I am seriously wanting to purchase the MakerGear M2

[nicksc]

I am seriously wanting to purchase the MakerGear M2. The Zortrax M200 also looks great. Would anyone give their opion why I should buy the MakerGear M2 and not the Zortrax M200?

[jsc]

Everybody here has an M2, and not a Zortrax. Also, Rick has asked us not to slag other brands That said, I've taken a brief look at the Zortrax because a friend of a friend has one and likes it very much.

I would say it depends on the kind of person you are. The M2 is much more open, being based on RAMBo electronics, Marlin firmware, and in general derives a lot from the RepRap ecology. It is a solid refinement of that body of work. You can modify it to a great extent if you want, but can get great prints out of it without ever touching anything. It has a heated bed and you can use whatever filaments you like. MakerGear tech support is super great, and this forum and everybody on it is super smart and helpful

The Zortrax is much more of a plug and play printer. All their software is proprietary, which means they can tune it very well for their particular machine, but only if they control everything. That means you have to get all your filament from them. They don't appear to be gouging on the filament price, which is customary for printers that take that route, which is a pleasant surprise. You can't print in PLA, ninjaflex, PETG, etc. You can't change the temperatures and experiment with any filament that they do not provide. You get what you get, and you don't get upset. I would visit the Zortrax forums to learn what their users like/don't like about it.

[nicksc]

I've been following the makergear m2 for sometime now and think it is one of the best printers on the market today. Really it was my only choice untill I learned about the zortrax. I never owed a printer, but am doing my home work to find the one that best suits me. I would like to be able to print in multiple materials, ninja flex being one of them and this is the down side to the zortrax. But what I heard from most people is that it prints ABS like a champ. My purpose coming to this forum is to get responces from those that have the makergear m2. I think the MG M2 would be more of a challenge to learn but would offer me more flexibility like you have said. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[insta]

What drew you to the M2, vs. the Zortax, and what is potentially driving you away from the M2?

[nicksc]

The M2 has had great raitings on amazon for a while now, you dont get that buy sleeping on the job. The M2 might be more than I can handel. Thats where the zortrax came in the picture. For me ABS is probably a material that will fit alot of my work.

Link to Art work. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dominick ... tos_albums

Link to Mechanical. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 269&type=3

[insta]

The M2 will print nearly all the pieces in your art work section out of the box in PLA. I didn't see anything hugely concerning in there that it wouldn't handle. I kind of want to try some of those prints now...

The bed levelling is the only moderately difficult thing and that's a well documented 10 minute process. After that most of the problems with M2 setup are the same ones most printers will have, Arduino drivers & software setup. If you buy a complete machine, the unboxing process is:

* Remove M2 from styrofoam tomb
* Remove protective zipties and styrofoam on the machine (get them all)
* Check the power supply voltage is set to your country's voltage (115 or 230v, US is 115v which is the default the supply is set to)
* Plug a USB cable into the front of the M2 & then your computer
[ magic happens ] (I don't actually know, I've never unboxed an M2 onto a fresh computer, I've always had traces of printers on it before, hopefully someone else will chime in)
* Run Simplify3D and follow its bed-levelling wizard
* Remove glass from bed, spray down with hairspray, clip onto bed with office binder clips
* Print stuff

[nicksc]

I am sure that the M2 can handle it.

[LonV]

I have both. The Zortax has amazing quality out of the box, but I like to play with lots of different types of materials and control settings and the Zortrax just can't do that. The other think I don't like about the Zortrax is that they're forcing you into using their material and I don't really see that changing. Also, the fact that they're unwilling to do a PLA setting really bothers me (even if it was forced into using their PLA). They seem to think PLA is a bad material, but continue to produce materials that warp like crazy. Without enclosing the sides of the printers (and there are some great users who will sell you pre-cut acrylic) you will never get a large flat object (without warping) out of that thing. Mostly that's just the nature of ABS...but it also appears to be the nature (although to a lesser degree) some of their other materials.

The auto-leveling feature is really nice on the zortrax, but I MUCH rather print on glass (even with a raft). I am a lone voice in that on the Zortrax forums, they seem to think glass is impossible to work with. I've spent much time using glass on both ABS and other materials and can get it to stick without lifting. The perforated bed is nice for sticking, but is a pain in the butt when trying to remove a part.

What it comes down to is how you want to use your printer. There will be many more possibilities with the M2, but you will definitely need to spend time tweaking slicer settings.

[lem]

Points that have the Makergear M2 on my purchase list:

Open source on pretty much everything.
Great user community.
Reported great support from the company (I haven't used this yet so I can't comment).
Company seems to listen and take an active part in the user community.
Upgrades to the machine as improvements are determined.
Fewer hardware failures/maintenance issues (noted on the forum) than any other machine I have researched.
Some of the forum members have run these machines constantly and they keep on running.
Try to buy a used M2 and you won't find one.
Try to buy a dead M2 and you won't find one (I tried).

If these issues are important to you.............buy the M2.

My two cents worth........
Larry

[insta]

I found two used M2s. It took me 3 years, and one of them came from MakerGear! (that took some pestering)