I tried the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 3D printer and it could be the only one I'll ever need

3D printer technology has improved drastically over the last few years, so if you're looking to upgrade an older printer, or if you are looking to start your printing journey, there's never been a better time, as prices have dropped and competition is fierce,

One of the more recent developments is the move away from the older cartesian style printers, where the moving parts are controlled by individual moving motors, to CoreXY, which has fewer moving parts and instead relies upon a clever belt system. The benefits of this are less vibration, less weight and, most importantly for many, significantly faster print speeds. Pair this with one of the best laptops for 3D modelling, and you've got yourself a great setup.

Elegoo's first foray into Core XY FDM printing comes in the shape of the Centauri Carbon, claimed to be fast and precise, as well as print out of the box. I've owned and tested 3D printers of all types, shapes and sizes over the years, so was keen to see if the Centauri lived up to these claims, in the way Elegoo's resin printers do.

Elegoo Centauri Carbon: What's in the box?

Unlike many FDM 3D printers out there, the Elegoo Centauri Carbon ships with almost zero work to do. There are no gantries to bolt together, components to attach and all that is needed is to remove the accessories and shipping foam from inside, then remove three screws and plug in the screen. This means you can be up and running in just a few minutes.

The Centauri is an enclosed system, styled similarly to Elegoo's Mars resin printers, with similar graphics and a dark grey metal housing. It's a solidly built bit of kit, so keep that in mind. You will want a strong desk or workbench, not just because of the weight but also because it will cause a flimsier desk to shake a little in use, as the motors are pretty strong.

The front panel is a hinged door, while the sides and back are sheet metal. The right-hand side is where you mount filament reels and feed into the filament guide. Different users may have different preferences here but I personally like this placement. I'm not a fan of printers where the filament sits up top, as I can more easily fit it under a shelf.

You won't find many ports or physical buttons here. The rear has the power input and switch and the front has a single USB port. That's it. Everything else is done via the very nice touchscreen interface, which connects via Wifi to your host machine, running Elegoo Slicer (more on that in a bit).

Certain filaments require different setups and the Centauri caters to this well, with a lift-off glass top panel, and a two-sided build plate, both of which are clearly marked so you know what to use and when.

Everything is well made, nicely laid out and looks much nicer on the desk than a gantry-style printer. The only letdown for me was the short power cable but that's a cheap and easy thing to change, if you even need to.

The build volume here isn't bad either, although doesn't quite match up to some of the larger printers out there. But at 256 x 256 x 256mm it's respectable.

There is a camera built into the printer, which you can use to film timelapses of your print jobs. Elegoo's Mars printers have this too but, while they are less useful for this, the Centauri works well, given enough light. The smoked glass and solid walls might make you think it wouldn't see much but it works pretty well and has a handy LED light to help with this.

As well as timelapses, this camera can be used for real-time monitoring of the print job, especially useful for those who print in a different room from their printer. This is done via the slicer app, once the print job starts.

Elegoo Centauri Carbon: Software

There are two parts to the software equation for this printer. Firstly there's the onboard software, controlled by the touchscreen. This can do everything from basic settings such as language to calibrating the printer, levelling the bed and preheating the nozzle and bed. You can adjust the bed height, change temperature values and print directly from a USB memory stick, meaning it works great for those who don't have a computer nearby or are not on the same network.

Elegoo's slicer software is the second half of the puzzle and is where you load files, prepare them for the printer, slice them and export.

You can also set the printer and filament profiles, tweak settings for layer thicknesses, speed, and so on – everything you need to fine-tune for the best results. You can also define things like which side of the build plate will be used, and whether you want to use the onboard camera to film a timelapse and save sliced files for repeat print jobs.

The software is very simple to use, with a logical tab-based layout, so you only have to view the tools appropriate to the current stage of the workflow.

I won't go into the individual settings here, as that is best left to a separate article, but you can tweak any setting you need to get the best results possible, finding the balance between speed and accuracy for the job you are printing.

Elegoo Centauri Carbon: Performance

So we know the build is great, the software does its job and it's easy to use, but does it actually work? You'll probably not be surprised to learn that that is a resounding yes. Elegoo has knocked it out of the park with this one, impressive for a first go at CoreXY printing.

Firstly there's the setup, which is a breeze. Getting a job ready for printing is easy and printing over Wifi still feels novel.

Next up is the automatic nature of the Centauri. You can delve deep and dial everything in to suit your needs. Some love this level of tinkering but for most use cases the machine can do it all for you. Switch it on and it can calibrate itself and level the bed, with no need for faffing about with bits of paper.

It even cleans itself, with a nozzle wiper at the rear, keeping things tidy and ready for the next job. In fact, there's a shoot where filament can be sent into a little hopper for ease of keeping things neat. The hopper isn't included but the STL is included so you can print your own, should you wish.

Accuracy is key for most 3D printing tasks and, while never at the levels of a resin printer, things have come a long way. The Centauri prints details very well, with sharp corners, very little warping and excellent plate adhesion. I think that is down to the fully enclosed and temperature-controlled construction. A cool breeze coming from one side can often cause problems with other printers, but not here.

The removable top panel aids in temperature regulation too, for certain materials. This is another plus of the Centauri, which can print many different filaments with ease, including newer carbon fibre reels, as well as ABS, PLA and much more.

A neat trick is its ability to sense when filament has run out, or there's a power outage. The job isn't lost and, although I didn't have any power cuts, I did run out of filament on one job, was notified, loaded a new reel and it continued the job. Excellent!

Along with all of this, I think the big selling feature is the speed. The Centauri can print at 500mm per second, which is pretty astonishing considering the quality of the output. It's usually the Delta-type printers that offer the fastest speeds. Take the Two Trees SK1, which runs at 700mm per second. The Centauri is certainly closing the gap and does so in a far more space-efficient package.

That means the Centauri is a real winner. It's fast and easy, prints great results and is built to last. My very first print was the octopus toy you see above. That came off the bed fully articulated, with zero issues. I've printed around 20-30 jobs on it now, without a single failure or problem and that is a testament to a job well done by Elegoo.

Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra: Who is it for?

This printer is suited to anybody who needs speed and reliability. The Core XY nature of the Centauri means it is super quick but doesn't suffer from a lack in detail. It's also a much more desktop-friendly looking device than the typical gantry-style 3D printers you might be familiar with.

So, if you are looking for an FDM printer that can handle lots of materials, the Centauri Carbon should be high up on your shortlist.

Buy it if

• You need good prints and fast
• You need to print in a variety of filaments
• You want the latest printing tech

Don't buy it if

• You need an extra-large build platform