I don’t know if this means anything.
I don’t see here, the version of firmware mine has upgraded too, I was thinking mine is at a 2.7.3
Not sure what the klipper is a true klipper or not.
I’m pretty sure that’s still the case (no Klipper access). But I’m pretty much the last person looking for an entrance so I m not 100% sure.
Normally I don’t think that the solution lies there. I think this is the kind of thing where you have to find the right nerd. Locked him in a room with the printer for 1-2 month and hugged him when he came out. You don’t have to force a nerd to work because they have an inner compulsion and can no longer sleep without finding the solution - And in Asia they get the guys for 400-500 USD a month. So it’s really strange that, for example, the included print profiles aren’t bursting at the seams and there is no spaghetti detection integrated into all printers… This is actually more what I expect than access to klipper. So that they finally put the right people on the right topics and not everyone is in group and hierarchy dancing around the same problem. And these nerds rarely come from a top university with a top degree - this nerds tick differently. They are not manageable, oversleep, come to work late (because the task was still on their mind until 3 a.m.) or are already there in the morning because they fell asleep in the chair. But there final output is just incredible.
Thought this one might interest you…print volume wise, multiple print heads (XL like?!?)…auto-leveling, etc. However, no lidar or camera (yet), but relying on caterpillar movement system…
barely 2500 euros… (a bargain 
)
That makes 11 times the Elegoo Orange Storm Giga has been mentioned in this thread.
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Who’s counting?
Thing is, I bought recently a Saturn 4 Ultra, and as result just got this promotional sale mail from them, and thought “Why not share it?” as there is no way that I would ever purchase such an enormous printer. It has, however, the largest print volume I’ve seen to date, for a prosumer dedicated 3D printer.
I meant it is clearly a popular printer when people wonder where things might go.
Same here, I shared it twice.
Again…who’s counting? 
I know I didn’t…
PS- but it might piss off BL and push them into doing something about their new release… (or not) 
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The 500mm ratrig vcore 4 is interesting for those looking at huge printers. Thats the biggest i would personally go
I’ve just looked at the build volume for the Elegoo Orange Storm Giga… It’s 800x800x1000mm
That’s too big for my liking… and where would I put it…
I’d be happy with something like 500x500x500mm
500x500x500 would be the max acceptable for me as well. The Storm Giga is… way to giga(ntic), to big for my needs. Plus, I’d have no space for it. It might however present some interest for those running larger print farms.
Bear in mind that if you ever did want to print something that might approach 500x500mm in either xy dimensions, then as a practical reality you’d probably need a larger theoretical build area in order to get the needed temperature uniformity. One could argue that Bambulab “cheats” on this issue when it says that it’s entire 256x256mm theoretical build area is all viable. Though it may be true for printing small objects near the margin, it’s a stretch to declare it for large objects. If you doubt that, try printing either horizontally or vertically a 256mm wide dog-bone test coupon in ASA and see how that works out for you. In contrast, Creality has a 235x235mm build plate but limits the build area on it to 220x220mm, essentially throwing away the outside margin. I assume the reason they do that has to do with accepting losses in build area in order to guarantee acceptable temperature uniformity. Or does it instead harken back to the days when people attached glass plates with binder clips, and so needed the extra margin for that to avoid nozzle collisions with the clips? I’m not sure which.
Either way, the point stands if aiming for bigger target dimensions. The wider/longer the printed object, the more important temperature uniformity becomes in order to avoid warping. Maybe at a 500x500mm target you have to throw away a lot more, if only because the requirements for temperature uniformity at scale would be even tighter. If you had a need for 500x500mm today, then buying an orangestorm giga might be the only way to guarantee that you had enough useable xy build area with enough temperature consistency (though the way it subdivides into 4 different heating zones possibly does undermine that endeavor almost completely).
The problem with a 500x500mm ratrig is that it’s not flying gantry. Imagine z-hopprinting a 10kg object on ratrig the way 3dprintnerd did recently on his “Bluestorm” giga. Yeah, good luck with that. At some point, the sheer weight of the print is going to matter. The “bluestorm”/orangestorm could handle it, because the added weight isn’t moved after it’s printed. At least in that respect the orangestorm giga got it right.
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How about ‘borrowing’ the idea from Ellegoo then?
4 x build-plate of 256x256.
Although given your description above the edges feature wouldn’t be fixed, the cumulative heat in the centre where they all touch could generate the heat.
As an owner of an Anycubic Kobra 2 Max… 500 is getting a bit too much, in my opinion.
I idlily speculate on this thought sometimes. Like what would be a good larger sized printer, if Bambu went that route? Would they go bed slinger with it, or CoreXY?
That Kobra 2 max takes up a lot of space as a bed slinger. Even if it was just a CoreXY, that’s a hearty foot print. I don’t entirely believe that there’s the market there for such a large printer to the extent that people sometimes make it out like there is. There’s a few other things besides just the foot print, that make owning and operating such a larger printer less of a mainstream idea.
Managing a spot for my Kobra 2 max is kind of a pain. I don’t really have an ideal solution and it mostly is in the way in one manner or another. It’s easier to manage the placement of 3 X1C/P1S vs 1 Kobra 2 max.
So it makes me think. Like what size would Bambu target? What would benefit them while not being so big as to make it a cumbersome purchase? My guess is around the 300-350 mark. I’d personally prefer in the 400 range like the Kobra 2 max, but I think practically speaking, 300-350 seems more likely to hit a larger audience, and be an easier device to manage.
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I tend to agree that a 350x350x350 for the next X1C iteration would satisfy the needs and reasonable expectations of most users, while the 450 to 500 would most likely be the maximum size that would sell, but would sell less given the large footprint. And, there’s also the mechanical side of such a printer. As Malc has pointed out, BL does a realy good job software wise, but from the hardware perspective it appears to be struggling and still has a long way to go.
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I would even go so far that a larger printer would generally be too late for me.
To be able to suddenly print something so large after Ender was impressive. Not because the plate suddenly became 256 x 256 instead of 220 x 220… Because it also got the appropriate material out of the nozzle in order to get something onto the plate that can also fill the space.
So I quickly asked myself the question, how do I get more? Now I have personally answered the question as follows: It makes at least for me no sense. Maybe a belt printer, but we’re far away from being able to take it seriously and the probability that something will never happen is greater than something will happen.
Just brainstorming a bit here, if you build a larger version of a Bambu printer using all the electronics and motors but with longer rails, threaded rods and belts. Could the firmware be modified to accommadate the larger build area. I think there is an open source(?) version of the X1 Carbon firmware but could it be altered enough to account for thing like extra bed levelling points. Making a larger bed and heater might be the biggest problem trying to make it flat enough.
On second thought, since the line segments along which any two different heat zones meet on the orangestorm giga could be called a “middle”, maybe if you start out with enough heat soaking those regions actually do become more or less uniform and continuous. Dare I say seamless? Somebody with a precise enough thermal camera could maybe answer this empirical question in no time. I’d categorize it as “must know” due diligence before buying one, but if that and the other problems it has had get solved, it might well be worth it for the money. At that size there just aren’t more than a measly few 3D printers to choose among.
I clipped this image today from the elegoo website. Rather enigmatic, given that they’ve already sold it to the public. Maybe it’s a new version that fixes earlier problems?
At nowhere near the same size, but from clues left on X tomorrow Qidi is announcing the X-Plus4:
Maybe deduce from the details of tomorrow’s announcement what new features/capabilities one might reasonably expect to find in follow-on versions of the X-Max and Q series. AFAIK, other than the X1E, Qidi is the only one currently offering active heating in the build chamber. Maybe series 4 will offer even higher active heating temperatures that what they offer on Series 3? Easy swap nozzles? Bigger build volumes? Hopefully something more substantive than just a sleeker, more compact industrial design on the exterior, though it does seem to have at least that much to separate it from Series 3.
I understand and agree with most of it.
I am a cynic; I believe every 3D printer I have experienced is a prototype suitable for hobbyists and technically educated or interested persons. Not a product. But this isn’t a BL problem. I see it everywhere and will continue. I may be wrong, and with time, I hope to and will likely be.
I wasn’t aware of such a service. It’s amazing. Is this available for everyone? Or just as a business?
Splitting the bed into regions makes all the sense in such a large printer. The PrusaXL bed heating seemed great to me. However, I have never read any reviews regarding how good or bad it is.
I’m just guessing; they seem to do a proper marker assessment. I am no expert, but I would say inquiries among a representative and large group of persons may give them the ideal size for a larger printer. Assuming they continue to focus on the desktop 3d printing market.
350x350 seems plausible, yet I believe it still poses challenges (e.g. mechanical or thermal, as mentioned by @NeverDie) to make it work as a typical BL printer.
I base my answer on the mods I´ve seen in other printer brands. You can reuse certain parts, and there is no impossible. However, the cost isn’t reasonable. I believe many do it just for fun, requiring experience and commitment. In the case of the X1C, you can add further work to it and the need for a good team. But I doubt that it will work as an X1C.
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The biggest problem with heated beds is when the heating pad is smaller than the plate that its heating.
What I haven’t yet resolved to my own satisfaction regarding big prints is the potential for error. One could argue that bigger prints means longer prints, which maybe equates to greater opportunity for an error to arise. What then? Throw it out and start all over? Depending on when in the print cycle it occurs, that could be fairly expensive in both time and treasure. You may not notice until you’re halway through that warpage or layer delamination has occured. I suppose these days those are maybe the biggest risks at printing big?
On the other hand, if you take the view that you’re time is valuable, maybe that’s an acceptable risk versus the more conservative route of assembling something big out of smaller printed parts, which may end up consuming more of your personal time.
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