world maker faire NY who is goin...

[Lateralg]

Interesting printer. I'm about ready to retire my M2 & move on.

There's a lot of attractive printers out there, but I doubt that any can match the support I've received from MG. I hope MG will soon offer a printer that is as much an improvement over M2 as M2 was over Mendel Prusa.

[insta]

What would that even be?

My M2 has been nothing if not startlingly reliable. Other M2 owners I've talked to in person can echo that.

It's not the fastest -- the XY gantry printers take that. It's not the highest resolution -- the resin printers take that. It just works every. single. time. that I hit "go", and to me that's the biggest selling point.

I'm curious to see if/how the V4 extruders (and dual-extrusion) change the things I mentioned above. I'd expect a bit of a hit in acceleration, but I already run mine kind of low anyway to reduce ringing.

[jimc]

I have to agree. I have been watching things closely. There is a printer or two i have had my eye on but all the features just arent there yet. There hasnt been a big enough advances in printers to make me jump yet. I give it a year.

[markb]

M2 stacks up very nicely right now.

The biggest issue I had with the M2 was V3B slowing clogging the hot end and it needing cleaned after so many prints. The V4 has taken care of that and when it needs cleaned it is a 2 min process unlike the V3B.
I put a nyloc nut on the Z stop that keeps me from having to adjust that very much at all. Dial it in and print over and over.

MG support is top notch and this is very important.

It is good to watch what is coming out but this is a good place to watch from right now.

[jsc]

Lateralg, curious as to what printers you're looking at.

I think the M2 is good enough to last through this generation of 3D printers. New technologies will be coming available as the relevant patents expire. At some point, resin printers will become available and cheap enough that I can think of moving on from FDM, but until then all printers are basically the same. There are only a few factors on which to differentiate:

• rigidity, which gives you quality at speed: the M2 is decent there. Good build quality, but the moving bed compromises the rigidity at speed
• build volume: I don't do super huge prints, and a full size print at the M2's full volume would take forever anyway
• heated bed: check
• enclosed build volume: only available from MakerBot (or companies who are getting sued by MakerBot/Stratasys)
• firmware/software/ecosystem: you're either stuck with Reprap-based Marlin/slicer of choice/thingiverse, or buy into some proprietary stack. The Sailfish derived MakerBot firmware is supposed to be pretty good. I personally don't have a problem with selling out to proprietary walled gardens, but in this case the benefits aren't big enough to warrant the switch. I think ARM-based electronics and MachineKit are interesting developments, and when they get a little more mature I am interested in trying them out.

I've only ever owned an M2, so my viewpoint is limited, but I don't really see anything markedly better out there for my needs. There are certainly systems that are easier to use, a bit more turn key (like UP), or have better marketing (MakerBot; but check out their forums and you'll see they run into all the same problems we do). I was originally checking out the delta printers, but those seem even more finicky than RepRap derived cartesian printers.

The price for quality continues to fall, though, so at some point there is likely to be something significantly cheaper that is good enough. But until we all move away from filament printers, I'm not sure there's anything really compelling that is likely to come along other than on the ease-of-use/software side.

[sprior]

Not always, but every once in a while I think about printing something that just won't fit on the M2's 8x10 build plate so a "M2-XL" could be desirable for some people. I'm not talking about things that would fill the entire build volume, I printed a zero clearance insert plate for my miter saw, but to do the same for my table saw would have required a couple more inches.

[Tim]

I always bear in mind that when I see a "show and tell" table at the Maker Faire, I'm looking at the ones that were "keepers", not all the others that got tossed or recycled. Even some of the flimsiest printers can stay be painstakingly dialed into a good setting and keep it for a couple of prints. The gMax printer had a well-designed extruder mount, but the frame was the same DIY-style cluster of rails with printed brackets. Although with parts printed in exotic materials like carbon fiber filament, maybe you can get somewhat close to the performance of a system like the M2 made out of nice hefty pieces of cut steel and aluminum. But I'm doubtful.

I like to ask around about printing with a dual extruder setup because problems come from a variety of sources, and I may be making poor use of my beautifully designed MakerGear v4 extruder just because I'm not keeping my PLA dry enough, for example. That's what I'm trying to find out.

[jimc]

haha yeah tim i would imagine its like learning to 3d print all over again.

[insta]

For what it's worth I did do a print that filled the M2's bed. It was a sand mold positive for a small gearbox.

It weighed almost 2 kilograms when it was done and stood 6" tall, with something like a 7.5 x 9.5" footprint (I couldn't use skirt on the default settings without going off the bed). It took 63 hours to print (with a 0.5mm nozzle at 0.3mm layers), and certainly taught me some things about 3D printers.

[markb]

For what it's worth I did do a print that filled the M2's bed. It was a sand mold positive for a small gearbox.

It weighed almost 2 kilograms when it was done and stood 6" tall, with something like a 7.5 x 9.5" footprint (I couldn't use skirt on the default settings without going off the bed). It took 63 hours to print (with a 0.5mm nozzle at 0.3mm layers), and certainly taught me some things about 3D printers.

WOW a 63 hour print did it use more than one spool of filament?