Anycubic Kobra Go Review: Budget Friendly 3D Printer
While other manufacturers make their 3D printers more “luxury,” Anycubic wanted to find a way to make their printers more affordable. Anycubic’s engineer has done an amazing job removing fat from his beginner-friendly Kobra, giving us the Kobra Go for his incredible introductory price of $189. After the initial sales period, the Kobra Go will retail for $219, which is still a bargain.
I was skeptical of what was being cut from the $320 Kobra. Best 3D printer for beginners, without being a lesser machine. Kobra’s original direct drive was replaced with a Bowden extruder, the touchscreen was replaced with a small knob-driven display, and the entire printer became his DIY kit. His two remaining premium features are the ones I feel most needed. Automatic bed leveling and PEI flex plate.
Indeed, the Kobra Go takes 40 extra minutes to build compared to its predecessor. But in the end, he can have $100 in his pocket and still have a handsome looking machine that prints very well.I call it a good deal and definitely
Specifications: Anycubic Kobra Go
machine footprint | 490 x 445 x 443 mm (19.3 x 17.5 x 17.4) |
build volume | 220 x 220 x 250 mm (8.7 x 8.7 x 9.8 inches) |
material | PLA/PETG/TPU/ABS |
Extruder type | Boden |
nozzle | .4mm (replaceable) |
build platform | PEI Spring Steel, Heated |
filament runout sensor | No |
bed leveling | Inductive autoleveling |
connectivity | Micro SD/USB |
interface | 2.4 inch color LCD with knob |
In the box: Anycubic Kobra Go
Anycubic Kobra Go comes with everything you need to get started, including the tools you need to assemble and maintain your printer, side cutters, nozzle cleaner, grease, and a microSD card with USB adapter. Also available are spare nozzles, a short piece of his PTFE tubing for the extruder, and a small sample of PLA.
There is a paper copy of the Quick Start Guide to help you build your printer. The microSD card comes with a sample model, a PDF copy of the manual, a copy of Cura 4.12.0, and profiles for PLA, TPU, and ABS.
Assembling the Anycubic Kobra Go
The Kobra Go is a do-it-yourself kit that needs to be fully assembled. I assembled the machine in about an hour.
The only part assembled for you is the base, and everything else needs to be screwed together. The instructions are pretty easy to follow, but if you need help, Anycubic has confirmed that the machine is officially released He told me that he would include an assembly video on the microSD card when asked.
There are a few things that make this build kit different from other similar printers I have built. First, there are indentations that help secure the gantry to the base frame. I have to thread the bolts through the bottom, but at least I know the frame is in place.
The Kobra Go was the first kit I built and it also has automatic bed leveling. This means you don’t have to install or mess with Z-height switches. The bed leveling probe attached to the hot end by Anycubic acts as a switch. This is very important. Poor switch placement can cause the nozzle to hit the bed when the bed is first leveled.
Leveling the Anycubic Kobra Go
Anycubic Kobra comes with an inductive automatic bed leveling sensor that uses a non-contact magnetic probe. This is the same leveling sensor found on his standard Kobra that can sense the metal surface of the build plate while hovering a few millimeters above it.
There are no knobs for manual tramming, everything is done on the printer’s touchscreen.
to level the bed[レベリング]Choose. Then select auto-leveling and the printer will take care of the rest. It homes the bed and double taps 25 spots in a grid across the surface of the bed. The sensor stops a few millimeters above the bed to keep the nozzle from touching during auto-leveling.
Note that auto-leveling only knows the position of the sensor, not the nozzle itself. The next step is to set the Z-height that positions the nozzle at the full distance from the bed.Check out our handy tutorials How to level a 3D printer bed To understand how close you should be.
Anycubic did not include a special program for setting the Kobra Go’s Z-height. The manual suggests adjusting Z while doing a test print. This will take several tries. Instead, first move the printer to home,[軸の移動]We recommend going to the menu, selecting Disable Stepper, and manually pushing the nozzle into the center of the bed. Now select the Z axis and make sure the height is ‘0’. Go back to level → Z height, place a piece of paper under the nozzle and adjust Z very slowly until the nozzle just scrapes the bed.
You may need to adjust the Z-height during the test print, but you can get it perfect with just a few clicks of the knob.
Loading Filament on Anycubic Kobra Go
The Anycubic Kobra Go has a Bowden extruder with a stepper drive and gears on the left and a long tube leading to the hotend. Clip the filament at a 45 degree angle and feed it into the extruder, squeeze the extruder lever and push the filament to the hotend.
There is a program that automatically heats the filament to 230 degrees and runs it through the hotend. Press Stop when the filament starts flowing out of the nozzle. You must be in standby to press stop. It doesn’t stop by itself.
Do the same to remove the filament, but in reverse. preheat the tool head,[フィラメントの削除]Select to return the filament to the gear. Remove the filament when the plastic is no longer in tension.
Anycubic Kobra Go design
The Anycubic Kobra Go design is slightly different from the original Kobra. It maintains a modern look with an etched black aluminum alloy gantry and sturdy plastic parts embossed with a futuristic-looking pattern.The hotend cover is small and looks like 2021 Viper – Choosing the best printers for your print farm.
The electronics and 400-watt power supply are the same, but are housed under the build plate for a cleaner footprint. The machine is fairly easy to move as he checks in at 15.4lbs (7KG). It has a 32-bit board, a silent TCM2209 stepper motor, and a very quiet fan.
I was very happy to see that the Kobra Go still has the original Kobra’s PEI coated textured spring steel plates, held in place by magnets. Most prints will fall off as the bed cools, but large, sticky PETG prints can be easily removed by flexing the plate.
The biggest design change is the move to a smaller LED screen with knobs. No pixels are wasted on this simplified screen, and the new menus are very easy to navigate.
Preparation of files and software
Anycubic Kobra Go comes with a copy of Ultimaker Cura 4.12 and 3 material (PLA, ABS, TPU) profiles to get you started right away. How to set up a custom printer is described in the manual. However, I think it would be easier to take the Anycubic Vyper as a base and change the bed size to 220 x 220 x 250.
The copy of Cura that ships with the printer is not customized for Kobra Go, so Click here for the latest version Or use any version of Cura you may already be using with another printer. You can also use PrusaSlicer and built-in profiles for Anycubic Mega Zero with the same bed size.
To get a new profile, Cura’s[設定]→[プリンタ]→[追加]Click.[プリンターの追加]In the menu, scroll down to Anycubic,[Vyper],[追加]then select
Printing with Anycubic Kobra Go
The Kobra Go only comes with a small filament coil, so you’ll need to buy more.See our guide Best filament for 3D printing Here are some examples of our favorite materials.
The first print I did with my Anycubic Kobra was a pre-sliced owl on a microSD card. I used a sample coil of white PLA and it printed fine. Just a few zits from the lower feathers with a little more overhang.
The Kobra Go does a great job with most prints, but the delicate weaponry in this X Wing battery box turned out a little rough. Slowing down the machine may help, but sandpaper can also be used for printing. This model was printed in 9 hours 54 minutes with a layer height of 0.2 mm and a speed of 50 mm. It was /s. Anycubic Matte White PLA. (opens in new tab)
The Kobra Go can produce perfectly smooth and flashy prints if you give it time to run in thin layers that practically disappear with good filament. mm, and was run at a normal speed of 65 mm/s. The vase was scaled to 175% and took 7 hours and 26 minutes to print.print with Anycubic Silk Blue PLA. (opens in new tab)
I chose this practical vase mode bag to see how the Kobra Go handles TPU. That’s right, this is a Taco Bell scan done by DaveMoneySign. The prints were nice and clean and the Kobra Go extruder had no issues feeding the stretchy filament 0.2mm layers and he printed using a speed of 65mm/s he It took 2 hours and 29 minutes. Print with Matterhackers MH Build Translucent Purple TPU. (opens in new tab)
We are working on a 3D printed death racer RC car and all parts have to be very strong. Kobra Go did a great job printing this gear. Polymaker Black Polylite PETG (opens in new tab) Insane stats: .16mm layer, 10 walls, 40% fill, speed is only 40mm/s. It took 1 hour and 15 minutes to print.
Conclusion
The Anycubic Kobra Go is an unexpected addition to Kobra’s lineup. Anycubic has apparently made some cuts to bring the price down, including making the printer a DIY kit. But there are still two features I find most useful: automatic bed leveling and a flexible build plate. There was not.
The assembly instructions are easy to understand, so assembling the machine is not too tedious. I think his extra 40 minutes of work is well worth the money saved. At this low price, it’s the perfect printer to give as a gift to a young maker or to add to a growing flock on a print farm.
If you’re interested in an even cheaper first printer, check out the Ender 2 Pro. Small machine without automatic bed leveling but very good quality and mostly assembled.
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