Enclosed 3D printers with air filtration compared

Seventeen shipping enclosed desktop printers come with an air filter whose media the maker names, and all 17 use activated carbon. Eleven add a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter, eight of them with a pre-filter as well. Launch prices run from $399 for the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 to $3,799 for the Bambu Lab H2D Pro, and 11 launched under $1,000.

The filtration column shows the media each maker fits in the box. Optional add-on filters are not counted, and neither are filters whose media the maker does not name. Prices are US launch prices for the base configuration. The enclosed 3D printers list shows all 25 shipping enclosed models, four of them with no filter fitted.

How do enclosed printers with air filtration compare?

They differ first in filter media. Six fit activated carbon alone, which targets gases. Eleven pair carbon with a HEPA filter, which targets particles, and eight of those add a pre-filter. Ten of the 17 also have an actively heated chamber, each rated to 65 °C. Launch prices run from $399 to $3,799.

The US Environmental Protection Agency notes that “most filters are designed to filter either particles or gases,” and points to HEPA for particles and activated carbon for gases. So a carbon-only printer and a HEPA-and-carbon printer can both list “air filtration” yet catch different things. The filtration guide explains what each filter does.

The ten with a heated chamber are the QIDI Q2, QIDI Plus5 and QIDI Max4, the Bambu Lab X2D, H2S, H2D, H2C and H2D Pro, the Flashforge Creator 5 Pro and the Anycubic Kobra S1 Max. The other seven have a passive enclosure.

Which printers have a carbon filter as standard?

All 17 printers in the table have an activated carbon filter as standard, and no open-frame printer in the database lists one. Six use carbon alone: the Sovol Zero, Anycubic Kobra S1, Bambu Lab P2S, Bambu Lab P1S, Anycubic Kobra S1 Max and Creality K1 Max. The other 11 pair carbon with HEPA.

Bambu Lab’s P1S spec sheet gives its air filter as an “Activated Carbon Filter,” and Anycubic’s box contents for the Kobra S1 include activated carbon.

Four more shipping enclosed printers have an air filter of unnamed media and are left out of the table: the Creality K2, K2 Pro and K2 Plus and the Elegoo Centauri Carbon. Creality’s K2 parts list names only an “Air Filter.” Elegoo describes the Centauri Carbon’s as a “nano mineral crystal filter,” a medium the database does not record as carbon or HEPA.

Which enclosed printers have both carbon and HEPA filtration?

Eleven shipping enclosed printers fit both activated carbon and HEPA filters as standard: the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2, the QIDI Q2, Plus5 and Max4, the Bambu Lab X2D, H2S, H2D, H2C and H2D Pro, the Flashforge Creator 5 Pro and the FLSUN S1 Pro. None of them fits HEPA without carbon.

No other shipping printer in the database is recorded with a HEPA filter, so this is the database’s full list of enclosed 3D printers with one.

The three QIDI models and five Bambu Lab models use three stages: a pre-filter graded G3, a HEPA filter graded H12 and activated carbon. Flashforge pairs an H13 HEPA filter with activated carbon on the Creator 5 Pro. FLSUN’s spec table gives “HEPA + Activated Carbon” for the S1 Pro. Elegoo sells the Centauri Carbon 2’s replacement filter as HEPA and coconut-shell activated carbon.

At $399, the Centauri Carbon 2 costs least of the 11 and has a passive enclosure. The QIDI Q2, at $499, is the cheapest with both filters and a heated chamber.

Which fully enclosed printers with filtration cost under $1,000?

Eleven of the 17 launched under $1,000, from the $399 Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 to the $949 Flashforge Creator 5 Pro. Five of them fit both carbon and HEPA: the Centauri Carbon 2, QIDI Q2 ($499), Bambu Lab X2D ($649), QIDI Plus5 ($749) and Creator 5 Pro. The other six fit carbon only, from $499 to $899.

• Carbon only: Sovol Zero ($499), Anycubic Kobra S1 and Bambu Lab P2S ($549 each), Bambu Lab P1S ($699), Anycubic Kobra S1 Max and Creality K1 Max ($899 each).
• Heated chamber rated to 65 °C: QIDI Q2, Bambu Lab X2D, QIDI Plus5, Anycubic Kobra S1 Max and Flashforge Creator 5 Pro.
• Filter media not named, so not in the table: Elegoo Centauri Carbon ($299.99), Creality K2 ($549) and Creality K2 Pro ($849).

Street prices change after launch, so check a retailer’s current price before you compare.

Where do the figures come from?

Each row comes from that printer’s record, which cites the maker’s spec page and carries a last-verified date. A printer appears here when it is shipping, has an enclosure and its maker names at least one filter medium fitted as standard. Discontinued models and optional add-on filters are left out.

The table records which filters are fitted, not how well they perform. The methodology page sets out the sourcing rules.