Our technology is getting more advanced and there are many things we can do from home now. One of them is printing your own design using 3D printers such as TRONXY X5SA VS X5S. These machines are very convenient and many do love them for the price and build volume which is quite huge for a model in this price range. If you wonder which of them will be the better option, do check our article below to see the difference between these two brothers.
In this article, we are going to give you information about:
- What to Consider Before Buying a 3D Printer
- What are TRONXY X5SA and X5S
- What TRONXY X5SA and X5S Look Like
- How are the Volume and Bed of TRONXY X5SA and X5S
- What else TRONXY X5SA and X5S can offer
- How are the Performance of TRONXY X5SA and X5S
- TRONXY X5SA Vs X5S
Buying a New 3D Printer
Everything is getting more convenient today with how humans made technology to ease their work. Many of us can work from home now and communicate, making important decisions through the air without having to really meet each other. We can order various items from home such as food, clothing, and even a new mattress. We can also create items or objects based on a digital design right in your garage or working room without having to step out of the house.
| TRONXY X5SA | TRONXY X5S | |
|---|---|---|
  |   |
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| Product Dimensions | 25.91 x 24.84 x 25.16 inches | 25.91 x 24.84 x 25.16 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 33.2 pounds | 28.7 pounds |
| Best offer | Check price | Check price |
If you are also interested to buy a new 3D printer, here are some factors that you may want to consider first before making a decision because just like anything, it is wiser to know whether you need this machine or not.
- Deciding the 3D printer type and as many already know, there are two common types being used for home production and they are FDM or Fused Deposit Modeling and SLA or Stereolithography. FDM is more available and this machine is depositing melted material on top of the building bed layer by layer until the model is completed. SLA on the other hand uses ultraviolet light beams to harden models from liquid photosensitive material such as resin; also layer by layer.
- The next one is whether to buy an assembled or a 3D printer kit. The level of kit may differ depending on how much freedom you want to have and just like building a computer, a 3D printer kit is cheaper in general but requires pretty much time to make it work.
- Price is often what prevents you from having lots of stuff and this also includes a 3D printer. In the past they were quite expensive but nowadays you can find small machines that are below $200 and can work straight away. What decides the price besides how well the machine is made will be the bells and whistles as well as the capacity since the latter can’t be bumped up so the larger the model you need to make, the more expensive machine we will need.
- Another factor that you need to consider is the type of material to print with as it decides what machine that can work with it. If you choose FDM then we usually play with PLA or ABS since both are thermoplastic and can melt then harden again when cold. For example PLA is also cheap or priced around $30 per kilogram. They are biodegradable but not the best if you want to print moving parts while also having a low-melting point, making the finished model prone to deformed.
About TRONXY X5SA and X5S
All of them are necessary to consider first before getting a printer and it is always best to buy the type that fits you the most as we may have different needs and plan with the machine yet in general people will end up with either FDM or SLA that can print their models. Price wise usually a machine that can make pretty large models will cost higher and this is understandable when thinking about the machine size and its build plate as well.
But it doesn’t mean that we can’t find an affordable option among those companies that create and offer 3D printers because this is what TRONXY seems to carry in their catalog. This brand may not be as popular as other names such as Creality or ANYCUBIC but they are quite well-known on the entry-level market of 3D printer kits. Many also like their machines as they work really well but, you may want to consider the option wiser as some are better than the rest.
In the last few years Tronxy has had few machines and what brought them to spotlight is the older X5S which was launched back then in 2018. This machine offers a pretty large build capacity at a very interesting price point but it seems there are few issues with how it works and now the company has a new printer which is supposed to upgrade the old popular unit and is called X5SA. To be honest we would like them to use another name or something like “V2” to better portray the unit.
TRONXY X5SA and X5S are indeed close brothers so you can expect to see many similarities here including the medium build volume but still at a very interesting price point. Few of the supposed upgrades are heated bed and acrylic Z mounts. It also seems to carry some neat features but, if you can squeeze more budgets then they also have another higher end model or the X5SA Pro with more upgrades, especially if this is your first TRONXY machine.
TRONXY X5SA and X5S Design
As you can see from the sample picture above, both TRONXY X5SA and X5S are coming in the same style of 3D printers and unlike smaller volume models like Creality Ender 3 Pro Vs Ender 3 V2 that uses XY style, these two are using the H-bot style. In this system, instead of the print bed moving in Y axis, the bed is moving on Z axis so it will get lower as the hot end is stacking another layer.
On the other hand both the X and Y axis is taken care of by the hot end which stays on the same level. The first thing we like about the two is actually the material they use because all are metal and they seem very robust as well yet, we also want to mention that you have to spare time to assemble all of the parts because unlike many prebuilt printers that require you to attach only two to four parts, these two come in lot of pieces.
TRONXY X5SA and X5S Volume and Heating Bed
Moving further, let’s see what TRONXY X5SA and X5S can offer and first, they are indeed offering a pretty large build volume in such an affordable price measuring at 330mm long by 330mm wide, and 400mm tall that usually sold around $400-$500 depending on the brand and model, now it is only about $300. To allow you to print with various materials, both of them are also coming with heated beds which are claimed to be able to reach up to 100 degree Celsius.
But, here is where the problem starts with X5S because this machine seems to be very underpowered and the common complaints is that it can’t reach the promised temperature as well as taking too long for it to reach probably not even half of the maximum temperature which doesn’t allow the printer to start printing. This issue seems to be fixed on the new machine as now it is capable of heating better or around 88 degree but, it is weird that the sensor is only capable of showing up to 75 degree on the screen.
TRONXY X5SA and X5S Features
Now we also want to talk about what’s added into the newer X5SA by TRONXY as this part is quite interesting and one of the most important points is this machine also comes with a new, more reliable power supply. The first interesting upgrade is the new motherboard and if you see closely, the new machine actually has a touch screen which is very convenient and an addition of both filament run-out sensor and a function to resume printing. These two are necessary for larger printers to handle issues when printing later.
Another feature we love from the X5SA is the auto leveling which you can find in their menu inside the Tools section. This function is active all the time during the printing; once the user sets the Z offset and presses the auto level icon, your printer will take points over the bed’s surface and save the coordinates and Z offset in the memory so then we can start printing right after.
TRONXY X5SA and X5S Performance
The last part we want to mention is their performance and in this part it is easy to say that between TRONXY X5SA and X5S, the newer machine is much better mostly as it is no longer underpowered and have new motherboard as well to put all of those additional features for your convenience. It doesn’t mean we don’t need any manual upgrading but the machine itself already works well out of the box yet can be better with some additional tweak or upgrades such as heat bed insulation.
TRONXY X5SA Vs X5S
The two brothers are made with the same idea but the older machines are indeed lacking with so much complaints despite the attractive price point. The new X5SA is much better with new power supply and new motherboard for additional features. It is now working well, just like many other printers but can be better with some manual upgrades on your part to make it a better and more reliable machine.
Conclusion
Overall you can already guess which one of them will be the better option and yes, among the two we highly recommend to get the X5SA or if you can spend more, the X5SA Pro is also a good option with similarly amazing price point for a pretty large build volume.