Voxelab Aquila S3 Review - Watch BEFORE you purchase

Great silent printer despite many drawbacks, still 5 star printer.

Amazon link:

Offset configuration:
Go to Cura Manage Printers - 3 little bars and then press activate

Machine Settings - Make sure you don't choose custom printer when initially installing the printer profile, use the Ender S3 Pro V2 Profile instead.

Ensure the following settings

printer
x- 220
y- 220
Z-250

Make sure origin at centre is unselected

Printhead settings

x min: -26
Y min: -32
x max: 32
y max: 34
Gantry height: 25

[bradenhenderson]

They won’t update it. It’s been the same way for over a year. They abandoned this printer for new projects. I have had it for a long time, managed to use some engineering grade materials too. But since it’s so much of a hassle every time to print it just sits the corner while other printers get used.

[origamiboy]

This guy needs more subs! come on people he's awesome

[LegitLeeVelez]

Can you make a video on how to do the bed leveling for this to start printing I just got mine in yesterday and I have been trying everything to get it to adhere to the bed it's always to far away from the bed!

[ksan]

I just took this out of the box and set it up and can't get it to level and print. The nozzle does not touch the plate when leveling. If I use the Control screen option and Z offset it does nothing, no movement at all. The only way to move the plate is to manually turn the Z screw. But that doesn't work either. I don't know what the trick to getting this to set up and print correctly, but if there's another video out there please let me know.

[jake]

do you know where i can buy a replacedment build sheet for this printer, seems like it needs to have the shiny pad for the sensor

[ElijahPartney]

A way to fix the Z offset issue. Is before you auto home, set the offset to zero. After auto homing, set it back to what the original was. This is the best solution I found for this machine. Personally, having one myself. It really sucks.

[chariolarios]

Good video! I agree on all of the pros and cons that you notated! I’ve had mine since dec, extruder motor went out possibly due to my negligence and can’t find an exact replacement anywhere, im possibly looking at changing the whole extruder/hotend assembly but would prefer to keep the original setup as it does print pretty good, if you or anyone knows where I can find an exact stepper motor replacement for this?
Aquila S3 factory extruder motor stepper motor specs as follows:
Nema17 d type-42 23
4 wire.
shaft diameter-3mm
Shaft length-4mm
12 tooth brass gear.
thanks all…
Yes I’ve tried looking everywhere but maybe i missed somewhere lol..

[GageHayda]

I don’t know what is happening with mine it won’t auto level. It’s like it’s not even on and it just sits at a stand still when I tried to auto level it. What do I do

[rogersmith]

Do you know how to access the tension screw in the extruder for the S3? I need to tension mine but I cant seem to figure out how to access it. I tried accessing it once but now it freezes when I try to print the test files when it printed fine before.

[Nicholas.K.]

Подскажите пожалуйста, сколько шагов на миллиметр (strp/mm) для мотора экструдера? Спасибо.

[heyomymayo]

Thanks alot for taking the time to do a review. I just ordered mine. My main plan is to use recycled filament which after a week of trying i think i finally got the hang of. It is about the same size as basic filament and hard to tell the difference but I have a anycubic kobra neo 2 that was not bad but does not have a high enough max nozzle temperature for it. I am a beginner at 3d printing and so far am loving it but I am not trying to make any big modifications so I hope this printer will be a good fit.

[kerrisemlow]

Hello i am new to 3d printer. I have voxelab aquila s3, and I'm stuck on what to do because I don't have a computer. So i googled it and said that i really don't need a computer to print. Please tell me what to do because I have know idea, do i just use the sdcard and use cura and slice it or do i need to do the software first?? Please help

[rodmanunderhilliii]

Very helpful post, thank you. I just received my new Aquila S3 two days ago. I tried to run the ribbon cable around the side, as you did. The length of the ribbon cable seems to short, to route it this way. Do you have any more suggestions on how to route the ribbon cable, as it is OEM?

[toad]

It's surprising they didn't include a save configuration option like they have on the S2 pro version that has the same kind of leveling sensor

[Mik_S]

The ABL is an inductive sensor not an optical one so you need to keep this in mind if you replace the bed, if you used a glass one it will never trigger.
Some people have had issues with this sensor and it may be due to a bend as the cable enters the sensor, same issue for the X3. I have seen reports of pulling this cable though the harness to give some extra slack will help on the X3 but not sure what can be done on the S3 as it has a tool-head board.
There is another point of failure with these sensors as it uses a converter board to isolate it due to it needing 24v to work, and this would damage the motherboard if it shorted out.
It taps in to 24v from the hotend fan screw terminal.

If you are using Cura then you need to set up the start Gcode to enable the ABL. You can create a mesh first on the printer and save it to memory to recall it with M420 S1, or start the probing procedure each time with G29. This has to be after G28 as this clears any mesh. If either is missing then this will be the reason it is not being used. These should be set up if using Voxelmaker and the right profile.

Stock firmware is not very good so is better to use custom firmware like Mriscoc. There is a repository on Github maintained by Classicrocker883 for the Aquila that is regularly updated (you can use the X3 firmware but will need to adjust the ABL offsets). This has options to set the offsets in the firmware instead of the slicer. If you move the nozzle to 0, 0 then the sensor will be off the side of the bed, this is correct as it uses the centre of the bed to home Z.

I never liked the way they have this ribbon cable. If it was coming from the rear cable tied to something then it would put excess strain on the connection to the plug and I also suspected it could fatigue the wire, but hanging over the front could get in the way of printing too. They should have had it so the cable runs parallel to the X-axis and fixed to a point near the X limit switch housing. This would let it move in a similar way to a cable chain and it does not twist the cable.

[Bananaman-ud]

What slice are you use for the printer because that’s the only problem I’m having because I think I’m using the wrong slice

[TattooPEEL]

i just ordered this one on amazon for 179$ its my first printer. you scared me a bit but ill manage

[Nyro-FPV]

this is my first an propably last 3p printer it sucks