Buying an M2

[Quark]

Hi,

I'm in the market to purchase a 3D printer and have had high recommendations for the M2 printer. A friend of mines personally has an M2 from about a year ago and absolutely loves it. I had a few questions regarding the kit. I sent an email into sales, but haven't had a response yet, so I figure I'd see what the community has to say in the mean time.

1. It seems there is a v4 extruder, I really like the way that it is now separated from the filament drive, isolating some of the temperatures from the 3d printed assembly. Any idea if or when it will be included into the kit?

2. I assume the current kits are equipped with the 24v power supply? I see that the v3b extruders are 24v.

3. I'd like to know what are some spare parts that should be ordered with it. I see MakerGear recommends a spare parts kit, however, I'm wondering what extruder that includes. I'd rather just get a spare v4 extruder if that is going to be the upgrade. I also plan on getting some extra nozzles for printing carbon filaments. Anything else that I should order with the kit?

Thanks.

[insta]

Check out the (still hidden wtf rick) M2 Upgrades page: http://www.makergear.com/products/m2-upgrades

1) The v4 will eventually be part of the stock M2, no idea on when. I'm sure Rick & Co are still working out kinks / testing it, as is the community. It is a nice upgrade though, I am burning through the last of my V3b stocks to move to a V4 on most of my machines. I will have a V3b, V4 and E3Dv6 machines side-by-side to compare between them, which will be kind of nice.

2) Yes, a nice 24v supply from MeanWell inside a branded laser-cut MG enclosure, with IEC plug and power switch.

3) Personally, I would suggest a second sheet of Borosilicate glass, and a second 0.35 and 0.5mm nozzle. You can get them for the V4, but if you're getting them for the V3 save yourself a heap of annoyance and just get 2 extra V3 hotends. Seriously it is NOT worth the extra $100 or so over the lifetime of the hotends to carefully disassemble and reassemble the hotends to change nozzles. The "spare parts kit" will include a V3b hotend. If you want custom parts in the shipping box, contact Karen at MakerGear with what you want and have her send you an invoice.

3.5) I also have Viki panels on every one of my M2s, but few do. Most people seem to be content with Octoprint or similar (I run both, they serve different purposes). If you have the budget I'd say get one ... worst case it's just extra bling, best case you use it every print.

[Jules]

Spring for the Simplify 3D too. It's sooooooo good.

[Quark]

thats some good info there. I didn't realize it would be that difficult to swap out the nozzles on the v3b heads. I have been looking at the octoprint and that viki panel, but not sure I'll need it, it is really nice though. My original intent was to hook up a small hp mini notebook I have laying around that I'm not using any more. Question on the extra glass, is that due to damage from day to day printing? like removing objects/glues, or is it more for head crashes?

Looking forward to ordering one.
thanks.

[insta]

thats some good info there. I didn't realize it would be that difficult to swap out the nozzles on the v3b heads. I have been looking at the octoprint and that viki panel, but not sure I'll need it, it is really nice though. My original intent was to hook up a small hp mini notebook I have laying around that I'm not using any more. Question on the extra glass, is that due to damage from day to day printing? like removing objects/glues, or is it more for head crashes?

Looking forward to ordering one.
thanks.

The glass doesn't get damaged from day-to-day operation, but it will get irreparably damaged from a whoopsie of some sort. Be it you dropping it on the floor by accident, prying too hard, using copious hairspray on a large ABS part on bare glass, whatever. It's nice to have one sheet hiding in the closet you can go grab.

Dedicating a machine to the printer is fine, but be careful about a laptop. You'll probably want to do SD card prints with it, since laptops (and netbooks) tend to have aggressive power saving options that may ruin a print.

The v3b's themselves aren't hard to change, it only takes a few seconds to swap hotends, but changing the nozzles specifically is. The barrel and nozzle are effectively one piece after the first print, and removing the heater is difficult too because the barrel threads have PTFE tape.

[benavery]

As a counter-opinion, I wouldn't worry about spares for now. Unless you plan on doing business critical printing with the printer, where downtime is costly, or live somewhere where shipping costs are quite prohibitive. I have has my M2 for a year, and haven't needed anything new. I did partially break one of the fans, but upgraded to Noctua 40mm fans anyways. You can probably get the M2 with the v3b that it comes with, and if anything ever happens to it, it'll be a great time to upgrade to v4.

+1 for Simplify3d though. It is sooo much nicer than messing around with slic3r.

[Quark]

As a counter-opinion, I wouldn't worry about spares for now. Unless you plan on doing business critical printing with the printer, where downtime is costly, or live somewhere where shipping costs are quite prohibitive. I have has my M2 for a year, and haven't needed anything new. I did partially break one of the fans, but upgraded to Noctua 40mm fans anyways. You can probably get the M2 with the v3b that it comes with, and if anything ever happens to it, it'll be a great time to upgrade to v4.

+1 for Simplify3d though. It is sooo much nicer than messing around with slic3r.

Thats really nice to hear that you had it for a year, and not needed anything. I may do production runs maybe 3 months into the machine. I've had a request from my local hobby shop to make these 7" lcd mounts that they buy from from someone who 3D prints them, but they'd like to buy local instead. I'd have to model it then print it, so not really sure how much that is going to wear and tear on the M2. I live in hawaii, so shipping isn't crazy, depends how MakerGear ships the spares. Best way to get things to us is regular USPS priority mail.

Here is my game plan:
1. Order the M2 kit, with the following spares: Borosilicate glass, thermistors for extruder and HBP (cheap, and MakerGear recommended?), V4 extruder upgrade for when the stock one dies (debating on just holding off, maybe they'll continue to develop the V4), some ABS filament.
2. Build kit, calibrate and load its all up with opensource software (just to try to familiarize with the process).
3. Print a few test prints to get a hang of the settings.
4. Print all M2 3d printed parts with upgrades as spares, like the beefier extruder motor mount, and the ducted fan shrouds.
5. Try out some PET+ as a ABS alternative.
6. Possibly pick up the Simplify3d and start printing production parts.

I think at this point, I'll be 3-6 months into it, maybe by now, I'll start to mess with graphite filament, and Nylon for stronger parts, and the need for an extra nozzle or V4 extruder. Hopefully, the kinks would be worked out, and I'd have worn or damaged the v3b extruder to need a replacement/upgrade to the v4.

Sounds like a plan?

*feeling excited*

[insta]

As a counter-opinion, I wouldn't worry about spares for now. Unless you plan on doing business critical printing with the printer, where downtime is costly, or live somewhere where shipping costs are quite prohibitive. I have has my M2 for a year, and haven't needed anything new. I did partially break one of the fans, but upgraded to Noctua 40mm fans anyways. You can probably get the M2 with the v3b that it comes with, and if anything ever happens to it, it'll be a great time to upgrade to v4.

+1 for Simplify3d though. It is sooo much nicer than messing around with slic3r.

Thats really nice to hear that you had it for a year, and not needed anything. I may do production runs maybe 3 months into the machine. I've had a request from my local hobby shop to make these 7" lcd mounts that they buy from from someone who 3D prints them, but they'd like to buy local instead. I'd have to model it then print it, so not really sure how much that is going to wear and tear on the M2. I live in hawaii, so shipping isn't crazy, depends how MakerGear ships the spares. Best way to get things to us is regular USPS priority mail.

Here is my game plan:
1. Order the M2 kit, with the following spares: Borosilicate glass, thermistors for extruder and HBP (cheap, and MakerGear recommended?), V4 extruder upgrade for when the stock one dies (debating on just holding off, maybe they'll continue to develop the V4), some ABS filament.
2. Build kit, calibrate and load its all up with opensource software (just to try to familiarize with the process).
3. Print a few test prints to get a hang of the settings.
4. Print all M2 3d printed parts with upgrades as spares, like the beefier extruder motor mount, and the ducted fan shrouds.
5. Try out some PET+ as a ABS alternative.
6. Possibly pick up the Simplify3d and start printing production parts.

I think at this point, I'll be 3-6 months into it, maybe by now, I'll start to mess with graphite filament, and Nylon for stronger parts, and the need for an extra nozzle or V4 extruder. Hopefully, the kinks would be worked out, and I'd have worn or damaged the v3b extruder to need a replacement/upgrade to the v4.

Sounds like a plan?

*feeling excited*

That is a fantastic plan you won't stick to in the least. Watch what happens when "the shiny" shows up

[Quark]

oooooooooh......shiny!

[Vprints]

For Step 4, I personally suggest mirroring the motor mount so the wires are on the right -- I found the wires were rubbing against / moving with the filament guide, but moving the wires to the other side of the motor fixed that.

Since you're in HI, search the forum for filament tubs -- it'll help keep the moisture away while it's on the machine.

For part modeling, if you're just getting started I suggest either FreeCAD [non-trivial learning curve, though], OpenSCAD [awesome for fairly simple things], and/or Fusion 360 [free for personal / non-commercial use only, though -- but SO much easier to design things with than FreeCAD...]

Enjoy