The Much-Anticipated Phrozen Arco 3D Printer Finally Hits Kickstarter

Not many new 3D printer releases generate much excitement in the community these days. We’re past the era of rapid, revolutionary leaps in capability and are well into the stage of methodical, incremental improvement. That isn’t a bad thing, but it means that enthusiasts rarely have a reason to clammer for their wallets. But the Phrozen Arco is an exception that has been generating a lot of buzz in the 3D printing community and it finally hit Kickstarter today.

The Phrozen Arco Kickstarter campaign just launched today with a modest $10,000 funding goal, but it has already raised nearly a million dollars from almost 800 backers. Clearly, this is a release that’s making a splash.

That excitement is the result of a few different factors. Phrozen has been a big player in the resin 3D printing market for several years, but this is their first FDM/FFF 3D printer release and that is noteworthy. But more importantly, the Phrozen Arco looks like a very capable printer at a reasonable price. Phrozen has obviously put Bambu Lab in their crosshairs and the competition is going to be beneficial to consumers.

The basic specs of the Phrozen Arco don’t break any new ground, but they’re very respectable. It has a 300×300×300mm build volume, up to 600mm/s print speed, up to 30,000mm/s2 acceleration, Core-XY kinematics, a heated bed that can reach 120°C, Klipper support, and everything else that we would expect to see on a modern high-performance 3D printer.

The Phrozen Arc’s real selling points are taken directly from the Bambu Lab playbook.

First is the Chroma Kit multi-material printing system, which is very similar to Bambu Lab’s AMS (Automatic Material System). That lets the user print multiple colors and/or material types in a single job. At release, it will support four spools of filament. But Phrozen says there is potential for future expansion of up to 16 spools through daisy-chaining units, just like Bambu Lab’s AMS.

Second is a suite of sensors for “smart” printing and failure detection. We don’t yet have complete details on every sensor and how the Arco will utilize it, but we’re predicting something similar to what we see on the Bambu Lab P1S — there isn’t any mention of more advanced sensors and features like the Bambu Lab X1C possesses.

We won’t know for sure until we get a Phrozen Arco on our workbench, but it is promising. If you want a Phrozen Arco, there are still some super early bird units available for $649 and the Kickstarter campaign will run until April 7th. Backer units should ship in July.