$55 for an FDM 3D printer? What kind of hot mess is a used Voxelabs Aquila?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 พ.ค. 2024
- Voxelabs occasionally sells their printers as 'used' and explicitly with no warranty. In fact, their AliExpress listing implies that they don't even know the state of the printers before they ship them back out to customers. But hey, a Voxelabs Aquila for $55 ($60 minus $5 coupon) is darn tempting.
I rolled the dice on an Aquila and it while it's definitely not anything I'd recommend to a newbie this is probably the most value I've gotten dollar-for-dollar on any 3D printer purchase.
00:00 Intro
00:55 Unboxing and Assembly
03:57 Build Issues
06:17 First Print
07:10 One Week of Prints
09:39 Issues
11:07 Is it worth $55? How about $150?
The replacement Z endstop mount is available here: www.printables.com/model/2522...
The bed knob replacement is part of the Big Plans Print System dual Z gantry here: www.printables.com/model/2399...
Get your own 'used' Voxelabs printer here: www.aliexpress.com/item/32568...
Or buy a new one here and skip the potential issues (affiliate): amzn.to/3dgbCOR
As mentioned in the video the Aquila is a near part-for-part clone of the Ender 3 V2 which comes in about $100 more (affiliate): amzn.to/3ddX55X
And almost all i3 style printers are built on top of the Prusa design: www.prusa3d.com/category/orig...
Music courtesy of the amazing StreamBeats: www.streambeats.com/ - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
I'm amazed how good the prints came out of this right after assembly.
Yeah, looks great right out of the box!
I bought my ender 3 open box years back and it's worked great since I've had it. I can say it did have a warped heated bed, I don't know if that's why it was returned. That was a common problem with the ender 3 at the time. I easily fixed the problem with a glass bed.
same, bought an Ender 3 v2 from microcenter open box for 100 usd. Nothing was wrong with it. It's been working perfectly.
The bed is always warped on an Ender 3. That goes hand in hand with "super thin aluminum", and it applies to EVERY printer using those cheap/light beds.
You can complain about the characterization all you want, facts are facts. They need to make it cheap, they need to make it low mass. They do NOT need to make it flat. That's what glass is for if they care to. They also have YOU to "make it flat". Shell out some cash for a new bed(or glass), or a bed level sensor to compensate for the wavy ruffle bed.
@@Grimmwoldds It was kind of funny at the time. I was new to 3D printing and I watched a ton of videos on how to level the bed. I would just go round and round and could never get the thing level. My ender 3 came with one of those magnetic plastic build plates so it did nothing to make the heated bed flat. It took me like a month to realize the bed was warped. I'm not complaining and I didn't care, I got my ender 3 for like $150.00 which I think was about 4 years ago now and that was a crazy good price for it at the time. A glass bed was a really cheap fix, it did add another kind of learning curve because glass is a bit harder to print on them the bed they sent but all in all it's been a fantastic machine. I still use it to this day! It's not my favorite machine anymore, I much prefer dual z rod's over single z rod machine's. But I will say, to this day my ender 3 does still give me the best quality prints of all my machines except for my resin printer.
@@masamasa1815 The problem with Creality(and most cheap bed slinger makers) is illustrated by the fact that they always add a 2nd z stepper, in the worst possible way(splitter cable instead of z tilt adjustment). The rod does all the work, and the stepper is nothing but a liability. If only they would spend more time and money refining operation rather than trying to sell 2 or 3 upgrades per "machine".
It is their market though. I saw a guy on an Annex K3(corexy similar to Ratrig/Voron) speed demo asking whether his Ender 3 V2, upgraded with sprite pro and BL touch, should be expecting the same level of speed(while printing PC-ABS compared to the K3 printing PLA).
@@Grimmwoldds yeah, I definitely agree with you. I think perhaps all of the add ons may appeal to some but in reality at least since I've been printing the basic tech hasn't changed. When I was new to printing I would buy every add on that a saw until I realized and this is very subjective to I guess skill level but my prints came out better closer to stock. I still to this day manually level my bed, I find it to be easy and don't feel like I need the sensor. Touch screens really don't add much to the experience just a little glitz. So yeah you're right, ide much rather at this point they would innovate rather then release a more expensive version of the same thing. That said, especially for a beginner the ender 3 is a darn good machine. You aren't out a lot of money, parts are cheap and readily available.
I just went and bought a used X2 from them, my first ali express purchase. Hopefully this does not end in disaster, if it works out it's a really great resource for building out a farm.
An update, I got it in the mail and it turns on. The bracket that holds the extruder is bent and the display wheel is broken off. Other than that it looks like it will work. I've ordered another because it looks like this is a good deal just for the spare parts if nothing else. The motherboard, hot bed and PSU have a resale value on ebay more than the price of the printer so it's a good deal.
Yeah, as long as you know enough to fix some minor problems these kits are a steal!
I bought my first printer as a Voxelab aquila. Bent carriage - hammered it into place, upgraded it with crtouch, pei bed, direct drive, replaced some parts, updated the firmware and now its pumpin out prints 🔥🔥🔥 i am upset as i paid $100 initially 🤣
Mine came 90% assembled, broken mount for the screen, broken tensioners, belt was also broken. I would say it was in a Much better state.
So you got an Aquila with a bent carriage as well? Wonder if that's a common issue?
I went down this route for my voxelab printers, I bought two because I was scared one was going to be totaled, the first was ruined by the previous owner and returned :( but the second was brand new in box, and I mean it, it was like a brand new retail box just that it had been sent back. So try your luck with buying returns but I have found with my below average luck that I got a 50/50 on a good and bad printer
Even 50/50 you're coming out ahead of retail - and worst case you have a bunch of spare parts!
I did the same and got lucky....one had a bad screen but otherwise it was fine and the second one I got was still sealed in the box brand new.
When you buy an open box or used item for that cheap then you should only be buying for spare parts. If it just happens to work then you got a bargain and you are ahead of the game. The parts you got are worth the $55.00, trying buying the same parts one part at a time and see what that would cost you.
That's exactly why I bought this kit! My old i3 style printer circa 2014 was getting long in the tooth and $55 was less than replacing/upgrading the PSU/heated bed on that printer.
omg the unopened pla got me
Yep, the only thing in the box that had been left unopened was the sample PLA.
Good video. Keep it up
Thanks, will do!
Nice video!
Glad you enjoyed it
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