swap easy. Like the Revo. Insert a normal flow nozzle for filament swaps for multicolour prints. Insert a high-flow nozzle for single colour. So you do not need cut&poo for multicolour but still can print fast in single colour.
However, the AMS has a very nice approch to synchronice the AMS-Feeder with the feeder in the extruder. A spring, a slider, a magnet and an hall-effect sensor inside the very smal filament buffer is used to synchronice the AMS-feeders to the extruder. The AMS-feeder pushes filament until the spring is compressed and the slider moves. The AMS-feeder stops, until the extruder has taken enough filament to decompress the spring and slider moves back (on the X1C and simular, on the A1/A1lite the "buffer" is on the top of the printhead). This way the extruder is released from the workload to pull the filament (wich is still sometimes a problem on the MMU3 with bad placed spools or to long bowden). Also all AMS-feeder are permanently engaged to their filament.
I realy would like an AMS-like filament changer with open source protocoll. Filament dryer, permanently attached feeders and automatic rewind. Much more easy to load/unload spools. Still, on a printer with integrated nozzle/heatbreak combo like the Nextruder hotend, Revo or TUN without cut&poo without a lot of waste and without so much time for filament changes.
Sadly it is quite expensive to buy a solo AMS or ACE to tinker with. But with other companys now copying Bambulabs approach, we might get an open source variant eventually.
Actually the feeder synchronisation might be a valueable function even without filamentchange. If you print big objects, you might want to use bigger spools. A 5kg is quite heavy to pull. So an extra feeder to push filament to the extruder might be quite nice. Esp. as you can make the extra feeder as powerful as you want - its not weight added to the gantry. Also with little changes in the "buffer" (or call it "feeder synchronicer") you could detect if filament is pushed back (more than 3 mm, so no retraction but unload) so you could do a 2 filament changer without any electrical conection to the actuall printer. If a filament unload is detected, obviously the other one has to be loaded...
Just some ideas...
The fact that you said you can't use tpu in the drier box just sold me to A1
With a Kobra 3 on order, I've been waiting for more reviews of the Kobra 3 to come out.
What specifically got me to go for the Kobra 3 over the Bambu A1 was the drying function of the ACE. Being able to not only dry while printing, but to actively dry multiple spools of filament at a time without an additional piece of equipment is what really interested me. I have yet to see an in-depth dive into the ACE as its own piece of equipment, with a point-to-point breakdown between it and both the AMS and AMS-lite.
The sole downside to the Anycubic setup that I've seen is the slicer situation... but software is much more readily changed than hardware, and the ACE is currently (if what I've seen can be believed) the top-end in multi-material management systems. The margin is narrow, but the dryer function is, I think at least, enough of an addition that it tops any minor downsides at the moment.
The only thing that really annoys me with this is the slicer, and as you said, that can be fixed with an update. The ACE is a true filament dryer, it has settings for everything from PLA to ABS .
Excellent video. I’m trying to work out where to go after being an Ender 3 user for about 5 years, and this is very useful! Thanks. 😊
I should be getting Creality's color printer at the end of summer. Fingers crossed they've figured it out!
@@stldenise is that the K2? Multi-colour is not a must have for me, just a nice to have. Inwas debating a K1C. They look great, but: proprietary parts, PCBs in hotends (I know that’s the thing now, but it seems like a massive point of failure), and generally they are noisy. But, I do want something modern and fast so maybe I’ll have to just go for it. Hope you are keeping well!
Thanks Denise, Love the way how you approached the topic and did the video, helped a lot. THANKS
But there is a Anycubic Cobra 3 profile for Orca Slicer... It works very well, and can optimize color switching.
This is a good, common-sense review and a refreshing change from narcissistic 3-D printing influencers so in love with their voices they find ways to double or triple the time it takes to convey their messages. I am surprised that you don’t have more followers.
Thank you for the helping Jeff!
just found out how to control the purge volume. when printing click on the filament button and scroll down you will see flush volume I change mine to 0.4 seems to work well far less poop.
Is that for the Kobra?
Thank you for this video. It's very useful to know these subtle details
I own a P1S and have a Kobra 3 on the way. All that matters is that the Kobra 3 does multi material flexibles, which enables so, so many things...
I'm trying to decide between these two printers. I like P1S's full enclosure, but it's not a necessity. Which one do you prefer?
I have the Kobra 3 coming to me soon. It sucks about the poop waste I hope they fix that issue plus the issue with files they can use. For the price I had to get it. I didn’t want the A1 but the price is about the same. Ugh some times I make bad decisions. I hope they fix the issues soon.
You're going to regret it. I did.
Such a good review! Thank you and congrats :)
Can you provide information on the plastic recycling place you mentioned in the video? Thanks you.
Sure! printeriordesigns.com is their website, they're located in St. Louis.
@@stldenise Thanks
I've had 4 Kobras and I went to Bambu because of less problems. Anycubic needs to concentrate on just putting out a solid quality printer rather than trying to be as fast as Bambu at a slightly cheaper price.
Sending back our Kobra 3...even though it says it has nozzle clog detection, it got totally clogged up inside the print head assembly with melted filament and we can't get the print head assembly off of the track. Thankfully it hasn't been 30 days yet...most of these 3D printers only seem to have a one month warranty...
Bambu X1 Carbon Combo also didn't notice the clogged nozzle. This ended with clogged AMS that could not remove the filament from the hotend and displayed an error.
I managed to fix this, there was a spare nozzle, ana AMS also resurrected after I pushed manually a piece of filament through it.
So there are no failure prone 3d printers ...
@@pik33100 Good to know...ours happened the first week or so that we had it, so we sent it back and didn't have to deal with trying to fix it. Plus the overflow ripped up the rubber cover on the print head, so that would have needed replacing.
I've had 4 Kobras of various models and they all had clogging among other problems. I went to Bambu and will never go back until they concentrate on putting out a quality printer rather than one that is "advanced" all the time trying to keep up with Bambu Labs. I don't go for the fastest printer I go for the one I can count on the most and Bambu has never let me down like Anycubic has.
My first printer was the kobra and I quickly bought an sv06 , sv06 plus and a K1. I put away the kobra and never touched it again. The quality just wasn't there compared to other printers. I lost faith a long time ago. If they don't come out with a core xy soon they are going to fall even further behind. They are also known for putting out printers and dropping support quickly. So I can't see them putting much effort into the software and slicer. I hope I am wrong.
Awesome comparison and review Denise!
Thanks so much!
Yeah the compatibility with orca is a must
I didn't know the channel, I think this was one of the best sincere videos I've ever seen on 3d congratulations!! I'm looking to buy the Kobra 3. I saw in other videos that it apparently had There will be it on the orca itself, someone who received it also received this version. Do you think that with the orca it will improve a lot?
Thanks! Orca will definitely improve this printer, but I'm not aware that Anycubic has made it compatible yet.
@@stldenise Despite the loss of material, does the ACE work well?
The nozzle was a little close, but that was corrected in the slicer. Otherwise quality is very good. 😀
What about VFA test on kobra and A1??? Can you make shorts or photos?
I can tell you that A1 doesn't have vfa issues
Thanks this what I was looking for. Bamboo im coming.
Anycubic announced to open the source code. I think that will solve most of the poop probleme. There are solutions out there to get nearly rid of it...
its hard to beat bambu studios slicer. ive been printing for awhile now an i got 14 printer between 8 different brands an ive just recently broke over an got a bambu lab p1s with the ams, i had actively avoid the bambu lab machines because they wasn't open source like all the other printers i owned so i avoided them but having to spend so much time painting alot of the models i was asked to make i finally broke over an decided to give bambu labs a try an at first i was just going to get the a1 with the ams mini but that was around the time they was having issues with the bed power cord i think it was but they had to recall them an that pushed me toward the p1s combo, was a bit more costly than i had originally planned to spend but im glad i got it, im going to get more at some point but the ams mini just doesnt seem to be as apealing to me since u cant hook more than one up at a time compared to being able to stack 4 of the regular ams with the p1 an x1 machines so that alone pushes me toward the p1 series of printers but i wouldnt mind trying there bed slingers cause thats what most of my printers are.
A1 sounds like a better printer, but I only print small objects so I will go with A1 mini.
I have an X1C Combo, but if I was restricted in my budget I would not be keen on any of these 2 as the poop is not contained, It would drive me mad with all the cleaning up, my X1C misses the bucket with the odd poop and it drops down to the bottom of the enclosure along with the remnants of the nozzle wipe that also misses, I have enough on my plate cleaning that up !
I might have missed it but can you tell what the print duration was for the model (A1 total print time vs Kobra 3 total print time ) . Thank you and awesome video.
a lot of factors determine print time nozzle size, print speed, infill etc. the A1 has a max speed of 500 mm/s and the Kobra 600 mm/s but realistically you will be printing closer to 180 to 200mm/s. even slower for things higher detailed but they are both pretty fast compared to some of my old school 3d printers.
Once the kobra 3 is added to orca I think we will be able to improve the waste
I received my Kobra 3 combo just a few days ago and the printer itself works great, but the ACE started malfunctioning after only 2-3 prints. It now occasionally loads multiple filaments when it should only be loading one, leading to constant jams and malfunctions :c
Tangles,spool retracement it’s soo frustrating
@@ramirofonseca5169 I actually haven't had any issues with spools tangling when retracting. Just a problem with multiple being loaded at once. I contacted support, and they're sending me a part that should hopefully fix it.
@@ramirofonseca5169 You could try applying a little WD40 to the rollers that hold the spools...?
I'm not surprised. Every one of the four Kobra printers I've had had various problems.
Now, you have an option in anycubic slicer next with "purge into infill" or using "Orca Slicer" with "purge into object". Make less waste plastic
Haven't unboxed mine and even considered sending it back due the amount of waste I've been seeing. This is good to know. Thank you.
Did you have some issues with Anycubic’s slicer ? I connected everything but I can’t painting objects. Slicer see ace pro and kobra but at workbench every labels looks blank / black without description and filaments. Version 1.4.3 and below also.
Could you please show a review on the Orca Slicer with Kobra 3, a official(?) profile is linked on the anycubic site.
solid review, not sure why youtube keeps recommending prank videos instead of good stuff like this
Thanks!
You should re-try with AnycubicSlicerNext - essentially built on Orca and it is much, much better.
Great Video Denise. You got alot of Poop to clean up now. I will stick with my A1.
Yes I do. 🤣
Do you think that this issue will be fixed in the future? The price is very good for the overall features
It can only get better and there have been some software and firmware updates.
What is the best printer for tpu?
I have been printing since 2012 and have had my Tevo Tornado since like 2014
It’s still doing its job but it’s time to get something new
Any suggestions?
Oh wow, send that Tevo to the front porch with a rocking chair and glass of iced tea! You need a good direct drive for TPU and I think everyone has made the switch now. Creality, Prusa and Bambu have all done great with TPU (you may need to tweak a setting here and there). TPU doesn't work in an AMS or ACE, it needs a plain old spool holder. If you want a machine JUST for TPU, pick something with a short distance from the spool to the toolhead, which is pretty much all the bedslingers. And no matter how fast they claim to be, it doesn't apply to TPU, so use a nice slow print speed. Again, if you're JUST wanting a TPU machine, go ahead and grab an older machine running Marlin & you'll save some money too. Think Ender 3 S1 Pro, or MK3+.
Mr Geerling sent me here. Thank you Denise
Thanks for visiting!
Briliant comparison!
How is the printer if you only use it to pringt single color prints?
some dude did over 10,000 hours of testing to figure out that pressing recalculate then 0.536 multiplier is the best for bambu as any less is not enough and more is well waste
you mean to reduce poop i have to set the multiplier at 0.536 ?
wdym by recalculate?
Yes, that's why I'm using .6 (close enough)
You live in Stl im guessing I live in St. Chuck. I have checked out the recycle place yet but have been planning to. Although they are a bit expensive.
I want the kobra 3max ace combo...
My biggest gripe with Bambu brand overall is I can't get them to my country without spending nearly double price of the printer. Personally, I'd choose Bambu over other brands. Yet, Kobra 3 combo is totaling me $400 vs. Bambu A1 around $600 which is very steep of a price different.
Nice video and great comparison. As you show it’s a shame about the poop issue but it will be sorted. Unfortunately quality control with anycubic has been a concern of mine for a while.
How long did each print take when comparing the same models being printed?
The dryer is a great idea but as with all multi roll dryers you’ll melt pla when drying higher temp filament in the dryer so mixing materials in the dryer becomes an issue.
Does the anycubic have roll swap over when one roll runs out and you have another full reel loaded?
You're right about the dryer, you can only do one material at a time -- the printer can only handle one temperature setting at a time too, so you're not going to mix PETG & PLA in one print anyway.
I wasn't able to track the time on those prints accurately because both machines were being silly--the Anycubic got a clog and a spool fell off the A1. I did a little editing on the time laspe to take out the boring parts. Anycubic's slicer was off, it thought it could print a dragon in 8 hours, but it was more like 12. The A1 did it in about 13, so it was a tad slower.
And last, yes, if you tell the printer all the spools are the same thing, it can automatically swap to the next spool when it runs out.
@@stldenise thank you for the update and the information, I love my Bambu lab printers but they are not the final solution to 3d printing and I am always interested in what comes next. I wish someone else would take a design leap and not so much copying going around.
Thank you for your great comparison videos and it nice to seen these machines being used side by side as everyone talks about how things compare but real world comparisons are very limited.
As ever though hardware often outpaces software especially when it comes to slicers, I know I owned a Creality Halot mage pro for about 4 months before the slicer issues were resolved that I could get decent prints out of it.
Great head to head review! Any chance you can do an update review with Orca slicer?
Thanks for showing the alternative to the Bambu printers. I agree that tool changers will be the future, if they can become more affordable. My Prusa Xl has almost no waste, but was very expensive.
No puedo conectar mi webcam, la detecta pero no se enciende las imágenes. Qué puede ser?
so you can use Prusa slicer with Kobra 3 ?
Do you pay delivery for the Kobra 3 like you do for the A1 ? May have forgotten to add that to the total price.
Anycubic is offering free shipping, so you will save at least $25 by comparison. If you live near a Microcenter, you may be able to pick up an A1 locally.
Is the bambu slicer kid friendly?
Well the bambu printers are more kid friendly than what was available before it came out. Just keep in mind all printers no matter the cost will have some issues and "quirks"
Depends on the kid and what you're trying to slice. The default settings are pretty reliable these days, it wouldn't be too hard to teach the basics. You can also set up custom profiles, so you could have a "Bobbie Sue PLA for Action Figures" setting saved. My kid learned Tinkercad & Cura way before he was comfortable changing a roll of filament (which on an old Ender required a lot of thumb strength.) He was 10 when he learned Tinkercad at school, and about 12 when we got a printer of our own. By 15 I was tired of printing things for him and gave him the Prusa Mini. 🤣
Lol I just got a qidi xcf pro as my first printer and felt like the slicer for it might intimidate my daughter lol
@@PatrickDG Hmmm, this might be a video idea! I have a Q1, so I just opened Qidi slicer. If you put it on "simple" mode and make the kid a go to profile that has things set up the way you like it, I think it will work. You do have to slice it before it will tell you it needs supports, which is annoying. File management might actually be harder!
use the new "anycubic slicer next" it was created by both parties anycubic and orca. Also the anycubic has the option to reduce how much you purge after the print starts on the keypad.
👏 thanks
@123-3D-UK channel did a review. He made his own profile for orca and it was pretty much the same as the A1. waste wise.
That’s awesome! I hope he makes it public, when I tried I just got an error code. 🤦♀️
I wish any cubic would open source their firmware, considering they are using a version of klipper. Due to how terrible any cubic supports their printers, open source firmware would allow the user more option settings. I have the kobra 2 pro, its so limited in everyday from a normal klipper printer or even marlin based firmware. No more any cubic 3d printers with closed firmware for me.
They do, the k2 neo firmware (marlin) is on their github. (I flashed Klipper on the neo, so I'm happy. But the other models in kobra 2 are more closed down)
@@billytalentrocks345 any cubic 3dprinters need a lot of support if they want to be competitive with other machines. The broken multicolor slicer support sums up what any cubic sucks at. The closed sourced firmware klipper on the kobta 2 pro,plus, and max is a terrible idea. The web interface is what we want from a klipper machine.
Edit: I don't want to hate on any cubic like what creality gets, but I own a lot of their previous 3d printers and all of them were open source marlin. They have lost their way, and it shows it, their machines are losing userbase, which was very small to begin with.
You think Anycubis is locked down? ROFL go look at Bambu....its not locked down , its imprisoned. Absolutely ZERO open source
@@anthonylong5870 🤦♂️ stop spammlng, y0u are under every comment with the same 💩
In another video I saw about this printer it was said that Anycubic plans to release the source code.
not only is the kobra 3 a bed slinger, but a poop slinger too
Great Review
Well now I'm back to being undecided between an A1 and a Kobra 3. I still think I'm leaning more toward the A1, especially as it seems to have had a price reduction, but I like the idea of an enclosed AMS. Don't so much like the idea of the Kobra slicer issues, but that's theoretically fixable software stuff.
I'm on the fence too. I wish someone would do an updated review with the new slicer for k3 based on Orca.
Go with the A1 even though the ACE is better than the AMS Lite. You don't want problems, you just want a printer that works and you can count on the Bambu printers.
Ive been following you for sometime on twitter and only now found out you have a youtube channel lol.
The ACE is better but the Bambu printer is better. Bambu needs to go to an ACE enclosed drying AMS instead of the AMS Lite.
Doh, I’m waiting on my Kobra 3 in the mail and my friend got a A1
Nothing stops you from using Orca slicer which will negate the poop issue just like how Bambu slicer does it.
Edit: Nevermind, apparently there is an issue using Orca slicer and the Kobra 3 with ACE. There might be a fix floating around on the internet though.
The future is in multiple hotends, I believe it is = ) I guess this will be the next step, and may be Bambu will do this too. This is a good excuse to make older models obsolete. And they say "Bambulab" is an iPhone in 3d printing. And iPhones are become obsolete every years. So... = )
It is interesting to watch how companies create printers following 'the current thing'.
Thanks for honest speed review. I am tired already from those 'amazing speed' devices which were 'the current thing' a couple of years already. But in fact they are not so fast as they tell that in ads.
Now they do color printing, or should I say color pooping? = )
I'm hoping that Prusa's XL makes everyone sit up and go I WANT A TOOL CHANGER and then we'll actually get affordable tool changers.
great to see that they ripped off so many things from Bambu Lab, it increased their chances of actually making a good machine for once. Now let's hope that they keep supporting it. Honestly, I can't stand behind a company that doesn't care about innovation and stops supporting their own machines 3 months after launch. Bambu has been great for supporting every model trough firmware updates, adding features and tweaking functions and actually listening to their awesome customers. Thanks for the review, great video! but i'm happy that I just purchased the BambuLab A1 combo. It's been an awesome machine so far. Innovation!
Bambu stole 100% of their designs and tech from Prusa.....Literally 99% of their machines engineering is Prusa.
@@anthonylong5870 Not quite. The AMS is ground breaking and not something Prusa had invented. Prusa does get credit for the slicer, not the hardware.
@@stldenise Do your reseach a bit more. Prusa invented the extruder, the gantry system for bedslingers (A1) and Voron invented the XY system. Bambu stole all of it. As far as the AMS goes, multicolor single extruder setups have been around for 10years+ , All Bambu did was put it in a box. Bambu innovated NOTHING , they just repackaged tech that was already out. Even their slicer is a Prusa clone. I know what your doing with your channel, You are trying to schill Bambu and hype it hoping you will get sponsored. Your reviews are nothing of the sort. They are just Bambu commercials....
@@anthonylong5870there's way too much bullshit in there to fully unpack. But show me who else did flow compensation with a LIDAR, who had first layer inspection with a LIDAR? The corexy gantries have been around for at least a decade.
@@anthonylong5870 Bambu further innovated my utilizing eddy current sensors in the nozzles to check flow while printing on the A1 series. This goes beyond the lidar and can actively control flow rates while printing.
There is NO prusa tech coming close to that or any company doing that.
Just remember it took Prusa 3 iterations to get the MMU right and it is a mess of cables, rollers, tubes and space. Having a cutter in the toolhead was a genius move that creates repeatable and reliable filament changes and the ability to expand to 16 colors isnt matched by the 5 filament mmu3 at all.
It took years to ship a corexy XL that still have issues to this day. How many beta firmwares did they ship? They walked back the .6mm nozzle for .4mm because they could not get it to be reliable. There are a ton of folks fixing the XL because Prusa failed shipping a "just works" product.
Bambu got it right on the first try and then released printers that completed directly with all of the sub 1100 printers in the prusa line up and beat the breaks off of them. A1, P1 and X1 printers all are top notch from beginners to print farms you can have a device up an running with multicolor in minutes. How long does it take to build, setup and configure an MMU3 again?
Then you have the integration of printer, phone app, slicer, makerworld that allows printing completely hands free. Show me the Prusa arrangement that will print from a cell app a world away without needing to preload filament or touch a slicer.
You can dislike the company, you can dislike the country but there has been NOTHING out there like it since 2022 and the FUD can be easily disproven. Maybe you should learn the difference between opensource being OPEN TO ALL. There is no theft as long as you abide by the rules. Usually code visibility or attribution.
Bambu has a handy(see what I did there) link to all open source code on their wiki and git hub. So before you tell someone to "do their research" maybe you should do yours first.
Thank you for this video. I had the choice for these two 3D printers, but in terms of feel I opted for the Bambu Lab A1 Combo. And given the reviews, especially yours, a good choice. Have very good results with printing and will definitely delve deeper into the poop. But couldn't you use the poop to print another object?
The Bambu will let you do that in either their slicer or with OrcaSlicer. It’s called “purge to object”. The Kobra is lacking this feature.
@@stldenise
Thank you Denise, we're going to try it all out.
Like poked :)
I’m sorry but definitely I didn’t understand the real speed for each print
Try orca?
I did and got an error. But I'm told a British TH-camr got it sorted out, so I'll have to go bug him for insight. @123-3D-UK
Have you had any luck? Also how is the camera? I know the software isn't quite there yet but is it worth it. I believe it is.
@@kennykobi Orca doesn't know what to do with the ACE, and they didn't send a camera so I can't tell.
I don't see how anyone can compete with Bambu's printers except for Prusa. My Prusa printer prints a little better prints than my Bambu printers.
There are a few companies. Creality, elegoo who are big enough to oust them I would think creality are 10 times bigger with longer history. The K1 and K1 max were just the start.
TL;DR: Anycubic copied the shit out of Bambulab and reached 10% of the quality of the results for a similar price. What a bargain!!
So you have one?
Similar price??? Anycubic is 60% less
@@kyleflgood Dafuq? A Bambu A1 Combo is roughly 500. Anycubic with AMS doesn't fucking cost 200, do you even turn on your brain before commenting 😂
@KToMmi it is currently on sale on Anycubic's website for $379 for the combo.
I'm never buying anything but Bambu from now on.
Genuinely the best - you can't convince me otherwise.
I'm never buying a bwmbulab, can't convince me otherwise. Taking all your data and spying on you. This is china we are talking about. Who knows what's in their encrypted cloud service.
@@oneanother1Its actually worse than just the data harvesting. Bambu has the worst customer support. And their machines are made from B grade parts....Out of the 5 different brand machines i own my Bambu has by far had the most issues
Bambu has earned their top spot. Even the naysayers who bring up spying gets awfully quiet when you can run the printer 100% offline or lan only which does not have any data being sent.
Cloud was is and continues to be optional.*
*source Run a a bambu X1C setup with zero internet and that machine is 10k+ hrs and 2 years in service with zero issues.
Why would I need support when the printer doesnt break to need support? Seems the other team needs to lean into "good support" because you are going to need it for their overpriced diy projects.
@@No0o0o0o0o0 ibwmbulab is way overhyped. I don't think anyone cares anymore about 3d printers. They all pretty much haven't change in years. I care about open source, because it allows me to tinker on the machine. My cheap bed slinger does the job. I mean if you know how to tinker, just about any 3d printer can be reliable.
@@oneanother1some people want a 3D printer as a tool, not as a hobby. Bambu makes tool grade printers. Tons of 3D print shops are changing over to them for a reason. They have incredible reliability, good quality and print fast.
Don’t buy Anycubic they are not bad printers but have no off sale Service bad company to deal with
nah they gave me great offsale service
@@CorrodedGalaxy yes you probably 1 in 1000 than
Have to disagree, they gave me for DLS 2 Replace Screens and for my Old Printer full Printer head after 6 years.
8 months ago I asked a simple support question They'll reply any day now
You do realize that Bambu Studio is also based on the core Prusa Slicer code base. Since Orca is directly taken from Bambu Studio it also is a re-skinned Prusa Slicer. So those observations we all invalid… Additionally “pop” to infill or to purge block or to an unneeded extra print are all still waste. This was very disappointing to watch, borderline a waste of time.
How is purge to infill a waste?
Also it doesn't matter if bambu slicer is based on prusa slicer because they actually added the features unlike the anycubic.
The only waste of time was reading y0ur comment btw...
So you didn't watch the whole video? Okdoke.
@_Richard_F___ Prusa Slicer is based on Slic3r. Original Prusa Slicer was Slic3r Prusa Edition. They have never hidden this fact. On the contrary. When you start Prusa Slicer, the window title says "based on Slic3r".
@@andreas.grundler same with bambu, it says that it is based on prusa slicer
What's the point in multicolor prints, if we still have to deal with layer lines?
Wdym?
Anycubic is good at one single things: resin printers. They should focus on that and leave FDM to who is really capable.