Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Let me preface this review by saying this is my 3rd 3D printer, the other two are a FlashForge Creator (wood framed model) and a BigBox Pro. I work professionally as a designer and prototype maker, so these machines are worth their weight in gold if they work well, reliably, and without too many hoops to jump through. The XYZ Da Vinci Mini w seemed like a good machine to have on hand for small parts in PLA, which get printed often here and take up machine time on bigger printers that could be doing other materials. The 5.9”² build area is accommodating, the machine has probably the nicest fit & finish of any of my other printers (heck, my FlashForge Creator is unfinished wood!) What I like the most about this machine is that out of the box, right away, you have everything you need to be printing stuff, minus a computer. While this doesn’t let you turn it on, scroll through a menu on an LCD, and hit “print,” this does work the same way your 2D printer does. There’s very nearly no assembly (everything “clicks” together) and then you plug it in, turn it on, and use XYZWare to start a print from your computer, same as you would with printing a piece of paper. This does mean that a computer has to be set aside to run the printer, but it seems to be able to run in the background just fine. Overall the machine has been super reliable and has gotten easier and easier to work with thanks to the software that it can print with, XYZWare (it also is supported by Windows Builder, though I have not tried this yet). It has given me less of a mechanical headache than my other machines, and now at a likely 130+ hours of printing it has had no clogs or major errors while running. Nice enough, they include unclogging pins with the accessories pack should you run into that as an issue. Things that are working very well or are huge benefits to the machine: • Motion electronics (how it moves the print bed & head, feeds filament, etc) are absolutely top notch, well engineered, and easy to use. In the end, this is THE most important thing about any CNC robot/machine, because software comes and goes and can be updated. The XYZ Printing team did a really wonderful job on the Prusa i3-style robot hidden underneath the child safe exterior. • Accessories and extras are awesome, and well considered (esp. unclogging bits, print removal spatula, plastic “enclosure”) • Did I say it’s nice looking? Way more professional than some other consumer level machines. It’s also really small when compared to my other machines, and the footprint of the machine is the same as a 15” MacBook Pro.... Small. Could theoretically put the machine in a medium sized backpack or small rollerbag. • LED button does a good job serving as a status display, as there are a number of colors and modes of blinking to show printer function. • The free STEAM resources are actually really excellent. Things that I’m neutral on: • It’s not headless aka no LCD screen. This means it’s cheaper, but also means you need a computer set aside to run it. It IS wireless, so that’s a plus, but I do miss printing from an SD card and not using a computer. This is not a negative, because the savings is noticeable and the wireless works well. • The printer will only work with XYZ Printing PLA filament rolls. This is because each roll comes with a digital ID card that lets the printer know it’s authentic, and serves as a milage timer for the roll. This gets a “neutral” because there is an upside - every roll is 100% guaranteed by XYZ not only to work well and to be of high quality (it sure seems to be), but also to be heavy metal and DEHP-free, non-toxic, and biodegradable. I do buy PLA from other manufacturers (for my other machines) but it rarely comes with such claims. As 3D printing DOES create particulates around the machine during printing, it’s good to focus on filament that is going to be safe in a home or school environment. Things that I wish I could change, though XYZ is dealing with most of them: • Initial versions of XYZWare were slow enough to complain about. The software gets faster and more user friendly every update, and updates are often. • I do wish you could change print speed during printing, but have been talking to the XYZ service team to discuss this as a feature. This will probably get fixed. • It’s not got a proper profile set up for Simplify3D yet, for people who would like to use a 3rd party slicer/controller. This will probably get fixed after full product release. AND, lastly, some tips for people who pick this up: • Brim your prints if you have a hard time with adhesion • One quick spritz of Aquanet hairspray (the purple can, available at most Walmart/Rite-Aid/CVS/Pharmacy Stores) on the build “surface” (masking tape sheets) will last a LONG time and might even make the first print or two very, very difficult to remove. • Don’t forget to reset the printer with the LED button after prints, otherwise you’ll wonder why you can’t print again :) Attached are a photo of the printer with a 15" MacBook Pro, as well as it's BigBox brother next to it.