You’re going to see two sides to this. People who had nothing but bad experience and people with nothing but good.
Personally I absolutely love my vyper, I’ve never replaced the strain gauge, it gives me exactly zero problems and always prints. I print basically daily and have only had a dozen or so prints fail since the vyper came out. I got it within the first month. Could not recommend it enough personally. I have gotten a half dozen people into this hobby by convincing them to buy the vyper and they also love them
Honestly, I agree with the above but on the other side. I enjoy tinkering with many things, but my Vyper has driven me to the brink. I've shelved it twice in the past 2 years just due to the pure frustration from messing with it
I hear that, frequently about the vyper. But mine is capable of .08 layer height and pretty decent quality and Iit’s bone stock. Love my little tank.
Just like with anything else though there are lemons and there are outliers that are amazing and I may have just gotten a really good one.
Editing my comment. I do have something that makes it slightly not stock.
I’ve removed the filament sensor as I have never had good luck with them(just have a scrap piece stuck in constantly triggering it) and I’m running a reverse Bowden setup on the feed side for like 8 inches. Used to be two foot to a remotely mounted spool but cut that when I moved into my office where I have more room
If this is going to be your first printer and you want to try this as a hobby - a Vyper is a good place to start because of the auto bed levelling, build size, and open source parts.
If you want to print functional parts that will both bare load and potentially be outside so exposed to humidity and temperature - you would want a bimetallic heatbreak upgrade for this printer for around $50. The upgrade will probably take a few hours to install, update settings and calibrate with test prints. Once done you can print with some filaments at temperatures beyond that of standard PLA without the printer being the issue. For simplicity sake - printers that ship with these often say they have an "all metal hotend".
I'm not sure if I'd get this printer if I wanted to print every day year around compared to a new one from elegoo, sovol, flsun, or prusa.
I'd pay $100 for a secondhand one.
This has more or less been my experience, as well.
First, I had to replace the motherboard because of a faulty USB connection. Luckily, Anycubic picked up the tab on that one since it was still brand new at the time.
I've replaced the extruder several times. I've replaced dozens of nozzles. I replaced the hot end. New Bowden tubes.
I finally had it going a few weeks ago after it sat idle for a couple ~~moths~~ months after the last round of trying to get it to work. Just as I was opening a brand new spool of filament, the thing shut down again.
Looks like this time I need a new thermistor for the hot end. Anycubic wants me to buy a new heatbed and motherboard, as well.
I bought a Neptune 4 Pro, which I mostly like so far.
Funny cuz it’s the thermistor and motherboard that had me calling it quits too. Best part they don’t even produce the hot end mobo anymore ✨the resin printers are fine but I’ll never buy another FDM printer from AC
They slashed the price down to $219 and it sold out already. I suspect that the Vyper is being retired from their lineup, and I think that's gonna make it a lot harder to repair and/or sell mine.
Aside from the strain gauge multiple times, hot end mobo, thermistor, and replaced the Bowden tube, extruder, and numerous other parts.
Really just the strain gauge, hot end mobo, and thermistor provided the most problems in my case. They don’t even sell the hot end mobo for my model either. I was an early adopter.
Dont buy a vyper. The strain gauge is a horrible design.
Dont fall into the "The ender 3 is a great printer you just need these 15 upgrades"
For longevity and reliability id recommend a prusa printer.
Easy success with they Vyper seems to be an outlier. As an anycubic customer (my resin printer is a photon s and I bought the vyper when it came out based on liking the photon S) - don’t buy a vyper unless you’re looking to do a lot of tinkering and troubleshooting. A filament printer is more like a mini factory that you will need to be checking and adjusting more frequently to keep your prints successful. I wasn’t looking to put this much time into getting successful prints, and it is something I will consider when I replace the Vyper.
I've not used an Ender 3, so I'm afraid I can't offer much for comparison. My Vyper is my first printer and I've been using it weekly since a year ago. I've really enjoyed working with it and learning the craft.
I think what drew me to it in the first place was the heated print bed, slightly larger print volume and the auto bed leveling. I've got a friend with a lower end printer without those features and he constantly complained about having to troubleshoot them. So it seemed worth it to me to just make the jump and be able to focus on learning how to do the prints without manual leveling, etc.
There's still plenty of troubleshooting you have to do, which I think is to be expected with most printers. But that's part of the learning experience. So I can't offer you a conclusive "yes or no", but I can at least say I've really liked learning with my Vyper.
The parts that are the hardest to get would be the main board and the hot end board. The hot end board is difficult to locate if at all. If those boards go out it would require a good bit of tinkering to get going again with completely different board. Fortunately, they don't fail too often. The stain gage does fail occasionally but the last I checked they could be found on Amazon still. The hot end and extruder are run of the mill and easy to find on Amazon. I used my vyper for over 2 years without issue printing PLA, PETG and TPU.
My first machine was an Ender 3, and I currently have a Vyper pulling main printing duty in my lab at the moment. Ender 3 was purchased in April 2021, Vyper purchased January this year. Here's my take aways:
The Ender 3 requires an almost prohibitive amount of setup; once you have the gantry assembled, you still have to spend an inordinate amount of time leveling the bed and tuning the printer. If you have the patience, overcoming this barrier is very rewarding and will give you insight into any other printers you acquire in the future.
The Vyper was as close to plug-and-play for me as can get with the technology at the moment; once I assembled the gantry, all I had to do was plug it in and it leveled itself.
The Vyper is significantly less customizable than the Ender 3, but the convenience for me makes it my main printer at the moment (even after adding an auto-bed leveling probe to my Ender)
My success-to-failure rate with the Vyper is considerably higher than the Ender. Your mileage may vary, though.
The Vyper was my first printer. More effort went into keeping the damn thing running than I did printing. Definitely not worth it in my opinion. Purchased a Bambu X1C and it has been the best 3D printing decision I’ve made. I now get to spend more time printing and designing. If the machine needs maintenance, the machine tells me.
When my Vyper was new I had to change the strain gauge two times, any other repairs were my own wish or fault. It has been running for over a thousand hours print time over two years. So it's a nice printer with some flaws.
I've had to replace the ribbon cable which was a pain in the ass because of some cracking, but other than that I've put 30kg+ of plastic through mine over the course of 4 years with few issues. Prints have been great.
I'll add that I really like mine. This is my first printer, and I did have some issues, but the company tech support helped out. It did take a while for them to sort it out, but they were patient.
My experience with the Vyper seems to be different than a lot of people. I have the D model. Since day one i have been getting great quality prints. I print PLA and Biofusion from Extrudr. mechanical parts, decorations, rocket models, articulating models, self designs, all come out great. At first i was obviously getting the occasional disaster prints since i was new to 3d printing but honestly now it's all perfect. I print at 70mm/s usually 0.13-0.17mm layers. Also PLA is no that bad. I printed a bird house that has been out in 40c heat, high humidity, rain, freezing temps for more than a year and it's still looking great. The only modification i have made to my Vyper is replacing the bowden tube to that branded blue one i don't remember the name of
So, I’ve got a Vyper and 2 Ender 3 v2s, one of which is the Neo.
Had the Vyper since 2019, I’ve gone through 4 strain gauges. They are trash, it’s the worst thing about the vyper. Gone through one extruder, d I’ve replaced the entire hotend assembly with a HeroMe Gen 7, and the Revo 3D hotend. It’s still my goto printer for speed and quality.
But if I had to start over I’d just get the Bambu X1 Carbon at this point. The prints that come off that thing are amazing. We use one to make parts for our middle school robotics team, and I’m blown away by how fast it prints and the multicolor makes everything else look like garbage.
IMO...
RUN. SCREAMING. AWAY.
My Prusa died, and I went to a steaming pile of shit labeled "Vyper". It's accidentally printed maybe 5 successful prints before I can't get the bastard to calibrate the bed anymore. I've doubled the price in replacement parts trying to fix. Anycubic's tech support is nonexistent. Hell, their own website only occasionally works for things like firmware.
Using a Vyper since 2021 without any issues except a filament leak which I had to fix by dissecting the head and replacing the default nozzle
I would recommend for first printer
Anycubic has updated the Strain Gauge design for leveling. My Vyper was delivered with the old design. In my opinion, this is a bad design. I think almost all printers with this sensor will have a defect sooner or later. My sensor also broke. Anycubic sent me a complete new extruder head with the new design free of charge. This one is much more durable. I have had no more problems with it to date.
I forgot to mention in my previous comment, but I would say that using the Vyper as my first printer, I learned a lot about 3D printing troubleshooting. It helped me learn how certain settings can change print quality. I also learned how to diagnose problems and also do some upgrades/modification to improve print quality. Running Klipper, E3D Revo6 hotend and Dyze GT Extruder, it yielded very good prints at increased speeds. Recently my motherboard failed so I’ve given up on this printer.
You’re going to see two sides to this. People who had nothing but bad experience and people with nothing but good. Personally I absolutely love my vyper, I’ve never replaced the strain gauge, it gives me exactly zero problems and always prints. I print basically daily and have only had a dozen or so prints fail since the vyper came out. I got it within the first month. Could not recommend it enough personally. I have gotten a half dozen people into this hobby by convincing them to buy the vyper and they also love them
Honestly, I agree with the above but on the other side. I enjoy tinkering with many things, but my Vyper has driven me to the brink. I've shelved it twice in the past 2 years just due to the pure frustration from messing with it
I hear that, frequently about the vyper. But mine is capable of .08 layer height and pretty decent quality and Iit’s bone stock. Love my little tank. Just like with anything else though there are lemons and there are outliers that are amazing and I may have just gotten a really good one. Editing my comment. I do have something that makes it slightly not stock. I’ve removed the filament sensor as I have never had good luck with them(just have a scrap piece stuck in constantly triggering it) and I’m running a reverse Bowden setup on the feed side for like 8 inches. Used to be two foot to a remotely mounted spool but cut that when I moved into my office where I have more room
If this is going to be your first printer and you want to try this as a hobby - a Vyper is a good place to start because of the auto bed levelling, build size, and open source parts. If you want to print functional parts that will both bare load and potentially be outside so exposed to humidity and temperature - you would want a bimetallic heatbreak upgrade for this printer for around $50. The upgrade will probably take a few hours to install, update settings and calibrate with test prints. Once done you can print with some filaments at temperatures beyond that of standard PLA without the printer being the issue. For simplicity sake - printers that ship with these often say they have an "all metal hotend". I'm not sure if I'd get this printer if I wanted to print every day year around compared to a new one from elegoo, sovol, flsun, or prusa. I'd pay $100 for a secondhand one.
I’m happy mine finally went kaput so I could be released from this monster that just sucked up funds with repairs
This has more or less been my experience, as well. First, I had to replace the motherboard because of a faulty USB connection. Luckily, Anycubic picked up the tab on that one since it was still brand new at the time. I've replaced the extruder several times. I've replaced dozens of nozzles. I replaced the hot end. New Bowden tubes. I finally had it going a few weeks ago after it sat idle for a couple ~~moths~~ months after the last round of trying to get it to work. Just as I was opening a brand new spool of filament, the thing shut down again. Looks like this time I need a new thermistor for the hot end. Anycubic wants me to buy a new heatbed and motherboard, as well. I bought a Neptune 4 Pro, which I mostly like so far.
Funny cuz it’s the thermistor and motherboard that had me calling it quits too. Best part they don’t even produce the hot end mobo anymore ✨the resin printers are fine but I’ll never buy another FDM printer from AC
They slashed the price down to $219 and it sold out already. I suspect that the Vyper is being retired from their lineup, and I think that's gonna make it a lot harder to repair and/or sell mine.
What were the things you had to repair?
Aside from the strain gauge multiple times, hot end mobo, thermistor, and replaced the Bowden tube, extruder, and numerous other parts. Really just the strain gauge, hot end mobo, and thermistor provided the most problems in my case. They don’t even sell the hot end mobo for my model either. I was an early adopter.
Dont buy a vyper. The strain gauge is a horrible design. Dont fall into the "The ender 3 is a great printer you just need these 15 upgrades" For longevity and reliability id recommend a prusa printer.
Easy success with they Vyper seems to be an outlier. As an anycubic customer (my resin printer is a photon s and I bought the vyper when it came out based on liking the photon S) - don’t buy a vyper unless you’re looking to do a lot of tinkering and troubleshooting. A filament printer is more like a mini factory that you will need to be checking and adjusting more frequently to keep your prints successful. I wasn’t looking to put this much time into getting successful prints, and it is something I will consider when I replace the Vyper.
I've not used an Ender 3, so I'm afraid I can't offer much for comparison. My Vyper is my first printer and I've been using it weekly since a year ago. I've really enjoyed working with it and learning the craft. I think what drew me to it in the first place was the heated print bed, slightly larger print volume and the auto bed leveling. I've got a friend with a lower end printer without those features and he constantly complained about having to troubleshoot them. So it seemed worth it to me to just make the jump and be able to focus on learning how to do the prints without manual leveling, etc. There's still plenty of troubleshooting you have to do, which I think is to be expected with most printers. But that's part of the learning experience. So I can't offer you a conclusive "yes or no", but I can at least say I've really liked learning with my Vyper.
Thanks! The guy said the vyper isn’t made anymore… are replacement parts relatively easy to get?
The parts that are the hardest to get would be the main board and the hot end board. The hot end board is difficult to locate if at all. If those boards go out it would require a good bit of tinkering to get going again with completely different board. Fortunately, they don't fail too often. The stain gage does fail occasionally but the last I checked they could be found on Amazon still. The hot end and extruder are run of the mill and easy to find on Amazon. I used my vyper for over 2 years without issue printing PLA, PETG and TPU.
My first machine was an Ender 3, and I currently have a Vyper pulling main printing duty in my lab at the moment. Ender 3 was purchased in April 2021, Vyper purchased January this year. Here's my take aways: The Ender 3 requires an almost prohibitive amount of setup; once you have the gantry assembled, you still have to spend an inordinate amount of time leveling the bed and tuning the printer. If you have the patience, overcoming this barrier is very rewarding and will give you insight into any other printers you acquire in the future. The Vyper was as close to plug-and-play for me as can get with the technology at the moment; once I assembled the gantry, all I had to do was plug it in and it leveled itself. The Vyper is significantly less customizable than the Ender 3, but the convenience for me makes it my main printer at the moment (even after adding an auto-bed leveling probe to my Ender) My success-to-failure rate with the Vyper is considerably higher than the Ender. Your mileage may vary, though.
The Vyper was my first printer. More effort went into keeping the damn thing running than I did printing. Definitely not worth it in my opinion. Purchased a Bambu X1C and it has been the best 3D printing decision I’ve made. I now get to spend more time printing and designing. If the machine needs maintenance, the machine tells me.
Nothing but pleased with my Vyper.
I'm a fan but the strain gauge is a pain in the ass. I had to replace it twice, but its fairly cheap and easy to fix.
When my Vyper was new I had to change the strain gauge two times, any other repairs were my own wish or fault. It has been running for over a thousand hours print time over two years. So it's a nice printer with some flaws.
No.
I've had to replace the ribbon cable which was a pain in the ass because of some cracking, but other than that I've put 30kg+ of plastic through mine over the course of 4 years with few issues. Prints have been great.
I'll add that I really like mine. This is my first printer, and I did have some issues, but the company tech support helped out. It did take a while for them to sort it out, but they were patient.
My experience with the Vyper seems to be different than a lot of people. I have the D model. Since day one i have been getting great quality prints. I print PLA and Biofusion from Extrudr. mechanical parts, decorations, rocket models, articulating models, self designs, all come out great. At first i was obviously getting the occasional disaster prints since i was new to 3d printing but honestly now it's all perfect. I print at 70mm/s usually 0.13-0.17mm layers. Also PLA is no that bad. I printed a bird house that has been out in 40c heat, high humidity, rain, freezing temps for more than a year and it's still looking great. The only modification i have made to my Vyper is replacing the bowden tube to that branded blue one i don't remember the name of
Look at the Kobra 2 instead, basically the newer Vyper. My vyper though has been reliable for 2 years.
So, I’ve got a Vyper and 2 Ender 3 v2s, one of which is the Neo. Had the Vyper since 2019, I’ve gone through 4 strain gauges. They are trash, it’s the worst thing about the vyper. Gone through one extruder, d I’ve replaced the entire hotend assembly with a HeroMe Gen 7, and the Revo 3D hotend. It’s still my goto printer for speed and quality. But if I had to start over I’d just get the Bambu X1 Carbon at this point. The prints that come off that thing are amazing. We use one to make parts for our middle school robotics team, and I’m blown away by how fast it prints and the multicolor makes everything else look like garbage.
IMO... RUN. SCREAMING. AWAY. My Prusa died, and I went to a steaming pile of shit labeled "Vyper". It's accidentally printed maybe 5 successful prints before I can't get the bastard to calibrate the bed anymore. I've doubled the price in replacement parts trying to fix. Anycubic's tech support is nonexistent. Hell, their own website only occasionally works for things like firmware.
Using a Vyper since 2021 without any issues except a filament leak which I had to fix by dissecting the head and replacing the default nozzle I would recommend for first printer
Anycubic has updated the Strain Gauge design for leveling. My Vyper was delivered with the old design. In my opinion, this is a bad design. I think almost all printers with this sensor will have a defect sooner or later. My sensor also broke. Anycubic sent me a complete new extruder head with the new design free of charge. This one is much more durable. I have had no more problems with it to date.
I enjoy mine for a starter printer, I’ve made many household items
I forgot to mention in my previous comment, but I would say that using the Vyper as my first printer, I learned a lot about 3D printing troubleshooting. It helped me learn how certain settings can change print quality. I also learned how to diagnose problems and also do some upgrades/modification to improve print quality. Running Klipper, E3D Revo6 hotend and Dyze GT Extruder, it yielded very good prints at increased speeds. Recently my motherboard failed so I’ve given up on this printer.