I've owned a LOT of 3d printers over the years.
This is the first time I'm "reviewing" a printer. I'm reviewing it because it is so different, and after a couple of weeks of testing, contains a number of new capabilities that we are likely to see in the next few generations of printers.
I backed this on Kickstarter; you can see the original Kickstarter here:
I own a few multi-headed 3d printers which can print with two different filaments in a single print. I also own a mosaic palette which allows 4 color printing from a single nozzle. I found both processes had severe limitations (prime tower, inexact filament placement, etc...) and gave up on multi-color, or multi-material printing in a single object a while ago.
So, this printer intrigued me. Instead of multi-color or multi-material being additional nozzles or an addon, it's integrated into the machine, albeit as a separate unit. No calibration is required. No prime tower is required, and up to 16 separate spools (color or material) can be used in a single print.
Actually, the entire printer comes ready to print - after taking out all of the shipping pieces.
I decided to take the claims at face value. I downloaded a color STL from thingiverse (mushroom birdfeeder - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3489758)
loaded into the slicer, defined the 'colors', and hit print. I didn't calibrate the machine, no bed leveling, no test print, no extrusion optimization. I came back in about an hour to what might be the cleanest first print I've ever had, with almost perfect placement of the two different filament colors
To say I was impressed is an understament. I'm used to getting this clean of a print after a minimum of 3 or 4 test prints. Did you catch that this only took an hour to print? The printer has a number of tricks up its sleeve to speed up the printing. First, and most important, its DEFAULT speed, which is 250 mm/s, or about 5x that of a traditional hobbyist 3d printer. It's capable of going up to 500 mm/s, but I you will see a degredation in quality. Next, instead of using a prime tower, or other traditional method of changing filaments, it creates a little ooze pile (which I call a poop), and when the AI camera see's the proper color has changed, it purges the little poop out the back of the printer, cleans the nozzle and starts printing again - FAST. All of those little poops add up to wasted filament, and a mess on your floor, but it has drastically increased the speed and accuracy.
the pile of "poop" from creating the mushroom bird feeder.
The last few tricks are probably the most important. It uses multiple sensors (lidar, camera, force sensors, IMU) to optimize the print while it's printing.
Starts with a flow optimization line, which helps it determine the right 'flow' for the filament, which is often the cause of many problems (over extrusion, under extrusion, etc...). It then uses the lidar to ensure it's perfectly level against the bed at all times. The Lidar and some software trickery is also used to make a qualitative assessment about the first layer, and will make adjustments as necessary. The camera takes timelapse videos, and watchs for other common problems like spaghetti which will pause the print and send you a notification.
It also has the 'best' of most other printers including a heated enclosed chamber, all metal hotend (X1 carbon edition anyway) carbon filter, integrated wifi / app / monitoring, etc...
Here are a few time-lapses of multicolor prints. I've been making a next-generation 2x mars lander.
its so fast, you almost miss it.
Here is a little longer print
I have to admit, its kind of nice having a rocket come out of the printer already colored properly and ready to go.
All the color you see in the lander is filament. No paint, no vinyl, nothing.
The downside?
There are a few.
If you are going to go multi-filament, you need to use decent filament. I've become accustomed to purchasing very, very cheap filament (like https://fremover.net/ which can be had for less than $10 per kg). If the spool is cheap, or the filament dimensions are not consistent, it might have a problem loading. I've found I've had to use Amazon "overture" or better filament to get good results.
There are certain instances when a particular multi-color part can make printing times explode. When I first modified the body of the lander (adding the Spacex logo, Nasa logo, etc...) if you have multiple color changes on every layer, and you are doing fine layers (below .2) your print times will be very long, even with the tricks this printer can do. Since it can handle most 'issues' that would ruin a print, the long print times are fine since it's on autopilot, except for the fact you can't print anything else until it's done.
The software which comes with the printer is still a work in progress. The slicer is based on Cura, with a few customizations to be able to add color to a print. Will also let you monitor the print, etc... I spend a lot of time with Cura, and they are a bit behind.
I've been successful in sending gcode created by both Cura and simplify3d to the printer directly, albeit single, and not taking advantage of some of the features of the printer like 'smooth timelapse' which parks the head before each photo as seen in the video's above.
The flow optimization routines are on a per-print basis, not a per-spool basis. So if you have 4 different spools of filament that are from different manufacturers, you might see typical flow issues because each spool won't be optimized on its own.
The print bed is small. Of course, that's coming from someone that owns 3d printers that can print a whole car at once. Still, it's small
Bottom line - I'm really happy I have the printer. It's the only "send to the printer and forget it until it's done" I've ever had that actually works. At its retail price, it's expensive. Not crazy expensive, but 'brand name' expensive. You have to really appreciate the features of the printer.
This is the first time I'm "reviewing" a printer. I'm reviewing it because it is so different, and after a couple of weeks of testing, contains a number of new capabilities that we are likely to see in the next few generations of printers.
I backed this on Kickstarter; you can see the original Kickstarter here:
I own a few multi-headed 3d printers which can print with two different filaments in a single print. I also own a mosaic palette which allows 4 color printing from a single nozzle. I found both processes had severe limitations (prime tower, inexact filament placement, etc...) and gave up on multi-color, or multi-material printing in a single object a while ago.
So, this printer intrigued me. Instead of multi-color or multi-material being additional nozzles or an addon, it's integrated into the machine, albeit as a separate unit. No calibration is required. No prime tower is required, and up to 16 separate spools (color or material) can be used in a single print.
Actually, the entire printer comes ready to print - after taking out all of the shipping pieces.
I decided to take the claims at face value. I downloaded a color STL from thingiverse (mushroom birdfeeder - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3489758)
loaded into the slicer, defined the 'colors', and hit print. I didn't calibrate the machine, no bed leveling, no test print, no extrusion optimization. I came back in about an hour to what might be the cleanest first print I've ever had, with almost perfect placement of the two different filament colors
To say I was impressed is an understament. I'm used to getting this clean of a print after a minimum of 3 or 4 test prints. Did you catch that this only took an hour to print? The printer has a number of tricks up its sleeve to speed up the printing. First, and most important, its DEFAULT speed, which is 250 mm/s, or about 5x that of a traditional hobbyist 3d printer. It's capable of going up to 500 mm/s, but I you will see a degredation in quality. Next, instead of using a prime tower, or other traditional method of changing filaments, it creates a little ooze pile (which I call a poop), and when the AI camera see's the proper color has changed, it purges the little poop out the back of the printer, cleans the nozzle and starts printing again - FAST. All of those little poops add up to wasted filament, and a mess on your floor, but it has drastically increased the speed and accuracy.
the pile of "poop" from creating the mushroom bird feeder.
The last few tricks are probably the most important. It uses multiple sensors (lidar, camera, force sensors, IMU) to optimize the print while it's printing.
Starts with a flow optimization line, which helps it determine the right 'flow' for the filament, which is often the cause of many problems (over extrusion, under extrusion, etc...). It then uses the lidar to ensure it's perfectly level against the bed at all times. The Lidar and some software trickery is also used to make a qualitative assessment about the first layer, and will make adjustments as necessary. The camera takes timelapse videos, and watchs for other common problems like spaghetti which will pause the print and send you a notification.
It also has the 'best' of most other printers including a heated enclosed chamber, all metal hotend (X1 carbon edition anyway) carbon filter, integrated wifi / app / monitoring, etc...
Here are a few time-lapses of multicolor prints. I've been making a next-generation 2x mars lander.
its so fast, you almost miss it.
Here is a little longer print
I have to admit, its kind of nice having a rocket come out of the printer already colored properly and ready to go.
All the color you see in the lander is filament. No paint, no vinyl, nothing.
The downside?
There are a few.
If you are going to go multi-filament, you need to use decent filament. I've become accustomed to purchasing very, very cheap filament (like https://fremover.net/ which can be had for less than $10 per kg). If the spool is cheap, or the filament dimensions are not consistent, it might have a problem loading. I've found I've had to use Amazon "overture" or better filament to get good results.
There are certain instances when a particular multi-color part can make printing times explode. When I first modified the body of the lander (adding the Spacex logo, Nasa logo, etc...) if you have multiple color changes on every layer, and you are doing fine layers (below .2) your print times will be very long, even with the tricks this printer can do. Since it can handle most 'issues' that would ruin a print, the long print times are fine since it's on autopilot, except for the fact you can't print anything else until it's done.
The software which comes with the printer is still a work in progress. The slicer is based on Cura, with a few customizations to be able to add color to a print. Will also let you monitor the print, etc... I spend a lot of time with Cura, and they are a bit behind.
I've been successful in sending gcode created by both Cura and simplify3d to the printer directly, albeit single, and not taking advantage of some of the features of the printer like 'smooth timelapse' which parks the head before each photo as seen in the video's above.
The flow optimization routines are on a per-print basis, not a per-spool basis. So if you have 4 different spools of filament that are from different manufacturers, you might see typical flow issues because each spool won't be optimized on its own.
The print bed is small. Of course, that's coming from someone that owns 3d printers that can print a whole car at once. Still, it's small
Bottom line - I'm really happy I have the printer. It's the only "send to the printer and forget it until it's done" I've ever had that actually works. At its retail price, it's expensive. Not crazy expensive, but 'brand name' expensive. You have to really appreciate the features of the printer.