20 Best 3D Printers For Jewelry (2023 Update)

Chose this printer a couple months ago and haven't looked back since. I was trying to choose between this and the ender 3 max since both were on sale at the same time but ultimately chose this one. The build volume feels very reasonable and I haven't come close to using all of it in any axis and I printed a 60cm long T-rex skeleton (bone by bone). The only reason I think you would need a larger print volume is if you were printing cosplay props/ helmets. I've had successful prints with PLA,PETG and TPU although TPU can be challenging. As a third year mechanical engineering student this printer is perfect for me and I have it running in my room all the time (not overnight due to noise although I probably could if I had to). The print quality is very good out of the box and ever better if you follow some "best practice" setup items. I got annoyed with manual bed leveling so I bought a CR Touch off Amazon ( about $50 CAD…so worth it). The CR touch setup wasn't easy but you can do it without too much aggravation if you follow a YouTube guide. My one complaint with this printer is the coating on the bed. Its ridiculously sticky when it fuses to the print. About a week into printing I actually tore the coating off and even delaminated a small amount of glass from how stuck the print was. I'm really not sure what they were thinking when they chose that coating but its horrible. I fixed the problem pretty easily by flipping the bed to use the plain glass side and coating it with a thick coat of strong hairspray (hairspray undergoes a state change around 40c that helps prints release from it). After flipping the bed I've had no problem with prints sticking to the bed and I have even less problems removing them. I've used the same coat of hairspray for weeks at a time and I'm convinced this is the best way to use the bed that comes with the printer. All in all I'm very happy with my purchase, It's definitely not idiot proof, but if you have experience with tinkering with ANYTHING you'll find this to be a perfect machine for you. Happy shopping! CGCG

My original Ender has been my Workhorse for years and after several community upgrades; it's the only machine I can trust to just turn on and get printing. I was pretty excited to see BestBuy carrying the new models and snatched this up at a pretty good price. After about two hours of casually putting it together, I was pleasantly surprised how smooth the build was compared to my original Ender. Creality seems to really have taken notes from the community and improved on a lot of things. A tool drawer is built in with some handy tools, power supply and controller board is built into the base, wire management is great and when fully assembled all wires are neat and tucked away, no exposed rough edges on the Extrusions, very little visible wiring and whatever is exposed for movement is wrapped in mesh wire loom, making this machine feel way more like a premium product rather than a DIY low cost Machine. Build is pretty straight forward, but if you're a beginner I would suggest watching some YouTube videos. I tried printing the pre-configured test prints on the card and without ANY TUNING at all, the test print came out incredible! BestBuy shipping was great too, ordered and delivered to the door within 24 hours even during the busy Christmas season. Really happy with my purchase and so far I've had it printing for almost two days non stop without issue.Fizz

Assembly was mostly straightforward. The instructions in the box are difficult to follow but if you watch Creality’s assembly video it’s a bit clearer. There are also some great videos on YouTube on how to easily assemble it. Great unit for first-timers. Has lots of opportunity for upgrading and modding as you get more comfortable. Don’t forget to do calibrations. You’ll want to level your bed, adjust your e-steps, and tune your temperature. There are excellent resources online for how to easily do all 3 of these things. Doing them at a minimum will dramatically improve the quality of your prints. Only issue was that this bundle from Best Buy was supposed to come with some exclusive add-ons and one was missing. The bundle comes with the base unit plus an upgraded Capricorn bowden tube, additional brass nozzles, and 4 upgraded bed springs. Mine didn’t have the bed springs in the box so I’ve been trying to get Besr Buy to sort it out. The first attempt, the rep didn’t submit the escalation so I never heard back. I just called them again and was assured that I would hear back this time so we shall see.KC

This unit is very good. Of the 5 3d Printers, it comes in second to the Dremel 3D45. If it had a heated bed, I believe it would be a better device. Plate adherence can be a problem, but it makes up for it in build volume and speed. I have begun experimenting with the Experimental Extruder head, and so far, so good… Just remember, RAFTS AND BRIMS ARE KEY!!!!John

I bought a different one a couple of years ago & this MakerBot has already out beaten it. I’ve already made way more things than my old 3d printer which was an XYZ,UNHAPPY

They run the thingiverse website and are fumbling it. Uploaded something today just for it to fall off the face of the planet. Not in my designs, not searchable. You can't even get to it unless you have a direct link to it. So I looked up the problem and sure enough, multiple other people are having the same issue with NO resolution for YEARS and NO response from customer support. I wonder how many other designs are lost in the abyss without their creator even knowing. With how bad they are mismanaging thingiverse, I can't even imagine how error prone their printers would be. Hope they fold so someone more responsible can take on the stewardship of thingiverse.Daniel Johnson

This is my Ender 3 v2, with several upgrades to it.Yes, that's dust on the extruder. I clean it, and within a day it gets to the point it looks in the photos. I Just thought I'd leave the dust on it to show that as a possible con.For about a month, it has run nonstop with the exception of like three days.For example, a 19 hour print finishes. I turn off the printer. Five to ten minutes later, I have the next print ready to go and am running the printer again.There have been several other items, but the main print has been a 1.5' long pirate ship (in numerous parts). That has one more main print to go, and it will be finished.So, I've begun using it to build modular shelving for wargaming models. For example, it looks like a cave, or a futuristic room, etc and has a dig-out for one to three models, and this connects to any of the other shelving parts – so they can all be from the tavern, the gothic church, the sci-fi ship, etc or i can mix and match.I get aggravated with my Ender 3 every now and then, because it FEELS like it's not leveled. If I ignore the first half hour of printing, then it turns out fine. There ARE leveling tweeks in the beginning, cuz sometimes it DOES need to be re-leveled. But those are normally minor.having said ALL THAT..In that time I have used a Voxelab Proxima resin printer, an EPAX E6 resin printer, an anycube photon zero resin printer, and a QIDI S box resin printer.the Proxima's build plate has a design that is just faulty. I jury rigged it with paper towels and used it for a couple of weeks, until other parts of it decided to stop working. If the build plate stayed in place – its prints were very nice.the EPAX (and the other three printers) all have a 4-screw lockdown on the build plate – works FAR better than the proxima's single screw-against-ball setup. It worked great for a couple of weeks, until it died.The Photon Zero, it's been here for a week or so. Most of that time has been me trying to get it to print correctly. 99% of the gazillion reviews on amazon for this printer are raving about how awesome this machine is… that's just not been my experience. Still trying to get it to work correctly.The QIDI is a monster. Compared to the next largest build plate i've used, this one is a good 5 times that size, if not larger. ONE test pattern (that had very few levels, ie low on the z-axis) has come out over the past two days. Again, this one has a LOT of rave reviews. After searching on YouTube and the horde of amazon reviews – I FINALLY found a reviewer that put settings which worked for him. Needless to say, these settings are FAR different than the chitubox defaults and the settings with the files which came with the printer.When, and if, the resin printers work – they all seem to be much faster than the Ender and are able to produce fine details which the ender simply cannot match.But the Ender spends a day printing a single large piece for my pirate ship, or a day printing whatever – steadily printing that piece until it finishes.So, i have a LOT of prints off resin printers (I've, quite literally, printed a couple of armies worth of wargaming figures, plus all kinds of other items) which are down/being adjusted as often as they are working (or that's what it feels like as I've just replaced a busted FEP and re-zeroed the build plate on the QIDI) – I'll be "frustrated" for 3-7 minutes every other print with the Ender, and then she's back to spending hours and hours creating the next batch for me.When I had jury rigged the Proxima and the EPAX were both working and churning out models, I wondered why I kept the Ender. I'm SOOO glad I kept her running and steadily building. If I end up returning these resin printers, I may just get better models than the Ender.Honestly, the Ender 3 v2 IS a bare bones, almost DIY model. You COULD do without the upgrades, but in my research, I found if I was going to run her nonstop, then these upgrades would be needed, or I could wait a couple of weeks and when the stock parts failed, I could do the upgrades then.If I could only find a resin printer that is as reliable as the Ender 3 v2…Dwayne N.

I'm fairly sure I received a lemon, so I am going to go easy on this printer. I think my print bed came warped, so this thing just would NOT stay level no matter how much I leveled it (spent at least 8-9 hours trying to fix it before it was returned). After days of attempting to get this thing to print correctly, and installing upgrades, the mobo finally shorted on me after turning it on. The rails were also out of spec by a few fractions of a mm leading to increased motor strain, which was also fun to deal with.I don't want to be harsh, because I know for a fact that Creality's printers are GREAT for the money, but this was a little crazy for the money. I think the QC needs work, a lot of work.Just beware of the problems you may face with this printer, and I'm sure you'll be fine in purchasing it through a reputable seller here on Amazon.Alex N.

I own multiple 3D printers. Out of the box this is the easiest one I have ever had to put together and use. Most of the structure is aluminum and put together with sturdy, substantial screws.First thing, The box is heavy. Much heavier than I expected. The packing is a heavy duty black foam with cutouts for the pieces. Most of the pieces are pre-assembled and almost all the wiring done right out of the box. Especially the high voltage and the anything carrying substantial current (extruder and heated bed) The base and the Y access is preassembled and well packed.The construction took me about 40 minutes from opening the box to starting the first print. The directions pretty good but I did look at the document on the web to get more detailed diagrams to speed up the assembly. The only part that was tricky was the gantry because it is 5 pieces that have to be put together perfectly which would be easier with an extra pair of hands.Everything was in the box as expected along with a couple extra screws, a nozzle cleaner, a diagonal cutter for fiber, a micro SD card with examples and documents, and some sample PLA to get you started with the printer.The display is color and easy to use. The power supply is dual voltage (make sure you set the voltage for your country. Mine shipped at 230 so I had to set it to 115 for the USA. There is even a nice power switch on the back and a normal computer power cord is included.If you want a nice quality and value priced printer I am not sure you can go better than this printer.Mark H.

OK, so I am new to 3D printing and a novice to the whole process and have only been doing it for a month, so that is my extent of time for this review. My adult son and I each decided to get this printer and picked them up on a special deal. We physically drove 1 1/2 hours to go to a Micro Center to purchase the printers as the sales price was an instore only purchase. The sales rep we dealt with was great and took his time in explaining the process, the different filaments, some of the challenges to expect, as well as future upgrades we may want to consider for the printer. He did not use any sales pressure and was patient and very knowledgeable in answering all of our questions. Once starting to put it together there are printed directions included and they were pretty straight forward and all the tools necessary came with the printer. Of note, there are no printed instructions for the actual operating of the printer. The instructions on operating the printer are on the thumb drive provided. I did not see any notes on that anywhere and that would have been nice to have known as I did not figure this out until later when I went to use the thumb drive. The small test filament provided is not very good. In fact, I would chuck it and load different filament and not waste my time with it. Also, there is a bed leveling program by Cura that works great. I recommend using that as well. Once put together and getting bed leveled I was 3D printing. I did have one minor print flaw on one of my first prints when the filament started stringing like spaghetti but I attribute that to the provided filament and it not being on a spool. I suspect as I do more complex printing this probably wont be my last flaw and there will be more to come. There are a ton of videos out there to assist in putting the printer together as well as ideas on printable upgrades for the printer. I have already recommended this printer to some friends that are starting out in 3D printing and they went out and bought the printer as well. The service at Micro Center was great and we like the printer so far and would recommend it.K C

Especially with the new customer coupon deal, this is an amazingly affordable and capable printer. It has wide support for replacement parts and upgrades across the board. Essentially this is a great printer that you can "trick out" over time as your needs grow, assuming you don't need to make larger and larger prints. This is NOT for those who aren't willing to learn and just want a printer that they switch on and press print. If you want that, then invest in a Prusa or something higher end. The Ender 3 Pro and its large online user community is for those who are willing to do a lot of mechanical and slicer software tinkering. You can tell that some people got the wrong idea just by looking at the amount of open box Ender 3 Pro that are available. Follow the assembly instructions, do your research on beginners guides and the ton of blog guides online and this thing will be a TANK. Honestly, I have almost given up a couple of times on this thing when I just can't figure out a problem, but then I would realize it's a replacement part needed (mostly because of user error) and then it's back being a tank. Seriously, just when I think it's time for a new printer, it just keeps chugging… a darn tank!!!Michael S

I will preface this review and say I did use the new customer coupon on this unit. However, for its MSRP price, I would still consider this a great starter printer for its price. 3d printing has come a long way, and this budget printer is a great example of that. For the same price of this product even a few years back, 3d printers weren't anywhere near the build quality of this machine. A unit I was gifted 6-7 years ago was built from wood cutouts, glue, uneven supports, and inexpensive stepper motors. Needless to say, I could not use the printer without extensively modifying it. As a teen, I could not afford to do that. So when I noticed this unit with all the necessary components to get printing immediately, I went out and bought it. This unit comes with a .4 mm printing nozzle that makes prints appear seamless compared to my old printers. This unit also comes with a heated bed and a removable magnetic pad. This magnetic pad comes in really handy when removing builds from the build plate without the need to scrape anything off. Overall, I've had to ask myself multiple times how Creality managed to make a sturdy printer with this level of accuracy for the price. It amazes me every time, especially considering its large build area. I highly recommend this printer for anyone starting off that does not want to invest in an expensive printer, especially if you can get it at a discounted promotion.Zaden G

Truly stellar prints, still learning the software side and best ways to print with the materials. Right out of the box perfect prints every time. Amazing how accurate the 50 micron print can look. Looks like these figures where bought and not printed! Wonderful product great packing, perfect seller, thank you.joecano00

This is my first 3D printer. I LOVE it! So cool being able to make models/prototypes and all kind of gadgets you can't necessarily find online or get within an hour or so. Definitely an advance for Homo-Sapiens! One problem I did have though, and it may be my fault for not using the system correctly, or just not knowing the tipsjaybird

Great results my both of the Flash Forge Adventurer 3 3D printers. I was Happy with www.Machineshark.com with there quick shipping!David U.

I have had this for one week. Everything has been good until 5/15/2020. While printing a job using Flash Forge ABS filament, the extruder jammed and busted out the nozzle the heated filament comes out of. Essentially this makes the printer useless until I can buy a new nozzle and extruder.samuel

I love my Glowforge Pro! Hands down it is the most amazing tool I have ever owned. The number of things I can dream up and can make seem endless. It's not just that I can make usable items and gifts with the Glowforge, but I can make things that make other things too. For instance, I have made stamps for personalizing cards, plates for embossing leather, stencils for labeling bee boxes, and acrylic patterns for sewing projects. I also make customized items for my home. For example, I have printed storage boxes that fit different spaces in my house perfectly. I've also printed fun, free designs that spruce up and help organize my workspace. Last year I could not locate a specialized rubber gasket for an old tub in the bathroom, I simply cut a piece of laser-safe rubber in the Glowforge and my problem was solved. My biggest limitation with the Glowforge is not the machine, but me. It can do things I have not taught myself to do…yet. However, there is a catalog of designs I can access and free designs available in the Glowforge forum. Also, I know I can learn to make what I want given information I have found in the online forum. Glowforge supports an online forum that is full of valuable information on different laser projects. It is regularly visited by friendly owners and staff that share projects and help folks troubleshoot their own. If you have a Glowforge, join the forum and participate. Answers to both common and uncommon questions can be found there. If you can't find what you need, just ask for help. If you don't have a Glowforge, the forum is free to browse (I suggest browsing "Made on a Glowforge").Rebecca W.

I have had my Glowforge Pro since 2019 and I’ve grown to actually HATE this thing. It’s so inconsistent, one minute it works, the next minute it does something wonky and you catch hell to get anyone in tech support for days. This is my second one in only 3 years. Just a couple of months ago, the lid belt went bad, Glowforge (the company) eventually found a replacement belt to send to me. I was not comfortable replacing it myself but they sent instructions. I figured since the company left this to users to do, it must be safe and technically appropriate. NOPE. I installed the belt, turned the thing on, then there was a spark, smoke, and all of the lights went off. Of course, I contacted the company again and was told that they are moving and it would cost more both in time and money if I returned the machine for repair, so the only option they gave me was to purchase a refurbished machine for $500+, which was a discount according to them. I had orders pending at the time so I did as they asked, packagers the the huge, faulty machine, returned it, and purchased the refurbished machine. I still had hope in the product and the company at this point. Though I felt like it was unfair for me to have to do all of these things, I carried in. Now, just a few months later, this thing is not cutting even paper and I have orders pending. I have yet to have one good year without issues. Every couple of months there’s another issue and my machine is kept immaculate. So cleaning is not the issue which is their solution for everything. Save yourself the stress and the potential customer dissatisfaction and get something more reliable. As soon as I find a better option, I’m loving on. I am beyond frustrated. GLOWFORGE, DO BETTER!Napptural Misstic

The Glowforge laser cutter does cut things with a laser, so it's not totally bad. The device isn't designed for standard 12"x24" stock, it uses proprietary software whose basic features cost extra, it doesn't label stock materials with typical units like "inches" or "millimeters" but opts for "medium" and "thick" which have no firm definition, and the software doesn't import standard filetypes. Glowforge laser cutters only exist to sell more Glowforge products and software features. I wouldn't advocate for anyone to buy one of these: literally buy any other laser cutter and deal with the trouble that comes with it. It'll at least be cheaper.Casey

This is my first 3D printer and my first experience with one, honestly I don't even know any one else that has one. Frankly I was a bit nervous going into this, I'm proficient with computers and I'm decent enough with my hands but 3D printing sounds hard. Infact you read a lot of reviews for the ender 3 claiming "this is not a 3D printer for beginners" however… So I pulled up YouTube and followed and awesome tutorial on how to put this thing together and to calibrate it. Set up did take me about 3 hours but my unit was purchased open box and had some issues with the build plate and y axis assembly that needed my attention before I could continue with assembly, it just took a while to get it right. But other then that assembly was pretty straightforward. Knowledge is power, YouTube is awesome. Really be patient, dig into the settings and learn what they all mean and how to use them properly. Trust me it won't take more then an hour or two to understand that. Then learn how to level your bed, it's honest a huge cause of frustration and also a huge cause of failed prints if it's not right. Last things last learn your slicer. If you didn't know, because I didn't you need software called a slicer. This pretty much allows you to edit your 3d prints also injects the print settings into the gcode so your printer knows how to print and what to print. I recommend Cura as the place to start, it's free and easyisb. Honestly the slicer is the hardest part. I started off with a small print to check for errors and I kept getting pimples in my print, turned out to be nothing more then a loose belt. In just a matter of a week of educating my self I have been able to do prints that take over a day and turn out looking some times better then they do on thingiverse with this printer! Seriously the quality is amazing, right now I'm at the end of a 37 hour print on high quality settings and you can't even tell it's 3d printed. This printer is apsolutly amazing. There are a ton of budget options out there but not many can reach the level of quality that you can achieve with some fiddling with the ender 3. Plus this can be had open box for just $155.00 right here on eBay, can you beat that? Only down sides I can see is that it needs to be mostly assembled when you get it and that there is definitely a learning curve but that will be with any printer. Buy it.matt.n.sara167

Now that I have had this machine for a few weeks and have printed on it quite a bit, I can say I am greatly impressed. It is easy to set up and get printing right out of the box. CAUTION: I did watch a bunch of videos about 3D printing and of the Ender 3 so I was quite familiar with the machine when it arrived. I am also learning about the slicers, and other print prep programs that you really need to know to have less stress printing. Leveling the bed is the hardest thing about it and if I can do it, anyone can. Once the bed is level and the temperatures are set right, this printer will do anything you ask it to do. The only complaint that I would have is the size of the build area. If you want to print fairly large prints for CosPlay, you will have to cut them up into smaller parts which brings in the aggravation of getting all those parts to fit together. Also, be sure to order filament as the printer does not come with it. It has some test filament but I would not recommend setting the printer up with this as it may be different from the filament you will be running. If you want to print with PLA or PLA+, this printer will print with that right out of the box. I actually want another one.There are many upgrades and add-ons that are available for this printer, but they are notneeded immediately. One caveat: I have upgraded the boden tube to a Capricorn and the extruder to an aluminum one. I would recommend doing that ASAP.ddennis31064

I spent 10+ hours trying to set up the printer. I followed all of the instructions included with it (they were useless). I watched multiple videos and read multiple online guides for setting up this printer, and it never printed consistently. After checking the Ender 3 subreddit, I was informed the only way to *really* get an Ender 3 dialed in to use, it requires new firmware flashed to the board and a couple of aftermarket mods. Without those items, the printer is notoriously difficult (i.e. impossible) to set up and obtain consistent results. I happen to believe that a manufactured item should be useable out of the box without the need for aftermarket upgrades/update.rogue-jedi-padawan

It was everything as expected, some little kinks like getting computer to recognize but working with service to resolve issue. Working great though, already printed multiple itemsnavyman55

The printer is easy to set-up and the easy set-up guide gives instructions that are clear and concise. Having the print spools inside the printer reduces the risk of water ingress as the interior of the printer gets warm and tends to keep the filament dry. There seems to be a problem with the availability of filament for this printer in the variety of filament when compared to other printers. The problem is not the lack of filament but the type f spool it comes on. it does come with two spools of PLA and with temperatures of 195/60 the print quality is pretty good, I have not had to use any hair spray, glue or any other substance on the bed, although i do give the bed a wipe after each print, with nail polish remover (acetone). I bought two printers prior to this one but I wish I had bought this one first. The software that comes with it is excellent as well if you are looking for a printer consider this one, you will not regret it. looks like I will have to print my own spool and load them myself in the colors and materials I want.gismogajet9

One of the best printers u can buy easy to use and less fuss when printing less time fixing then other cheap brands ender 3 spend more time fixing then printing Ever print I've did on pursa its being spot on and clean print worth every pennys1l3ntk1ll3nt38

We had a disappointing older style 3D drawing pen of a different brand a few years ago and hoped this one would be easier to use… the materials are definitely of better quality but after watching several of the instructional videos we still had quite a bit of trouble getting anything to stand up. This will definitely take some practice, but the kit comes with lots of materials for experimentation so we are hopeful that we will figure it out! Definitely an interesting project for cold winter days stuck in the house with kids!Jess818

My son loves this kit. It comes with everything you need to creating 3d designs. The pen is easy to handle and with some time and patience my kiddo is going to making all kinds of cool things. Would recommend for kids or adults that need a fun activity and create some cool art.meadow230

This pen works pretty well. Comes with three packs of abs to use in a variety of colors. The pen does have to be plugged in during use which limits it to the ability to have electricity. Ergonomically it fits in the hand well and my six and eight year olds were able to use it without issue. It came with paper to use as a landing site for their creations. Basically you let it cool and then peel it off which works well. Construction of the pen seems to be solid and I think it will hold up to normal use. Comes in a very nice storage box. Definitely takes some time to learn to use but they had fun trying to figure it out and were busy with it for a few hours. Overall I would recommend.Lydsmomof6

Other than tightening bolts, I've had to do nothing to keep this machine running night and day for the past week. It's easy to use and does a nice job of printing anything. Look for the YouTube video by "Just Vlad" for a great review.GreyWolf

Setup for this printer was exceptionally easy. Within about 10 minutes I was up and running on my first print. The auto level resulted in a perfect first layer on my first try. There was no manual bed leveling it was just a click of a button. Every other printer I've owned has required a lot of fighting with leveling before I got that first print going, but here a push of a button.My first print was one of the provided articulated dinosaur models. I had no issues with stringing and the print turned out perfectly. It came off the bed reasonably well, but I will definitely be looking into a wham bam print surface. Flexible beds have spoiled me.I just have to add. This is the quietst 3d printer I've owned. There is a primary fan that is no louder than a laptop fan. There is no additional noise while printing. I started up a print and got distracted while it heated up and didn't realize it had started until a good 20 layers in. I was sitting 10 ft away.Shipping was quick and the printer was very well packaged.Aaron K.

I would like to give a great review. But I have not been able to print anything. The heated bed does not stop heating at set point. It continues to heat until it reaches 119 C then the control panel freezes. it does this just turning it on. not even trying to run a print. I have not heard anything from san smart yet. I'm sure they are busy. this is the fourth product I have bought from them/ and the only one to give me problems. I'm betting the heater is pluged into the wrong port. Something simple.Robert S.

Excellent Service! Friendly, knowledgeable and informative. Colin was (and still is) a pleasure to deal with. If you're in the market for a 3D printer, I highly recommend talking to Colin to set you up.ReNo

The Good: -Easy to set up for printing from the box -Came with updated firmware and newer version of Cura -Printer noise is fairly moderate with doors closed The Bad: -Issues with print quality on stock settings that need some involved adjustment and fiddling (biggest one I had was under-extrusion after retractions, but d/t catastrophic printer failure I did not get a chance to see how well this would be fixed by adjusting settings). -Bed leveling is not nearly perfect and resulted in a problematic first layer and print warping (on larger prints) out of the box. I had trouble with adhesion initially but adjusted the z-height offset and was able to get it close enough to work okay. Even with best z-height adjustment, the first layer still went from overly close and slightly distorted in one corner to barely close enough to stick in the opposite corner. The printer only does a 3-point sensing auto-level, which theoretically should work fine on a glass bed since it should be very flat and even. However, the printer uses an induction sensor, so something appears to be off between the glass surface and whatever the induction sensors were reading. There is a steel plate glued to the back of the glass surface, but the glue wasn’t perfect and there was one corner with a slight gap, though it was skewed in the same direction even after rotating the glass surface. It also uses four magnets that hold the glass/steel-backed plate to the aluminum bed, so maybe the magnets were causing issues with the sensor. -Plastic components allow for some flexing of the x and y-axis mechanics. Not sure how much this affected print quality for me at lower speeds, but with a lot of weight flinging around from the direct extruder I am sure this limits the potential for high speed/quality printing. -Nearly started a fire when a (presumably the thermistor) sensor error caused thermal runaway at the start of a print. The printer had just gone through the auto-leveling sequence when smoke started pouring out of the hot end/extruder housing. I looked at the display before shutting off the printer and the nozzle temp was reading -14C. Every time after this, the print starts to go into the same issue when a print is initiated with the nozzle sense temp immediately dropping to -14 C. Overall: The main reason I had bought this was so that I could get some decent prints done for a school project without having to spend a lot of time modding or adjusting, which this printer failed to do for me. I returned the printer after the thermal runaway problem started so I did not get a chance to see if all the problems could be sorted out with adjusting settings. It is scary to think that if I had walked out of the room rather than staying to see the first layer, I might have ended up with a fire.H.E.D.C.

It is EASY to set up….the directions are useless but the youtube videos you can find are useful! It has printed EVERYTHING except one item so far PERFECTLY! We are not designers by any means. We are downloading the STL files and SLICING them in the software the printer came with and are LOVING our prints! We HIGHLY recommend this printer!Jerry

The Ultimate 2 is a mechanically solid, workhorse printer, the direct drive style extruder and hotend combo allow for easy settings adjustment and tuning. With the default profiles that are provided the prints produced have a minimum of artifacts like ghosting or stringing. The enclosed design makes a huge difference when printing more finicky materials like nylon and ABS, that tend to shrink if a stray cool draft blows across them. The Auto-Leveling probe is a must have for quick startup repeatability and has been working great. All prints I have produced so far on this machine have had a great finish quality to them and I have been quite impressed with the results. My only real complaint with this printer is that it is LOUD, it is due to the fan being on whenever the printer is turned on and the enclosure acting as an echo chamber. I would definitely suggest turning the printer off between prints. Disclaimer: Monoprice provided this product to me in exchange for a fair and honest reviewNew User