Six Printers. Zero Stock Configurations.
If there's one thing you should know about AxisBreak, it's that nothing here runs the way it came out of the box. Every printer in this fleet has been torn apart, rewired, reflashed, and rebuilt to do exactly what I need it to do. The common thread? Klipper firmware on every single machine, cameras on all of them feeding into my custom AI Print Controller, and a relentless itch to push each one further than the manufacturer ever intended.
This is the overview — the big picture of what's humming, whirring, and extruding in the shop. Down the road, each printer gets its own deep-dive post where I'll break down every modification, every headache, and every breakthrough in detail. For now, let's meet the fleet.
The Common DNA
Before we get into the individual machines, there are a few things they all share. Every printer runs Klipper — whether that's through OpenNept4une, COSMOS, a rooted stock board, or a dedicated Linux host. Every printer has a camera managed through my custom-built AI Print Controller application for fleet-wide monitoring. Most of them sit on BIQU Nano Tech build plates because once you print on one, you don't go back. And most run Cartographer probes for bed leveling, because life's too short for manual mesh.
The Neptune 4 Pro Twins
These two are the workhorses — the machines that run day in, day out. Both ELEGOO Neptune 4 Pros, both running OpenNept4une to break free from the stock firmware and onto proper open-source Klipper. The stock cooling and carriage setup didn't cut it, so both got custom-printed carriages loaded with three 5015 blower fans for part cooling that actually keeps up with speed printing.
Underneath each one sits a custom-mounted Noctua 12-inch PC fan stepped down from 24V to 12V, keeping the motherboards running cool and quiet — because a dead mainboard at 2 AM mid-print is nobody's idea of a good time. The hotends were swapped to Microswiss Flowtech units paired with CHT CM2 nozzles for high-flow printing, and both machines run Cartographer V4 probes for automated bed leveling. Add the BIQU Nano Tech build plates and cameras, and these two are dialed.
The Creality K1
The K1 came enclosed from the factory, which was a good start — but the firmware had to go. This one's been rooted with Klipper installed directly, giving me full control over the motion system and print parameters that Creality's stock firmware locks you out of. The hotend was replaced with a custom Microswiss unit running a ceramic heater for better thermal stability and faster heat-up times. Sitting on a BIQU Nano Tech build plate with a camera watching every layer, the K1 fills the role of a compact, enclosed, fast printer that just works.
The Centauri Carbon
This is where things get serious. The ELEGOO Centauri Carbon is a glass-enclosed machine, and that enclosure isn't just for looks — it's what makes this the go-to printer for Nylon Carbon Fiber and PETG Carbon Fiber filaments that demand a controlled, heated chamber environment. The stock firmware was replaced with COSMOS firmware running Klipper, and the nozzle is a ruby — because carbon fiber filaments will eat through brass and even hardened steel over time.
ELEGOO recently announced a multicolor unit for the Centauri Carbon, and I've got one on pre-order. Multicolor carbon fiber prints? That's going to open up some interesting possibilities. Supporting this machine is a 4-filament dryer capable of hitting nylon drying temperatures, allowing me to print directly from the dryer — because nylon absorbs moisture like a sponge, and wet filament means failed prints. There's also a separate 2-filament dryer in the rotation for other machines that need dry material.
The SOVOL SV04
The SV04 is a dual IDEX (Independent Dual Extrusion) large-format printer, meaning it has two completely independent toolheads on the same gantry. That unlocks copy mode (print two identical parts simultaneously), mirror mode (mirrored duplicates), and true dual-color printing without the waste of a purge tower. Getting all of that working under Klipper was a project — running off a Dell laptop with Linux as the host, with very little current documentation to work from. It took some serious configuration work, but it's running. Cartographer probe, BIQU Nano Tech build plate, camera — the usual AxisBreak treatment.
The Tronxy X5SA
The big one. The Tronxy X5SA is a large-format CoreXY printer with a 330×330×400mm build volume, and it's probably seen more modifications than any other machine in the fleet. The motion system was upgraded to linear rails with significant structural and stability improvements to tighten up a frame that was... generous in its tolerances from the factory. The extruder was converted to direct drive, the hotend swapped to an E3D Revo for quick nozzle changes, and the carriage was replaced with a custom design running two 5015 blower fans.
Like the SV04, the Tronxy runs Klipper off the Dell laptop with Linux, and it's configured with a multi-tool setup (T0/T1) for future expansion. The Cartographer probe with touch calibration handles bed leveling across that massive build surface. This machine is built for the big jobs — enclosures, structural components, anything that needs serious real estate.
The Nerve Center
Behind the printers is the infrastructure that ties it all together. A Dell laptop running Linux serves as the Klipper host for the SV04 and Tronxy. Every machine feeds camera data into my custom-built AI Print Controller application, giving me fleet-wide monitoring and control from one interface. The filament dryers — a 4-spool unit for nylon and a 2-spool unit for general use — keep material in print-ready condition.
It's not just a collection of printers. It's a system — built piece by piece, mod by mod, failure by failure, into something that actually works the way I need it to.
What's Next
This was the 30,000-foot view. Each one of these machines has a story — the late nights diagnosing firmware issues, the custom parts designed and printed on other machines in the fleet, the upgrades that worked and the ones that definitely didn't. Over the coming posts in The Build Log, I'll be doing individual deep dives into each printer: what it started as, what it is now, and everything that happened in between.
Stay tuned. It gets nerdy.