Phrozen’s Debut FDM 3D Printer and Multi-Material System Are Finally Here
After several delays, Phrozen's first FDM 3D printer is shipping out. Its multi-material system will soon follow, along with a few bonus nozzles for backers.
The Phrozen Arco, the first FDM offering from this manufacturer known for its resin 3D printers since 2013, is finally shipping to Kickstarter backers.
Phrozen told All3DP that backers in the Asia-Pacific region have already started receiving the Klipper-based 300 x 300 x 300 mm flying-gantry 3D printer, and batches sent to the US, EU, and UK should arrive soon. The printer’s add-on multi-material system, the Chroma Kit, will follow at the end of June.
We saw the Phrozen Arco and Chroma Kit when they were first revealed at Formnext 2023, and a Kickstarter campaign followed early the next year. The system has faced multiple delays since then, originally intended to launch in July 2024.
Phrozen attributed delays to design changes, like changing the Chroma Kit’s pathing from a single PTFE tube to four and adding a drying function, and creating new add-ons like the “PentaShield” enclosure with a hinged lid and temperature-managing fan.
Backers are being compensated for the delays, too, by way of three free nozzles: a pre-installed “standard” nozzle, presumably brass; a Bondtech CHT nozzle, like those in Prusa’s Core One; and a Slice Engineering GammaMaster Nozzle, which is made from a highly thermally conductive hardened alloy and anti-adhesive coating. At an M6 size, the two non-standard nozzles represent about a $50 value, but the Arco’s nozzles will be proprietary.
The Arco and its add-ons are already available for purchase on Phrozen’s website, but are currently listed as “backordered” without an expected shipping date.
We saw the Arco again this year at Rapid + TCT, this time printing live on the show floor, and are pretty eager to go hands-on with it ourselves, especially for its flying gantry kinematics (a system where the gantry rides the Z-axis instead of the bed), which are relatively unique on the market. Vorons have been using a flying gantry for some time, and only a few pre-built systems have been inspired by them. Though I haven’t yet had the chance to use one, shifting weight lower during printing instead of raising it up seems a better way to do things.
And that is something Phrozen is touting in the machine’s marketing, claiming that its “GraviCoreXY Structure” (which is to say, a flying gantry CoreXY) with a “low-center design” will reduce vibrations.
We’ll have to test the system to be sure, but what’s for certain is that the Arco will fill something of a gap in the market if successful. We’ve remarked before that it’s a clear answer to Bambu Lab’s machines, and at $899, the open-frame system does undercut the X1C by $350, but with some clear sacrifices. The margin gets smaller with add-ons, saving just $200 with the PentaShield enclosure and $100 for the full kit complete with the Chroma Kit at a total price of $1,400. But, it does so while offering a larger build volume – something Bambu Lab fans have been clamoring for — and may be on its way, if rumors are to be believed – and an open-source firmware, while the competition is further locking down its own.
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