Anyone tried the Creality CR-10 3D printer?
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As said earlier it all depends on your build volume needs. There is also a cheap desktop printer from tronxy that does perform quite well for the 100$ price tag (it's a kit that you need to assemble, look at makers muse channel for reviews). But if you want a pre assembled printer there are very few choices.
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Here's the pattern that I notice in a lot of 3D printer reviews:
- They unbox it and put it together.
- They notice all kinds of flaws in the design/deliverable which they then go on to fix through upgrades.
- Finally happy with how it performs, they gloat how great the printer is and give it a "thumbs up."
However, this just seems wrong to me. They are not giving a thumbs up to what came out of the box but rather to an upgraded/fixed printer that they felt compelled to spend additional time/money to correct/improve. I maybe would agree that if their upgraded printer were boxed up and sold for the original price, then, yeah, maybe it would be worthy of a thumbs up. But that is never the case.
You might think the manufacturer would get wind of this and fix their product. But no, that doesn't happen either, and the farce continues, now bolstered by "positive" reviews.
I watched some reviews of the Tronxy X5S, and they all fit this pattern:
https://youtu.be/W_P7ZhnXc34For sure, all the sub-$200 printers have fit this pattern also.
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Well I bought a cheap one (DMS DP4, just over 200$ and most of the assembly already done) and the only extra investment was a glass plate (less than 10$). I could probably change half of the parts to have marginaly better printing results but I'm quite happy with what I have now.
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Here's the pattern that I notice in a lot of 3D printer reviews:
- They unbox it and put it together.
- They notice all kinds of flaws in the design/deliverable which they then go on to fix through upgrades.
- Finally happy with how it performs, they gloat how great the printer is and give it a "thumbs up."
However, this just seems wrong to me. They are not giving a thumbs up to what came out of the box but rather to an upgraded/fixed printer that they felt compelled to spend additional time/money to correct/improve. I maybe would agree that if their upgraded printer were boxed up and sold for the original price, then, yeah, maybe it would be worthy of a thumbs up. But that is never the case.
You might think the manufacturer would get wind of this and fix their product. But no, that doesn't happen either, and the farce continues, now bolstered by "positive" reviews.
I watched some reviews of the Tronxy X5S, and they all fit this pattern:
https://youtu.be/W_P7ZhnXc34For sure, all the sub-$200 printers have fit this pattern also.
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I bought Anet A2+ about an year ago and can recommend it only if you have too much time and want to learn how 3d printer exactly works.
The basic assembling took around 5.5hours. Of course it was cheap ~160€ delivered on flash sale at GearBest and was delivered from Europe so no import taxes. But so far I've spent some 50-80€ and X hours for upgrades..
- part cooler
- belt tensioners for X and Y axis
- V6 clone print head
- mosfet for heated bed
- 2mm glass plate
- marlin firmware
- dual z, single motor
- bed leveling sensor
With these upgrades the print quality is now quite ok now.
Btw. Octoprint is quite nice tool to have with 3d printer. -
Did anyone try the Anet A8? I am currently thinking about buying one. It would be my first 3D printer and I do not want to spend more than ~150€ (at least initially). It seems to be a clone of the Prusa i3 and quite capable if add some cheap/self printed parts and invest some time. I don't have the time/knowledge to build a printer on my own from scratch but I am pretty sure that I can those upgrades.
Or are there any alternatives in that price range that you guys can recommend? Main idea is to print cases for my electronics projects and some small other stuff from time to time.
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I bought a Geeetech I3 pro a couple of years ago, and after some upgrades, mainly to the z-axis, then it prints decently. I am considering building a core-xy from scratch, like the hypercube evolution, but will probably not be before 2019, I get around to that project :)
When I bought the Geeetech it was kind of a trend, and 4-5 of the members in my local "nerdclub" bought it. They have all bought a CR10 later on, and are trying to convince me, that I should buy one as well, as they think that it's much better in quality (also it's considerably easier to assemble.. 30 minutes from unboxing and you are able to print).
Currently the geeetech does it for me.
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Did anyone try the Anet A8? I am currently thinking about buying one. It would be my first 3D printer and I do not want to spend more than ~150€ (at least initially). It seems to be a clone of the Prusa i3 and quite capable if add some cheap/self printed parts and invest some time. I don't have the time/knowledge to build a printer on my own from scratch but I am pretty sure that I can those upgrades.
Or are there any alternatives in that price range that you guys can recommend? Main idea is to print cases for my electronics projects and some small other stuff from time to time.
@lastsamurai said in Anyone tried the Creality CR-10 3D printer?:
Did anyone try the Anet A8? I am currently thinking about buying one.
According to this review of a different printer, the Anet A8's bed doesn't get hot enough to print ABS:
https://youtu.be/XIk-w5OSVh8 -
I would recommand a corexy or a delta. I'm not expert of deltas, I know there are some good.
Some good corexy builds are for example : hypercube like tbowmo said, d-bot and voron..
Mine is a corexy I built myself from different designs I saw.I understand that people doesn't want to invest much money, or think a better build costs more (not true), and they want it quick to assemble with decent quality. Wow that's a lot of requirements for something cheap :)
Imho, I choosed to build it myself because I wanted to know every detail. If I have a problem, I know what happens, and not stuck ;)
Some important details (personal view)
- using aluminium, like vslots. I'm also of those who think it's too bad to use plastic corners for an aluminium structure. better use aluminium corners
- check the build&reviews of the printbed (for corexy) if there is any cantilever problem.
- Strong rods (8mm diam is too cheap..).
- bearings; not the cheapest.. else you can get imprecision in long term, noise etc. (vwheel when you can, and you build it yourself are nice too)
These points will help a lot the machine to keep its calibration longer, print fast, without wobbling, so a better print.
I think, a cnc in general, you can ask people working in this field, always need to check the calibration or recalibrate time2time for a good job. so what expect of a dirty cheap cnc..This is a special process, control melting temperature, different speed parameters, push&pull filaments to prevent oozing, bed leveling because if first layers are not good then it won't be great etc..there is some learning curve, that no matter you buy a cheap or exepnsive machine, you'll need it.
Finally a few points that are good to consider:
- not too small print area, or may be disappointed in future when you want to print bigger
- heatbed is very useful
- autobed leveling is handy
- i like cube structure, it's easier to enclose if you want to use different filaments.
- and if enclosed, using hot temperature for a print, check that critical assembly parts have not been printed with PLA if you bought a kit, as they could soften a very little bit, and lose accuracy during print.
I'm sure i forget lot of interesting details. It's not very complicated to understand how it works, just needs to read and test. very interesting. then you'll have your mini routines for each tasks.
I hope this helps. -
I can understand your point too, about the needs. of course, there is nothing wrong.
just my personal point of view. That's what i would advice to a friend. Sure, easier for him, as i could also help him..I'm pretty sure that after you first small printer, you'll want a better, wider one ;) that would be almost twice buy ->"half" bad choice. and we're just talking about the size, not all aspects.
would be also too bad to buy the first cheap kit with good reviews, without thinking if it can be updated easily I mean for features, not for accuracy. "dumb" to buy a printer with bad accuracy :)
it's like buying a 30$ drill machine when you know you would use it a lot.if it's about a super cheap 100$ printer budget, and you're sure to not invest in future, it's just a short term toy, then i think you're right, and you'll get what you pay for.
I think with 250$ you can build something pretty nice. you'll have to study the opensource assembly manual, but it's a more rewarding learning curve.
To get this price:
- buy printed parts needed by the build on ebay or to some friends who can print them for you. you can find for example dbot printed parts on ebay. I just checked this one. I don't know actually which one is the best diy and documented build.
- on wiki, or thingiverse, check the bom, and source parts on aliexpress etc. there are also very good price for vslots locally in eu or usa.
Note: you could also buy these parts included with the printed parts kits, but of course that would be more expensive..
Bonus! you can choose the size of your printer, and that won't cost you an "arm" (30cm instead of 20 for example) - read, assemble, read, calibrate etc.
Rewarding, because finally, you can answer any problem you encounter.
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@lastsamurai said in Anyone tried the Creality CR-10 3D printer?:
Did anyone try the Anet A8? I am currently thinking about buying one.
According to this review of a different printer, the Anet A8's bed doesn't get hot enough to print ABS:
https://youtu.be/XIk-w5OSVh8@neverdie said in Anyone tried the Creality CR-10 3D printer?:
According to this review of a different printer, the Anet A8's bed doesn't get hot enough to print ABS:
Yes, the heated bed is bit weak but I think its quite weak on most sub 500€ printers having bigger beds than 200x200mm.
There is some help for the problem. See: anet/a8/improvements/understanding_my_heatbed -
for example, on a custom 3d printer, you could use this for heatbed ;)
- https://goo.gl/PRdReG (220v version, AC, it needs security!)
- driven by https://goo.gl/W2VmAf
then a simple power supply for other peripherals (actually i'm using an atx power supply)
https://goo.gl/LDLCi1 -
Those are persuasive arguments, but I'm left wondering why none of the big youtube pundits on 3D printing seem to recommend or use an evolution hypercube or the like. Is it because there are no affiliate links for them to cash in on? Or is it something more fundamental?
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@neverdie said in Anyone tried the Creality CR-10 3D printer?:
According to this review of a different printer, the Anet A8's bed doesn't get hot enough to print ABS:
Yes, the heated bed is bit weak but I think its quite weak on most sub 500€ printers having bigger beds than 200x200mm.
There is some help for the problem. See: anet/a8/improvements/understanding_my_heatbed@pjr I own an Anet A8. I do print ABS, but mostly small stuff. I have tried bigger things and have had warping and layer separation. The hottest I have gotten my bed at the stock 12 volts is about 102°c. There is an adjustment on the power supply that will allow you to increase the voltage, but I haven't played with that yet. The main board can supposedly handle up to 24 volts, but you need to watch the wiring to the heat bed as the stock wiring harness is under rated and won't handle the increased amperage. I think though if I could up the voltage a bit to the bed, I could probably get the bed to possibly 110 or higher. The other thing is an enclosure. I have read that an enclosure is one of the keys to printing ABS with the A8. It does a pretty good job with PETG though.
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Those are persuasive arguments, but I'm left wondering why none of the big youtube pundits on 3D printing seem to recommend or use an evolution hypercube or the like. Is it because there are no affiliate links for them to cash in on? Or is it something more fundamental?
@neverdie
I don't know if it's about "affiliate" links, it could be. But I don't think it's because of bulky machine. else they wouldn't review the more expensive printers like ultimaker&co which are not small.do these 3d printing pundits use a dirty cheap printer all day?? because we can often see better printers behind them on their bench, like ultimaker, delta kossel etc..
I think they advice the very noob that he 'll be able to print decent quality with a cheap machine, that's all. is it limited (the heatbed for example, etc)?? for how long without recalibrate? Oh, but the noob thought it was plug and play, now we're talking about calibration, he thought it was like classic ink printer, not yet unfortunately :)
One of the goal to build from scratch, imho, is to achieve same quality as expensive printer, for very cheap. else sure that's not interesting to invest time. That is the deal!
you can find on youtube people saying since they switched to corexy hypercube etc, from prusa i3 style, they live a "dream".
or take a look at reprap forums what non affiliated gurus says there, their builds etc. Maybe they will tell you that a 100-150$ printer is as good as an hypercube..but i don't think so.
Fair enough! I don't want to influence anyone in his choice, I just shared my opinion, better is to dig in google, reprap.for abs, yes it's better enclosed because it doesn't like air&temp variation around. and fumes are toxic too!
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@neverdie
I don't know if it's about "affiliate" links, it could be. But I don't think it's because of bulky machine. else they wouldn't review the more expensive printers like ultimaker&co which are not small.do these 3d printing pundits use a dirty cheap printer all day?? because we can often see better printers behind them on their bench, like ultimaker, delta kossel etc..
I think they advice the very noob that he 'll be able to print decent quality with a cheap machine, that's all. is it limited (the heatbed for example, etc)?? for how long without recalibrate? Oh, but the noob thought it was plug and play, now we're talking about calibration, he thought it was like classic ink printer, not yet unfortunately :)
One of the goal to build from scratch, imho, is to achieve same quality as expensive printer, for very cheap. else sure that's not interesting to invest time. That is the deal!
you can find on youtube people saying since they switched to corexy hypercube etc, from prusa i3 style, they live a "dream".
or take a look at reprap forums what non affiliated gurus says there, their builds etc. Maybe they will tell you that a 100-150$ printer is as good as an hypercube..but i don't think so.
Fair enough! I don't want to influence anyone in his choice, I just shared my opinion, better is to dig in google, reprap.for abs, yes it's better enclosed because it doesn't like air&temp variation around. and fumes are toxic too!
@scalz said in Anyone tried the Creality CR-10 3D printer?:
do these 3d printing pundits use a dirty cheap printer all day?? because we can often see better printers behind them on their bench, like ultimaker, delta kossel etc.
In the case of Sanlanderer, he chose to run his materials tests on a Prusa I3:
https://youtu.be/nlIFMy4vIeMHe never really says why he chose it, instead of some other printer, for that purpose though. He places it inside a wooden box when he wants to enclose it.
Thanks everybody for all your feedback. It has been very helpful!
