Has Elegoo won the 3D printing game in 2025 already?

Bambu Labs have finally revealed their follow up to the X1 Carbon - the H2D! It features a larger build volume, 2 nozzles, advanced quality control, and even a laser cutter! So why is everyone focused on Elegoo instead? First, let’s go back a few years…

A Changing Landscape

3D printing, especially home 3D printing, has transformed spectacularly in the last decade. Back in 2015 you could see the experts on Youtube innovating with 3D printing technology, but the idea of having one at home was a pipedream - at least for me! However only 3 years later we had the Creality Ender 3 on the market, a small, highly performant FDM printer you could get delivered within a day from Amazon for less than £200. Like many others, I thought this would be the game changer which opened up 3D printing to the masses - and it was, almost…

Creality Ender 3 Pro - Image from Creality

The Ender 3 series of printers are still some of the most popular printers among enthusiasts, with many in the hobby learning to fly on these starter machines. Thanks to the huge community of Ender 3 owners on Reddit and beyond, it was relatively easy to fix any faults or breakages that cropped up, which in turn created a generation of 3D print enthusiasts who not only loved using their machines but also upgrading and maintaining them. For a while the ability to tinker with your printer was a necessity within the hobby, and various companies shot up building expansion kits for off-the-shelf printers such as better hot ends and automatic bed levelling, and enthusiasts produced their own firmware builds to better control their machines.

In 2022 a campaign appeared on Kickstarter from a company called Bambu Labs out of Shenzhen, China. They revealed their new X1 model, a fully enclosed FDM 3D printer with automatic bed levelling, multi-material printing, an enclosed heated chamber and even LIDAR for quality control of prints. This all-in-one device negated the need for tinkering, calibration, upgrading, etc. and it just… worked. Sure, it was a lot more expensive than the Ender 3 or competitive entries from companies like Prusa, but people bought it. It became a market leader, with the upgraded X1C and budget-oriented cousin the P1S remaining some of the most popular printers on the FDM market even today. The new H2D announced in March 2025 is another push forward for “it just works” printing and home projects with the addition of a 10W or 40W laser option, allowing you to cut or engrave plastic and wood on the same machine. Pre-orders will no doubt be record-breaking, but in my opinion there are far more exciting printers coming to the market.

Elegoo the Usurper?

Elegoo initially revealed their new FDM model, the Centauri Carbon back in July 2024. Initial details were scarce, but the lack of a multi-material system was enough for it to slide back into the back of everyone’s minds for a while. Elegoo aren’t the only company to have come out with an enclosed, CoreXY model to rival Bambu Labs in the last few years, and they certainly aren’t the first! So what’s so good about it?

Elegoo Centauri Carbon - Image from elegoo.com

It seems that by taking their time and not rushing to market that Elegoo have been able to craft a true contender to the X1C. It lies in stark contrast with Creality’s own venture into this space with the K1 and K1 Max, each burdened with their own significant issues. With near identical specs in every way that matters, by all accounts the Centauri Carbon is a polished, fast and high-quality printer that ticks the “it just works” box in the same way as it’s rival. The only difference? £700 or so. Yes, the Bambu Labs X1C is currently available from the manufacturer for £999 in the UK, while Elegoo are offering pre-orders of the Centauri Carbon for £299. I think it’s hard to argue with that.

Troubles in the Lab

Of course the X1C has been around a while. It’s well tested, popular with its huge user base and is well known as the gold standard of consumer FDM printing. Recent controversies regarding access to the Bambu Labs cloud service and security firmware updates being rolled out to printers has put off many in the community. Big names in the Maker communities online have come out saying they’re unlikely to get another Bambu Labs printer next time around, citing recent controversies. And with the new H2D model being so expensive (starting at £1,599 at time of writing) for a relatively low benefit to most users over previous models, I think it’s hard to imagine Bambu Labs keeping their seat at the top of the game with such competition at their heels.

Still! The Centauri hasn’t been widely released just yet. Influencers and high profile makers already have them and have been overwhelmingly positive about their experiences with it, but who knows what might arise once the pre-orders start to land. I’m still excited - my pre-order is in.

We haven’t even talked about resin printing, another area where Elegoo are already held in high esteem. I just received the latest Mars 5 Ultra, so keep an eye out for my review soon…

10” rack project - The Bootcase

I recently bought an M4 Mac Mini to help with my coding and design projects. I love the small form factor, the sheer speed of it and the fact it uses only about 40W! I also have a few Raspberry Pi single board computers which run various roles in my smart home setup. One (Pi 4) works is a Rustdesk server so I can access my desktops from my laptop if I’m downstairs. Another (Pi 5) runs a Frigate NVR install with AI computer vision to detect people in the back garden and check that my 3D printer isn’t on fire. Some of my older models get used as retro gaming consoles, Home Assistant servers and host local webpages with sensor data or something similar.

These all work great, but my desk was getting very messy with wires. I wondered whether I could pack these all away somewhere where they could be organised, wired into my network and, if necessary, mobile.

I’d seen Jeff Geerling’s YouTube videos about 10” racks. Basically they are a simple, small form factor version of a 19” rack you’d find in an IT server room or data centre. These miniature hobby versions looked really professional and helpful, but I struggled to see the value in it; especially as the chassis was often over £100! Then I came across MandicReally’s video about his MOD10 system.

This modular, customisable, 10” rack compatible system was exactly what I was looking for. I own a 3D printer (or 3) so this was no bother to print out myself over the course of a couple of days. I got some M6 rack mount screws (the only additional hardware you need) from eBay and I was on my way!

There was already a beautiful M4 Mac Mini 10” rack mount on Printables, and several people have designed their own mounts for various Raspberry Pi SBCs. I knew I wanted the Pi 4 and Pi 5 in my rack, with my Pi 3B and Pi 2 as an optional add-on. Thankfully a user named Mauker on MakerWorld had designed a version-agnostic mount for just about any of the mainline Pi series (excluding the Zero and Zero 2 models). I had the same experience when choosing my 8-port network switch and within a couple of days I had it all up and running!

Behold: the Bootcase!

Ignore the mess of cables, I’m waiting to get a new desk before sorting it out!

I’m really pleased with how this went. It was pretty cheap to print in PLA (although the designer suggests ASA - I didn’t have any on hand).

The space at the bottom is open at the moment to allow better cooling of the Mac Mini as the exhaust fan is on the bottom of the machine. I’m not actively using the older Pi computers so I’m keeping them out of the rack for now as they don’t need to be on and using power.

I really hope someone appreciates the Severance vinyl on the Mac Mini…

This was a really fun little project, allowing me to cosplay as a sysadmin a little bit, to quote Jeff Geerling. I’ll add another blog post later on in the week going over the power supply and network cabling. I hope you enjoyed!