4 Colour 3D printer

[Redbrickman]

I go back and forth between getting a big core xy machine or not. I just worry about:

1. Ability to fix things if they break. Seems much easier on an open-source bed-slinger

Don't think you will have any problems fixing anything. Most printers have a large community on Discord and plenty of people that will help. Some parts will always need to be sourced from the manufacturer but Ali will carry a lot of parts for the major brands i.e they have parts for Bambu and even the new Crealty K2 printer.

1. Sound: They seem like they are all loud, but maybe that's just at the super fast speeds, so turning speed down will reduce noise?

My Voron is quiter than any Bedslinger I have owned. I believe the Bambu is quite noisy but from what I have read the new Creality K2 is fairly quiet. Having said that if you are running any printer at insane speeds it will be noisy.

1. I'd like a big one, but I think that even comes with cons vs. a small one... or does that just apply to bedslingers?

Everyone wants a big one but it's a fact that most people rarely use the full size of the print bed and print lots of small parts. I built a 300mm Voron and I could easily live with a 250mm instead. The bigger you go the more difficult it is to get good quality prints and I think the Sweet spot with Corexy is around 300mm.

That K2 is shaping up to be a good machine once they sort a few teething problems out. It's also better sealed than any other printers I have seen in the same price range. I think once they get the first surge of deliveries over and the public "beta testers" identify the common issues they will fix them on the next production run.

Some day I'll probably break down and get one.

 

[Redbrickman]

@Nifty

Here is another one to muddy the waters with many good ideas

 

[Artur5]

Old Joe has lost all his credibility for me, since the misleading and almost dishonest marketing claims on their latest models... but I won't enter into this here.

One thing to consider about big printers is that they are far more hungry on Kwxh. Obviously it takes more energy to heat a 35x35 cm bed than a 20x20 cm and heating the bed usually accounts for a large part of the electrical consumption of a 3D printer. That's specially true for filaments like ASA, nylon or PC. but even with PLA my Prusa MK3S has an average consumption of 90-100W while my Voron 2.4 "eats" 200-220 watt. The fact that it prints faster than the Prusa alleviates somehow the extra Kwh but, as a general rule, the bigger the machine, the more expensive to run in electrical bills.

 

[Redbrickman]

You make a valid point @Artur5 about the energy consumption. What I did like about the new Prusa Core one is they have minimised the chamber area so it will be much easier to maintain temperature and for PLA they also have a vent at the top so there is no need to leave the door open or remove the top cover when printing PLA.

Also another good choice is a steel frame instead of aluminium which means there is no bi-metal expansion issues to cause problems as all the guide rails are also steel.

The build area is also a sweet spot at 250 X 220 X 270H. That size is a good one for print quality and for anyone that has limited space on their desk or in their hobby room.

If you are into multicolor printing I believe it will also take the MMU3 add on.