Automatic bed leveling

Kobra Go features the same auto-leveling system as the original Kobra. Anycubic’s inductive leveling system uses a magnetic field to detect the proximity of metals. The system is called LeviQ here, a name that Anycubic attaches to various auto-leveling systems in its stable, regardless of the technology involved.

This induction system checks 25 points on the print bed, detects the unevenness, and then calculates how much the printer must compensate while printing.

Go doesn’t have leveling wheels underneath like the Kobra, but this inductive leveling system has worked great in the past and it should work here as well. Seeing it on a system at this price point is definitely a treat.

Build Volume, Temperatures, and Speed

Anycubic Kobra Go shares the same build volume as the Kobra – a reasonable printable area of 220 x 220 x 250 mm.

The original Kobra featured a direct extruder, while the Go is Bowden based. This change hasn’t affected the temperatures on the Kobra Go, which remains the same as the original. The hot end can achieve temperatures of up to 260 °C and 110 °C on the print bed.

Anycubic also claims maximum print speeds of 100 mm/s, which isn’t as insane as their 180 mm/s claimed top speed on the original Kobra. That claim came with a caveat of 80 mm/s average. In actuality, we don’t expect print speeds here to be anything different from any standard FDM printer.

PEI coated spring steel build plate

Polyetherimide-coated spring steel sheets are becoming an increasingly common spot on budget FDM printers. The textured variety primarily offers great adhesion and easy removal of stubborn prints, thanks to its flexibility. Of course, not all PEI-coated sheets work perfectly though.

If we take our experience with the seemingly identical print surface of the original Kobra into account, we would attest to the Go’s grainy print surface providing proper adhesion and easy removal of prints, albeit its coarse print surface might blitz the first layer detail. Only testing will reveal.

Bowden extruder

Unlike other Kobra series machines, the Go will not feature a dual-geared extruder. It instead features a single-gear Bowden extruder, which is a bit of a shame, as dual-gear extruders typically have a better grip on the filament and hence more pushing power. This can reduce extruder issues like skipped steps and filament grinding. Flexible filaments like TPU also tend to perform better with dual gears.

Anycubic’s current lineup of printers actually features an assortment of extruders and auto-leveling combinations. There is a direct extruder on the original Kobra and a Bowden-based extruder on the Kobra Plus and Kobra Max. The original Kobra has an induction-based leveling system, while the Plus and Max use strain gauge leveling. The Vyper also uses a Bowden and strain gauge. It’s easy to get confused.

A filament sensor is only listed as an option for the Kobra Go. How to get one is currently a bit of a mystery as there is no basic option to select it on their purchase page. We inquired about the sensor with Anycubic, and they informed us that the filament sensor is not part of the current pre-order.

DIY assembly

The Anycubic Kobra Go will be a complete DIY kit, which means, unlike the vast majority of modern 3D printers (that come partially assembled), this one will take a lot longer than 10 minutes to assemble. According to Anycubic, the assembly will take around an hour, possibly more for novices.

The company is terming it as “Funny DIY sessions,” but we think it might have just been cheaper to shove all the components in a smaller box and cut some extra costs.

Further Features

Additional features include:

• Resume function: The Go can also resume printing in case of power failure. We aren’t sure if the pause and resume functions are available as a function from the UI or if it just works with power failures.
• 2.4-inch color screen with knob controller: Going small on a screen where everyone is going bigger is a bold move. While the tiny 2.4-inch screen is aesthetically pleasing, some of the Go’s competitors have large color touchscreens on their budget printers.