Today we present the new 3D printer ELEGOO Centauri Carbon in our analysis or review. A system that offers speed and good specifications.
The CoreXY ELEGOO Centauri Carbon printer is a 3D printer with an attractive design which highlights its watertight chamber with controlled temperature. A set that we can start up almost plug and play and forget about adjustment problems. As you will see, this ELEGOO printer is an interesting machine to get started, since its interface and use is very simple. In addition, we have a good management software and compatibility with multiple materials.
In the following article we will explain in a simple way how it works and what features it offers.
Details of ELEGOO Centauri Carbon
Unboxing, assembly and first contact
The new ELEGOO Centauri Carbon 3D printer is very easy to assemble. Thanks to its boxed design we have a system that does not need manual calibration and offers few adjustment problems.
Main start-up steps
- Cut locking flanges and remove plastics.
- Fit the roll holder arm.
- Remove fixing screws from the base plate.
- Follow calibration process on screen.
Assembly, adjustment and connection
Setting up the ELEGOO Centauri Carbon printer assembly is very simple. The Core XY structure offers us a very robust metal and plastic frame, we have front and top locking glass.
Axes and leveling of the 3D printer
Thanks to the self-leveling system that includes the ELEGOO Centauri Carbon we can have the operating system directly. We will only have to follow the steps indicated in the auto leveling menu, the first phase of leveling and vibration takes 20 minutes. The normal leveling phase takes less time and is not always necessary.
Components, control and 3D software
Structure and base
The ELEGOO Centauri Carbon printer offers a very careful design. We have a large front door and a top cover that allows access to all components. In the lower front we have a touch screen and we have a USB port to enter data. On the side we have the roll holder and in the rear area several air and waste outlets.
In the box we have a USB 2.0 port in the lower front area to perform firmware updates and introduce 3D models although we can also use its Wifi connection for this.
Inside the case we have an auxiliary internal temperature control fan, this is quite noisy when set to maximum. In the rear internal area we have the head cleaner with a waste box that expels them to the outside through the rear area.
In the area of the video camera we have an integrated LED light, it is practical, but the light is not powerful and the dark glasses of the case do not help with the entry of light.
In the lower area we have the two-sided magnetic plate where the printing of our 3D figure will be made. Depending on the material we are working with, one side or the other is recommended.
Printing head
The ELEGOO Centauri Carbon ‘s default printhead is made of quality materials, the extrusion components are metallic and ceramic. It has a powerful cooling fan and a head that facilitates heat exchange. The temperature that the head can reach is 320 ºC, which allows us to work with a good range of materials.
It is easy to completely disassemble the head by detaching the plastic housing with the fan. We can see how the heating head and the extruder which can be replaced by spare parts. We have automatic filament cutting which is very convenient. The filament loading tube we notice that quite tense, it is better to loosen it a little to eliminate pronounced curvatures.
Controls of the ELEGOO Centauri Carbon
The ELEGOO Centauri Carbon 3D printer offers a 4.3″ touch screen to control all the basic aspects of this hardware. It is possible to access menus for leveling, temperature control, job loading process, extruder and four speed modes for printing.
Part Design and Laminator
The ELEGOO Slicer software designed for this printer is a customized version of Orca Slicer, the driver and firmware is proprietary. The program will guide us in the system configuration with our printer, we can connect it by Wifi looking at the IP of the printer in the printer settings.
- To laminate the models we will use the ELEGOO Slicer program .
- Libraries of prefabricated 3D objects in the webs Thingiverse / Grab3D / Cults3D.
- If we want to design our 3D parts we can use Tinkercad software.
Real-time management and camera
Inside the ELEGOO Slicer program to have real time control and we can see the integrated 720p webcam we have to go to the Device window. There we have the Fluidd-like environment where it is comfortable to manage all the settings, we can also use macros to capture images or other functions.
- TIP: We can connect from our smartphone using a browser with the machine IP.
Test bench
Print quality
We tested the ELEGOO Centauri Carbon printer with several 3D models and different materials. In our tests we are going to use the most common material which is PLA (Polylactic Acid) and also ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Butadiene Styrene). The system after pre-heating starts to work without any problem, for this material it is not necessary to heat the printer box.
As we can see in our Benchy PLA model we obtain a very good final quality and we can see that it is VERY fast. For the definition that gives us this head we have a good geometry and well profiled finishes.
- PLA printing: 118 minutes / Balanced Mode
We made another impression of Buddha ABS print, a more complicated material, this time we keep the chamber closed and raise the temperatures as requested by this material. As we can see, the result is good and the definition is high.
- ABS printing: 25 minutes / Balanced Mode.
Thermal and noise
We looked at the thermals of the ELEGOO Centauri Carbon printer, the system heats up normally and we did not notice any abnormal hot spots on its components. In terms of noise, the printer reaches a level of 65 dB in normal use. Inside a room it is quite bearable and not tiring, only the rear auxiliary fan is annoying and we recommend using it as little as possible.
Conclusions of the review and purchase link
Opinion
As we can see, the ELEGOO Centauri Carbon is a very easy to use, fast and efficient 3D printer. In a few fully guided steps we have the system up and running, we have autocalibration to simplify its use for everyone. As we have seen, the 3D printing quality is good and fast. We can make parts for domestic or professional use with materials of all kinds.
Thanks to its CoreXY design everything comes perfectly assembled and with good adjustments, something that avoids problems. We have a sealed printing chamber to improve the overall quality with some materials such as ABS. The software and firmware is closed, something that limits us for now, but it is very easy to use. The inclusion of an internal video camera allows monitoring of the manufacturing process, but the lighting can be improved.
This ELEGOO Centauri Carbon 3D printer is a very interesting machine for 3D printing because of its speed and ease of use. For the price at which it will be on sale it is interesting for users who want to get started.
Where to buy
Score
- Fast
- Very compact design
- Volume 256×3
- Plug and Play system
- Good finishing quality
- Automatic cutting
- Wide range of materials to work with
- Firmware and OS no open
- Webcam and lighting could be improved
- Noisy rear fan