“OK - This is a product I can safely say I both love and hate. If you know exactly how to co-erce it and treat it carefully, this printer produces good quality high resolution 3D prints quickly. Here are some of the minuses of the product:
- Expensive compared to some of the competition.
- The 'complete' kit lacks the PTFE lubricant for the magnetic bearings and only includes a tiny amount of PLA.
- no supported heated print bed option available (a major pain for non-PLA prints).
- no network option.
- the firmware needs a supported update.
- the screw in feet and the receiving thread on the machine often don't match - I think its a machining tolerance issue.
- If you don't follow all the recommendation from the manual and the forums very, very closely (and/or update the firmware) The magnetic joints tend to come undone, leading to print head crash into bed (ouch). The machine needs some kind of electrical continuity sensor, to detect when they come undone.
The filament sensor is very temperamental (disconnect it).
Plus points:
- Can print down to 0.05mm
- Firmware and supporting software is well supported all Open Source. Firmware is hackable using Arduino IDE.
- Print quality seems to be better and much more reliable (if you follow all the recommendations) than other 3D printers I have used.
- Is faster than the Cartesian printers I have used.”
“This is a fantastic bit of kit. In all fairness I did buy this when it was reduced by a sale so it was fantastic value.
There is assembly required but don't be too daunted by that, I would say follow the instructions to the letter and make sure everything is tight and right before kicking it all off.
I've only given it 4 stars because there are a couple of things needed that are not included like PTFE lubricant and threadlock; I would think for the price popping a couple of small pots in the pack would not make a huge difference to the bottom line.
That being said we are having a blast printing things off and I'm sure once the excitement has worn off one or two of them might even be useful!”
“After a bit of a rocky start, and a couple of failed prints, I finally got this 3D Printer working as it should, and I love it!
It's pretty to look at, the movements of the arms are fascinating - I spend far too much time just watching it print - it was very easy to put together, and starts printing pretty much straight out of the box - little to no calibration needed!
All in all a fantastic little printer. Would definitely recommend.”
“Had great fun building with my 11 year old and 13 year old daughters. First build came unstuck, but I think that was me getting machine oil on the build plate...”
“Took a little while to setup and had an issue with some sensors, which customer service replaced within a week, but otherwise a great printer.
Prints to a good quality and has a fairly active community so is pretty easy to get help if you have any issues.
As said in another review you need to make sure you get PTFE lubricant for the bearings as that doesn't come included. I'd also get some isopropyl alcohol to clean the print plate before each use to help the print stick better.”
“Package arrived with the outer box damaged but inside everything was fine. The printer and starter kit are mostly as expected, a little more starting filament would have been nice but it's all good. Assembly took just over 2 hours, make sure you have PTFE Lubricant if you buy this printer, it is required but not included in the packaging. I didn't realize this until I started building and you see the "things you'll need for the build" area of the manual. All in all, very satisfied with the product.”
