Question 3d printer recommendation

[JBmodz]

I am looking for an upgrade to my elegoo neptune 3 pro, The two printers that come to mind are the prusa mk3, which I have heard of several people on this forum using for portables, and the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 1. Anybody who has experience with these my questions are, how is the print quality? Are there any issues that you have with it? Feel free to bring up any other printers I should consider.

 

[Stitches]

The Centauri Carbon is the best price to performance printer available atm. Modern gen speeds for an incredible price. Whether the CC1 will ever have multimaterial is uncertain, leaning towards no, but for a single material machine it is excellent. The Bambu A1 comes in close second with good speeds and reliable multimaterial.

The Prusa MK3 was and still is a great printer for its generation, but printing overall has moved into the next league and you'd be doing yourself a great disservice buying a 9 year old bedslinger with no future.

 

[JBmodz]

The Centauri Carbon is the best price to performance printer available atm. Modern gen speeds for an incredible price. Whether the CC1 will ever have multimaterial is uncertain, leaning towards no, but for a single material machine it is excellent. The Bambu A1 comes in close second with good speeds and reliable multimaterial.

The Prusa MK3 was and still is a great printer for its generation, but printing overall has moved into the next league and you'd be doing yourself a great disservice buying a 9 year old bedslinger with no future.

CC1 is probably gonna be my choice, I brought up the mk3 because Ive seen what ginger and cy are able to do with them.

 

[cy]

CC1 is probably gonna be my choice, I brought up the mk3 because Ive seen what ginger and cy are able to do with them.

I got my Prusa mk3s+ before the Bambu printers were really prevalent. At the time, your options were to "just get a Prusa" or get an Ender printer that didn't work half the time. It's definitely an outstanding printer and it's served me extremely well! As Stitches said though, it really is outclassed by a lot of the newer printer options we have nowadays. Would recommend only if you can get one for cheap.

 

[Wesk]

I got my Prusa mk3s+ before the Bambu printers were really prevalent. At the time, your options were to "just get a Prusa" or get an Ender printer that didn't work half the time. It's definitely an outstanding printer and it's served me extremely well! As Stitches said though, it really is outclassed by a lot of the newer printer options we have nowadays. Would recommend only if you can get one for cheap.

Outclassed is an understatement. I thought I would continue to use my MK3 after I received the CC but it was very clear, very quickly that bed slingers are all but irrelevant when compared to coreXY.

As stated by everyone else, go the Carbon.

 

[subierekt]

Id still reccommend a p2s or p1s over any of the above listed if you can afford it. If you really cant swing it then CC1

 

[JBmodz]

Id still reccommend a p2s or p1s over any of the above listed if you can afford it. If you really cant swing it then CC1

Im not a fan of the closed off ecosystem of bambulab, so Im most likely gonna stick with elegoo.

 

[JBmodz]

Id still reccommend a p2s or p1s over any of the above listed if you can afford it. If you really cant swing it then CC1

Do you think there would be noticeable print quality difference between the p1s and centauri?

 

[subierekt]

Do you think there would be noticeable print quality difference between the p1s and centauri?

Yes, multimaterial is more than worth it. I feel like the people who dont care about it havent used it enough or arent using it for things they should be, its definitely more than just multi color.

Im not a fan of the closed off ecosystem of bambulab, so Im most likely gonna stick with elegoo.

The "closed off ecosystem" thing is greatly dramatized. A lot of the proprietary stuff is what makes bambu better, and at the end of the day if you really want to you can always install alternative firmware. Bambu actually allowed for this after patching the original security flaw that allowed it. I prefer open source, but imo nothing comes close. Theres a lot of things that bambu just does without you having to think about that makes for a better experience. One on one these things arent that important, but when you add them all together it puts it above a good bit, imo. And dont get me wrong, i like my CC, i just dont think its in the same class as an x1c/p1s/p2s. Close but not quite.

 

[JBmodz]

Yes, multimaterial is more than worth it. I feel like the people who dont care about it havent used it enough or arent using it for things they should be, its definitely more than just multi color.

The "closed off ecosystem" thing is greatly dramatized. A lot of the proprietary stuff is what makes bambu better, and at the end of the day if you really want to you can always install alternative firmware. Bambu actually allowed for this after patching the original security flaw that allowed it. I prefer open source, but imo nothing comes close. Theres a lot of things that bambu just does without you having to think about that makes for a better experience. One on one these things arent that important, but when you add them all together it puts it above a good bit, imo. And dont get me wrong, i like my CC, i just dont think its in the same class as an x1c/p1s/p2s. Close but not quite.

Seems like the p1s isn't as good as the cc1 for abrasive filaments out of the box, like cf pla and petg which I will be using alot of.

 

[JamesPi]

Seems like the p1s isn't as good as the cc1 for abrasive filaments out of the box, like cf pla and petg which I will be using alot of.

A better (hardened steel) hotend isn't that expensive, and that would make the printer capable of printing more abrasive filaments.

 

[subierekt]

Seems like the p1s isn't as good as the cc1 for abrasive filaments out of the box, like cf pla and petg which I will be using alot of.

$20 gets you the hardened extruder gears like the x1c, and the hotends are wear items anyway so you will replace those.

 

[Stitches]

Do you think there would be noticeable print quality difference between the p1s and centauri?

Not much in the way of print quality difference, but the P1S is quieter.

Also the CC toolhead can be modded with a single cheap bracket to use Bambu A1 quickswap nozzles without any firmware changes, but there is also a custom firmware suite in active development as well as a future klipper conversion. So the CC gets bonus points in my eyes