Frequently asked questions

Usually none of them. Build volume and an actively heated chamber are the only two capabilities no accessory can add, so unless your prints do not fit or your tall ASA parts keep splitting, a part fixes your problem for a fraction of a machine.

If you do need one: the H2S for build volume, the X2D for chamber control, the P2S only if the missing touchscreen and slow nozzle change are your specific complaints.

No, and this is the most common out-of-date claim in the niche. It stopped being the top of the range in March 2025 when the H2D launched, and the X2D followed in April 2026. It is still a capable enclosed machine with lidar and a hardened nozzle as standard, which makes it a reasonable used buy and a poor new one at old flagship prices.

The sealed AMS and AMS 2 Pro fit the enclosed P-series and X-series machines. The AMS Lite fits the A1 and A1 mini and nothing else. The AMS HT is a single-spool high-temperature unit - check fitment for your specific model.

Buying the wrong one is the most common wasted purchase in this category, so check the unit against your exact printer before ordering.

Yes if you print anything other than single-color PLA. The 2 Pro actively dries filament where the original only monitors humidity, and because the spool you dry is the spool you print from there is no window where it reabsorbs moisture during a long print. For single-color PLA in a dry room, the original is enough.

Only if your filament contains filler harder than steel: carbon fiber, glass fiber, metal, wood, mineral, glitter or glow pigment. Plain PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA and unfilled TPU do not need it and a stainless nozzle lasts years on those.

Glow-in-the-dark filament is the one that surprises people - the pigment is strontium aluminate and it wears a stainless nozzle quickly.

Skin oils on the plate, most of the time. Wash it with dish soap and hot water - not isopropyl alcohol, which dissolves oils and redeposits them as a thinner film as it evaporates. Then check Z offset: the first layer should look like flattened ribbons fused together, not round beads sitting on the surface.

Three signs are close to conclusive. Popping or hissing from the nozzle while printing is steam. Filament that snaps rather than flexing when you bend it has absorbed moisture. And stringing that gets worse through a long print, rather than being constant from the first layer, points at the spool releasing moisture as it warms.

Yes if you print PETG, TPU, nylon, polycarbonate or anything carbon-filled, because those absorb moisture noticeably and a dryer pays for itself in rescued filament. Probably not if you print only PLA in a dry room with quick turnover, where sealed storage with desiccant is the better spend.

Not reliably. The A1 and A1 mini are open-frame, and ABS needs warm air around the whole part to avoid warping and layer splitting. A fabric enclosure brings small parts into reach and will not make tall ones work, because a passive box traps bed heat rather than creating chamber heat.

Four usual causes, all free to fix: the filament is wet, the chamber had not warmed up before the print started, the first layer never properly stuck to a clean plate, or part cooling is too high. That last one catches people who fitted a cooling fan to improve PLA overhangs - it works against ABS.

Yes, for two or three colors. Add a pause at the layer where the color changes, swap filament by hand, purge a short length and resume. There is no purge tower, so it wastes far less filament than an AMS - for a two-tone nameplate it is the better method.

If starting prints from the app genuinely irritates you, yes - it is the feature people buy a P2S for at a fraction of a printer, it fits the existing P1P/P1S screen cutout and powers from the printer's own USB port. If you have never minded the app, it changes nothing about print quality and you would be adding third-party firmware to the stack.

Five things, all free: wash the build plate with dish soap and hot water, clean and re-grease the linear rails, clean the extruder gears, check belt tension, and inspect the PTFE filament path for loose connectors. Together that takes about an hour and outperforms most parts you could buy.

One textured PEI plate as your default, then a second plate rather than a better one. Plates are consumables and a contaminated or gouged plate stops the queue until you deal with it. Add a smooth surface only if some of your prints have a visible bottom face.

In order of likelihood: a snapped filament end left in the path (dry filament is brittle), a PTFE tube that has worked loose at a connector, a badly wound spool binding against its own flange, or worn extruder gears. The first three are free to fix and take minutes.

No, and it says so everywhere. There is no test lab behind this site, no measurement rig and no benchmark data. What you get is published specifications, each attributed to a source, plus judgment about which problem a product solves. Where a figure could not be attributed, it is absent rather than estimated.

Because prices in this category move weekly and a figure typed into an article is wrong within a month. Every buy button goes to the live retailer listing instead, which is always current. You will never see a stale number presented as today's price here.

Amazon affiliate commissions, and nothing else - no sponsored reviews, no paid placements, and no manufacturer supplying hardware in exchange for coverage. If you buy through a link here the site earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.

The clearest evidence it does not: the most important page on the site concludes that most P1S owners should keep their printer and spend a fifth of the money on a part. That earns considerably less than recommending a new machine would.

Yes, and corrections get read first. Point at the page and the specific claim and the source will get checked. Being blunt about it is more useful than being polite.