We were lucky enough to receive the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo early and dive into the new FDM flagship of Anycubic. This is their first take at a fully enclosed CoreXY model with high printing speeds and multicolour options.
Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo not only offers up to eight colours but also dries your filament with the Ace PRO system included in the Combo package. Not only did they update their hardware since we reviewed the Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo but also their mobile app and slicer software have changed significantly. And last but not least, the price for the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo is sure to rock the market.
Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo – Worth It?
Do you want the TL;DR of whether the Anycubic Kobra S1 is worth it? Yes, it most definitely is. After running our tests we got stunning results with all three types of filament we tested.
Sadly the USB stick that came with the printer got corrupted and we lost most of the time lapses we took while testing. If you want a CoreXY enclosed printer with multi-filament support and active drying while printing the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo is the best bang for your buck on the market right now.
The biggest gripe we have with the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo package is the Ace PRO which sometimes causes filament blockage, and well the Kobra S1 and Ace PRO are a noisy beast due to the high speeds and dryer.
Do You Even Lift? The 32kg Package
The Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo box was a hefty 32kg to drag up the stairs and install in our test room. Not only did it make us realise we should probably start printing some workout equipment but also what a sturdy unit the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo is.
Tear Into the Start of Your Printing Journey
Opening the box we were mighty impressed with the way Anycubic designed how both the Kobra S1 and Ace PRO are packaged together. On top of some excellent protection ensuring your Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo arrives in one piece. Your main tools are slotted into a small cut-out at the top for starters, you can’t miss them and put them within reach easily without them disappearing in the unboxing mess.
After removing the top foam you are greeted by the top plate and screen, after removing these you can peer into the inside of the Kobra S1 chamber that houses the documentation and Ace PRO. Getting the Ace PRO out was the hardest part as there is barely any grip or room to pull out from the top.
The plastic bag surrounding the Ace PRO was upside down and when we tried to lift the unit out using the plastic bag it simply slid off. It would be much easier if you could just use the bag to lift out the Ace PRO.
Kobra’s Assemble!
Actually getting the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo setup ready for printing is straightforward and easy to follow using their step-by-step guide in the booklet. We start off by removing the plastic plate that protects the bed and serves as a stabilizer for the Ace PRO. All removable bolts have been marked by red arrows. So you simply have to remove those to release the bed protector with the supplied tools, easy peasy.
Next up, we remove the cardboard protection from the printhead and cut the zip tie holding it in place.
Pull out the foam that’s in the filament poop hatch, you don’t want printer constipation after all.
The Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo also comes with a sachet of activated carbon to put in front of the chamber exhaust. When printing more volatile filaments, you at least get some filtration of the harmful fumes going through that exhaust.
Put on the top lid and voilà! Your Kobra S1 is built. But, it won’t print yet.
Time to add in the Ace PRO so we can feed this Kobra some filament. Start by opening up the Ace PRO and removing all contents. Grab the filament hub and screw it in place connecting the PTFE tube that feeds into the chamber and then connect the 4-6pin cable into the Kobra S1.
Attach all PTFE tubes into the Ace PRO and filament hub.
Turn on the Kobra S1 and the Ace PRO, and follow the instructions on the screen. Attach the USB and let it do its initial calibration.
Put in some filament and print that Benchy.
Get Ready to Slice and Dice
The Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo only comes with a few printable objects in its memory. To get more you need to find STL files and slice them using a slicer that turns objects into layers and creates G-code for the printer that are instructions on how it should move, print and behave to create the object from filament. Anycubic has their own community called Makeronline which has a huge library of projects and objects to select and print free of charge.
Anycubic also has their own Anycubic Slicer but as we mentioned in our Kobra 3 Review; it was far from perfect and we liked Orcaslicer more due to its options and depth. But now Anycubic has released Anycubic Slicer Next, a slicer based on Orcaslicer with their added features like the workshop overview, control over the Ace PRO’s drying settings and a camera feed from the Kobra S1. Furthermore, it feels and looks like Orcaslicer so we got the hang of it so fast it was a blast using it to prepare our tests and projects.
When it comes to the software running on the Anycubic Kobra S1 combo it runs fine but with some hiccups. On certain points the screen froze or was unresponsive, pausing or cancelling a print had no effect and the Kobra S1 just kept going even when the screen said the print was stopping. And a weird de-sync between Anycubic Slicer Next and the type of filament in the Ace Pro. The Ace PRO also acts pretty unpredictably in situations where it fails to extrude some filament or retracts filament way too far back into the unit which can cause problems.
The Results Are In, FDM/10
When testing 3D FDM printers we have never seen such clean and nice results when running our printer tests on stock settings without fine-tuning into a filament. We tested three different filaments supplied by Anycubic from their PLA (orange)., PETG (blue), and ABS (grey) types. Our multi-colour ghastly print was done with brands of our choosing and a mix of PLA and PLA MATTE. See the results below and be amazed.
First up was the All-in-One 3D printer test designed by Majda107 a staple that has been running on all printers and really tests 90% of the things we want to see. The Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo ran these three tests so well that it was amazing if you look at the overhangs on the pictures you can see how well-maintained they are throughout the whole arc, aside from PLA which showed major defects but not failure at 80 degrees.
The second test is a tolerance test. But the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo surpassed our expectations the most. PLA and PETG fused at the 0.10 gap but ABS only at the 0.05 and even the 0.10 nub came off easily.
Our third test was the multicolour Ghastly model by Entroisdimensions_figurine that did the print them all series where they designed and printed all 151 pokemon. Simply look at how amazing it came out.
This print featured 695 filament changes so an ideal test for the Ace PRO and how well the Kobra S1 does on long prints because it took 30 hours to complete. Which is 6 hours longer than originally anticipated because an error occurred and we never got a notification from the mobile app. And that’s why we try to run some longer prints when testing as well.
But Still, Not a Perfect Printer
The Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo has those small things that get in the way of it being perfect. But the small imperfections are almost all software sided so if Anycubic goes that extra km they can make it perfect. Let’s go over them quickly, some of them we already mentioned earlier in the review.
First off the software not alerting you when an error occurs, be it from the USB stick bricking during a print, which pauses the print to stop. To the filament getting stuck and pausing the print. We almost never got a notification that our printer was waiting for our intervention to fix something.
The screen freezing or being unresponsive was mostly solved by rebooting the printer but is kinda hard to do while printing. It usually fixed itself and occurred when the printer was getting ready to start a print.
And third and most impactful was the way the Ace PRO handled the filament and problems with the filament. We had the bad luck of having a badly wound ABS roll that frequently got stuck while printing. When an issue with a filament occurred it started checking all spools slotted, trying to push and retract, this caused the filament to end up loose in the top of the box and get tangled into the spool next to it causing another blockage and another series of checking all slotted filament and adding more wire to the mess. It’s unique to see filament spaghetti forming even before it passes through the extruder.
And fourth was the noise. Anycubic advertises the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo at 44db noise levels on quiet printing. When we measured it at quiet it was close to 55db with the dryer on and printing our tests. Even with the dryer off it made little difference as the head movement was pretty loud. But that’s the cost you get for fast printing and CoreXY models their design. When I was in the same room trying to design a model for myself it really struck me how loud it could get on those accelerations compared to FDM bed-slinger variants.
Top Tier Anycubic FDM Flagship Printer
From all the Anycubic FDM printers we tested I gotta say that this one feels like Anycubic hit the mark. The Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo feels like they hit that perfect balance between making a damn good printer for a reasonable price and a seriously good slicer to back it up. Their pricing for Europe is mainly dependent on their retailers in your country but for 623$ in pre-sale on their website with 809$ as their full retail price, we have high hopes.
An affordable and good CoreXY enclosed printer that offers out-of-the-box nearly perfect prints on tests. If you want to upgrade or start out, this model is for both enthusiasts and starters a really good buy.
Thank you Anycubic for sending us a preview unit of the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo.