INTRODUCTION

   When the very first consumer grade 3D printers made their market debut roughly 15 years ago i have to admit that i wasn't as intrigued as one might think. On one hand this was a concept with roots decades back (specifically the 80's) and on the other there were serious limitations for end users ranging from printable size and model quality to print speed and material selection (not to mention cost). Fast forward to today however and not only all of these things have almost been resolved but there's also a massive selection of available models in the market by a very large number of manufacturers which all but ensures consumers and professionals alike can find exactly what they are looking for. Artillery is one of those companies and today with me i have their top of the line Sidewinder X2 (SW-X2) 3D Printer.

   Established in 2018 and headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Shenzhen Artillery Technology Co., Ltd., with a modern production base of 10,000 square meters, is an international 3D printer technology enterprise integrating research and development, production, marketing and service. Shenzhen Artillery Technology Co., Ltd., has developed into an international 3D printer technology enterprise integrating R&D, production, marketing and service. Our marketing network covers the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and other major regions of the world. We established long-term strategic partnership with Germany, Spain, France, Chile and many other countries and built global network sales channels through Amazon, AliExpress, Ebay, Tmall/Taobao and other e-commerce platforms.

   Much like most fused filament 3D printers in the market today the Sidewinder X2 is an AIO (all-in-one) model featuring an 2-piece durable aluminum frame, 2.7inch color touchscreen, direct drive aluminum extruder with intelligent automatic bed leveling (filament diameter 1.75mm / 0.40mm Volcano-style nozzle / 100 - 300 microns layer resolution / up to 240 degrees Celsius), tempered glass platform with AC heat bed (up to 110 degrees Celsius), synchronized dual Z stepper motors, Ruby 32bit mainboard, ultra-quiet stepper driver, spool holder with filament runout sensor, USB port, microSD card slot and an 100-240V switching power supply. Thanks to its large aluminum frame the Sidewinder X2 can 3D print models up to 300x300x400mm in size and is fully compatible with a wide variety of printing materials including PLA, Tough PLA, ABS, PETG, CPE, ASA, Nylon, TPU and TPE. This is actually the 2nd 3D printer I’m going to be using so let's see just what it brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Artillery 3D uses a plain cardboard box to ship the SW-X2 the front and back of which are taken by their logo and the printer model.

The model selection along with a 2D barcode and a sticker with the company logo are all placed on the right side.

3 pieces of black foam are used to keep the entire bundle secure during shipping.

Aside the 2 piece assembly packed inside the box also are the spool holder, power cable, user manual, spool holder assembly instructions (new design) and a tool kit inside which you'll find a USB flash drive with printer instructions, USB host cable, assembly screws, 5 Allen keys, nozzle wrench, spare ribbon cable, 2 cable ties, spare 0.40mm nozzle, and spare pulleys.

THE SIDEWINDER X2

The base of the Sidewinder X2 measures 405mm in width, 550mm in depth and roughly 30mm in height.

You can use the USB port and microSD card slot on the left side to load and print models.

The 2.7inch color display is at the left front of the base right next to the reset button.

A USB host port is located on the right side via which you can 3D print models directly from your computer (for my tests however i used the bundled USB drive to print models).

The mainboard connects to the top part of the Sidewinder X2 via a PCIe slot on the left top of the base.

Artillery 3D offers one of the largest print beds (and a AC heated tempered glass one at that) found in a home 3D printer model (300x300x400mm) and that's clearly one of its strongest selling points.

At the rear we find the power port, power switch and a fuse box.

The main product specifications can also be found on a sticker located at the rear right of the base.

Turning the base over we find 4 round feet, 4 screws (for the top end) and an 80mm cooling fan.

The top end of the Sidewinder X2 measures roughly 610mm in height and 400mm in width.

Artillery 3D has used thick pieces of aluminum for the frame along with their Titan direct drive aluminum extruder with intelligent automatic bed leveling.

With both parts of the Sidewinder X2 attached the printer now measures 405mm in width, 550mm in depth and 640mm in height.

Once you attach both parts don't forget to connect the 3 cables seen above (there's 1 more cable coming from the mainboard which doesn't seem to attach to anything).

Last piece is the spool holder (new version) which is very easy to attach and use.

For this review i used 1.75mm PLA filament by Artillery 3D.

Last but not least the filament runout sensor is a welcome addition.

LCD DISPLAY

The 2.7inch LCD display is very convenient and so from the main tab you can immediately see the current temperature for both the extruder and the bed, current fan RPM and of course icons for the three sub-tabs.

From inside the tools tab, you can preheat the extruder and the bed, pull filament in/out of the extruder, move the base, level the extruder, change the filament, level the extruder manually or automatically, save the settings and turn on/off the LED light of the extruder.

Moving to the settings tab from here you can access the files in the USB/MicroSD, continue a paused printing, set the speed of the fan, turn the motors on/off when not printing and check the installed firmware version.

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Since this is my very first 3D printer review, I decided to record 3 things first of which is total print time at 100% speed (for this I’ll be using 2 different sized models – downloaded from Cults3D / member Eastman - rendered in Cura v5.3 with a dynamic quality of 0.16mm, 20% infill density and cubic infill pattern). Second is noise levels and so once again I’ll be using my ExTech HD600 decibel meter placed roughly 30cm away to record the maximum noise coming from the 3D printer while printing. Finally with the help of an UPS and two power meters I decided to also record not only the lowest and highest but also the average instant power consumption of the 3D printer in my hands. 

Here you can see 3 printing phases of one of the 2 models I’ll be using with my tests (largest one). I may also do a direct quality comparison in future reviews if there are noticeable differences between 3D printer models.

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   As mentioned earlier the Sidewinder X2 by Artillery is the 2nd 3D printer I’ve used to date so right now I’m far from an expert (which is why I’m open to suggestions of what else to test in such reviews). Still, it’s very easy to see that in terms of printing quality this 3D printer does very well and the same of course applies for its features list which is not something we see with models at around its price range. Build quality is also very good so whether it’s about the aluminum frame, motors, aluminum extruder or the AC heated tempered glass base everything checks out. The 2.7inch color LCD is also a great addition and makes setting up and using the Sidewinder X2 a breeze. Still printing speed is an issue, at least for me since I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to 3D printers. I don’t really know just how faster other similar models are (although I do imagine most are roughly the same, at least at around the same price range) but taking over 30 hours to print an 142x111x200mm 3D model seems like a lot to me (still I’ll wait until other models arrive to verify this). Cost is also an slight issue (one which should actually apply to every 3D printer out there) since that 142x111x200mm model used almost 1/3 of the black PLA filament provided to me by Artillery (and this was with just 20% infill density). Of course, in all fairness everything I mention here needs to be compared with results from other 3D printers in future reviews.

   You can grab your very own Sidewinder X2 3D printer by Artillery (plus 1Kg of PLA filament) for USD349/325.20Euros directly from their online store, a price tag which is really affordable for a model with its capabilities. Well, there’s not much else i can say about the Sidewinder X2, it delivers exactly as advertised and for someone such as myself with a rather limited experience with 3D printers (we all have to start from somewhere i guess) that’s all that matters and for that the Golden award is in order.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Large Printing Surface (300x300x400mm)
- Print Quality
- AC Heated Tempered Glass Bed
- Dual Z Axis Motors
- Automatic Leveling
- Color LCD Screen
- PC, USB & MicroSD Connection
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Speed (?)