Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 Combo Multicolor 3D Printer $399 + free s/h

Anthonyc9840

Today 03:54 PM

6 Posts

Joined Aug 2018

6 Posts

Very tempting, but I had Ender 3 v3 ke (I got refurbished via a Slickdeals link), which I bought to make useful prints using pet-g. It's been a year, and pretty much everything I printed has broken in some way or another. I used name-brand filament and used a few different rolls.

I'm leaning toward the understanding that consumer 3d printer are really only good for prototyping and art. Anything that is printed that is going to be used is only good for 3-8 months, basically only creates waste

I often used the recommended infill, sometimes higher. In a lot of cases, things just snapped under light pressure after a few months.

In summary, If you are considering a 3d printer to build useful things, you're probably not going to be too satisfied after several months

2

Nm4223

Pro

Today 04:08 PM

549 Posts

Joined Feb 2018

Nm4223

Pro

Today 04:08 PM

549 Posts

Quote from Anthonyc9840

:

Very tempting, but I had Ender 3 v3 ke (I got refurbished via a Slickdeals link), which I bought to make useful prints using pet-g. It's been a year, and pretty much everything I printed has broken in some way or another. I used name-brand filament and used a few different rolls. I'm leaning toward the understanding that consumer 3d printer are really only good for prototyping and art. Anything that is printed that is going to be used is only good for 3-8 months, basically only creates wasteI often used the recommended infill, sometimes higher. In a lot of cases, things just snapped under light pressure after a few months.In summary, If you are considering a 3d printer to build useful things, you're probably not going to be too satisfied after several months

I disagree, I will give few examples of thinks I printed more than year ago and still using.
I printed end parts with PETG that hold two dowels which can hold 10-11kg of filaments, still going strong
I printed sort of EV adapter holder, it's in my car from more than a year, no issue whatsoever
And many many functional prints that I am using she completely forgot where that they are even printed.
Just an FYI it's walls that gives strength to the part not just infill.

I personally highly recommend 3d printers, specially if you have kids, see their mindset change to how they can design things to solve problems. No idea on this 3d printer, I don't have any Elegoo printer.

Last edited by Nm4223 May 20, 2026 at 09:11 AM.

NylonStringNinja

Today 04:40 PM

59 Posts

Joined Feb 2018

NylonStringNinjaToday 04:40 PM

59 Posts

Quote from Anthonyc9840

:

Very tempting, but I had Ender 3 v3 ke (I got refurbished via a Slickdeals link), which I bought to make useful prints using pet-g. It's been a year, and pretty much everything I printed has broken in some way or another. I used name-brand filament and used a few different rolls.

I'm leaning toward the understanding that consumer 3d printer are really only good for prototyping and art. Anything that is printed that is going to be used is only good for 3-8 months, basically only creates waste

I often used the recommended infill, sometimes higher. In a lot of cases, things just snapped under light pressure after a few months.

In summary, If you are considering a 3d printer to build useful things, you're probably not going to be too satisfied after several months

Well you need to know a lot in order to get the results you want to get. You need to know about the printer, you need to know about your filament (print temps, moisture content, etc) you need to know all about slicer settings and there are hundreds of them (types of infill, how many walls do you use, print orientation, etc) , you need to know about CAD, you need to know something about mechanical engineering. But you can absolutely make things that are quite strong and durable. Especially if you make functional parts 100% solid. I just made two pocket door handles yesterday. They cost like 10 cents each to make and I assure you they won't be breaking any time soon. I think a lot of people are getting the impression you can grab one of these machines and start cranking stuff out on default settings. That is generally true for toys and junk, but if you want functional items you really need a much deeper and broader knowledge and skills base.
I just picked up one of these Centauri Carbon 2 specifically to do higher temp high performance filaments for things like outdoor RV parts and custom electronics cases and we use them to make parts for competitive robotics. So far it is working well but there is still some cheapness here and there. Namely the clam shell on the toolhead is made in several parts and rattles and resonates making an incredible racket. It is within my ability to fix that but people should be aware that this printer is still within the realm of you may have to work on it and make mods for it. If something happens and you have to really take it apart to work on the belts or the motion system or something it could be quite an adventure. Other than that it seems quite well made, it is sturdy, it is crazy fast compared to what I had before. I just got it so I haven't dug into it much, so far I have just run the setup and loaded old filament in and turned it loose and it has worked. There is a good community for it, it is a good format except for the giant top hood but that is a strong and simple solution that is fine with me. Changing the nozzle assembly is unecessarily difficult involving removing two tiny delicate wire plugs delicately with pliers, so if you are the kind of person that wants to change nozzle sizes all the time you might want to look at the mod that converts the elegoo nozzles to the quick change bambu nozzles.
If you are considering this you would have to check for yourself but when I was looking at ordering from Elegoo they were not charging me sales tax which saves $30. I think it is a pretty good deal and you are getting it straight from Elegoo.

gamecockchuck

Today 04:43 PM

22 Posts

Joined May 2011

gamecockchuckToday 04:43 PM

22 Posts

Good deal with ability to print carbon.

jesterfx

Today 05:20 PM

1,323 Posts

Joined Apr 2006

jesterfxToday 05:20 PM

1,323 Posts

Quote from Anthonyc9840

:

Very tempting, but I had Ender 3 v3 ke (I got refurbished via a Slickdeals link), which I bought to make useful prints using pet-g. It's been a year, and pretty much everything I printed has broken in some way or another. I used name-brand filament and used a few different rolls. I'm leaning toward the understanding that consumer 3d printer are really only good for prototyping and art. Anything that is printed that is going to be used is only good for 3-8 months, basically only creates wasteI often used the recommended infill, sometimes higher. In a lot of cases, things just snapped under light pressure after a few months.In summary, If you are considering a 3d printer to build useful things, you're probably not going to be too satisfied after several months

I started with an ender 3 v3 se refurbished for about $100 and immediately realized I loved 3d printing and wanted more/better and upgraded right away. The ender was a frustrating mess much of the time and some of the things it printed were crap, partly because of nozzle issues and such, so the parts didn't get great bonds in the layers.

That said, yes, there are still issues with longevity of functional commonly used parts but a lot of that is also based on various things. You have to make sure you use the correct materials for the usecase...pla and petg can be solid and long lasting in many cases but they have different strengths and weaknesses, some which can be mitigated by thoughtful design... Which leads to the other consideration... Creating things knowing the weakness and strengths, and working around it. Knowing layer lines are a weak point and planning orientation, building in better and stronger internal structure to support areas under more stress and various other strategies. Much like any other product development honestly.

Your failures at 3-8 months might be based on a limitation of printed material or might be a signal that they were not best designed for the purpose/martial used and another iteration could solve the issue for longer/permanently. Does it start to warp in the heat of the car... Using the wrong martial. Does a fastening clip end up breaking off after a few uses... Maybe wrong material or needs redesign to reinforce or change the orientation. Handle snaps too easy... Maybe needed more walls or more and different infill pattern.

Keep in mind that a lot of the free models you find online are often made by hobbiest who might not know the best methods of designing things either, might not have the profile settings in the ideal setup or might not even care so sometimes just going through and changing the settings or adjusting the models can make them much better long term.

Of course there is plenty of waste associated with this stuff... Plenty of crap gets printed but we also see a whole lot of very useful and functional stuff being made and used by professional working shops who keep 3d printers as part of their regularly used machines because of how useful they are.

edit: as far as this specific printer, I don't have the CC2 for sale here but do have a CC1 I got from a great AliExpress or eBay deal posted here last year and it's a great solid little "budget" machine that holds up well even compared to my bambu X1C that cost 3-4 times as much, as far as print quality and print speed. it comes with a hardened nozzle and enclosed chamber so you'll be able to print some of the more "engineering" type level filaments like the carbon infused and ASA/ABS for parts that are even stronger/better suited for outdoor use and such.

Last edited by jesterfx May 20, 2026 at 10:34 AM.

Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 Combo Multicolor 3D Printer $399 + free s/h

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