What you need to know
- Anycubic is a large and trusted 3D Printer manufacturer
- The Kobra Plus has a large build volume of 300x300x350
- First 2000 orders get $100 off of $499 retail price
- The Kobra Plus goes on sale June 15th 9am EST
Anycubic has come out with a new printer in its ever-expanding Kobra lineup. The Kobra Plus slots in between the Kobra and the Kobra Max. For those needing a refresher, the Kobra has a build volume of 220mm-by-220mm-by-250mm in X, Y and Z. The Kobra Max has a build volume of 400mm-by-400mm-by-450mm in X, Y and Z, and the Kobra Plus slots in the middle with a build Volume of 300mm-by-300mm-by-350mm in X, Y and Z.
The hotend, bed levelling system and extruder are identical to that of the Vyper and the Kobra Max. The hotend is an E3D Volcano style hotend with a PTFE liner to the nozzle, that nozzle is a 0.4mm Brass one and heating it up is a new 45w heater cartridge according to Anycubic. Bed Levelling is the new LevIQ strain gauge based system that measures 25 points of the bed to create a mesh that the system can use to create a perfect first layer. The extruder is a 3:1 geared dual-drive system, reminiscent of the Bondtech BMG, except in a clear polycarbonate housing, just before that is the filament run-out sensor which pauses the print and moves it to a safe location so you can replace your filament.
The bed is the same Carborundum glass as the Kobra Max, this is a sheet of borosilicate glass coated in silicon carbide that when heated sticks to the filament being printed, and when it cools down the microscopic texture shrinks and self-releases from the build plate.
Interfacing with the Kobra Plus is the same as the Kobra, Kobra Max and the Vyper, the 4.3" vertical touchscreen on the side of the printer is bright and vibrant with good touch response large touch points for even the chubbiest of digits. There is a USB-B port on the front for tethering to a computer or connecting to Octoprint, and next to it is the MicroSD card for local "offline" printing. The Kobra Plus takes standard Gcode from any slicer, however, Anycubic gives you profiles for Cura which is a great place to start.
Anycubic is touting the ability to print at 100mm/s, with the dual Z leadscrews and the 6000RPM blower fans for part cooling to help with that, we shall see how this works in practice, but that is faster than most printers out of the box, that is for sure.
The Kobra Plus will cost $499 from Anycubic once it goes on sale on June 15th, however, the first 2000 units will get a $100 discount to get it for $399, or just $50 more than the Vyper, and with this, you get the bigger build volume, however, you are trading the very nice SD card for the MicroSD on the Kobra Plus. Use this link to signup for the Kobra Plus purchase list and hopefully be one of the first 2000 to get the lower price. Our review of the Kobra Plus is ongoing so look out for that soon.
