Artillery Sidewinder X1 Upgrade Kit V4.0

So after two happy ;-) years with my Ender I finally decided that it was time for something new (and that I wanted to print stuff that's larger than 22x22 cm - if you have seen some of my other designs you will know why). Apart from the size of the printer bed (30x30cm) the Artillery Sidewinder X1 has a few other notable advantages, like a direct drive extruder, an AC heated bed, the fact that it is super silent... So a few days ago I ordered my new X1 Version 4.0 (ordered Sun, came Thu - thanks to the seller!)

• Artillery Sidewinder X1 V4.0

Artillery has the reputation of listening to their customers, so in the new V4.0 they have already made quite a number of changes from the original version. However, as with virtually any other printer, there is still room for improvement.

So this is what I spent my first days with after receiving my new printer. Let me start with, YES, very happy, this is a great printer (particularly for its <$400 price tag). Large, fast heating bed, direct extruder, super fast assembly, virtually inaudible, works out of the box, looks great...

PRINTING. Printing should be super easy, no supports or attachments needed. Print at any infill and resolution (I use 40% lines and 0.2 mm).

• I did print all mine using this super cheap, strong, and easy to print Carbon Fiber PLA which makes the parts look as if they had come from the factory.
• However, if you want a little more color, this Blue Silk PLA filament, (almost) perfectly matches the shiny blue used by Artillery for the metal parts of the printer.

So here my starter kit for the X1. None of this is vital, all is nice to have, and yes, when you look on Thingiverse there are plenty of real nice upgrades to the X1, so this is just my take on this:

• Spool holder. The X1 comes with a real nice spool holder mounted to the top bar that runs very smoothly on ball bearings. However (!), to adjust to the width of each new filament spool you need to unscrew two hex screws. This adapter simply plugs in between the bearings. Voila, fits all sizes of spools.
• Cable tension reliever. The X1 uses some very nice ribbon cables, which however, tend to snap close to where they attach to the extruder (must add that Artillery kindly provides spare cables). So this mounts to the original extruder cover with two M3 screws and takes the tension off the ribbon cable (the only part that needs screws - tried with snap on designs but these are really hard to remove/change).
• Covers for the x-axis left and right. Not sure why Artillery left the electronics in the open (left side) when it is so easy to cover. Just slide into the 20x40 extrusion, looks just like an original part. Also reduces the tension on the 2nd ribbon cable.
• USB and SD-slot cover. I use the X1 with an Octopi, so don't really need these slots (and they are likely to aggregate dust and scrap filament). Just plug in (and out whenever needed).
• Extrusion slot cover. I only use these for the three slots on the y-axis (where scrap filament tends to aggregate) but you can simply scale them to any length to cover any extrusion slots (slightly reduce the width in case they are hard to insert).

HOPE YOU LIKE THEM, AND IF YOU LIKE THEM, PLEASE LIKE THEM. THANKS!

Happy printing!

PS.: Thanks to Rick and Morty, who posted this wonderful ASX1 model on grabcad, which I used as the basis for my renders (and my apologies for the poor quality photos - my printer stands in a pretty dark corner of the room).
https://grabcad.com/library/artillery-sidewinder-x1-1