, I thought some of my early experiences may be helpful to others. I received one of the first M2s (assembled) with the V4 hot end and am using it with Simplify3D (v3.01). I am new to 3D printing but have been keeping up with the forums for my own education. So far I have just printed some home items and kid stuff, but have more ambitious projects in mind. I’m going to break this thread up into a few posts on different aspects of getting started.
Why I purchased the M2: The reported positive user experiences and stability of the M2 as well as the supportive community were major factors. It is clear that a lot of people spend a lot of time getting other printers to just work, there are sufficient challenges with this technology such that a reliable and precise machine and software is worthwhile. Some other high quality printers are limited to proprietary or a few filament types. Particularly with the V4 hot end, the M2 should do just about anything.
Has it lived up to the reputation? In my short experience I would say that the M2 has lived up to this reputation. The hardware has performed almost flawlessly. This is not to say there are no issues, but I think these are mostly due to my own learning curve and the state of the technology. The initial prints look great. I have been experimenting with some filaments (e.g. Pet+ and Inland PLA) which introduces some variables (More on this in a later post). Using the provided MG black filament I was able to have several successful prints the first time – from my reading, this is quite good. I have had no issues with the new V4 hot end. The support has been prompt and helpful.
New user advice:
There were 2 issues due to documentation not up to date: 1) On initial setup the video says the fans will come on, they didn’t. This is due to a firmware change and is now the expected behavior. 2) The Z-Stop is now set with a very easy to use software utility instead of hardware – this is not mentioned in any documentation I have found. So, for new users – find “MG Host” on your SD card and don’t mess with bed leveling unless you have to! My suggestion to MG is to have documentation based on machine revision and to make sure it is up to date with the various improvements and specifications (e.g. hot end temp range).
Other issues:
Curls/Blobs on starting a print: When starting a print the filament will ALWAYS curl back on the hot end and sometimes make blobs. I have taken to pulling the filament down when it starts. Sometimes this seems to happen during a print but it is hard to tell. I have tried the cleaning techniques. Even after start the filament seems to come out slightly (like 1-2 degrees) to one side. MG support says this is normal.
Where is zero? When you tell the printer to goto zero-Z and use manual control in Simplify3D (Also tried in Octoprint) it goes to the bottom (not zero) and the Z controls are reversed. But, when you print it finds the real zero. After a print the Z controls work as expected. Suspect this is a firmware issue, annoying but not a show stopper.
Extruder temp restarting: In Simplify3D when you stop a print or it has gone to sleep, if you tell it to print the extruder will not go to temp. You have to turn on the extruder first, then start the print. Probably a Simplify issue, also annoying but not a show stopper.
I will follow-up with more on the actual printing experience.
)