Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I previously owned a CubeX Duo and I currently own a Lulzbot TAZ and a MakerGear M2. The CubeX Duo was a piece of junk with terrible technical support. The filament for that machine cost 5x as much as all other printers and wasn't any better. Stay away from anything from Cubify. They are ripping people off with marketing gimmicks. The Lulzbot TAZ is much better than the CubeX but its made with cheap components and the print quality is hit and miss. I do like the large 11.5x11.5" build area though so I kept it. Finally I read some good reviews on the M2 and I liked the design so I bought one (not from Amazon but directly from MakerGear). It printed beautifully right out of the box and its what I hoped 3D printing would be. Of course, after going through a steep learning curve with the CubeX and TAZ it made the M2 seem like a breath of fresh air. I still have prints that fail and the nozzle clogged on it one time. Overall though the M2 is as good as any printer on the market for under $3000. It prints just as well as the MakerBot Replicator 2. I regularly see prints from a Replicator 2 and my prints look as good or better and the M2 costs a lot less. The only real flaw with the M2 is that the electronics cooling fan is mounted horizontally. Bushing fans are not designed to be used that way and they will always fail in a relatively short amount of time. Its easy to replace the fan with a ball bearing fan but MakerGear should change that themselves ASAP. However, my $3000 CubexDuo had cheap plastic components that were broken on arrival and by the time I was on the third replacement printer I gave up. The TAZ, which is in the $2500 range looks like a toy compared to the M2. So, a bad fan isn't really a big deal at all. They may have fixed that issue by now. MakerGear was a little late getting my printer to me but they shipped it next day when it was ready and they have been really great to work with ever since. I'm designing some upgrades for my printer and emailed their tech support to ask some questions. He called me today and helped with everything I needed. That's above and beyond customer service. I'm not sure why but MakerGear hasn't spent much money on marketing. I'm pretty sure if they were to put this printer in with the Maker Magazine printer shootout they would triple their sales in no time. Its a hidden gem and so is their level of customer service. I'm pretty sure they are having a hard time keeping up with demand now so until they can figure out how to increase their production rates they probably won't be spending much on marketing. A good product with good customer service sells itself over time via good word of mouth. Some general tips for 3D printing that will save you some headaches: 1. Make sure the print bed is level before starting any print. Makergear has a video showing how to do this. 2. Make sure the Z axis offset is perfect before each print. If after homing the z axis you can slide a piece of paper under the hot end and feel just a little friction then you have it just right. Too little gap will cause the extruder to clog. To much gap and the print won't adhere to the bed. 3. Make sure the print bed is very clean. Clean it with acetone before using it. An oily finger print can cause a print to not stick to the bed. 4. Measure the filament diameter and put each rolls filament diameter into the slicer program or you will extrude too much or too little filament. If you extrude too much then layers start getting too thick causing the hot end to drag and the print looks bad. Too little and the print may have gaps or may delaminate. 5. If you are printing ABS then use Kapton tape on the print bed then spray the bed with three heavy coats of Aquanet hair spray. That will make the print stick well to the bed. For PLA you can print onto blue painter's tape. Some say they don't have issues printing on clean glass but that's not been my experience. Do those 5 things and you will eliminate 50% of the issues that occur with 3D printing. The rest of the issues are related to learning what settings to use for different types of prints and materials. That comes with time as you figure out what does what. The M2 it is a great little printer that uses better components than most printers under $3000 and I highly recommend it. MakerGear is a good company that stands behind their product. To my knowledge there's not a better printer out there anywhere near this price range. Tony