Anyone tried the $199 Monoprice 3D printer?
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At $199, I figure it might be nice for creating custom cases for putting sensor projects in: http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=107&cp_id=10724&cs_id=1072403&p_id=15365&seq=1&format=2
I also like that it works out of the box and doesn't require assembly. The reviews look favorable, but it's conceivable they might have been manipulated. Anyone here have any direct experience with it? Or, alternately, if there's something better for a comparable price, please post a link or name names. -
The negative as I see it:
Small buildarea 120x120x120mm
Quite slow 55mm/s as top speed (that means ~30mm/s in good printing mode)
Open to the air (If you open a windows while printing you can ruin your print)The positive:
The price :)I think this could be a good printer as a first printer. You could proberbly hack it
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@NeverDie Seems like a nice printer! Is the same as this one btw: http://malyansys.com/en/?page_id=315
@Yveaux said:
@NeverDie Seems like a nice printer! Is the same as this one btw: http://malyansys.com/en/?page_id=315
No idea. How much is the one you linked to? I clicked on purchase, but no price indicated.
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@Yveaux said:
@NeverDie Seems like a nice printer! Is the same as this one btw: http://malyansys.com/en/?page_id=315
No idea. How much is the one you linked to? I clicked on purchase, but no price indicated.
@NeverDie said:
No idea. How much is the one you linked to? I clicked on purchase, but no price indicated.
No idea ;-)
Can't find a reseller...
Hackaday mentions they are identical: http://hackaday.com/2016/06/13/review-monoprice-mp-select-mini-3d-printer/http://yveaux.blogspot.nl
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@NeverDie said:
No idea. How much is the one you linked to? I clicked on purchase, but no price indicated.
No idea ;-)
Can't find a reseller...
Hackaday mentions they are identical: http://hackaday.com/2016/06/13/review-monoprice-mp-select-mini-3d-printer/@Yveaux said:
@NeverDie said:
No idea. How much is the one you linked to? I clicked on purchase, but no price indicated.
No idea ;-)
Can't find a reseller...
Hackaday mentions they are identical: http://hackaday.com/2016/06/13/review-monoprice-mp-select-mini-3d-printer/Thanks for the hackaday link. That, together with the user comments at the end of the article, constituted a good review!
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@Yveaux said:
@NeverDie said:
No idea. How much is the one you linked to? I clicked on purchase, but no price indicated.
No idea ;-)
Can't find a reseller...
Hackaday mentions they are identical: http://hackaday.com/2016/06/13/review-monoprice-mp-select-mini-3d-printer/Thanks for the hackaday link. That, together with the user comments at the end of the article, constituted a good review!
@Yveaux said:
@NeverDie Seems like a nice printer! Is the same as this one btw: http://malyansys.com/en/?page_id=315
The answer is that the Malyan M200 is a little different. It has two fans instead of one. Two is better. Not sure if there are other differences also.
According to the article, it's not open source, and replacement parts may be impossible to come by.
I'd be willing to pay more if the known issues were fixed already.
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For anyone who is interested, I found what seems like a reasonable review on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3J1cmI5FPU
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looks nice for first printer..but still 200$!
imho i prefer to wait/save money and buy something more durable when it's 200$ tools. I mean about replacement parts, calibration, sw etc, it's a cnc ;)
and the slow speed too.. can be very disappointing..perhaps not on the first prints, but at a moment that can be boring (can take a lot of hours printing!).i'm not expert, i have just built mine..for twice the price. But it's a corexy design, better imho. Monoprice seems to sell corexy but more expensive..
A good source for info is reprap.org, i got a lot of advices from kind people there.Really personal opinion, as this looks cute, sure. if i had to buy my first printer now.. i don't know what i would do, but i think i would still prefer corexy.
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looks nice for first printer..but still 200$!
imho i prefer to wait/save money and buy something more durable when it's 200$ tools. I mean about replacement parts, calibration, sw etc, it's a cnc ;)
and the slow speed too.. can be very disappointing..perhaps not on the first prints, but at a moment that can be boring (can take a lot of hours printing!).i'm not expert, i have just built mine..for twice the price. But it's a corexy design, better imho. Monoprice seems to sell corexy but more expensive..
A good source for info is reprap.org, i got a lot of advices from kind people there.Really personal opinion, as this looks cute, sure. if i had to buy my first printer now.. i don't know what i would do, but i think i would still prefer corexy.
@scalz said:
looks nice for first printer..but still 200$!
imho i prefer to wait/save money and buy something more durable when it's 200$ tools. I mean about replacement parts, calibration, sw etc, it's a cnc ;)
and the slow speed too.. can be very disappointing..perhaps not on the first prints, but at a moment that can be boring (can take a lot of hours printing!).i'm not expert, i have just built mine..for twice the price. But it's a corexy design, better imho. Monoprice seems to sell corexy but more expensive..
A good source for info is reprap.org, i got a lot of advices from kind people there.Really personal opinion, as this looks cute, sure. if i had to buy my first printer now.. i don't know what i would do, but i think i would still prefer corexy.
That reprap video on the link you provided is interesting. It says version 2 can make its own circuit boards by printing with conductive materials. Is that working yet? If so, that sounds compelling.
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3D printed circuit boards are still kind of a novelty and have issues.. honestly at the prices for boards now days, especially if you are doing quantity, you cant beat traditional process. But that is true of about anything you intend to print. At some quantity, the price/part for traditional process always beats 3D printed parts.
I purchased a one-up as my first printer for about that price. This one has a steel frame (that's a pretty major and important upgrade!), 20mm bigger build area, and somewhat higher temperature design. Plus filament holder and a really nice LCD and a heated bed. But it is not a direct drive extruder.
If the arm tends to sag, you just adjust the build plate accordingly (yes, that means your single line filament layers 'might' have a 1degree slant to them. It wont matter in reality). And as far as printing flexible filament, its a bowden (tube with remote feed) style head, it appears, so flexible can be really difficult in general to print with.
If you can get it at $200 then i'd say yeah, do it, as a first printer. If you're handy with tools and such, and you find an online group or people making upgrade parts (check Thingiverse for the printer name for design parts), then chances are you'll be able to fix anything it breaks during normal use.
And all printers wear down, get sloppy, etc. Keep em clean and lubed. If possible, use a build plate you can un-clip from the base plate - I found I never have to re-level if I don't put stress on the build plate (from trying to remove prints mostly).
As far as upgrades.. well honestly, everyone you find more or less says Simplify3D as your slicer is worth the price. And after using it on my system, I'd have to completely agree. But by all means, try it with the open source slicers first for a few months to get familiar with the thing (cause you'll end up having to tweak it and settings, and you will learn what all the adjustments really do, if you use a less polished slicer).
FYI - I use a CTC (replicator clone, dual head) printer I got for $500 on ebay. Its been a real workhorse, and aside from a wire harness wearing out from constant motion, its still going strong.. it is made of wood, so there is some flex, and the CTC warranty support.. well.. there just isn't any.
Oh yeah, that 30 day warranty - its not near long enough. But unless you spend over $1000, don't expect much in the way of support from any company.. from what I can tell. Its just the nature of the business.
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3D printed circuit boards are still kind of a novelty and have issues.. honestly at the prices for boards now days, especially if you are doing quantity, you cant beat traditional process. But that is true of about anything you intend to print. At some quantity, the price/part for traditional process always beats 3D printed parts.
I purchased a one-up as my first printer for about that price. This one has a steel frame (that's a pretty major and important upgrade!), 20mm bigger build area, and somewhat higher temperature design. Plus filament holder and a really nice LCD and a heated bed. But it is not a direct drive extruder.
If the arm tends to sag, you just adjust the build plate accordingly (yes, that means your single line filament layers 'might' have a 1degree slant to them. It wont matter in reality). And as far as printing flexible filament, its a bowden (tube with remote feed) style head, it appears, so flexible can be really difficult in general to print with.
If you can get it at $200 then i'd say yeah, do it, as a first printer. If you're handy with tools and such, and you find an online group or people making upgrade parts (check Thingiverse for the printer name for design parts), then chances are you'll be able to fix anything it breaks during normal use.
And all printers wear down, get sloppy, etc. Keep em clean and lubed. If possible, use a build plate you can un-clip from the base plate - I found I never have to re-level if I don't put stress on the build plate (from trying to remove prints mostly).
As far as upgrades.. well honestly, everyone you find more or less says Simplify3D as your slicer is worth the price. And after using it on my system, I'd have to completely agree. But by all means, try it with the open source slicers first for a few months to get familiar with the thing (cause you'll end up having to tweak it and settings, and you will learn what all the adjustments really do, if you use a less polished slicer).
FYI - I use a CTC (replicator clone, dual head) printer I got for $500 on ebay. Its been a real workhorse, and aside from a wire harness wearing out from constant motion, its still going strong.. it is made of wood, so there is some flex, and the CTC warranty support.. well.. there just isn't any.
Oh yeah, that 30 day warranty - its not near long enough. But unless you spend over $1000, don't expect much in the way of support from any company.. from what I can tell. Its just the nature of the business.
@rbrbrb said:
As far as upgrades.. well honestly, everyone you find more or less says Simplify3D as your slicer is worth the price. And after using it on my system, I'd have to completely agree.
Thanks for this comment. It's perhaps the first I've heard of Simplify3d. I wonder if it comes bundeled with any of the 3D printers that are on the market, and whether that's a better deal. At $150, Simply3D is nearly as expensive as the Monoprice printer!
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I thought it looked really good, until I saw the shipping costs of 3/4 of the price of the printer to get it to Australia! Ack! Back to the drawing board :)
@Chester said:
I thought it looked really good, until I saw the shipping costs of 3/4 of the price of the printer to get it to Australia! Ack! Back to the drawing board :)
Strange. Here the shipping cost is $16.45.
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@Chester said:
I thought it looked really good, until I saw the shipping costs of 3/4 of the price of the printer to get it to Australia! Ack! Back to the drawing board :)
Strange. Here the shipping cost is $16.45.
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@Chester said:
I thought it looked really good, until I saw the shipping costs of 3/4 of the price of the printer to get it to Australia! Ack! Back to the drawing board :)
Strange. Here the shipping cost is $16.45.
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Simplify3D can slice for whatever printer. You just need to configure your printer in the software
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I've confirmed that the MP Select Mini is listed in the picklist of supported printers in the Simplify3D software.
@NeverDie Cura is an open source slicer used by many 3D printer manufacturers and enthusiasts... There are sites that provide profiles for the MP Select Mini so there would be no additional software cost if you went this route - for example http://johnbiehler.com/2016/06/05/monoprice-maker-select-mini-3d-printer/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/MPSelectMiniOwners/comments/52183h/cura_21_profiles_for_mp_select_mini/
I have a LulzBot Mini that I really like and I use Cura and have had no problems. I also ginned up an RPI3 running OctoPrint so I can print wirelessly to my USB-only printer. I am sure Octoprint would work with MP Select Mini as well...
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Do these 3D printers give off odors from the melting plastic during the printing process? I'm wondering whether it would be OK to run inside the house, or whether I should run it in the garage. WAF considerations....
