M2 or M3SE

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wmgeorge
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M2 or M3SE

Post by wmgeorge » Thu May 07, 2020 12:12 am

I thought I had a used M2 purchased but the deal went belly up. In the mean time I have ordered and its on the way a Prusa M3S. Now having second thoughts about it and would like to go back a Makergear which worked 100% for me.

M2 to M3 SE which would be a better choice for me, since I am buying new.... price is not a big deal but print area and ease of use will be as I move to retirement housing.... maybe.
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ednisley
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Re: M2 or M3SE

Post by ednisley » Thu May 07, 2020 3:06 pm

Opinion follows …

Based on watching folks I know who own various printers: buy the M2 or M3.

To a very good first approximation:

Everybody else seems to have a printer that works great after replacing this, that, and the other thing, then spending considerable time & effort keeping all the parts flying in formation.

Recent Prusa printers (the genuine ones) are the best you can get in the lineage, but AFAICT their overall structure isn't as stable as the M2's hulking steel frame.

I performed the usual calibrations & shakedowns, added some unusual mods, but, after that, my M2 Just works: create a solid model, slice it, print it, and lift it off the platform.

The M3 seems to be an M2 with a bundled Raspberry Pi / Octoprint at a stiff upcharge. I ended up with basically the same thing and, frankly, think it's better when roll you own Pi setup so you know how to fix it when the inevitable Pi weirdness happens. But that's just my quirks speaking …

wmgeorge
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Re: M2 or M3SE

Post by wmgeorge » Thu May 07, 2020 6:08 pm

I had no issues with my old M2. Leveled the bed once and that was it. The Prusa does have a metal frame now, but they just updated the Y also. I will try it for a while and keep looking for a good M2. Thanks for the reply.
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airscapes
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Re: M2 or M3SE

Post by airscapes » Thu May 07, 2020 8:20 pm

I would also recommend the M2 but I am even considering a Prusa just to try it out..
I am active on a UK based 3d print forum and the junk that people buy and expect to work just amazes me.. I don't even mention the M2 as the remarks I get are "That is over priced machine and nothing special.. no bells and whistles with a small build volume".. but hey it works every time and is 100% repeatable.. I

wmgeorge
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Re: M2 or M3SE

Post by wmgeorge » Fri May 08, 2020 2:19 pm

Got my Prusa yesterday after many delays, thanks DHL. Impressed with the packaging, the complete documentation, the frame is made from what appears to be one piece laser cut aluminum 6.2 mm. The rods compared to linear rails are not a feature I was impressed with as they had a slight amount of flex. Powered up and using the included LCD display controller let it do a self check and 9 point leveling check. It did heat up the nozzle and bed but I shut it down as I have a ongoing project building a control panel for my DIY Workbee router.
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wmgeorge
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Re: M2 or M3SE

Post by wmgeorge » Tue May 12, 2020 12:24 am

Finally got my first print with the Prusa, hard to get used to the automatic filament loading and un- loading, the bed leveling wizard and all that. With my M2 I just set the nozzle height with a feeler gauge with the Prusa it has a sensor and then you adjust using the LCD display and knob until its right and then that is held in memory. I finally got a decent print and the flexible steel PEI sheet lets it pop right off. I guess I wasted money on the special tool (cake frosting knife) I purchased! I would have rather had my old M2 but gee this was half the price of a new one. I was stupid for selling my old one.
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ednisley
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Re: M2 or M3SE

Post by ednisley » Tue May 12, 2020 12:37 pm

wmgeorge wrote:
Tue May 12, 2020 12:24 am
this was half the price of a new one.
A friend picked up an Ender 3 Pro in January, added a couple hundred bucks of this-and-that, and, after many misadventures, was delighted with the results. All in, it cost maybe 20% of a new M3 with a good out-of-box experience.

Which, right there, tells you why MG moved upmarket: the new cheap printers are Good Enough™ for most folks.

He has, however, discovered the high truth of consumer-grade 3D printing: it's still a manufacturing process, not a push-button miracle. He's out of the afterglow and trudging up the learning curve …

wmgeorge
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Re: M2 or M3SE

Post by wmgeorge » Tue May 12, 2020 2:13 pm

They are selling as I heard 6,000 Prusa MK3S models a month. I would assume at the $1000 price tag they are selling to an upscale marker. I would never consider one of their kits as its build everything, not for me. The Prusa slicer which I have used seems to be on the scale of S3D quality and comes prefigured with files for all their printers and even filaments, as Amazon Basics. Even the LCD control panel has defaults for all the filaments. Having owned a Luzbot and a Makergear, the Makergear has much better build quality, yes better than the Prusa. But all the automatic and preset features of the Prusa make it a easier to use printer. But like you said, 3D printing is still a learning process, not for everyone.
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Alvaradokid
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Re: M2 or M3SE

Post by Alvaradokid » Sun May 24, 2020 3:30 am

My name is Greg
I have never used a 3d printer before
I have a chance to buy a used makergear m2 3d printer
With raspberry pi for 700 dollars

I have been using a cnc for couple of years
I'm asking for advice should i buy or should i not That's the question

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ednisley
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Re: M2 or M3SE

Post by ednisley » Wed May 27, 2020 12:16 pm

Alvaradokid wrote:
Sun May 24, 2020 3:30 am
With raspberry pi for 700 dollars
This falls into "sounds too good to be true" territory, but sometimes a deal's too good to pass up.
I have been using a cnc for couple of years
Then you're familiar with the need for painstaking precision and tedious debugging before producing a good part. 3D printing will push those skills to an entirely new level: it's a manufacturing process over-hyped as a trivially easy consumer product.

I've been running an M2 since 2013 and added Octopi on a Raspberry Pi maybe two years ago, so it's the same setup you're looking at. If you're familiar with PC and network configuration, getting it all running won't be impossibly difficult, although having (or being willing to learn) some Linux skills will help.

I've written much of what I've learned on my blog, which may give you some idea of what you're in for:

https://softsolder.com/

The M2 tag will narrow things down a bit and show you plenty of reasons why you need a 3D printer in your shop:

https://softsolder.com/tag/m2/
I have never used a 3d printer before
However, if you're new to 3D printing and new to PC configuration and new to networked machines, then I think you'd be better off starting with something like a Creality Ender 3 (from Sainsmart, to avoid crappy clones) and up-skilling yourself with pretty-good hardware in a known-good configuration.

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