Darwin's Theories Blog

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3D Printers Getting Bigger

2023-02-21

As 3D printing gets more popular, even mainstream, the "build volume" of new printer models is increasing. This specification is the size of the largest model you can print on a given printer. Sovol’s SV06 retails for US$400 and has a volume of 300x300x340mm.

On a more commercial scale, Creality’s CR-M4 has a volume of 450*450*470mm, and costs $1099. Prusa’s heavy-duty Prusa XL has a volume of 360x360x360mm. Prusa’s workhorse lists at $1,999 with a single printhead; you can optionally add up to four more, incrementally. These two machines have a lot to offer compared with the common home-priced machines, including own software for running a "print farm". If you’re interested in 3D printing, I’d encourage you to read their respective pages. While the Prusa seems to cost almost double the Creality, I’d go for Prusa’s engineering talent over Creality’s most days of the week.