If you’re catching the tempting whiff of a freshly cooked new 3D printer on the breeze, that’ll be Artillery. The Chinese firm has been busy in the kitchen, rustling up the follow-up to the Sidewinder X1. To the surprise of absolutely zero persons, it’s called the Sidewinder X2, and the microwave has just gone ping.
Unsurprisingly, there’s been a couple of changes from X1 to X2. So, we’re here to tell you all about the exciting new ingredients in the Sidewinder dish.
Enough then of all this introduction stuff, let’s pick up our forks and dig right into the 5 things you should know before you slap your card down on the new Artillery Sidewinder X2.
The Artillery Sidewinder X2
The Artillery Sidewinder X2 is the follow-up to the Sidewinder X1, a popular mid-range FDM 3D printer.
In terms of changes, there hasn’t been some drastic overhaul of what the Sidewinder is or what it offers. It retains a large 300 x 300 x 400 mm build volume, a Titan direct drive extruder, Volcano hot end, and a glass build platform just like before.
Changes, where they do come, are still worth knowing, though, particularly if you’re thinking of picking up an X2.
A New Look
Artillery has given the Sidewinder X2 has a new look, but it’s nothing particularly exciting. It’s basically blossomed out some blue plastic garnish on top of the all-black body it had before. In a way, it’s like your friend turning up to meet you in a new, weird hat. It still looks like the person you know, just a bit different, and you don’t know if you like it or why they’ve done it.
Whatever the reason, the hat kind of works on the Sidewinder X2, it might look a bit cheap, and crude – especially with “SIDEWINDER” emblazoned across the top of the thing – but if you’re going to have a printer with a silly name, perhaps it doesn’t matter if it has a bit of a silly face. At the very least, it makes it more distinctive.
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New Self-developed 32-bit Mainboard
There was nothing we really disliked about the mainboard in the Sidewinder X1. It had silent stepper motors, welcomed upgrades, and did the job without any fuss. Artillery has decided to replace it, though, swapping it out instead for a self-developed 32-bit mainboard.
Further details on the board are currently scarce, but it should be an upgrade on what came before it, as the previous mainboard (a Makerbase MKS GEN L) was an 8-bit unit. Aside from telling you it packs more punch and should also prove to be pretty upgradable, there’s not much we can do aside from shuffling our papers, look into the camera, and say “more on that story, as it breaks.” Imagine us doing that right now.
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Automatic Bed Leveling
Oooh, we love a bit of automatic bed leveling. We bet you do too. The old Sidewinder didn’t have it, but the new X2 does, and Artillery has confirmed that it’ll be a “physical probe style” sensor that’ll be pre-equipped to the machine.
In promotional material for the printer, it looks a little bit BLTouch-y, but whatever form the bed leveling probe comes in, it should reduce the amount of time taken to level the bed and require less work and paper waggling from users, and that’s just lovely.
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Upgraded Cables
The lack of a strain relief on the cable running to the heated bed on the Sidewinder X1 wasn’t great. This problem shouldn’t have made it out of Artillery’s factory, if we’re honest. In our Sidewinder X1 review, we couldn’t find any issues with the wires as such; they were all properly insulated, but what if they weren’t? Or, what if they became exposed over time? Things could have got crispy.
Thankfully, the X2 has addressed this issue and significantly upgraded the AC heating cable for the print bed, hopefully ridding the printer of this issue. Better late than never, we suppose. Additionally, Artillery seems to have more strain relief in more of the other cables now, too, going by what the firm has said in promotional material. Safety thumbs up for that.
In other news, Artillery has been busy connecting all of the flexible flat connectors for the Sidewinder X2 on our behalf, saving us a bit of time when assembling the thing. No big deal, but it means it’ll be quicker to get printing once the machine is unboxed.
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110/220 V Switch
This switch allows you to alter the machine to suit the current of the place you live, meaning there won’t be different models anymore. That means you don’t have to worry that you’ve ordered the wrong one, or somebody will send you the wrong one, as there is now just one model and the switch that lets you choose. You will have to worry about making sure you selected the right option before switching it on—better double-check.
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