3D Printing Industry reviews the BCN3D Epsilon W50 3D printer.
Designed and manufactured by Barcelona-basedBCN3D，Epsilon是该公司长期IDEX FFF 3D打印机的最新产品。雷电竞app下载有两种型号，较小W27(5995美元)和更大的W50($7,995), the system is suitable for anyone seeking multi-material functional prototyping, including advanced prosumers, design professionals, and even SMEs.
Launched alongside BCN3D’s flagshipSigma D25, the Epsilon is at the heart of the company’s new ‘Workbench Series’ – a premium range of professional 3D printers built for the workshop. And, much like the D25, the Epsilon features a whole host of hardware and software upgrades that set the printer apart from the company’s older systems.
为了进行本次审查，我们将使用较大的格式Epsilon W50 3D打印机。
将作品放入车间
BCN3D has clearly taken on the motto“更大”更好”with its latest machine. The Epsilon W50’s simple but sturdy aluminum frame packs an impressive build volume measuring 420 x 300 x 400mm, providing users with a whopping 50.4L of workspace to play around with. Featuring a fully-enclosed body, the system can maintain consistent chamber temperatures of up to 60°C for those high-temperature thermoplastics. To access the build plate, users have a plexiglass door on the front and a view window along the top.
It’s worth noting that the frame of the printer itself is also on the larger side, measuring in at 690 x 530 x 900mm. As such, you’ll need to clear some space for the behemoth among your other tools. Looking inside, we have a heated glass bed with a maximum temperature of 120°C, which also helps alleviate warping and delamination issues. The build plate is detachable, making part removal a simple procedure.
One very important design feature is the addition of the new silicone thermal pad, which has replaced the conventional PCB heater under the bed for improved heat distribution. This was an issue we picked up on in our审查公司的Sigmax R19系统, so we’re glad to see it rectified in the more recent model.
就连接而言，用户可以在Wi-Fi，以太网和SD（包括32GB卡）之间进行选项。正面的华丽5英寸全彩色触摸屏使用户可以校准系统，加载细丝和管理印刷品，并在精心设计的UI中整齐地包装。Epsilon的新Android固件也比BCN3D的旧机器快得多。
As is the case with any self-respecting workshop printer, the Epsilon W50 houses two filament purge tanks on either side of the bed – a godsend for messy builds. Looking at the spool holders, we have two on the interior and two on the exterior. We used large third-party filament spools without a single hiccup.
额外的生活质量特性包括一组of LED strips to illuminate the interior of the printer, and a pair of handles on either side of the frame for easy carrying. The Epsilon W50 even has an H13 HEPA filter and an active carbon filter – both of which protect the working environment from harmful fumes and particles.
Users also have the option to add a智能机柜to the 3D printer; a humidity control device for filament storage. The Smart Cabinet is designed to complete the Epsilon ecosystem, keeping materials in optimum condition while providing an uninterruptible power supply to protect against blackouts.
IDEX 3D printing, a BCN3D staple
以真正的BCN3D方式，W50具有独立的双重挤压系统，该系统使用户能够同时使用两个热门。该系统的最高喷嘴温度为300°C，配有E3D hotends和Bondtech dual drive gear extruders. As such, the printer is compatible with a whole host of technical filaments, including PETG, PP, PA, TPU, and PVA. Users can also opt to substitute in aHotend X碳纤维丝的喷嘴。
The extruders themselves are housed on the back of the printer’s body, where they are easier to maintain. The unconventional choice of location is also intended to alleviate issues related to overheating, whereby extruders can sometimes have a hard time gripping molten filament. We saw the same setup make a debut on the company’s D25 3D printer, and we’ve found it to work like a charm.
We were also delighted to see the extruders had an integrated filament runout sensor, which saved our larger print jobs on more than one occasion. We did however run into a bug during an eight day print, where the filament ran out after just seven days. By the time we had a replacement spool delivered four days later, the system had frozen and we had to abandon the part. We attributed this to a memory leak causing the RAM to eventually fill up.
The Epsilon’s build plate and nozzle calibration processes are semi-automated, whereby users are asked to select the optimal calibration settings from a row of printed test lines. While the calibration workflow itself isn’t complicated at all, the sheer number of steps involved makes it extremely laborious and time-consuming. The addition of a distance sensor to streamline the levelling process would do wonders here.
Additionally, on our first calibration attempt, we ran into an issue where the nozzle was printing around 2mm above our chosen setting. It turned out we had a faulty motherboard. Luckily, all of theinstructions required to change the motherboardcan be found on the BCN3D website, and the company’s customer service is very responsive – we had a new board sent out to us within a week.
BCN3D Cura slicing software
BCN3D再次提供了与Epsilon W50的广泛使用的开源Cura Slicer的重新系列版本。与任何其他FFF切片机一样，Cura具有一组基本的翻译，旋转和重新缩放功能，这意味着可以轻松地进行试用和纠正。
Seeing as the Epsilon is an IDEX system, the slicer also features four purpose-built dual-extrusion modes: Duplication, Mirror, Multi-material, and Soluble supports. Duplication and Mirror, in particular, are what give the Epsilon its high-throughput production capabilities, enabling users to print two identical parts simultaneously. This makes the machine suitable for high-volume applications with double the production capacity – a major advantage of IDEX printers.
We found both modes to work very well, regardless of part geometry. This feature, paired with the large build volume, makes the Epsilon W50 a great system for serial production opportunities, serving semi-industrial needs.
While the software itself generally works as intended, we found it to be laggy in some of the menus, especially when switching between print modes. This is ultimately a minor gripe, however, as the abundance of advanced expert settings makes for a great jack-of-all-trades slicing tool, even for veteran 3D printing enthusiasts.
还值得注意的是，BCN3D团队目前正在努力开发新版本的切片机。此版本旨在更强大，并应解决当前版本所遇到的小问题。
基准测试Epsilon W50：81/100
It’s time to see what the Epsilon 3D printer is really made of. We start off with 3D Printing Industry’s own benchmarking model, which consolidates many of our smaller print tests into one comprehensive part. We usually print this test in PLA to compare results between printers, but we also often try a PETG or ABS variant to see how the machine handles higher temperature filaments.
Printed in ABS, this test really put the W50 through the ringer, but the system held its own admirably. We assign each of the individual sections a weighted score based on factors such as dimensional precision, surface quality, and structural integrity. The W50 earned an overall 3D Printing Industry score of81/100- 良好的专业级3D打印机是60+。
测试的悬垂部分旨在确定系统能够在不使用支撑结构的情况下打印的角度。epsilon以ABS的极限为50°，与PLA进行60°，这两者都是极好的结果。
Similarly, the bridging test is intended to determine a system’s horizontal printing capabilities. With ABS, the Epsilon managed to reach the 30mm bridge length successfully, but this was increased to 40mm when printing with PLA. Again, although not perfect, we’re very happy with these results.
On a side note, we also found that the right nozzle performed ever so slightly worse than the left nozzle in the bridging test. We’ve come across discrepancies like this in the past so we thought it probably had something to do with the orientation of the fan ducts. Depending on the part’s location on the build plate, the printhead cooling systems can sometimes be ineffective, a problem which can be solved by installing a set of 360° fan ducts.
最后,我们看看收缩测试,投入es us an idea of the 3D printer’s extruder capabilities. With high-temperature materials like ABS, it’s not uncommon for even the best printers to struggle with this test, and the Epsilon W50 is no exception. Although not catastrophic, our array of ABS spikes was fabricated with significant artifacting, resulting in a failure. When printed in PLA, the retraction test turned out much better, with no artifacts and absolutely no stringing.
We then 3D printed a circular trajectory test to see how the W50 would handle circular structures. By studying the normal distribution of the concentric circles’ diameters, we can say that the printer offers sufficient repeatability when the mean of difference is under 0.1mm and the standard deviation is under 0.05mm. Our measurement devices are accurate to ±0.015mm.
The Epsilon showcased excellent repeatability here, with an average offset of just 0.023mm for the X-axis and 0.019mm for the Y-axis, resulting in an average of 0.021mm for all axes. The average standard deviation also came in at 0.027mm, which is far better than the vast majority of 3D printers we’ve reviewed. For context, industrial FFF 3D printers often boast dimensional accuracies of up to 0.1mm, which qualifies them for applications such as high-precision automotive tooling.
Below you’ll find the bell curves for the best and worst circles in the test – Circle two for the X-axis and Circle one for the Y-axis. In the best case, 99.6% of the 65mm circles manufactured by this 3D printer will be between 64.95mm and 65.06mm. In the worst case, 99.6% of the 20mm circles fabricated by this 3D printer will be between 19.88mm and 20.15mm. Overall, a fantastic result.
A trip down material lane
BCN3D claims its Epsilon 3D printer has an extensive set of material capabilities, ranging from polyamide and polypropylene to water-soluble support filaments. Naturally, we had to put some of these to the test.
我们从PLA制成的建筑作品开始简单。仔细观察我们的伯明翰大教堂模型，我们看到了令人印象深刻的表面质量，许多细节保留了完整性。除了在顶部串起的小问题（很容易被拔出）外，构建绝对没有缺陷。
Moving on, we decided to print a set of cable ties made of nylon, or polyamide (PA). A staple of the polymer industry, PA is characterized by its toughness and flexibility, making it great for functional parts under high stress.
Our cable ties required no post-processing and work as intended, but we had an issue with the nozzles constantly clogging with filament. Since the printer had to print fine features on the parts, the filament was retracted often, deteriorating the quality of the material. Ultimately, the Epsilon can print with PA, but be prepared for considerable nozzle maintenance.
We then 3D printed a set of travel bottles using polypropylene (PP). The polymer is a semi-rigid, lightweight material known for its excellent chemical resistance. As such, it sees common use in both food and chemical packaging applications.
Due to PP’s semi-crystalline structure, it usually warps heavily upon cooling, making it a difficult material to print with. Still, the Epsilon handled the filament with ease, and our travel bottles came out beautifully. The final surface qualities are amazing and none of our parts have any visible defects. Additionally, the lid closing mechanisms work great and all of our bottles are completely airtight and waterproof – a huge success on the PP print test.
Next up was a dual material lizard made of PETG and PLA. Models like this also give us a chance to determine how well the nozzles of an IDEX system are calibrated with respect to each other. We’re happy to say our alien-esque reptile was fabricated almost perfectly, with clean material interface zones, smooth surfaces, and no gaps between the white and grey. As expected of BCN3D, the system’s dual extrusion setup delivers.
最后，我们有Epsilon 3D打印PVA可溶性支持模型。PVA或聚乙烯醇是一种柔性且可生物降解的聚合物，对水分非常敏感。当浸入水中时，PVA溶解，使其成为难以到达的地方（例如部分封闭的腔和悬垂）的绝佳支撑材料。测试组件是一种拓扑优化的汽车件，以最小的支撑疤痕和出色的表面质量进行了精心处理。
判决
The Epsilon W50 truly is built for the workshop, with a multitude of well-designed components, all the quality-of-life features one could want, and that good old BCN3D feel. You get what you pay for with this machine, both in terms of build volume and print quality, so if you’ve got the budget and the space it’s well worth your time.
However, much like any 3D printer on the market, the Epsilon W50 is not without its faults. The bed calibration process quite simply doesn’t deliver; it’s arduous and unnecessarily time-consuming. Beyond this, the system is also fairly loud during use, a qualm that can probably be overlooked in a workshop setting.
Ultimately, it’s a great choice for advanced users seeking a plug and play manufacturing engine, as it provides all the multi-material and high-throughput production functionality a professional could want. Add to this the incredible material capabilities of the system, and you’ve got yourself a very potent IDEX 3D printer.
Technical specifications
| Build volume | 420 x 300 x 400mm |
| 挤出机 | 2 – IDEX |
| Nozzle temperature | 300°C |
| Filament diameter | 2.85mm |
| Layer height | 0.05 – 0.5mm |
| XYZ resolution | 1.25/1.25/1 micron |
| Nozzle diameter | 0.4 - 1mm |
| Bed temperature | 120°C |
| Chamber temperature | 60°C |
| Dimensions | 690 x 530 x 900mm |
| Weight | 87kg |
| 连接性 | SD, Wi-Fi, ethernet |
Buy the BCN3D Epsilon W50 3D printer here. The system is available to order now for €6,995 ($7,995).
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Featured image shows the Epsilon W50 3D printer. Photo via BCN3D.
