Additionally, you can upgrade the hotend in the future if you plan on doing a lot of printing at higher temperatures. This is handy if you don’t want to have to regularly troubleshoot issues with your hotend. Belt tensioners Answer: A typical 3D printer uses 50 watts of electricity per hour. However, with 3D printers, you’re going to need much more power since they print non-stop for longer periods of time. As a result, you’re going to see a much larger electric bill. Most 3D printers require 120 volts of power, so don’t be surprised when your power bill arrives in the mail. Is the Voxelab Aquila 3D Printer Right for You? I covered the Octoprint installation in this article, so if you have a Raspberry Pi laying around, there’s no reason not to give Octoprint a chance because it’s an excellent addition in the free Voxelab Aquila upgrades list. You’ll love it! Wrapping up The Aquila 3D printer offers a 220 x 220 x 250 printing volume. This is what you might expect with a mid-tier printer, which is big enough for the majority of the items you’ll print. The printer bed runs on four V-slot wheels, which you can use to connect the aluminum extrusion. Once that’s done, the bed will be much more stable when you start printing. Printing surface You could do the same thing using a few screw nuts and a bit of patience, but the silicone bed mounts are quite cheap and will allow you to have your bed fixed much faster. This upgrade is something I started recommending to most of the printers available because it makes bed leveling much easier and should eliminate the need for any auto bed leveling solution like a BLTouch.

Make sure you read the documentation carefully before flashing a custom firmware, to ensure that you understood all the steps needed, and you have the correct files at hand. It’s also important to format the SD cards as recommended in the flashing guide, for a successful firmware upgrade. Vertical LCD mount The good news is that it works very well with PLA, but if you start printing at more than 240 degrees Celsius for long periods of time, you’ll start to notice degradation in the tube and a foul stench in the air. In my experience it is a pretty much flawless printer apart from an audible fan, which is hardly the end of the world when the printer costs less than 70% of the Ender 3 v2. Bare-bones appearance - This printer is not built to be attractive, which is apparent by the standard aluminum extrusions used throughout the design, and the exposed power supply unit. While this is a purely cosmetic issue, it makes the printer less attractive than some of it's more expensive cousins.

This Creality Ender 3 clone is really loud, without much to shout about.

Finally, there the BLTouch that’s recommended by everyone. I added this to the guide just so you know this can be a solution for easier bed leveling, but in the free section I will tell you about the free alternative which can be used (manual mesh bed leveling). In my opinion, a BLTouch is not needed for small format printers like the Voxelab Aquila but it can be a helpful upgrade if your print surface is not perfect, and you don’t want to mess with MBL. With its carbon crystal silicon build plate, the Aquila C2 ensures fast heating to 60℃ within minutes. This innovative plate provides strong adhesion and excellent bottom-layer print effects, enhancing the overall quality of your prints.

If the Voxelab Aquila 3D printer doesn’t sound like it’s going to meet your needs, there are plenty of options available on the market. Here are a few alternatives you might consider: Creality Ender 3 If you decide to flash a custom firmware on your Voxelab Aquila, then you will notice that it’s recommended to mount the LCD in a vertical orientation. This vertical LCD mount on Thingiverse should do the job. But if changing the firmware is not on your Voxelab Aquila upgrades list then changing the screen orientation won’t help. V-slot coversDated LCD Screen - The printer's LCD screen is a more basic monochrome interface with limited resolution and no support for graphical components. While this does not detract much from using the printer, it can take a bit longer to navigate through the text only menus, and gives the printer a less premium feel. Where to buy the Voxelab Aquila C2 The Voxelab Aquila X2 feels like a printer that can’t quite decide where it should be positioned in the market. The silent stepper drivers and large color LCD screen would indicate a more premium machine, but the loud fans and sub-optimal software experience make this printer feel somewhat unfinished. The hot end module contains two fans: a part cooling fan mounted on the right that blows cool air over the printed module and a heat break cooling fan that is mounted over the hot end. By far, this is my least favorite part of the Aquila X2 due to the distractingly-loud noise generated by these fans. The silent stepper drivers on this printer provide a nearly silent mechanical movement system, but the fans sound like a hair dryer when they are running. The Voxelab Aquila printer is a great option for anyone who wants to save some money while getting their feet wet with 3D printing. Its specs aren’t going to blow you away, but the unit gets the job done for 3D printing hobbyists or beginners. The screen interface is nice, as is the ability to update the firmware.