A couple of years ago, I gifted myself a 3D printer on my birthday — primarily because I got an excellent deal on an Ender 3 S1 Pro. While it was a basic FDM printer, it was all I needed to dip my toes into the world of 3D printing. At that point, I didn't even know of the different types of 3D printers one could buy. I just knew there were ones with an enclosure and ones without. Since ones with an enclosure were way more expensive, I decided to stick to the Ender 3 S1 Pro — my first "bed slinger" 3D printer. While it had its limitations, it turned out to be one of my best purchases to date. I learned so much about printing everyday objects, fixing broken stuff around the house, and even making my own laptop accessories instead of purchasing them.

I recently started designing my own 3D prints, which meant printing a lot more items every single day. As a result, the Ender 3 S1 Pro started feeling rather limiting. While it could still print pretty much anything, the slower speeds meant that I had to wait hours for a print to complete — sometimes even an entire day. This was slowing me down significantly, so I decided to upgrade — this time to a Core XY 3D printer. Core XY printers are generally faster, and most of them are enclosed. So, this would be a substantial upgrade to my setup. Well, after using the Elegoo Centauri Carbon for about two weeks, I realized what I was missing out on all this time.

It's all about speed

At least four times faster

The biggest change that I instantly noticed right at the start of my first print was how the print speeds were astronomically better on Core XY machines compared to my bed slinger. Of course, there are bed slingers like the Bambu Lab A1 that can match some Core XY machines in terms of print speed. But most printers with a moving bed are generally slower. To give you some context, slicing the exact design for my Ender 3 S1 Pro and Centauri Carbon results in a massive time difference. I've observed that the Ender 3 takes up to 4-5 times more time than my Centauri Carbon. For larger prints, the time saved is substantial.

The primary reason for such a large difference in speed is the fact that the print head moves on two axes in a Core XY machine, with the bed only moving on a single axis (Z-axis). With a bed slinger, the bed moves along the Y-axis — resulting in slower speeds. Since the print head is much lighter and smaller than the print bed, it moves faster, which means the print speeds are also automatically faster. You can see how quickly the printer blazes through the infill process.

Better stability is a bonus

The enclosure is useful too

There's another advantage to just the print head moving instead of the entire bed — greater stability. The inertia and vibrations caused by a moving bed are completely eliminated in a Core XY system. As a result, prints turn out to be more accurate with fewer flaws. At higher speeds, even slight movement can lead to rough surfaces. In general, fewer moving parts are always good because there are fewer failures. Since moving parts can cause ruptures, you would also have to replace fewer parts over time. I've also observed that the bed adhesion has been better on my new printer, which could also be because the bed doesn't move rapidly when printing.

While this isn't necessarily limited to Core XY printers, most of them have an enclosure that lets you print materials like ABS, ASA, etc. While I haven't experimented with those filaments yet, it's good to have the ability when I need it. Thanks to all of these upsides, my Ender 3 S1 Pro has been gathering dust in a corner of my room — quite literally. It doesn't make sense for me to use it anymore for anything other than small prints that don't require a lot of infill and only take a couple of minutes.

3D printing has come a long way

Until I upgraded from my old printer, I wasn't aware of how much 3D printing had evolved in the past few years. I used to think that most printers still take 2–3 hours to print a small object — unless you get one that costs over $1,000. Thankfully, that isn't the case. You can get an excellent Core XY printer for under $500 that can print pretty much any model in any material. If you're in the market for a 3D printer, I would highly recommend splurging on a Core XY one — even if it means stretching your budget slightly. You'll definitely reap the gains in the long run.