Elegoo introduced a new line of fibre-reinforced 3D printer filaments.
The company produces 3D printers of many types, most notably the incredibly Centauri Carbon. This desktop FFF 3D printer produces high-quality output, as we saw during our recent hands-on test.
It also is priced incredibly low, below all of its competitors for this class of device. The Centauri Carbon is priced at a ridiculously low US$299.99. It is certainly the lowest-priced machine that can reliably print fibre-reinforced filaments.
These materials can produce far stronger parts because they mix a polymer with a strong fibre. Usually, the short fibre segments are carbon fibre, but sometimes they are glass fibre. Either one greatly increases the rigidity of the printed parts.
A good machine, low price, and the ability to print fibre-reinforced materials should mean everyone is printing those materials, right?
Not necessarily. Elegoo explains:
“According to a recent Elegoo survey, low familiarity and higher costs are the main reasons why many users have yet to try fibre-reinforced filaments.”
This is true: “CF” filaments are definitely more pricey than typical PLA/PETG/etc., and they require specialized machines to print them. The Centauri Carbon has the required specializations, but the idea of carbon fiber materials has been made into something exotic and mysterious by the marketing campaigns of many 3D printer manufacturers.
They’re just trying to justify a premium price on their CF equipment, but it makes everyday 3D printer operators think differently about the material.
To counteract this, Elegoo has launched a series of new fibre-reinforced materials that carry lower prices. The materials will also be easily usable in the Centauri Carbon.
There are three new filament types in the Elegoo launch:
- PETG-CF: PETG mixed with carbon fibres (available in grey or black)
- PETG-GF: PETG mixed with glass fibres (available in black, white, or grey)
- PAHT-CF: Nylon mixed with carbon fibers, good for higher temperature applications (black only)
What’s most interesting about these materials is the pricing. The PETG-CF/GF is available at only US$18.99 for a 1kg spool. This compares to Bambu Lab’s price of US$31.99 for the same product.
Similarly, the PAHT-CF is priced at US$39.99 for a 1kg spool, while Bambu Lab’s equivalent is priced at US$49.99.
Elegoo is making the same price advantage for materials as they did with the machine itself. These should combine to provide a far lower total cost of ownership of the Centauri Carbon over time.
Let’s do a comparison of a three-year experience with both machines, printing, say, three spools of PETG-CF per month. The Bambu Lab operator would have to purchase the carbon-fiber-capable X1C machine and pay a total of US$2,052 over those three years. Meanwhile, the Centauri Carbon operator would pay for the cheaper spools and result in a total of US$1,451.63, a saving of over US$600.
That’s significant. Now consider the same scenario if you are setting up a 100-unit 3D print farm and printing 15 spools per month per machine. In that scenario, the farm operator would save a staggering US$114K over three years, a 73% saving.
These prices are so low that it is likely non-Elegoo customers will buy the product just to save money over other expensive fiber-reinforced options.
Elegoo is clearly the leader in low-cost 3D printing. I’m wondering how the rest of the industry will react.
Via Elegoo
