Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I had the following problems with the printer. Where I discovered a solution, I will list it. I will also try to list what other things I had to buy. 1. Printer says it comes with sample filament. New printers do not come with sample filament. Mine was an early printer that came with sample filament. There were only a few yards of filament. It would not have been enough to do more than verify the bed height. You will probably want to buy at least one 1 kilogram spool of 1.75mm PLA filament, in a color you want to see a lot. 2. When I put the printer in move mode to reset, say, the Z axis (height). I could not get the printer out of that mode. Pushing on the wheel didn't seem to do anything and there was nothing I could find in the manual. While turning the printer off and on was not so bad, I finally determined that I could hold the wheel down and simultaneously turn it so move to a different menu item, so I was able to stop power cycling. (Newer software borders a selected box in red - and you can update your printer, Visit mpselectmini (dot) com for updates an procedures.) 3. After 5 minutes of use, the display developed diagonal red stripes. I have contacted Monoprice, they want to RMA the printer. I want to return it to Amazon. (Someone told me this was a second layer of screen protector. Sure enough, it peels off. Astoundinf that they knew nothing about the printer and they were supposed to support it.) 4. One of the bed adjusting screws was defective. The Allen wrench slipped around inside the head. I went to the local hardware store (Ace) and found similar metric screws but since the unit does not contain an exploded diagram or parts list or maintenance procedures, I don't know the length needed. (Fixed by the return.) 5. One of the hex screws near the feed mechanism on top of the printer was corroded. It has large flakes of red rust on it, while the others were fine. This will be resolved by the return. 6. The printer comes prepared for printing with masking tape as a printing surface. This is common. However, the manual tells you not to damage the tape that covers the printing surface and does not tell you what to do if you do. In fact, tape lasts at absolute most six prints and that is an exception. Most tape surfaces last 1 to 3 prints. You need to order a six inch wide roll of blue painters tape with the printer (this width is sold as a 3d printing surface on Amazon). I asked their support address what to replace their surface with and they took a week to answer that simple question. I looked online and got the answer but it should have been in the manual. You can use narrower tape from a local store in a pinch but you have to exactly butt the edges together. Different tapes have different thicknesses. Re-check your bed height when you change tape brands. 7. The printer instructions say to use a piece of A4 paper to set the extruder to bed gap. I found this impossible, personally and found a uxcell brand metric feeler gauge, with feelers in 0.02mm - 1mm blades with a concentration of sizes under 0.2mm. Your desired target is 0.05mm. I typically use the 0.05mm and 0.09mm, if the 05 goes in but the 09 doesn't, I call it good. (With practice I find paper to be easy to use and convenient.) 8. I found that I absolutely needed a digital caliper. You need to measure actual dimensions of printed items as well as things like filament size (nominal 1.75mm filament will vary based on humidity and actual filament size is important). You can get a decent one on Amazon for less than $20. Someone chided me for not having one. I actually had one but I wanted one to keep by the printer tools. And I bought a micrometer. 9. I have bought four different brands of extruder nozzles and can't find one that is an exact match. I determined that many or most of the nozzles sold on Amazon had a threaded part that seemed too long. I was able to use these: Kamo 5PCS 3D Printer 0.4mm Extruder Brass Nozzle Print Head for MK8 1.75mm ABS PLA Printer, but it took some extra adjustment. You need a 1.5mm Allen wrench and some small metric sockets, as well as something to hold the hot block. First, remove the spring clips that hold the fan on. Next, preheat the extruder to 220 or so. Remove the stock nozzle with a 7mm socket, stabilizing the hot block with a wrench or pliers. Avoid damaging the yellow tape. Let the hot block cool. Remove and clean the tube that is above the nozzle, the plastic one that is inside the metal tube. I scraped it with my thumbnail to clean it. Now, note that while the threaded part matches in size and length, the part below the threads does not match. You will need to raise the metal tube a corresponding amount. I had to do this, because with the bed tightened all the way there was zero clearance between the nozzle tip and the bed. Using a 1.5mm Allen wrench (the one you use to adjust the bed is a 2mm) loosen the lower setscrew that was exposed by removing the fan. Raise the tube a small amount, specifically, the difference in height between the lower part of the stock nozzle and the new nozzle, approximately. Tighten the 1.5mm setscrew. Now finger tighten the new nozzle. Preheat the extruder to 220. Tighten the new nozzle with a 6mm wrench. It should turn easily. Stabilize the block when you tighten the nozzle. Turn off the heat and let the head cool. Reinstall the spring clips. Now lower the bed all the way, by tightening all four bed adjustment screws. Home the printer. You should have a couple of millimeters between the nozzle tip and the bed with glass or tape or whatever you have covering it. Raise the corner until the 0.05mm feeler barely slips in, or until the paper drags. Do each corner, then go around again. Twice is probably enough. So, your shopping list: PLA filament, 1.5mm Allen wrench, replacement nozzles, blue tape in 6½” width. Feeler gauges, metric/inch digital calipers. If you tear the white tape, you can reset the PID parameters for the heater. Procedure is at http(colon slash slash)mpselectmini(dot)com(slash)pid_autotune Ok, I have gotten a replacement printer from Amazon. The firmware has changed significantly. As an example, the border of the move menu items turn red when the item is selected, and a single tap gets you back to select, turning red off If you update your software to a recent level, you can use the wifi that is built into all of these printers. I had what I thought was a printer failure. .It was probably a failure of the Micro SD chip I was using. But there was a bug, when it tried to read GCODE and it failed, it would start reading at the beginning of the file which had the read failure, This was almost always the wrong thing to do. The failure was that there was already something being (partially) printed and when the print started again the nozzle would hit it. So there was a fix and when I installed it support came for the Wi-fi connection - you have a web interface that does some of what the front panel does. This means that anyone in your house can cancel your print, or preheat your device. You can use the Repetier-Host program over wi-fi as well, with the web interface running, This printer also came with sample filament, and also has the diagonal red stripes on the display. (which I finally peeled off). One more bit of advice about this printer. Bed temperature on this printer corresponds with measured temperature on the print bed (using an infra-red thermometer that I have verified on other sources) while on many other printers, the thermistor is close to the heating element (intentionally), and the heating element area is 20C hotter than the bed surface. So you need to know that when someone says that they use kapton tape at 70°C, that corresponds to 48°-54°C on this printer. My printer again came with a filament sample, too short to do anything more than prove extrusion. At $275, this printer is much less of a bargain than it was at $200. If you can get something like one.of reprapguru's kits, you will be able to print larger items, get parts more easily, and you will get fast support and you will know a lot more about your printer. All 3d printers will fail, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. You need to be able to fix them. I have no idea how to fix the Monoprice, and, further, at this time, Monoprice has said that they are holding all parts for new printer production. The thing that finally forced me to return this printer was a failed extruder motor. It was arguably my fault. For my reprap, I would have gone online and bought another standard NEMA 17 (I think, off hand, this is the right one, but I would look it up) motor were it not still in warranty. Given that I now know that the software is actively being developed and that major updates are happening, I am giving this printer another star. I still think that most people would be better suited with a kit, but once you do some calibration this printer works well for small items. What would it take to make my ratings five stars? Open Source for the software, and an exploded diagram with parts list.' I found the most knowledgeable people on Google+.