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500 mm/s is not how fast your print comes out
Updated
The speed on the box is a top speed for the print head. How fast a print really goes depends on how much plastic the hotend can melt each second. On the two listings here that give that number, it caps normal printing near 355 mm/s, not 500 or 600.
Travel speed is not print speed
The FLASHFORGE Adventurer 5M is a clear example. Its title says max 600 mm/s high speed printing. Its bullet says 600 mm/s is the travel speed. Travel is the head moving between spots with no plastic coming out. It is a real number, but it is not print speed.
The limit is melted plastic
A printer lays down a line of plastic. Each second of printing needs a volume of plastic equal to layer height times line width times speed. The hotend can only melt so much. Both the Adventurer 5M and the ELEGOO Centauri Carbon list a max hotend flow of 32 mm3/s. So:
| Layer height | Line width | Fastest print speed at 32 mm3/s |
|---|---|---|
| 0.12 mm (fine) | 0.45 mm | About 590 mm/s |
| 0.2 mm (normal) | 0.45 mm | About 355 mm/s |
| 0.28 mm (draft) | 0.45 mm | About 250 mm/s |
How I got this: 32 / (0.2 x 0.45) = 355.6, rounded down to the nearest 5. The 0.45 mm line width is my assumption for a 0.4 mm nozzle. It is a ceiling from two listing numbers, not a measurement.
Listing top speedFlow limit at 0.2 mm layers
- Adventurer 5M600 mm/s355 mm/s
- Centauri Carbon500 mm/s355 mm/s
Why the rest of the print goes slower still
- Walls you can see are printed slower so they come out smooth.
- Small parts and short lines never get up to speed. The head spends its time speeding up and slowing down, which is what the acceleration figure (10,000 or 20,000 mm/s2) is about.
- Each layer needs time to cool, so a tiny part cannot race.
- Some plastics need it slow. Prusa's page on flexible filament says it is suited mostly to advanced users because it is hard to print.
What to compare instead
| Printer | Top speed on listing | Acceleration on listing | Hotend flow on listing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creality Ender 3 V3 SE | 250 mm/s | 2,500 mm/s2 | Not listed |
| Bambu Lab A1 and A1 mini | 500 mm/s | 10,000 mm/s2 | Not listed |
| Bambu Lab P1S | 500 mm/s | 20,000 mm/s2 | Not listed |
| FLASHFORGE Adventurer 5M | 600 mm/s travel | 20,000 mm/s2 | 32 mm3/s |
| ELEGOO Centauri Carbon | 500 mm/s | 20,000 mm/s2 | 32 mm3/s |
The Ender 3 V3 SE is the one real outlier. Its 250 mm/s and 2,500 mm/s2 are both well below the rest. The listing claims it saves 73% of the time compared with other printers, but does not say which ones. Among the others, speed will not decide much. Build size, enclosure and reliability will.
My pick if speed is what drew you in: the Bambu Lab P1S or the ELEGOO Centauri Carbon, both at 20,000 mm/s2. Caveat for both: owners report some units arriving broken or failing. See all seven.