Pevly

Author: Norman

  • 3D Printing Canada Select PLA Filament Review

    3D Printing Canada Select PLA Filament Review

    3D Printing Canada

    With the sudden popularity in 3D printing there has been a race to create the perfect plastic material. Back when it was starting to go public there was only one big type and that was ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), which is strong but hard to print with because of its shrinking factor. As it is printing, any cool air makes ABS curl up on the corners making it hard to keep stuck to the bed.

    Then came PLA (Polylactic Acid) which doesn’t shrink as bad and is much easier to print with. The best part of PLA is its biodegradability. Recently there has been a surge of newly created PLA filaments: PLA Plus, Advance PLA and now Select PLA.

    I recently reviewed PETG (Polyethylene terephthalate with glycol), TPU (Thermoplastic polyurethane) and Wood filament for 3D Printing Canada, you can read that review here. Since I liked that filament so much, they’ve sent me their new Select PLA.

    PLA typically prints at 180-205 °C. Select PLA prints best at 215 °C. Before 3D printing got popular it was hard to find cheap filament that was also good. As the industry grows the filament is getting better and better. Back then the cheaper filament cost around $60 for the good stuff. Now the $30 rolls is the good stuff and the value filament is around $15. And the $15 rolls are good enough for everyday use, although I haven’t tried the value filaments from 3D Printing Canada.

    Select PLA is the filament you want for special items like display pieces, or if you sell prints to the public. For the price it’s good for everyday items as well. The value filament is probably something you would use for functional prototyping. I haven’t tried the value filaments yet, but I will be giving those a try.

    3D Printing Canada gave me 4 colours to try. The first one I tried was White. First I printed a tolerance test to judge the printers accuracy. While I am reviewing the filament, I am also reviewing a 3D printer named JGAurora A5. The test showed me that the printer and filament can print articulate parts with a .2mm tolerance. That is a very good result. It means, if you want to print a hinge you would need to have a minimum of .2mm separation between the parts.

    Then I printed something I have been wanting to print for a long time: the Skull of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Some day I will print a large-scale model of the entire T-Rex. The skull came out great and it is displayed proudly in my office display cabinet. Being a nerd, or geek, I like interesting things like space, dinosaurs, and fantasy stuff like super heroes!

    Next I printed a simple toolbox that attaches to the side of my printer. The prints really came out beautifully; I am so impressed with this filament – as well as the printer!

    After that impressive Dino skull I wanted to try something else that shows incredible details. Many nights I look up at the moon in awe. It’s a massive rock spinning around our planet and interfering with such things as our ocean tides and our weather. As you can see it is as impressive as the T-Rex Skull, and much more detailed. Links to these files are below.

    The Orange filament has a nice colour but I’m not sure what to print with it. The colour of the filament doesn’t matter because it’s easy to paint. I recommend sanding them down and using a filler primer to fill in the layer lines. The first orange print was the ever-popular 3DBenchy, the little boat that was created to be a benchmark test; it printed great.

    I printed an articulate horse for my daughter because she loves horses. It has tiny hinges between each piece to make it flexible. That is one of the greatest things about 3D printing, you can make things that connect and move, all in one piece. To show the accuracy I also printed a 20mm cube. As you can see, all those are very close to 20mm. Accuracy comes from both the printer and the filament.

    I love printing things for my 11 year old. She loves to display these proudly in her section of my display cabinet. We share the office, and she has her own special desk. Another hobby of hers is drawing, so I decided to make her a drawing robot. It is still in the works, but getting close. It will have WiFi / Bluetooth connectivity.

    Using Yellow filament I added a mix of colours to the drawing robot. The yellow prints as good as the other colours. I promised my son I would print him a plant holder. He has a love for plants since his school coop placement in a flower store. Here in Canada students in high school get placed in a job, for experience and a high school credit. Because of his interest in gaming I printed a Mario game block he can paint and use to grow plants in. I had to drill holes for drainage.

    The last color I tried was black. Black and white are useful for lots of things. Me, when I see black – I think of Batman! I printed a small pair of toy grippers for the kids and a bust of Batman for myself.

    I’m very happy to have a Canadian filament supplier that is pricing their filament competitively. For far too long we have been paying way more than people in the US. Ordering from the US means we pay a lot for shipping and duties. So the Canadian suppliers have been charging a minimum of $30 for the cheapest filaments. To get this quality at $30 CDN is a good thing. I can’t wait to try the value filament which is currently on sale for $15 CDN. The electronics shop in Ottawa charges $30 for 1/2 kg rolls of cheap filament that doesn’t print well at all.

    The Select PLA filament prints at 215°C and bonds very well. It is nice and strong for functional parts that you prototype or download.

    These are my opinions and you should form your own, by trying the product or doing more research. But this filament is well worth the price. They also offer free Canada wide shipping for purchases over $120 or $10 flat rate below. My friends and I buy together in bulk to save the shipping costs.

    Links to everything I’ve printed:

    3DBenchy

    Drawing Robot

    Batman Bust

    Moon

    T-Rex

    Mario Cube

    Horse, gripper and toolbox  (I can’t seem to find these items…)

    But there are plenty of things to print, on Thingiverse.com

  • UpAir One Plus 4K Quadcopter Review – A Quality GPS Drone

    The UPAir One Plus 4K, A Quality GPS Drone

    All my life I have loved RC (remote control) devices. My fondest childhood memories are of an RC A-Team van. That van went forward until you clicked the control which then made it reverse which always turned left. Another click and it then returned to going forward. Since then I have had a few here and there. It wasn’t until I was older and making more money that I finally started getting into my RC airplane and helicopter collection. I started big, with a 5 foot nitro plane. It was a lot of fun to build but hard to fly. I had someone train me but I was still too nervous to destroy the plane I spent hundreds of dollars on and took many hours build. So, I turned to park fliers and helicopters. They were tons of fun until I had kids and got busy with less of a budget. I even got to the point where I was building my own park fliers from plans posted on the internet which was fun. When you have all the hardware you can experiment.

    I have many printers from my reviews and decided to trade some for the next big RC craze—drones! The only problem is that I traded for a couple of FPV racing drones which are a challenge to fly. Then I got the UPAir One Plus 4K. The Plus being the Wi-Fi model. The UPAir one comes in 4 models:

    Specifications

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    Unboxing

    Unboxing the drone packaging is pretty straightforward. It has a cardboard liner that is formed to fit the parts. Above that are the manuals. One quick guide user manual, one full detailed user manual, and a third, enhanced version, which is in German. All of the manuals are available on their website, www.upairdrone.com.

    The drone and parts fit well in the box so until I get a proper travel case, this one will have to do. The UPAir One is close to the same size as the Phantom series from the ever popular DJI company. The gimbal is 2-axis, and flops around until the drone is turned on.

    The Phantom 3 propellers also work on the UPAir One. The UPAir One is very stylish. However, being white, it will be hard to keep clean. The charging cable came with a foreign (EU) end on it. Good thing I had plenty others laying around.

    The drone battery is an 11.1v, 59.94wh, 5400mAh smart battery. With one click of the front button the 4 LEDs show you roughly the power level. To power the drone, you need to push the button with one short and one long press. The controller battery is a simple 11.1v 1500mAh. It doesn’t need charging as often as the drone’s one, which powers 4 strong motors.

    The controller looks flashy but isn’t perfect. It is bulky and has little to grip. It helps that it is well balanced so it stays in your hands okay. Although, kids may have a hard time holding it. Being the Wi-Fi version, this model doesn’t include the 7-inch screen for viewing the camera feed. The Wi-Fi version has a longer range and gives you the wireless application connection. The controller has a USB connection which you can use to connect to your phone or tablet to use the UPAir App.

    The Drone

    As I said the drone is roughly the size of the DJI Phantom, weighing in at the 1.3kg (2.86lbs). This is unfortunate as it puts the drone 0.3g over the recreational weight limit here in Canada, but more on that in a bit. Having a drone to take nice aerial photos and videos is great. I love the view from the sky and have always had a thing for flying.

    The drone has green lights on the back two motor arms and red ones on the front;; you can turn these on or off with the application. Unlike most GPS drones, the UPAir one has a bowl-shaped top instead of the usual flat or dome shape. I’m not sure if it helps with aerodynamics but it does help keep the props from getting into your photos and videos. I find the landing skids to be a bit short, leaving the camera vulnerable to hits while landing. There is a mod for that in the modification section.

    The Controller

    As I stated, the controller is large and smooth leaving it feeling a bit slippery. I suggest using a lanyard to keep it from hitting the ground if you do drop it. It does feel well built though. The phone holder grips the phone well and stretches enough to hold my Samsung Note 8 which is a large phone. It will not hold a tablet which is a shame because the phone screen looks small. So, if you have trouble seeing your phone you are better off with the non-Plus version which comes with the 7-inch screen. The buttons are well placed and were easy to use with my winter gloves on. (I can’t wait for warmer weather.) The camera buttons are conveniently located on the left corner and the tilt scroll is on the right corner.

    The switches feel well built. The 2-way switch on the left toggle is the return-to-home mode. While in that mode the drone does not respond to input commands. You need to be ready to flip the switch because if there is an object in the way you need to be able to take back control. The 3-way switch on the right changes between altitude hold, GPS mode, and headless mode. Altitude hold is exactly that, it holds to a specific height and will drift with the wind. GPS mode holds the drone in a specific location. If you grab the drone (Which I don’t advise) and drag it away, when you let it go it returns to the original spot. Headless mode means the drone will fly in the direction you point the right stick regardless of which way it is facing. The power switch has three settings but the manual doesn’t say what the 3rd position is for. The USB port is for connecting to your phone. It serves two purposes: one is to connect to the app and the second is to keep your phone charged.

    Things To Consider Before Flight

    Before you fly any drone, you should read over the rules for your country and area. In Canada we have some of the toughest regulations. We are not able to fly over 90m, which is 295 feet. That is 105 feet shorter than in the US and other countries. I’m not going through all the rules and changes, but feel free to read them here: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/opssvs/flying-drone-safely-legally.html

    All that is to say, please follow the rules to prevent getting fines or even jail time. Yes, they mention jail as a penalty.

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    Before You Fly

    Before I get into the UPAir application I want to mention the UAV Forecast application. I hope it works in your country because it is a VERY useful app. This app is choc-full of information.

    The bottom icons let you select the different screens. The first screen consists of blocks of information with the top one telling you if it is safe to fly or not. Also it shows info like weather, sun up/down, temperatures and wind; it even tells you cloud cover and how many satellites are available in your area at any given time.

    This is great and all, but the other two screens are even more useful. The next being an hourly breakdown of the first screen and the third being the wind at stages from 10m up to 1500m. This tells you how high you can fly your drone. The fourth uses a Google map with an overlay that gives you locations of the airports and helipads around. So, if you travel with your drone you will know if it is safe and legal to fly. Let’s face it, not flying close to airports is just common sense.

    The best feature is that it lets you set the values for your preferences, such as the wind speeds your drone can handle, and how far you have to be from different size airports.

    I highly recommend you try this app. I use it every day.

    The UPAir GPS Drone Application

    This app gives you control of your drone’s GPS through the Wi-Fi connection. The first screen has three functions. One is to enter the camera view, the second is Academy (help and settings), and the third is Media. I don’t know where the media is coming from. Mine has some of my pictures but a few others I don’t recognize. Besides, the drone images are stored on the SD card of the drone and not the phone. They look like the ones I shared on Facebook.

    After you enter the camera view you are greeted with the view from your camera if you are connected. If not, you see a black background and the empty information fields. The map in the bottom left lets you swap between the camera and Google maps. The map shows where you are and where your drone is. It is represented by a red arrow pointing the direction your drone is facing. I find that very handy for controlling.

    Although the Canadian laws say you have to fly within field of view I wouldn’t recommend flying lower than the highest tower or building in your area. The app lets you take off and land, and has an auto return home button. It also lets you set the resolution of your images and videos. Although, it doesn’t save the settings which is very annoying. Another annoying aspect is that if you let your video go too long and the app doesn’t respond, you lose your video. I’m not sure if that is due to file size or not. I do know that it only writes the video if you stop the recording before you turn off the app or drone. The app and drone need more work, for sure. I hope the firmware update will fix this. I just wish updating it didn’t require a hack of the drone.

    Flying The Drone

    One thing I’m not, is a photographer. To me, a photo is a photo and I look at the subject matter. Sure, I can tell if an image is blurry or dark, but beyond that I wouldn’t know what to do to correct it anyway. Things like shutter speed are beyond my knowledge and interest. But I do love seeing nice scenery, and having a sky view makes all that much sweeter. This drone takes photos in 8, 12, and 16 megapixels and they all look great. The videos are taken at 2K 30fps, 2.7K 30fps, and 4K 30fps. Although, my 4K videos were chippy. I don’t know what caused it, but I used a class 10 Kingston SD card.

    My time with this drone had its ups and downs (pun intended). I had a lot of fun flying around my little town. It is so easy that my 11-year-old flew it with no problem. I did make the mistake of taking off too close to the phone lines. It took off okay and I flew it around town. After I was done I told it to return home, it flew back to that spot. On the way down a gust of wind blew the drone into the line and it flipped over. The drone did not seem to know or simply did not do anything about it, it just flew right into the ground and kept on drilling.

    Turning off the drone from there is another problem. It wouldn’t let me turn the motors off with the controller. I had to pick up the drone by the skids and turn it off by hand. The battery lasted less than 20 minutes but I had been flying in below 0 temps and that drains it faster. Overall, I’m happy with the flight time. When the weather is nice I’ll take it out and see how far it can go. I’ll get someone to follow the drone in the car.

    So, the last thing I tried was the follow-me feature, which, well, makes the drone follow you. It does work, however, I wouldn’t trust it to not bump into something. If you are using it in a wide-open space like the beach it will work great. To be fair, I have only seen one drone with 100% obstacle avoidance.

    Pros

    • Easy to fly
    • Great photos for the average user
    • Stylish
    • Adjustable image and video resolutions

    Cons

    • Hard to remove the battery
    • It doesn’t seem to know when it is in trouble
    • 4K video image stops and starts
    • The app defaults to 4K every time
    • Follow needs a lot of space

    Modifications

    There isn’t much to modify on this GPS drone. Having a 3D printer helps, so I printed the skid extenders to keep the camera from hitting on uneven ground. The other thing I printed was the gimbal support to apply while not in use.

    Skid Extenders

    Gimbal Lock

    Other mods I may print are a battery cover, and a battery case to construct other batteries.

    Battery Mod

    Battery Holder

    Summary

    I just love the perspective that drones offer! If you can’t afford a plane or to be a pilot, then this can be a great alternative. Wearing first-person-view goggles makes you feel like you are a pilot. Sure, there is VR (virtual reality), but that isn’t quite realistic enough yet, and you don’t get to explore your area or any area you want to.  The UPAir One has its down sides but for the most part I’m very happy with it, and I’m sure I’ll be out flying EVERY chance I get. If you can’t afford the Cadillac DJI Phantom drones this is a great alternative.

    Read our review of the Xiaomi Mi Drone 4K

  • 3D Printing Canada Filament Review – Wood, TPU, PETG

    3D Printing Canada Filament Review – Wood, TPU, PETG

    I’ve been very interested in 3D printing for a few years now. I enjoy reviewing printers because it gives me a chance to see new printing technology, but also lets me see how companies differ on the same technology. For instance the different types of hotends. I have used many different types and brands of filament but never gave it much thought; to me it was just a consumable. Sure there are different colors, but there are generally three main types used: ABS, PLA and PETG. Each filament comes with its own set of strengths and weaknesses. For instance, ABS is strong and withstands higher temperatures but it’s very hard to print because it shrinks as it cools and pops off the build plate. You need an enclosed printer to print ABS. PLA is easier to print with less shrinkage but isn’t as strong as ABS.

    So when asked if I wanted to review filaments from 3D Printing Canada I at first said, no thanks. Then, after giving it some thought, I figured why not try filaments outside my wheel house. So I chose one that I haven’t used, one that I have only used once before, and one that I have used a few times with mixed results. These are, wood, TPU and PETG, in that order. 3D Printing Canada has not paid me in any way to write this review, they provided the filament for free, and that’s all.

    Wood

    Wood filament is very cool but costs a bit more, and has a limited use case. So far I have only seen people print vases and Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. It is PLA with infused wood fibers, however it is hard on the brass nozzles commonly used on 3D printers (The nozzles are very cheap). I received the filament last week and asked on a 3D printing Facebook group what I should print. Of course, they said Groot and vases. As I wanted to be a bit different, I decided to go with a wooden shelf with a secret drawer.

    The first print I started didn’t go too well. Not the fault of the filament but the printer itself. I started and it was going great, but when I went up stairs the Y axis started missing steps which caused major layer shifts.

     

    So I increased the current to my Y stepper motor because it was lower then the others, and started the shelf again. This time it printed great. Not perfect, because of a bit of shrinking on one part, but luckily that was the hidden part so not a huge deal.

    The next item I printed was a square mug, and a circle mug.

    Just kidding, that is one mug! Holding this mug in the right or left hand gives you a different perspective. The person who came up with this design must be highly intelligent. The person who made it for people to download and print is Devin at the Make anything Youtube channel. I don’t know if he came up with the idea, but he is smart and has great 3D printing content, you should look him up.

    This being my first time to use wood filament I can’t say it’s better than any other brand. What I can say though is that it is a very good filament and I’m happy to use it. I may try a Groot some day soon.

    Thingiverse – Secret Shelf

    MyMiniFactory – Mug

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    TPU

    TPU, like wood, has a specific purpose and costs a bit more. I have purchased a roll of SainSmart TPU and used it for my printer reviews in the past. The 3D Printing Canada TPU filament has a softer feel to it. TPU is a rubbery type of filament, good to print things like RC tires and phone cases. It may also have uses for gaskets, rubber dampening parts for vibration control, and other specific use cases. I have no use for it at the moment, so I decided to print soft toys for the kids to play with.

    The first was a MatterHackers mascot Phil A Ment. He is a cute little astronaut. The print that came out was softer than the tiers I printed with the SainSmart TPU. The 3D Printing Canada TPU also printed better. To make your prints stronger, use more outline layers and higher percentage of infill.

    After seeing the astronaut the kids wanted a minion. So off to Thingiverse and MyMiniFactory to find one suitable to print with TPU. I found these two; one with one eye, and one with two eyes. That was to keep track of which was whose (2 year olds are very protective of their toys.) The one with the single eye needed support for the eye since it sticks out. Supports for any other filament are not an issue. TPU supports are hard to remove because they stick so well to the part. It being a tiny bit, I was able to cut these off with a pair of side covers.

     

    MatterHackers – Phil

    MyMiniFactory – Minion One Eye

    Thingiverse – Minion Two Eyes

    PETG

    PETG was created to be the best of both PLA and ABS. It’s supposed to print with the ease of PLA, and be strong like ABS. In the past I have had mixed results with PETG and wasted a lot on failed prints. So I chose PETG in the hope of getting a good source. Not only was it good, it is located here in Canada and I don’t have to pay duties! My first PETG print was the ABS temp tower with PETG temps. This is two pillars with a bridge across every 60 layers or so. You set the start temperature at the highest, and decrease it by 5 degrees every section of the tower, then you look for the temperature that prints the best, and use it for the prints. Being made for ABS, the temps on the part are not what I used. I went from 250 to 225 and found 235 to be the right temp.

    PETG is used to print parts intended for heavy duty or outside use. For instance, my friend is printing railing mounts for a deck he purchased a while back, since the company is no longer in business to sell parts. I offered to print a couple of mounts, so now he has a good source. The other filament sold in Canada that we tried didn’t have very good PETG. I printed parts for him with this PETG and was pleased with how they turned out. PETG is stringy, so you have to play with retraction setting for every roll, or do a bit of post print clean up.

    Comparing it to the last brand, you can see a difference. (3D Printing Canada on top) Also not noticeable in the image is that 3D Printing Canada prints are a bit shinier.

    Conclusion

    While I was hesitant to review printer filaments, I am very glad that I did. The biggest issue with reviewing filaments is that it can be hard to ascertain what is the fault of the filament and what is the fault of the printer, or even slicer settings. 3D Printing Canada has gained a new customer in me! Additionally, their prices for premium filaments is very fair. I hope you give them a try. I look forward to testing their PLA and PLA+  filaments.

    Happy Printing!

  • EleksMaker A3 Pro 2500mW Laser Engraver Review

    EleksMaker A3 Pro 2500mW Laser Engraver Review

    I have been wanting a laser engraver for quite some time now. The only thing stopping me was the Health Canada rules. I wasn’t sure what they were and I didn’t want to spend the money just to have it turned away at the border. When it arrived I wasn’t even expecting it. I was very surprised and eager to try it out. However, I had the Tevo Tornado to build and review, so I put this laser engraving review on the back burner for a few days.

    EleksMaker A3 Pro Laser Engraver Technical Specifications

    The A3 Pro laser engraver is a Diode Laser, aka semiconductor laser. A diode laser is the most common laser manufactured. It is used in many devices such as laser printers, CD/DVD/Blu-ray players, barcode readers, etc. The other common laser is a gas laser which is used to cut hard materials. Diode lasers are used more for engraving which is why the A3 Pro uses a 2.5W laser. It has a nice engraving area of 37cm x 38cm (14.5 in x 14.9 in). It uses Extruded Aluminum and stepper motors similar to 3D printers and other CNC machines, which are also on my list to build and review. While fun and exciting, lasers are dangerous and can hurt you in a flash. They can also cause irreparable damage to your eyes. So, it is imperative to use caution with these.

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    Unboxing The EleksMaker A3 Pro Laser Engraver

    The box comes packed in the standard packing foam to keep the parts from knocking around. It includes the extruded frame, acrylics, control board, the laser module, motors, power supply and a pair of laser safety glasses. The nuts and bolts come in a handy little sorting box. The little box the laser module comes in has the wattage and a warning printed on it.

     

    Laser Engraver Assembly

    Assembling this laser engraver machine was pretty straight forward—that was once I found the proper information. The EleksMaker website is incomplete as are many of these companies’ websites. The website is nice and flashy, but without the proper content what good is it? The store is okay and the forum is useful if you have time to wait for responses. The video list, however, has no videos. It appears that there is a video, but they are 0 seconds in length. It’s the same for every product.

    http://www.eleksmaker.com/videos/videos.html

    So, the last place is the Wiki. The wiki has detailed instructions and is easy to follow, until you get to places like the feet. They seem to be different than mine, but easy enough to figure out.

    http://wiki.eleksmaker.com/doku.php?id=elekslaser_a3_pro

    I spent about an hour building this laser. It’s basically the same as a printer without the Z axis so I had plenty of experience. It’s easy to do and anyone should be able to build it with few problems. One thing I didn’t like was how the belts clamp down to the frame. It uses a small piece of acrylic with a screw in it to hold the belt down. From my experience acrylic breaks easily and I was afraid to put the necessary tension on it.

    Using T-nuts is straight forward, just make sure that you don’t miss any or you will need to remove parts to get them on. For instance, I forgot to add the two that holds the control board before putting the corners together.

    Laser Engraving Software

    The Software they link to on their site is called EleksCAM and, like their site, it is pretty buggy. It will not run on my AMD 8 laptop which has no problem running all the big 3D CAD software like Fusion 360 and Sketchup. It does, however, run on my desktop computer but that has an Intel I7 with 9 Gigs of Ram and a 1GB video card.  The software works but I get a lot of unhanded errors. It allows me to continue so I’m not sure what it is missing, if anything.

    In the software you have 4 options. The first is Pic carve. This lets you open an image in BMP, JPG and SVG formats. This will burn a gray scale image into the object you are engraving. It is pretty time consuming but works very well. The second option is the TextCarve. TextCarve opens a text dialog box where you can enter the text you want to engrave onto the object. You select the font style and the size of the area to put the text in. You also select a mode, such as point text, which creates the text with tiny dots. Then there is Outline text which is when the laser engraver prints an outline of each letter. Single text is text with a single line. The last option is real text which types as you would see in a text editor. For example: Comic Sans MS.

    The third toolbar option is to load a Gcode file. So, if you want to load a file created on a different machine or software you can. The final option doesn’t have a toolbar button, but it is used to open the built in clip art that Eleks provides in the software. You just select the clipart from the bottom tab on the side.

    Doing some research, I found two other applications to use. One is called Benbox and the other LaserGRBL. I wasn’t able to get Benbox to connect to this laser so I won’t go into that one.

    GRBL connects but it only loads raster image and gcode files. You can edit text into an image and load it that way. That being said, it is just easier to use the buggy EleksMaker.

    Features

    This laser engraver uses a micro arduino on a control bar with two stepper driver boards. One for X and the other is for Y. The board also has a switch for power and a micro USB port to connect to the PC. The laser module has a soft beam switch that you use to focus the laser. If you leave the focus switch on when you start the engraving in the software then it will not burn. You also need to leave the power off when you plug the USB into the PC or open the software application. The reason is because the laser fires for 2-3 seconds. If you have good materiel under the laser then it will be ruined. In fact, it’s good practice to keep a piece of scrap wood or something there until you are ready to start. Always wear your safety glasses and keep it unplugged while not in use. Also, it’s important not to leave it unattended when in use.

    MDF Wood Laser Engraving

    After assembly and learning the software, I was excited to get started. I should have read up more though. I had a big piece of MDF wood sitting in my office beside my desk. As I said, the software wouldn’t work on my laptop so I connected it to the desktop and started burning. The first thing I tried was the TextCarve with the EleksCAM which is the default text in the software. It looked okay but the top of the E and part of the l are missing. Then I gave the clip art Iron Man a shot with a slower speed. It didn’t go so well. It burned pretty bad so I stopped it. I captured a small video of it.

    Video Here

    I’m guessing they didn’t get permission to use these copyright images. I put the speed back to default and gave Pikachu a shot. It came out perfect. I started engraving a picture of our dog who passed before Christmas, and my daughter. It didn’t look like the image so I stopped it. But after looking more closely I noticed it was actually going okay—very smoky, but okay.

    Burning pictures was too smoky so I put that on the backburner until I came up with a solution. My problem is that it’s winter here and using the laser engraver outside at minus 18 degrees Celsius isn’t an option. So, I kept the wood engraving to shorter burns. Being a massive Superman fan boy, I had to try his crest. The first try was light and missing at spots. The next try was too dark and as it burned I was seeing flames coming from the wood. Since it was only a scrap piece of wood I stopped it at about 80% through.

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    Plywood Laser Engraving

    I have a huge pile of wood from my woodshop, so I grabbed some scrap plywood and pine. The pine I put back because it had a varnish finish and I didn’t know if burning the varnish would be toxic.

    I started with the TextCarve and engraved “NORM RULES!!!” You know, because I do! This time I slowed it down and chose the Real Text mode. It came out dark but I’m okay with it. A light sanding will clean the burnt edges.

    With the clip art option, I engraved a wolf and the Incredible Hulk. I’m a comic fan so I love the big names in DC and Marvel Comics. Superman above all. They both came out perfectly so I then imported a picture of my bike, 2013 Ninja 650, and it looked good. I’m a person with many interests such as Riding, RC, Comics and even wood work. I’m disabled, so I can only do so much at a time. In the winter it is indoor things like 3D printing and reading that I enjoy.

    This laser engraving machine comes with a couple pieces of plywood and some cardboard tags, but you can get small art supply pieces at any dollar store. I engraved an outline image of a “My Little Pony” from a Google image search. To get images that will work well you can use the key word “clipart” or “outline” in your search. My daughter loves “My Little Pony” so that was for her.

    This time I wanted to test cutting through the plywood. So, I created a star in Microsoft Paint to fit on the little square piece that came with the laser. I ran the laser around the image 2 times and it almost cut through. So, I did the same with a comic bubble for the rectangular piece that came with it also. This piece was a bit thicker than the square one so I ran it 5 times. This one didn’t make it through at all. I don’t know why, but I’m thinking it may be due to harder wood and there not being a Z axis to lower the lasers focal point each pass. Being big into 3D printing I have all the things I need to add a Z axis which will involve replacing the board with a 3D printer board and adding a fourth motor and linear guide for the axis.

    Video Here

    Glass Laser Engraving

    Glass seems complicated and I’m hoping that adding the Z axis will help. My problem is getting the focal point on the top of the glass. The first one I tried was on a flat piece of MDF. It burned the glass as well as the wood. I believe the focal point was still at the wood level. Enlarge the image and you can see the path of the laser. It looks like the layer path of a 3D printed object.

    Next, I tried engraving my daughter’s name and an image of Superman. They both burned into the wood but not the glass. Although this time it left a sticky film on top of the glass. Looks like a smoke stain from a tobacco cigarette. It rubbed off with paper towel. The name and Superman did not etch onto the glass at all.

    Cardboard Laser Engraving

    Being cardboard, you would think it would not only engrave well but also cut through very easily. This was not the case. I used a simple comic strip bubble because they were the same shape and easy to do. One pass worked great but didn’t go through. I mean, it’s paper. So, I tried again with 2 passes. Same thing. The final time I tried 3 passes and it still didn’t cut through. Two passes went through the small plywood. Again, I think it comes down to the Z axis. The tip is hard to focus so it was likely that the focal point on the plywood was lower than the top of the wood. I’m going to get this working because I want to cut thin plywood for electronic projects like a raspberry pie case or ribs for remote control airplane wings and drone body parts.

    Mirror

    Another awesome use for a laser engraver is to put pictures into mirrors. I have seen them done by hand and I don’t like the look. Laser engraved on the other hand is very cool. Look at the Charizard Pokémon I put into the back of this mirror. The laser starts at the center of the image so I marked the center of the mirror with a marker to know where to put the beam.

    I was so impressed with the result that I set out to put my daughter’s face on a locker mirror for school. Going from an image is a bit more difficult. I used paint to save it to black and white but that didn’t work.

    So, I opened the black and white image in Photoshop and applied a colored pencil filter. This gave me a nice image to burn and makes it look like a person. And most of all Emily loves it and that is what is important.

    Laser Engraver Upgrades and Modifications

    The company sells a pen holder adapter that uses a servo to raise and lower the pen. I think the $15 price is great but I can make one with my printer.

    You should buy better safety glasses. The glasses that came with the engraver are the lowest level of protection. You can buy them for next to nothing.

    One other mod you should do is connect a tube to suck up the smoke or blow it away from the laser. The reason is because the smoke can damage the lens. I don’t have a link because I just got an air mattress pump from the dollar store.

    And the last mod may not be needed depending on where you plan to use it. Being indoors I built an enclosure for mine. I also created a filter from fish tank filter parts that I mounted to the outside of the box. I used a 12-volt PC fan to blow the smoke through the filter. I sealed it with calking from the hardware store. With a glass top and a set of LED lights it works great! Here are some images. I clamped it to the box with 3D printed clamps I made but you can use anything from the hardware store.

    Pros and Cons

    Pros

    • Lasers engravers are awesome!
    • Diode laser is cheap and affordable
    • Parts are well made
    • Easy to learn
    • Converts to Drawing plotter with a single Servo

    Cons

    • No enclosure
    • Protection is minimal
    • Diode power is 2.5 Watts and you won’t be cutting to much with it

    Laser Engraver Evaluation

    So, what do I think of this laser engraving machine? I Love it! My office smells like a camp fire but I don’t mind. I have to say this is NOT A TOY! It only takes a millisecond to burn your eye for good. Never leave it unsupervised. And most of all, have fun. I had lots of fun with this and plan to use it quite often. I’m going to add the Z axis so that I can lower the laser each pass to see if I can cut thicker materials. Speaking of materials, be careful. I burned many images into the MDF before I found out you’re not supposed to use MDF because it’s not good for your health. I’m also going to find something metal and Plexiglas to engrave. Hope my wife doesn’t mind me personalizing stuff around the house—haha.

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  • TEVO Tornado – Aluminum 3D Printer Review

    TEVO Tornado – Aluminum 3D Printer Review

    I reviewed the Tevo Black Widow and it is my favorite printer to date, you can read that review here. So, naturally reviewing the newer Tevo Tornado got me excited. Spoiler, it did not disappoint! The Tevo Tornado is Tevo’s response to the ever popular Creality CR10. Creality beat Anet to the punch and did a much better job. I didn’t review the CR10, a friend did, but you can read that here. I had fun reviewing this printer because the lack of issues. So lets get to the Tevo Tornado 3D printer review, we start with the printer specifications.


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    Note: has a promotion for TEVO Tornado and you can get it below retail price. Use coupon code: Tornados ($320 for EU version) or TornadoUS ($330 for US version)

    Technical Specifications

    Specs are important but do not tell the whole story. A printer can have the best specs and cost a pretty penny, but still have many print issues. This printer is practically the CR10’s twin with few notable differences. The heatbed uses AC voltage meaning current flows through a voltage regulator and not the main board which causes the bed to heat extremely quickly. By comparison, the Anet E12 bed of the same size heats up in 34 minutes, whereas the Tornado reaches the same temperature in under 3 minutes. Also, the insulation under the heat bed saves energy.

    There aren’t many tools, but then again there isn’t much to assemble. Tools include a few allen wrenches and a sharpened scrapper. I didn’t like the scrapper because the bed is covered in buildtack type surface and I was concerned it would cut into this. The bed came with a pre-tested print on it with the Tevo logo. I’m not sure if they built this printer, tested it, and then un-assembled it for shipping, or tested the bed on a standard test rig. There is also a spare sheet of buildtack for the bed included in the box.

    SD Card

    The files on the included SD card are pretty standard. A couple of printer parts are in stl and Gcode format. Also included, is a copy of the Free Repetier Host which I personally don’t like since most of the time software like this is out of date. Cura 14 is often included with printers, however it is very out of date. The guide gives the buyer URLs to free software, it even includes the Tornado config for the Slic3r software. Last, but not least, is the user manual in pdf format.

    Assembly

    The Tornado is easy to assemble, like the Anet E10 and E12, with the exception of a few more screws – 12 in total. The printer comes in three large pieces: the base, the upper X and Z axis, and the control box.

    The first four screws are supposed to be inserted into the base from the bottom up, to mount the upper gantry to the printer. There are two screws on each side. The other eight screws are used to mount the gantry to the base from the sides. The plates provided give the printer stability and are held on with the T-nuts (aka Hammer nuts), which can be put into the slots of the frame and then tighten to grip the frame. The screw on the left has the Z endstop on it. The endstop is a switch that tells the printer when to stop and then marks that point as 0 on that axis. When you tell the printer to go home from the menu or through code at the beginning of each print, it moves each axis to those switches and counts that as point 0,0,0. When you place the object to print at z0, x100, y100 on the platform in the slicer program, the printer homes to z0,x0,y0 then the print head moves over 100mm then forward 100mm to start the print. These numbers are defaulted in millimeters. You can change them to inches; most don’t because if you ask for help online everyone else talks in millimeters.

    Next, you need to connect the wire harnesses to the back of the control box. They have different pin sets and only go in one way so you can’t get it wrong. Then, insert and tighten.

    Next, you need to plug the remaining wires into the motors and endstops. Each wire has a sticker to tell you where each wire goes. These only go in one way, but can be forced in wrong. If it’s not going in don’t force it! The X endstop is in a tough location and I had to use needle nose pliers to plug it in. Again, be gentle and don’t force it.

    The last thing you need to do is adjust the eccentric nuts on the roller bearings. These are on one side of the three extrusion guides. Two on the Z to raise and lower the X axis and one under the bed to make the bed glide. Mine were okay and didn’t need to be adjusted.

    Print Quality

    What can I say about the quality? Being a Tevo my expectations were high, and I have to say I wasn’t let down. Below are the different types of filament I tested and the results. Each type has their own strengths and weaknesses. So, depending on what you are printing and where it will be used, you will choose a specific type.

    PLA+

    PLA+ has the ease of use as PLA, but extrudes at higher temps with added strength. I only recently started using PLA+ and with the cost comparable to regular PLA, there is no reason not to use it. The first print I did was the spool holder on the SD card in Gcode format. That holder had too much infill and the Y axis shifted about 70% through the print. I wasn’t around to catch the shift so it was a waste of filament, but the part it printed was gorgeous.

    My next print was to test the stability of the taller prints. I printed the classic rocket for the only boy in my wife’s daycare. It was printed in Vase mode, which means it prints the base and then prints the walls as one continuous spiral. I printed it with 0 infill and at a 0.12mm layer height. It turned out great, but you can see the dreaded salmon skin effect. You can purchase the TL smoother boards which go for about $3 and up, but there is a chance this will not correct the issue.

    Next I printed the string test. This test is used to figure out which temperature and retraction settings give you the least amount of strings from oozing. Figure out what layer each block starts at and then you can change the temperature at that layer. This was printed at 0 infill and a 0.12mm layer height. One more test that is important and fared much better than the E12 was the tolerance test. This prints a block with holes and each hole has a peg inside. The size between the peg and the hole starts at 0.9mm then goes all the way to 0 or equal. This was printed with 20% infill and a 0.12mm layer height. The Tevo preformed ok, not as well as I had hoped, but not terrible. The pin only stuck to 0.3 and down. It’s important to know what tolerances your printer supports because when you start making your own items to print, you need to know how big of a gap is need in order to prevent sticking. For instance, I just printed hinges for a lid. They are printed all in one piece so the gaps had to be enough that the hinge works as expected.

    At this point, I decided it was time to stop using the spool holder from another printer and print one for the Tornado. The spool holder I chose was a bit large, but it works and was printed at 70% infill and 0.12mm layer height.

    PLA

    PLA is the easiest filament to print. Although the prints are not as strong as other types, it is suitable for most household printer needs. When I say easiest, I mean it doesn’t shrink as much as other filaments as it cools. When a part shrinks before the print is done it can lift off the bed. The nozzle can then catch that lifted part and cause the x or y to shift, or knock the part off the bed completely. That isn’t what happened in my case above, since there was no lifting. My guess would be that the bed wire snagged the frame. PLA also doesn’t need a heated bed, but a heated bed can help.

    PLA was fine for the bed screw knobs. The Tornado and most printers that have manual bed leveling use wing nuts or other nuts that can be turned by hand. The problem is that they can be hard to get to and sometimes hard to turn. So one of the first modifications made for these printers is bigger, easier to use knobs that house the original nuts. I chose these large flat knobs at a 45% infill and a 0.2mm layer height. They do the job until I add auto bed leveling.

    I like to print the Benchi for every new printer. It can test many things like printing at angles, circles and overhangs. The Benchi is short for ‘benchmark’ and shaped like a boat, it’s a popular print among the printing community. The Tevo printed the Benchi great, but it couldn’t escape the salmon skin on the sides.

    The last PLA print was the famous wrench that is fully 3D printed and fully working. NOT! While others manage to get this to work, I have not. In fact, it stuck to the bed so bad that the first layer didn’t come off with the print. The wrench even broke up as I pulled to remove it which is the same thing that happened on the Tevo Black Widow. I guess the nozzle is set too close to the bed and will now use glass to put over the bed so this doesn’t continue to happen. Like the Black Widow, I had to heat the bed and scrape it off with razor blades. I’m not a fan of these build surfaces but the graphics are awesome! The Tevo also includes a second red sheet to replace the warn out one. I printed this at a 30% infill and a 0.05mm layer height. I did small layers hoping it would work better.

    PETG

    PETG is becoming more and more popular. At least before PLA+. It has the ease (with the exception of excessive stringing) of PLA with a strength closer to ABS. I usually print the TARDIS from Doctor Who, but I have too many now. So I chose the Benchi to see how it compared to the PLA. It printed okay but not as good as the PLA Benchi. Like I said, stringing is hard to control with PETG and even harder with a bowden style extruder. Bowden means the motor and gears that feed the filament are separated by a long PTFE (Bowden) tube. Some prefer this since it is less weight for the X axis to move side to side. With a 15% infill and 0.2mm layer height it stuck to the bed almost as bad as the wrench. It’s hard to tell with these pictures, but it printed better than it looks.

    Note: has a promotion for TEVO Tornado and you can get it below retail price. Use coupon code: Tornados ($320 for EU version) or TornadoUS ($330 for US version)

    Flexible Filament (TPU)

    One of my favorite filaments is TPU. It’s flexible and made popular by the brand Ninja flex. The brand that I use is Sainsmart, which I purchased it to print RC tires. Recently I started printing Pokemon for my 11 year old daughter. This bulbasaur was printed with 10% infill and 0.2mm layer height. Important things to note with this filament is that you need to print extremely slow and your start height can’t be very close because its flexibility can cause it to bunch up. This one printed beautifully! This has been my best TPU print out of the entire roll, I was surprised to see the salmon skin on the TPU though.

    The reason this printer prints TPU (and other) filaments so well is because of the Titan Extruder. It is a good extruder that leaves no gap for the filament to get wrapped around the extruder gear. You can see this where I circled in orange.

    ABS

    Last, but not least, is ABS. I don’t like printing with ABS for reasons I have stated above. but also the smell is almost intolerable. People online say to vent the fumes outside and enclose the printer because ABS is toxic.

    I tried printing an adjustable Z endstop plate and a clip to hold the glass to the bed. They both failed pretty bad, warped due to the filament shrinking, and got knocked off the bed. Even a small piece shows how much it shrinks.

    Because the ABS is purple, I printed another Benchi for the kids. I think my wife is tired of picking them up! I like them and I will build a display when I have the time. The ABS Benchi lifted slightly in the front but it didn’t hurt the print. The print did suffered from some stringing though.

    Software

    The Repetier-Host software on the SD card is not my favorite program to use with printers. The software just “hosts” a slicer engine. A slicer is the program that slices the 3D object into layers, then turns it into instructions the printer can understand. If you need a free program then I would recommend Slic3r or Cura, but if you can afford it I would recommend Simplify3D.

    Upgrades and Modifications

    Here is a list of modifications I have done and/or plan to do:

    (eBay link) TL Smoothers for the Salmon Skin

    Knobs for the Bed Screws

    Spool holder

    Glass Bed and Holders 

    Auto Bed Level Sensor (eBay link) (Sensors are from $2 to $10 and are well worth the investment)

    Customer Service

    I didn’t have any dealings with Tevo customer service. If you have issues, please don’t hesitate to join one of the many Facebook groups. I am a moderator in the Anet 3D printer group and we help owners of any printer type. Just be sure to answer the questions asked with the request or you will be denied entry.

    The Tevo Tornado Facebook Group

    The Tevo Black Widow Facebook Group

    The Anet Facebook Group

    Pros, Cons, and Evaluation of the TEVO Tornado

    PROS

    • The Titan extruder works great and has little to no space after the gear. This makes printing with flexible filaments much better.
    • Extruded aluminum frame uses wheels instead of bearing on smooth rods. Rods can bend easily and bearings wear out.
    • Comes almost built. The build time is minutes instead of hours.
    • Large build volume. The volume on this printer makes it easier to print larger objects so you have less gluing of pieces, in turn making parts stronger.
    • The bed is run through AC current and heats ten times faster than DC beds of the same size.
    • The bed is insulated which contributes to the quick heating.
    • Branding. Tevo has done a great job making their printers look nice as well as print nice. The color, logos, and boot screens have been well executed.

    CONS

    • No spool holder. Hard to print without a spool holder, you have to make a makeshift one until you can print one.
    • The Buildtak type surface works too well. If you get your print too close to the bed it doesn’t let go.
    • Salmon Skin ripples on the surface.
    • Onboard stepper drivers.
    • Very slow boot time.

    Evaluation

    PRINT QUALITY:

    This is one of, if not the best, prints I have ever reviewed. Print quality can go bad with a simple change in the wrong setting, so it is best to make a backup of your slicer settings before making any modifications.

    BUILD QUALITY:

    Like the Tevo Black Widow, the Tevo Tornado was well built and well thought out.

    USER INTERFACE AND NAVIGATION:

    I usually give the navigation a low score, but it appears Marlin is improving the navigation.

    VALUE FOR THE MONEY:

    At the low cost of $338 this printer is one of the best for under $400. In fact, it is the best printer under $400 I have reviewed so far.

    FINAL JUDGMENT:

    The Tevo Tornado is what looks to be an exact clone of the Creality CR10 with some better features. The Tornado uses the V-Slot extrusion instead of the cheaper T-slot which is used on Anet printers. I love the 300X300X400 build volume. It has been fun reviewing this printer and it prints very well. You can’t go wrong with this printer, I would recommend the Tevo 100%! If you are still unsure, or if you purchase it and need advice, please feel free to ask in our comments.

    Where To Buy

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  • Anet E12 – High Volume 3D Printer Review

    Anet E12 – High Volume 3D Printer Review

    The Anet E12 is Anet’s actual response to the ever popular Creality CR10; many think the E10 is, however the E10 is much smaller. The E12 has the same build volume, style, and color as the E10, which I have previously reviewed. While I do not trust Anet’s pre-assembled parts, the E10 prints very well, but I do suggest going over every screw to make sure they are secure. I purchased my first Anet A8 printer almost 2 years ago and the printers keep getting cheaper and cheaper. Being a moderator of a Facebook group of over 8,000 members, I watched Anet update their printers over the years.

    When the E12 arrived, I figured they fixed some of the issues that were in the E10 such as the loose extruder carriage and the weak bed carriage. During shipping, my E10 bed fame bent to the point to where it rubbed on the Z motor’s connectors and the bed rod holders. Fortunately, the E12 did not have this problem. Representatives from Anet are in the aforementioned Facebook groups, but it appears they pay little attention to suggestions and complains from current owners.

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    Unboxing

    Unboxing this printer was very simple. There are only 3 parts, a small box of tools, and accessories.

    Every Anet printer seems to come with more tools, the small box contains allen keys, screw driver, side cutters, scraper, SD card with reader, plastic ruler (for calibration), USB cord, power cord screws, and PTFE tube (for guiding filament to the hotend). They also include 2 very small pieces of filament for a test print. They are roughly 10 meters (32 feet) in length, so it’s best to order filament when you order your printer (Order Here). One important item to point out is that the corners of the box are reinforced to prevent shipping damage, possibly as a reaction to the bent beds on the E10.

    Assembly

    The E12 comes mostly pre-assembled while the remaining parts are very easy to assemble. There are 2 screws to mount the upper piece to the base, and 4 screws that loosen and tighten to turn the T-nuts sideways. You will also need to connect the wires to the motors and control box. From past experiences I recommend double checking that every screw is tight. I would even open the control box and ensure that all the wires are securely connected to the power supply and main board.

    Print Quality

    Unfortunately, the print quality of the E12 was not up to my standards since I know what the past Anet printers are capable of. However, I think I received a defective printer, as others have not had this problem with their E12’s. Normally I group my prints by filament type, but this time I’m going to do it a bit different due to troubleshooting the printer.

    First, I started with the easiest type of filament to print which is PLA. PLA prints well because it uses lower temperatures and does not shrink as it cools. Some filaments shrink when they cool which, in turn, makes them come off the bed.

    My first print was a cylinder shape selected from the included SD card. It started out under extruded and, at one point, I bumped up the flow which helped a bit. This tells me it was sliced with settings for a different filament, or the extruder E-steps need to be calibrated.

    I wanted to print something large since this is my first large volume printer. Many people print vases, yet I chose to print the popular Christmas tree from Thingiverse.com. I printed the tree in vase mode which prints one outer layer in one continuous line. The print looked okay, and I did not notice the diagonal lines at first. (My daughter hasn’t noticed either and loves it anyway).

    Second, I tried printing the adjustable wrench to see if I could get it to work, unfortunately it did not work once it was done printing. The wrench is supposed to be usable, but I would not trust it to remove a stubborn nut.

    Purchase the Anet E12 on eBay or Amazon

    I swapped out the filament for PLA Pus and printed a tolerance test. This did not give the results I was hoping for. The tolerance test holes and pegs have varying gaps from 0.1 up to 0.9. A good printer will allow all the pegs to come out from 0.9 down to 0.2. The E12 printer stopped at 0.5 and 0.7 will not come out. I’m not sure if the diagonal lines have anything to do with it. After this, I printed brackets for my delta printer which is when I discovered the diagonal lines.

    While looking over the printer, in an attempt to figure out the cause of the diagonal lines, I noticed the Z rods were not parallel with the frame. After further inspection I noticed the Z motor mounts on the E12 have two screws, while the E10 only has one screw. I figured I would try removing one. I removed one of the screws and printed a platform jack which is printed in one piece, and I noticed the lines changed a bit. After this I tested the lead screws to make sure they were not warped; I also flipped the lead screws to see if it was catching on the brass nut.

    I then printed the ever popular ‘benchie,’ which is a small boat for benchmark testing. At the standard size I could not tell if the lines were present, so I reprinted the boat at 200% which showed that the lines were still an issue.

    Next, I printed a small battery box for my electronics projects but that, too, had the same lines.

    Trying to fix the issue, I replaced the extruder motor and the entire hotend assembly including the heat-sync fan and wires. These repairs did not seem to have any effect. In time, I will find the cause even if I have to replace each piece one at a time. I am guessing the problem is linked to the Z axis and I will update this review when I find the cause.

    I also printed Darth Vader. For some reason I was thinking of the stormtrooper so I used white PLA Plus…guess I can paint it black!

    After all the troubleshooting I decided to move on and test other types of filaments.

    I printed the TARDIS from the Doctor Who TV show I fell in love with a couple of years ago. My PETG filament is blue and the right color. PETG is easy to print like PLA, but prints at a higher temperature so it can stand up to heat like ABS.

    TPU, which is a rubbery type flexible material, is hard to print and is even harder with the bowden style extruder on the E12. The materiel does not get the proper pressure inside the long PTFE tube which causes a jam after just one layer.

    Last, I tried printing with ABS which I was not comfortable with. The reason being, ABS requires high temperature on the bed and Anet did not include an external MOSFET. The MOSFET handles the current going to the bed, and with such a large bed it should not be done because a fire could start. However, smaller 200×200 beds can get away with not having a MOSFET. Another issue is that when the heat is bumped up to the hotend for ABS, the filament begins to jam from heatcreep. Heatcreep is when the filament gets soft all the way past the throat (heat-break).

    Software

    Cheap printers always come with free open-source software. I, for one, do not like Cura 2 and 3, but the Cura 14 and 15 seem okay. There are other options that you can download such as Slic3r and Craftware. If you can afford the $150 USD, Simplify 3D seems to be the software of choice among the 3D printing community.

    Upgrades and Modifications

    The first upgrade I would recommend for the Anet E12 is the MOSFET, it is a must for a 300×300 build plate.

    Buy the MOSFET on eBay for around $10

    Most CR10 mods on Thingiverse will likely fit the E12 since there are not many for the E12 because it is so new.

    Pros, Cons, and Evaluation

    PROS

    • Cost. This printer is $319 USD at the time of this review.
    • Large build volume. The 300x300x400 size is larger then the average printer.
    • Prints pretty well, despite my diagonal lines.
    • Dual Z motors.

    CONS

    • Flimsy X carriage.
    • Thin bed support frame. The 3mm plate bends very easily.
    • T slot frame instead of the popular V slot. Y holds the guide wheels better and don’t ware as fast.
    • No external MOSFET included. Trying to keep costs low is not always a good thing.
    • Quality control. Anet does not take the most care when pre-assembling printers and parts.

    Evaluation

    I believe Anet has pioneered the wave of cheap kit 3D printers, even their own printers keep dropping in price. They use their own board design which is reused in all of the printers, and they change the firmware to suit the style of frame. For comparison, the Creality CR10 costs $491, while the E12 costs $319. Printed parts and minor issues aside, this is not a bad printer.

    PRINT QUALITY:

    Diagonal lines aside, the E12 prints very well. The printer was also way off on the extrusions so I re-calibrated the E-steps which was easy to do as there was plenty of information on YouTube. The E10 is a great printer and the E12 follows suit, printing just as well.

    BUILD QUALITY: 

    The tall aluminum style frame works okay and is better than the acrylic frames used on the Anet A8 and A6 printers. Anet chose to use T-slot rails instead of preferred V-slot rails. They also chose 20x20mm for the upper frame while other manufacturers use 20x40mm, which offers more stability since the extruder moves left and right. Anet did, however, use two motors and threaded rods for the Z axis, while competitors use only one motor to raise and lower the entire X carriage.

    USER INTERFACE AND NAVIGATION: 

    The 12864 LCD screen is the most popular choice for printers under $1,000. The user interface is the typical rotary knob that you push in to select different options.  The one downside to the knob is that when adjusting settings, the value changes by 2 or 3, so fine adjustments need to be done over USB to fix the knob sensitivity. The included firmware is Anet’s modified version of Repetier, but you can flash most of the open-source firmware to use Marlin.

    VALUE FOR THE MONEY: 

    Is the E12 worth the price? Yes, it is the most affordable printer in its size class.

    FINAL JUDGMENT: 

    Would I recommend this printer? If you are on a tight budget and do not care that Anet support is non-existent, then yes. There are a few Facebook groups with thousands of users that are ready, and willing, to help you troubleshoot any problems. These groups were created by, and supported by, other Anet owners because of Anets lack of response.

    Here is one with the most open and honest members and administrators. You are welcome to join no matter what printer you decide to get, or if you just want to learn more before you buy.

    Where To Buy 

    [go_pricing id=”anet_a8_5a_5a68e1d5d5a8e”]

    [taq_review]