@irvshapiro; it seems to me that the Perfect First 3D Printer has at least as much to do with community support as with construction, feature set and packaging.
The reason I’m happy I started out with and Ender 3 v2 is that I can search for solutions or instructions tailored specifically to my printer, and I don’t just find one, I find a dozen. When I ask a question, people have answers from experience with the exact same hardware.
A new machine may be a little easier to assemble, have one or two more additional features, but how long (if ever) will it be until you have that much help solving problems? And there will be problems.
I would guess that 9 out of 10 issues never get posted; people search for and find the answers themselves, so it’s important to have access to existing high quality information.
I would not have started 3d printing out of the blue when I was 73 years old if there wasn’t a ton of information on youtube. My printer would still be in the shipping carton if I didn’t have internet. The Ender 3 et al is the model T Ford of the 3 D printing age as far as I can see. It would be quite easy to change it into an engraver or laser engraver if you got bored with plastic.
@roon4660, exactly! I’ve told a few friends: if you wish you could have been there to have a Model T Ford or a Jenny biplane when they were new, that’s where 3D printing is today.
Early adoption is fine for making contributions, but the excitement comes when the first cheap, usable commercial products roll out.
I don’t know anyone here that has a 3d printer but everyone knows about them. I remember we had a few people over a few years ago including my daughter and her husband and I showed them what I had been making with my new 3d printer and I chuckle to think how they were gob-smacked. At my age you seldom get to feel that satisfaction.
I was looking for an appropriate place to discuss this problem. I hope I’ve found it. If not, point me into the right direction.
MINGDA MAGICIAN X NOT PRINTING FILES SLICED BY CURA. PRINTING INCLUDED FILES PERFECTLY.
I bought a Mingda Magician X printer and it printed fine right out of the box. It’ll print the 3 files included on the SDHC card that came with it. I didn’t have any problems setting up Cura. But almost any thing I try to print (from Thingiverse) just doesn’t. The extruder just pumps out PLA and rubs it all over the bed.
It looks as if the g-code isn’t telling the printer to move the extruder up on each pass. It just blobs up and pushes whatever was layed down all over the glass.
Like I said, the included files print beautifully. The files sliced with Cura seem not to work. I’ve compared the g-code between the good files from Mingda and the Cura sliced files. I really can’t see anything terribly wrong.
I’m thinking about unloading Cura and finding another slicer; OR downloading and installiing a fresh copy of Cura since it’s seems to be Mingda’s slicer of choice for the Magician X.
Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
I would suggest making it a new topic so everyone will see it. There are a lot of wizards lurking in the woodwork here. I know I have benefitted a lot by their knowledge and experience.
Have a look here: [U]https://3dmingdaofficial.com/pages/magician-firmware-driver-and-video[/U]. There is a version of Cura there plus, more importantly, profiles for PLA, ABS, and TPU.
My suggestion would be to download Cura and the profiles. Start with the version of Cura provided by Mingda. If that works out well, then you can look at updating Cura and test again.
I purchased Creality Ender as my first printer. Have some problems at the beginning, like everyone I guess. Found it here 7 Best 3D Printers under $200 Reviewed in Detail (Winter 2023). Was pretty happy printing with it.
The Ender 3 is to 3d printing what the model T Ford was to the automobile industry. In my biased opinion.