After a few quality control issues, Artillery has now released its 4th revision of the Sidewinder X1, which claims to address all of the quality control issues in the first versions. I printed those black enclosures out of PLA+ so I can’t acetone smooth it like with ABS, but I may try getting a better finish later on.

There is a bit more curling visible than I’d like and on prints where you can see it, it looks like either the filament pulling up on the toolhead, the motion system having some inaccuracies or the spool mount up that likes to wobble the entire frame is still causing some imperfections. Adjustments are made by loosening each of the screws to shift each spool holder closer or further away from each other. Now, what’s interesting is that it looks like the X1 at some point used a different type of sleeving that actually bent more smoothly, you can even see that in the background of some of their YouTube videos.Tom's 3D is published by New Media Thomas Sanladerer and covers new developments in consumer and professional 3D printing.

There are a few weak design points: the power cable for the heated bed really needs some extra strain relief where it attaches at the rear (the bed is powered by mains 240v AC, which makes it fast to heat up but, well, voltages are lethal so you don't want any chance of fraying cables here! I’ve got a shelf mounted above mine with a multi-spool setup that’s a pretty easy print and uses standard thane bearings for the rollers. With this one, the spots in the corners where the height adjustment screws are located are significantly colder, so any warp-happy prints that extend out to those areas might give you some trouble sticking down. On the Sidewinder X1 we get a large 310×310 mm heatbed made from glass that has a textured finish on it.The whole assembly and calibration business can be dealt with in less than 20 minutes if performed by an experienced user. On the original Titan, these are made from POM so that filament doesn’t stick to it as you pull it out of the hotend, on the X1, it looks like it’s ABS, and I did have this clog up solidly once when trying to unload filament. To prevent this, 3D printer manufacturers install a cable relief bracket to reduce the chance of the power cables breaking down over time. The cooling performance isn’t perfect because it is powered by an ordinary aluminum-based heatsink bolted to the mount. We prefer using slicers such as Cura and Prusaslicer, which offer much more functionality than Repetier Host.

com is a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review. Being flat means you don't need to use auto-leveling as is normally required with aluminum heated and non-heated beds due to non-level effects caused by manufacturing. Plug the device in, install the filament spool, and begin the calibration process by using the touchscreen.

In the front left of the base, the color touchscreen resides, and on top the SD card and USB outlet. In comparison, the Creality Cr10 V3 must print at 40mm/s due to its direct drive extruder and light frame. From what I’ve read it seems like the difference is really about what you are printing but wanted to double check.