Monoprice has a new $150 3D printer
14Hi everyone, as the title says, Monoprice.com has a new $150 3d printer, the Mini Delta. This is a follow-up to their $200 printer the MP Select Mini.
Reading the review here: http://hackaday.com/2017/08/21/monoprice-mini-delta-review/
it sounds like you get quite a lot for your money. I don’t think we’re at the “everyone can use one” stage, but it does sound like if you have any interest in 3d printing, this is a great way to get started.
Curious if any of the folks here who have a 3d printer use it regularly, or if it’s gathering dust.
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Funnily enough, I have both of those printers.
I use mine pretty regularly, usually once or twice a week, but that is mostly because I haven’t had time for hobbies as of late.
It is pretty neat being able to go from digital model to physical shape in a matter of hours
@n2o That IS funny!
@n2o Photos! What do you make with it? I’m talking hobbies not boring old work stuff.
@medz
/giphy get off my lawn
@sammydog01
Had to run to work, so a couple images are scrambled up.
http://imgur.com/a/d0RO5
@n2o I want the lizard thing. Send me the lizard thing?
@n2o @sammydog01 My son recently used his to mockup motor mounts and sprocket placementfor an engine swap on a 1978 Batavus moped
@sammydog01
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1703702
@tightwad
Nice!
@sammydog01 Here’s a couple gewgaws I’ve got sitting around my office. Printed on my FlashForge Creator Pro dual extruder 3D printer (two color capable).
The big yellow tiki dude is just over 6" tall (big fan of tikis).
Dang, I guess I need to dust my office!
I got my brother a XYZPrinting da Vinci Jr. for Christmas. I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the prints he’s done on it, and all without a bit of calibration. If you’re looking for a beginner plug-n-play FDM printer, I recommend considering that one.
Also, XYZPrinting is offering a limited time deal for a free da Vinci 1.0 printer:
Summer Sale Bundle – Buy 12 filaments get a FREE da Vinci 1.0 Blue. Since our ABS cartridge filaments are way too popular, we had to adjust it to “Buy 4 cartridge filaments and 10 refill filaments get a FREE da Vinci 1.0 Blue for $361.3.
@n2o I think our library has a printer- maybe I’ll check it out. Thanks!
I’m going to wait until a bunch of them break -then are fixed- then offered for sale on meh for $74.99 . . . I’m guessing Fall 2018. The circle of life.
@huja Monoprice sells their own refurbs.
https://www.monoprice.com/pages/refurb_openbox
The stuff that gets sold elsewhere are usually because ended up being crappy enough to NOT want to keep it. Their older NAS box comes to mind; they sold at Woot.
@huja I’m waiting till they hit a two-for-tuesday sale.
I feel like I need this thing. I backed the Tiko (also a delta printer) on Kickstarter but they completely failed to ship a product.
@fibrs86 Oh come now, they shipped like a dozen Tikos!
@fibrs86 I’m sorry this happened, but I really enjoyed reading about the Tiko printer failure, which then lead me to the Peachy printer.
@craigthom Are you saying that you actually received a Peachy printer? Or that you found their drama filled story to be entertaining?
I have heard quite a few tales of failure and fraud at traditional companies, but the kickstarter stories are so public. Everyone gets to see the train wreck.
@fibrs86 I hadn’t heard of the Peachy printer until i read this comment about the Tiko. There was a link in one of the Tiko stories to the Peachy tale.
I think the most I’ve pledged on a tech product on Kickstarter is $35 for an SBC, and I’m still awaiting shipment.
I spent $130 on a sous vide system on Indigogo, but that was from a division of GE located here in town, so I felt fairly confident.
@fibrs86
With crowdfunding projects, my take is “can I afford to lose this money?” and “do I know these people from somewhere?”
I think I fucked up backing this one, though.
I’ve been running an Anet A8 printer off of Ebay for over a year now. The kit was about $220 back then but can be had for $160 now. For the first 4 months I ran it pretty much constantly. Since then it’s been getting used about 3-4 times a week. Once I got the hang of printing pre-made files with it I shifted to teaching myself SketchUp to make my own models. Thingiverse.com has a great searchable collection of 3d models for someone starting out.
If you’re the tinkerer type I’d definitely recommend the A8 even though the build takes many hours. If assembly isn’t for you this Mini Delta looks pretty good even though it’s print volume is pretty small.
Serious question: What sort of software do you need to design something to be printed on the printers? Do the printers come with their own design software?
@huja I have used Tinkercad, which is online and free. My son uses some AutoDesk software that I couldn’t begin to understand…his highschool had engineering classes where they learned it. Any program that can produce .stl files will work, the software for slicing the model and creating the print commands works well with STL files.
@tightwad Autodesk Inventor?
https://www.autodesk.com/products/inventor/overview
@huja There are several free options you can use. In addition to sketchup and tinkercad already mentioned here, this free class teaches Autodesk Fusion 360 for 3d print design.
@djslack How much does the plastic cost? Enough to make that lizard thing, for example?
@narfcake Yes, thats the one. He got a license from school for it, it’s crazy expensive for hobby use. @sammydog01 the plastic is pretty cheap…small parts probably cost $0.25 or less to print. $20 for a 1kg spool is fairly common pricing.
@sammydog01 @tightwad’s got ya… i don’t have a sense of scale but the filament is usually sold in 1kg spools so it depends on the size of the object and how solid or hollow it is.
@huja
Lots of options here. Anything that can spit out a STL file works.
Tinkercad, SketchUp, fusion360, 123d (discontinued), openSCAD, etc.
I have even seen people modelling in blender
I personally used to use 123d because it was free and very simple, but Autodesk stopped supporting it.
Now I moved on to fusion360, which is more of a full featured cad program, but also free for hobbyists/students
@huja I’ve been using 123D Design (an AutoDesk product; the makers of AutoCAD). It’s very, very powerful, and free. Big fan. EDIT: I just read that it’s been discontinued, though I see it’s available for dl via a handful of torrents.
Microsoft also offers a free 3D design product but I can’t remember what it’s called, and it’s basically useless, so nvm.
@huja Here’s a dl link for 123D Design. I love this program. https://www.download-3d.com/123d-design
Any word on wide release date? I’ve been considering getting a 3d printer, and this does seem a good intro machine (though I have small hopes someone will remember my offhand remark on facebook a few months back, and my birthday is in a couple weeks…)
To answer the original question, I have the pieces that purport to be a Cobblebot gathering dust in their boxes… what a mess that turned out to be. As I see them getting cheaper I wonder whether I should fight that fight or just buy one ready to go.
As the prices come under $200 for something ready to print I get closer to just buying. I think the build area on this one might just be too small, though.
@djslack Same issue here. We have had $700 worth of 90%-built Makergear Mendel Prusa taking up space in the library for five years. The only thing that keeps me from punting on it is that it has an 8x8x8" build volume, supposedly, and all these cheapies are 3-5". I just want a working printer, and there is soooo much good stuff now.
Do I really want to print big stuff? I actually have no idea. Everything I have done so far is under 3", but I always surprise myself when I develop a new skill.
One downside of buying from Monoprice - check into their defective return policy. I had a defective HDMI switch and I had to pay to ship it back for a replacement. Thought that was pretty lame, and it significantly increased the overall cost of the item.
@danpritts I’ve shipped my 3d printer back twice & they paid for it both times. I purchased through amazon, not sure if that affects things.
@MrGlass I purchased the HDMI switch direct from monoprice.
I have a monoprice maker select v2 and I use it all the time! This new cheaper model looks like it has all the features you want in a consumer printer, and it would be a good place to start.
I highly recommend fusion 360 for design software. Its free for hobby/education, plus there are a ton of tutorials on youtube (adafruit & makers muse are my favorites).
Heres some of the designs I’ve made public: https://www.thingiverse.com/MrGlass/designs . Some people may recognize the participation trophy I made jbartus for fantasy football last year
If people have 3d printing/design questions I’m happy to answer.
Sold out?
@donrull not released yet, only the indigogo ones are out in the wild right now.
@thismyusername What do you mean not released yet? The title of this post is “Monoprice has a new $150 3D printer”. Is there no $150 3D printer at monoprice?
@donrull nope. not yet. you can get the previous generation but its slightly more than $200, and I would wait for this refined version myself.
Only the ones made for the backers in the indigogo campaign have shipped, and not even all of those.
Life Pro Tip: just because it’s in text on the internet doesn’t mean its true.
@thismyusername @donrull i was comparing specs and the select mini will do a 4.7" square build but at 55mm/s while the delta will only do a 4.3" diameter (only 3.04" square) but at 150mm/s. The delta also has a 50 micron minimum layer depth versus 100 micron on the select mini. There are tradeoffs on both units.
The select mini is available in a refurb for $179 right now.
@donrull
@caffeine_dude “I’ll troll other users posts just to be critical of others” - caffeine_dude
@thismyusername Life Pro Tip: People know everything on the internet is not true. Clearly meh has no moderation because this post should have been removed since there is no product.
@caffeine_dude You have to believe this one, because he’s wearing the hat.
@donrull My catshirt says otherwise.
https://shirt.woot.com/offers/the-internet-is-never-wrong?ref=meh_com