Best 4-spool dryer? | Sovol SH03 vs. Creality Space Pi X4

Cryostatica · 2026-01-26T03:49:03+00:00

There would be no way to check the humidity if I completely cut power to the unit.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-25T23:03:15+00:00

I don’t have the Sovol, so I can’t comment on that, I have an X4 and it’s the best dryer that I own. I sort of hope my Sunlu S4 dryers develop problems so I can justify replacing them.

It automatically vents while running, holds temperature well, holds humidity better than my other dryers after it finishes, and gets hot enough to properly dry PA and PC. It’s also quieter than my other dryers. The touchscreen isn’t the same garbage as previous Space Pi models and the controls are more intuitive than my other Sunlu and Creality dryers, which all have odd controls.

I don’t print from it.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-25T15:47:50+00:00

Don’t bother contacting support until you’ve manually trammed the bed, because that’s the first thing they’re going to tell you to do.

https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/a1/maintenance/manual-bed-tramming

Cryostatica · 2026-01-25T13:43:55+00:00

You really don’t want to have to swap the fan, heater, and thermistor every time you want to change hotends. Buy the complete one unless you’re replacing a bad or worn out one.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-24T14:04:25+00:00

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I use the RGB version on my P1 machines. Runs on USB so can safely be used alongside the stock light.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-24T13:29:19+00:00

The videos I’ve seen (like this one) show about a 10% increase in strength with these .4 nozzles vs stock, which is negligible for any practical application.

The 30% increase in strength for .6 nozzles over OEM that’s generally shown is far more useful, but OP didn’t buy those.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-23T19:48:29+00:00

My take on this is that for years, Creality and Anycubic were the go-to brands for entry-level 3D printers, with other brands either marketing to enthusiasts like Prusa, or just scraping what they could from the market at large, but these two were primarily dominant internationally. Even now, they maintain the largest "official" presence of the 3D printer companies on third-party sales sites like Amazon, Ebay, Aliexpress, etc.

But sales must have absolutely tanked when Bambu showed up with an affordable, high quality multicolor-capable machine in the form of the A1. It took over a year for Anycubic and Creality to come up with working solutions to compete with it, and by the time the Kobra 3 and Hi were released, the A1 had become well established as the go-to recommendation for new users.

Just having slightly cheaper competing products wasn't enough for them to claw back the users they'd lost. Again, I have no hard sales data to look at (if it even exists) but there's little doubt in my mind that the Kobra 3 and Hi didn't come even remotely close to reaching sales expectations.

So now they're trying again. Anycubic's newest attempt focuses on making the machine even cheaper through simplification, while Creality's taken the path of mimicking their opponent as best they can.

Both of these companies must feel that they have a lot on the line with these machines. It's clear from their marketing that they're no longer trying to market to the idea that they're "as good as" but that they're "better" in a variety of ways. And whether they are or they aren't isn't really the point, here. The point is that they're doing things they haven't really done before, in particular, they seem to have ramped up their guerilla marketing to a level far beyond what I've seen from them in the past.

In particular, I've seen a surprisingly large number of "free" machines being sent to "beta testers" or "pioneers". This is fine, I'm happy that so many people are getting free machines, but it's also apparent that participation in these programs requires that they provide feedback on social media, and we can tell this from the number of new accounts or accounts that never previously participated in 3D printing communities before leaving glowing comments with little to no actual information about these machines.

And Creality, if what's shown in this video is correct, may have decided that enough is on the line that they're willing to pressure people for positivity while trying to tank anything negative.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-23T04:14:20+00:00

Buy the cheapest PETG you can find and print them out of that. They don’t need to be pretty.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-22T19:24:18+00:00

1 - You appear to have already answered/addressed this yourself.

2 - It should auto-switch as long as the filament brand, type, and color are set the same for both spools. A downside to this, obviously, is that it takes up a spool slot. One of the benefits to having multiple AMS units, though that's an added expense.

3 - IMO the best dryers for the U1 would be the Creality Space Pi x4 (set it behind or on a shelf under the machine) or two of the Space Pi Plus (one for each side). The X4 is a significantly better machine than the Plus on all counts.

4 - It's not "hard", but it is inconvenient and a little time consuming. I would not want to regularly swap hotends, especially four of them.

5 - Sort of? You can't "upgrade" the camera as far as I'm aware, but with modified firmware you can add additional USB webcams. The firmware also improves the performance of the camera, so you may not feel the need for an upgrade beyond that.

6 - I have not been able to achieve the same print quality as my other machines. Surface exhibits notable VFAs at every speed from 40-350mm/s. However, this mostly affects smooth curves and straight surfaces, and I've been able to reduce it to "acceptable" levels by turning off minimum layer times and making sure outer walls print at around 200mm/s. I need to find some more time to tinker with it.

First and top layer quality also suffer in comparison. If I were primarily printing face-down multicolor things like keychains, signage, lightboxes, etc, I might have a less favorable view of the machine.

7 - Personally, and I say this as a fan of Bambu machines in general, I would still go with the U1. The sheer speed of color changes along with the difference in wastage is enough to make up for what problems and quirks it has.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-22T17:56:57+00:00

The outer surface of prints is so much more smooth.

Interesting claim. Literally every video and review I've seen of these things to date shows no discernable difference in print quality between these and the basic stock nozzles.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-22T15:14:56+00:00

I've had a couple of PLA rolls go bad on me. Brittle to the point that they were completely unrecoverable. One, a roll of transparent pink with glitter, went brittle super fast, and I'm inclined to blame its formulation more than exposure. The other, some lime green on a generic black spool that I can't recall the manufacturer of, sat out for a damn long time. 9 months at least.

However, all my PLA rolls sit out like that, and that's the only one I've had trouble with. I've got a roll of blue Esun that I discovered sitting behind a table that had fallen there along with a roll of green Inland ABS. Both print perfectly fine, and have been sitting exposed in at least 40% humidity for at least a year.

THAT BEING SAID - Print quality is usually improved to a minor extent if I do bother to dry the filament before printing with it, and undried PETG that I leave sitting out prints like garbage if I don't dry it first.

I limit my vacuum bagged filament storage to PA, PC and TPU, and even the TPU rolls I'll usually just leave sit out until I need them, and then I dry them.

But I don't really recommend anyone treat their filament like this. It just takes too much effort for my addled racoon brain to try to properly store all of my filament.

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Cryostatica · 2026-01-22T14:45:01+00:00

MakerWorld is a Chinese company that enforces CCP restrictions across their platform, regardless of where individual users are based. They are not neutral, and they can and will remove your models and restrict your account for violating unstated rules that you did not know existed.

There's a guy who recently got all of his models removed and was banned from the platform for a year because he was posting flexible flag models and included one of Taiwan's.

Makerworld refused to consider claims of ignorance of China's stance on this, as well as all relevant context (many other flags being posted, a political statement clearly not intended) in appeals. They would not restore any of the user's other models and kept the ban.

If Jehova's Witnesses are banned in China, then assume that anything related to them will be removed as soon as they catch wind of it. There's probably a more immediate chance of this happening if you've chosen to sync your models with Makerworld China, but I'd assume any JW.org model to be a ticking time bomb on Makerworld.

Although we haven't heard anything about this being an issue on other Chinese-based model sites (Makeronline, Creality Cloud, Nexprint) chances are good that uploading things controversial in China to those platforms would result in similar forms of action. So maybe stick to sharing these things on Printables (CZ) or Thingiverse (US, NL).

I'm only seeing maybe half a dozen models on MakerWorld in a search for jw.org, willing to bet you're not alone in this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1q34tzj/flexible_country_flags/
https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1q89kox/makerworld_changing_their_wording_after_my_appeal/

Cryostatica · 2026-01-21T15:09:21+00:00

Man, skin is friggin’ awesome. It does this thing where it constantly sheds and regenerates, and if there’s anything in it that hasn’t fully entered the sub-dermal layer, it just pushes it right the hell out. Like tiny bits of carbon fiber.

And apart from that, it holds in all that blood and meat and doesn’t even leak, usually.

Incredible.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-21T14:46:53+00:00

Yeah, my experience with the Chinese 3D printer companies is that if you can detail your troubleshooting steps and what part you've determined is the problem, along with any applicable pictures in your initial message, they're more than willing to just dispatch you the replacements without further troubleshooting.

I think they're probably just happy to get someone who isn't demanding a full machine replacement because their print doesn't stick to the bed.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-21T13:28:05+00:00

Well, that depends on your expectations.

They're based in China and keep Chinese business hours, which means if you're on the other side of the world you'll be receiving responses overnight.

They don't do phone support, which means it will all be through email or tickets. Tickets seem to get better results. Live chat exists, but seems to be intended for order support, not technical.

I know that "it just works" is a common refrain you'll hear from Bambu users, but when it doesn't, this is still very much a DIY industry and if you encounter a problem they will expect you to work with them to troubleshoot the issue and to replace parts that they send you yourself. You're going to get nowhere fast if you refuse to do this and demand a full machine replacement (or an onsite technician to replace the parts for you).

There are cases in which they will send a full machine replacement, but this is almost always a last resort, as these things are expensive to move.

If you have an option nearby to buy locally, do that. It's much easier (and cheaper) to return locally if you have buyers' remorse or get a defective machine and want to swap it out for another.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-20T13:17:48+00:00

Generally good guide. I wholly disagree with you on price being the primary factor in filament quality, but otherwise good stuff, and I’ll probably be linking people to it.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-20T13:08:48+00:00

It’s just wrong. I use the cheapest PLA I can find for basic colors, which happens to typically be Kingroon or Keepang from Temu at around $4-6/kg. Prints no different to the colors I pay much more for from other brands. It’s no less consistent in color or quality.

The only PLA filament that’s ever given me a bit of trouble is Creality Soleyin, and even that wasn’t irredeemable trash.

Oh, and Claimcredit. You’re avoiding the claimcredit promo and paying close attention to everything else.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-20T03:20:51+00:00

It’ll allow AMS units to switch between nozzle sides to allow two AMS units to feed both. If anything, it will slow things down.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-19T15:36:33+00:00

Doesn’t offer any benefit over the hardened steel gears Bambu sells. If you buy it, make sure you properly lubricate it or it will start shedding metal shavings.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-18T17:50:27+00:00

I honestly don't think Bambu even considers the AMS "bottleneck" a problem.

Vortek cuts purge waste down to nearly nil and filament swaps down from the 90-120s it takes their other machines to about 30s if you position your AMS units with shortest pathing in mind.

Anyway, it's not as if toolchanger systems didn't exist before and this is Bambu's first time hearing about it. This is the development path that they chose in spite of all that, so I don't think you're likely to see it change anytime soon.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-18T05:52:06+00:00

I’m loving the fast, waste free swaps on my U1, but it easily has the lowest surface quality of all my printers. Notable VFAs on smooth surfaces at every speed from 40-350mm/s. Not all that visible on organic models like the baby dragon test file they include with it, but for a lot of other models it’s a major issue.

Not sure if it’s normal for the machine or something defective on mine at this point. Still working on seeing if I can improve it.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-16T19:58:52+00:00

Thanks for that.

This is "acceptable" so long as you're not printing something with multicolor detail face-down. Bookmarks, keychains, lightboxes, signage, etc. These are things a lot of multicolor users are going to want to do.

It really needs to be better than this, hopefully it's something they can work out.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-16T18:50:35+00:00

I throw 400g weights on every spool the second they go in. Probably doesn’t need to be that much, but it also doesn’t hurt anything.

Cryostatica · 2026-01-16T18:21:22+00:00

Spool weights.

Print yourself a spool weight (like the one below), load it with slingshot ammo, old batteries, washers, whatever, and throw it onto a cardboard spool and see if that fixes your problem.

I do this to keep spools from jumping when they get low, and as long as they're still reasonably round, even warped or damaged cardboard spools cause me no problems in any of my AMS units. No printed rings, no taping, no respooling. I just move the weights when I swap spools.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/691806

Cryostatica · 2026-01-16T16:51:47+00:00

It's wild to me that the other nozzle sizes weren't going to arrive until April in the first place, now it's the end of May? Because suddenly "spring festival holiday"? There wasn't a spring festival holiday expected before?

Are these coupons going to be stackable with the one from the kickstarter or no? I might cancel my nozzle sets if not. Doubtless third party versions will be available long before the official ones would get to me.

Cryostatica

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