The Maker’s Toolbox: Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 3D Printer Review

I reviewed the original Elegoo Centauri Carbon a year ago and came away with very positive opinions of it. After Elegoo released the price list, the deal was sealed: it was the best value on the market. Now Elegoo is back with the new Centauri Carbon 2 and we get to find out if it upholds that legacy.

Changes

I caught my first glimpse of the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 at the Shenzhen Maker Faire in November, but details were still under wraps and I couldn’t get hands-on with it. Of course, I immediately requested a review unit and that arrived about a month ago. I’ve been testing it since then.

The biggest question I had and that I think you will share is: what is the difference between the Centauri Carbon and the Centauri Carbon 2?

That is actually really easy to answer, because the only major difference is the multi-material “CANVAS” system. That lets you switch between up to four different rolls of filament and it will be the primary focus of this review.

Centauri Carbon Upgrade Path

When Elegoo released the Centauri Carbon, they hinted at an upcoming multi-material solution for that printer.

Sadly, that doesn’t appear to be an option and it doesn’t look like there is going to be an official upgrade kit for the Centauri Carbon. Gareth Halfacree reported on that a couple of months ago and found that Elegoo will offer coupons as an apology. That includes an $80 coupon good towards the purchase of a Centauri Carbon 2.

So if you own a Centauri Carbon and want the multi-material capability, your only real option right now is to purchase the Centauri Carbon 2.

Update: Elegoo let me know that they are still trying to develop a multi-material solution for the original Centauri Carbon. You can find more information about that here.

The CANVAS System

CANVAS is a multi-material system built into the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2. It has similar functionality to Prusa’s MMU and is not a separate unit like Bambu Lab’s AMS. There also isn’t any expansion option to chain multiple units together, like you have with the AMS.

Four rolls of filament rest on holders mounted to the right side of the Centauri Carbon 2. Those go into the CANVAS unit, which has motors to push the filament through four PTFE tubes and into a 4-in-1 adapter just above the extruder. When it needs to switch filament, it simply pulls the current filament strand back above the 4-in-1 adapter and pushes the new filament in.

The CANVAS unit also has an RFID reader to automatically scan Elegoo filament spools equipped with RFID tags. But unlike the Bambu Lab’s AMS, which does RFID scanning as the filament spins in its nook, the CANVAS system requires that you scan the RFID tag before placing the filament on the spool holder. You then use the touchscreen control interface to select the spool holder you’re going to use.

General print tests

Consumer FFF 3D printing technology is mature enough that we should expect every new model to print well, so I won’t go too deep into print quality here. The Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 is reliable and the print quality is great — on par with Bambu Lab and every other competent CoreXY model on the market.

The Centauri Carbon 2 prints almost exactly the same as the original Centauri Carbon, so check out my review of that if you want a bit more detail.

However, the issues I had with firmware reliability on the original Centauri Carbon seem to have been completely fixed on the Centauri Carbon 2. When printing files made with ElegooSlicer, it was very reliable and didn’t have any noteworthy issues.

Because it is otherwise so similar to the Centauri Carbon, we can skip ahead to the good and the bad of the multi-material capabilities that set the Centauri Carbon 2 apart.

The good

The CANVAS multi-material system worked very well during testing. It switched between filament rolls without any issues and did so fairly quickly. I don’t have specs to back this up, but the motors feel more powerful than those in Bambu Lab’s AMS.

On the swap speed front, it also helps that the PTFE tubes are short. There isn’t much distance for the filament to travel. That is particularly true because it only needs to pull back to just before the 4-in-1 adapter, which is right above the extruder.

Swaps do still require purging, because there isn’t any way around that when several different filaments share a single nozzle. But as far as these systems go, CANVAS is quick.

Personally, I also like that the CANVAS unit is attached to the Centauri Carbon 2’s enclosure. It keeps things compact and avoids any headaches associated with finding a place to put a separate unit.

Also, from a maintenance standpoint, it is much easier to fish broken filament pieces out of the CANVAS unit than it is from an AMS unit (a task the requires partial disassembly).

The bad

As good as it is, the CANVAS system does have some disadvantages.

The most obvious is that you can’t add units to work with additional rolls of filament. At this time, you’re limited to four rolls and I haven’t seen anything to suggest that will change.

That may or may not be an issue, depending on your needs. Those who stick to functional parts probably won’t mind at all, as four rolls is enough to swap between a few popular materials (like PLA, PETG, and ASA), with a support material thrown in the mix. But for people that want to print colorful pieces, four rolls could be too limiting.

The other major issue is that the filament rolls sit exposed on the side of the Centauri Carbon 2. Moisture is a problem for filament, so leaving the rolls exposed to ambient air is going to result in wet filament if you live anywhere that isn’t extremely dry.

I happen to live in Phoenix where it is extremely dry, so that wasn’t much of an issue for me. But it could be for you.

Luckily, there is a pretty simple solution: use a dry box that can handle multiple spools. Creality, Sunlu, Sovol, and others all offer suitable options. And I suspect Elegoo will release their own in short order. Of course, you then end up with a separate unit that takes up space.

I imagine that Centauri Carbon 2 owners will also create 3D-printable solutions soon, like covers for the spools that can contain the filament and silica packets.

The only other notable issue I had was with the PTFE tubes rubbing on the top inner surface of the enclosure “cap.” As the extruder carriage moves around, it drags the PTFE tubes against that surface. That isn’t a big deal and probably won’t hurt anything, but it is kind of annoying.

The price

Now we can get to the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2’s biggest selling point, which is the price.

The original Centauri Carbon wasn’t the best printer on the market by any means, but it was extremely affordable and that made it arguably the best value out there for an entry level 3D printer.

Does the Centauri Carbon 2 have the same kind of value? Absolutely. It will cost just $449 USD, which is a certified steal for an enclosed, multi-material CoreXY 3D printer.

Here is the price breakdown by country:

• United States: $449
• Canada: $619
• Australia: $999
• UK: £339
• Europe: €439
• Japan: ￥79,999

The closest competitors are the Bambu Lab P1S Combo and the Creality K2 Combo, both of which cost $549 USD. At $100 less, the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 saves you about 18% and that is nothing to scoff at — especially in this market segment, where profit margins are so slim.

Some will argue that the P1S Combo is a better choice, even at the higher cost. There is some validity to that, especially if you want to use more than four materials. But the Centauri Carbon 2 prints just as well, has a much better control interface, and costs less. I think that’s pretty compelling.

Conclusion

I think the Elegoo Centauri Carbon was about the best value on the market. Now, the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 is offering that same level of value for a multi-material machine.

For potential buyers, the big deciding factor will be whether or not you want to be able to print using more than four materials. If you do, the Centauri Carbon 2 simply won’t work for you. But if you don’t, you should definitely be putting the Centauri Carbon 2 near the top of your list.

Frankly, I’m amazed that we can now get so much capability at such a low price.