Voxelab Aquila 3D Printer: Best Affordable 3D Printer Under $200 for Beginners

Voxelab Aquila is the new FDM 3D printer on the market that has managed to establish a compelling reputation right away. 

Voxelab is the sub-brand of Flashforge which is already known by most of us. Aquila is the first printer of Voxelab and it comes at an alluring $200 price, but it is recently put on sale that left 3D enthusiasts like us at SolidSmack with a gaping mouth. The price sounds too good to be true, yes, but we will prove in this review that it has all the bragging rights. That said, what makes this Voxelab Aquila 3D printer worthy of space on your working desk? Well, let’s start.

Voxelab Aquila: Best Alternative for Ender 3

If you would closely examine Aquila, you will notice its great difference as a clone of Ender 3 V2. This is a piece of good news as it means you will get the familiar details in Ender 3 V2 that everyone already adores. As a matter of fact, it is a great alternative for the said model, given that you’ll save at least $100 and that’s a big difference!

Aquila, just like Ender 3 V2, will give you almost the same set of things: build width, build depth, build height, layer resolution, single-gear extruder, print speed, turn-knob style, and more. You can even upgrade and troubleshoot it easily as most of its parts are just the same as Ender 3 V2. This is the same reason why in just a short time after its release, supports and forums about Voxelab Aquila suddenly grew.

If there are things that make Aquila different from Ender 3 V2, however, these are the landscape-oriented screen, the absence of the front drawer, and the price. With all that, if you are a beginner trying to explore the world of 3D printing technology, Aquila is the best option (and the cheapest) option to consider!

Voxelab Aquila Spec Highlights

At first look, this Voxelab Aquila 3D printer really makes a good impression. It has a handful of wonderful specifications that allow it to put a good fight with other competing brands. It starts with the lines that are hidden in the machine, great cable management, beautiful build, and quiet performance (though the fan is actually a bit distracting). However, there are lots of things to love about it!

It has the Mean Well LRD-350-24 which is one of the most reliable power supply options on the market. For a cheap unit, this is quite unbelievable that Voxelab gives us this gift.

It also offers the 220 x 220 x 250 printing volume of the printer. For a cheap 3D printer, this is enough to cater to most sizes of printing projects. It has a bed that heats fast enough to deliver fast results. It reaches 60 degrees Celcius at about 3 minutes while it takes almost 9 minutes to hit 100 degrees Celcius.

There is a textured glass printing surface placed above the aluminum heated bed. The adhesion it provides is pretty great during the process and the printed products easily detach once the glass cools off.

The glass is secured by two metallic clips which allow easy removal for cleanup purposes. Other users also add more pairs of clips to the bed to improve the heat distribution of the aluminum heated bed.

Aquila also sports the cheapest kind of hotends. It is designed with the PTFE directly attached to the nozzle. This can handle PLA filament printing for most or average-sized projects, but keep in mind that it is not ideal to be used for big models that take time to finish. If you will use it at its max 250 ℃ setting for long hours, do expect that the PTFE tube might suffer. As said, nonetheless, Voxelab Aquila has a lot of potential for upgrades. So, if you want to give it a boost for your benefit, replacing its hotend with a more heavy-duty type will be great.

Also, Aquila features a plastic single-gear extruder. This might raise the brows of some people, but given its price, no one can complain. After all, it performs its job decent enough, so it is still something to appreciate.

Moreover, we love the fact that despite some of the cheap parts Aquila is made of, it still comes with additional details available to newer models of 3D printers such as the metallic insert in the plastic extruder and the handy XY-axis tensioner for easy adjustment of the belt tensioner. And just to bring up again that it is just an entry-level item, it is very nice to know that Vixelab offers continuous software updates for Aquila 3D printers. You don’t always get this kind of service from a manufacturer selling a product at this price, so we really can’t help but adore it more and more for this reason.

Performance and Ease of Use

The Voxelab Aquila 3D printer comes partially disassembled, so you have to work on some of the parts yourself. This includes the frame, gantry, and extruder setup. Everything is quite easy and if you have already some experience in dealing with 3D printers, this should be a piece of cake for you.

It also features a bright-colored TFT screen that comes in a landscape position. It doesn’t have a touchscreen capability BUT it shouldn’t discourage you from appreciating its beauty. The screen is well-lit and is controlled using a rotary encoder and knob. The best part about that is that the Voxelab has done a very excellent job of making the UI of the screen very user-friendly. It only shows the most B-A-S-I-C stuff you need. Just that. The complexities are hidden, making it foolproof. Frankly, everything about the screen is well-though, well-designed, and well-organized. So, 5 stars for that!

As for the prints, it can produce products of great quality. It has a resume-printing feature so power interruption is no problem at all. Everything comes well-sliced after the process. There is less stringing and curling. The prints are very and amazingly smooth and would definitely meet the standards you have. Moreover, the prints also stick on the bed pretty well during the printing process and they can be easily be removed once the bed cooled down.

It supports PLA, ABS, and PETG filaments and works on Cura, Simplify 3D, VoxelMaker software. Therefore, it is versatile enough to manage average-sized projects on the daily, so you are certain you will get the best value out of it.

Verdict

The market for the $200 3D printers is getting more and more attraction. There are lots of other 3D printer brands trying to steal the limelight in this section by offering cheap units. However, not all of them meet the cut. Voxelab Aquila 3D printer, on the other hand, delivers everything in the best way possible: great intuitive screen, reliable body and parts, excellent prints, great support, and more!

Besides practicality, Voxelab Aquila is a 3D printer designed for vast possibilities of development and upgrade. Thanks to its great similarity to Ender 3 V2, replacing its parts for a boost is always possible. Most of all, with the utter dedication of the Voxelab brand in providing frequent firmware upgrade to Aquila, you can always expect something new about it.

In the end, we have to admit that the strategy of Voxelab to mix quality and affordability to get the attention of its audience has succeeded. And now that Voxelab Aquila has finally made its stunning mark, we will patiently wait for more surprises from the brand in the future!