JonnyAlpha wrote:With all the fiddling and setting up would you still recommend this printer?
I think this is an excellent value kit. If you're looking for a kit then I would recommend it. But it is a kit, and that means: assembling it yourself, fixing problems yourself, potentially having to replace parts if things go wrong, etc. A pre-built machine will likely need tweaks & adjustments, but if something goes wrong you can call on the warranty; if something goes wrong with my printer I have to first work out whether I screwed it up or whether it's a flaw with the parts.
Personally I'm glad I started with a kit - I'll learn a lot more about the mechanics and operation of a 3D printer - but I think it comes down to question we arrived at earlier in this thread: how much time & effort are you prepared to put into debugging/tinkering, versus the additional cost of a pre-built machine that should "just work"?
As a good example: right after I finished a print yesterday I swapped out the filament and started another print job. The left-hand Z-axis motor didn't turn properly - something I thought I'd fixed - making the Z-axis lose steps, and consequently the X-axis wasn't lifted off the bed as high as it should have been. I didn't get to the power supply in time so when the printer lowered the X-axis to start printing the nozzle was ground against the print bed. I don't think it's damaged anything, at least not too severely: the nozzle
looks OK, and once the print bed has been lined with masking or kapton tape again the scratch
shouldn't affect print quality. The print bed is mounted on springs, rather than being mounted solidly to the Y-axis, so it looks like that helped to absorb the impact. But it does mean my printer is out of commission now while I disassemble the Z-axis again, check for damage to the nozzle and print bed, and try to figure out what went wrong. Had this been a pre-built machine I could have gone straight back to the manufacturer.
