Large Build Volume

The most visible difference from the basic Kobra is its printing volume. It’s been scaled up, from 250 x 220 x 220 mm to 300 x 300 x 350mm. This is on the larger side for FDM printers, and should be good for medium-to-large projects, though if you need even more room for creation, its sibling, the massive Kobra Max, offers you 450 x 400 x 400 mm.

With the introduction of the Plus, Anycubic now has a medium-sized Kobra to bridge the gap between the basic, Ender 3 clone-styled Kobra, and the very, very large Kobra Max. It should provide a happy middle ground of build space for customers.

All-metal Bowden Extruder

While the base Anycubic Kobra has a direct extruder, its bigger brothers have both been equipped with a Bowden. It’s a bit of a shame, as the Kobra’s direct extruder impressed us, but it could be that Anycubic is trying to focus on speed and smooth operation in these machines with larger print areas. A direct extruder is a heavier weight to move around, after all.

Anycubic is certainly pushing speed in its advertising, with material suggesting the Kobra Plus can reach 100mm/s, not that printing speed is the most important thing in 3D printing. The extruder is compatible with PLA, ABS, PETG and TPU, with the hot end reaching a maximum of 260 °C.

LeviQ Smart Leveling

Anycubic seems particularly proud of its automatic bed leveling, it goes by the name of LeviQ. Auto-leveling is becoming more commonly spotted in the world of consumer 3D printing, and the LeviQ system impressed us when we reviewed the Kobra.

It works with an inductive sensor to detect the metal bed at 16 points across the build plate. The system accounts for any unevenness it detects and helps you achieve a high quality first layer. It’s an automatic process, though you can adjust the Z-offset manually should you not like the results you’re seeing.

Carborundum Glass Bed

The Kobra Plus comes with a carborundum glass build plate, instead of the Kobra’s PEI magnetic sheet. This sort of glass bed has been around a long old time now and most people who’ve used a 3D printer before have probably printed on this. It does a solid job, but we’d have preferred the PEI which is a little more convenient and usable. Heat wise, it’ll get up to 100 °C, which is bang on par for most basic consumer FDM 3D printers.

Further Features

Additional features of the Kobra Plus include:

• 4.3-inch touchscreen UI: The touchscreen maintains the same size and user interface as the Kobra and Kobra Max. It’s well-liked for its responsiveness, and is easy to navigate.
• Tool drawer: A neat little addition. All the parts that come with the printer out of the box can be stored in a drawer integrated in the printer, which, we will without fail, fill with snacks instead of tools.
• Print recovery and filament detection: Most modern 3D printers have these features, but they’re helpful nonetheless. The printer automatically resumes a print in case of power failure and advises you when you’re out of filament, or when the filament it’s broken, so that you can replace it.
• Assembly time: Assembly can be a problem if you’re not a particularly handy person. The webpage for the Kobra Plus states that, in this case, using the machine requires you put together only four main components. The whole thing is supposed to take 10 minutes.