Big 3D printer for $389 shipped

[Kaido]

This is a great unit to get into 3D printing: (look for the $10 off popup when you sign up with email)

Mingda Magician Pro2 |Self Auto Leveling Function| Easy to assemble and use| Support Multi Filament| Ultra large printing size 400*400*400 mm³| Equipped with PEI Steel Plate 3D Printer

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3dmingdaofficial.com

There are zillion 3D printers out there at various price levels with various features & various levels of complexity. Bambu has the Lab A1 Mini that does multiple colors. Creality has the high-speed K1C enclosed 3D printer with an AI camera. This Mingda unit is an affordable, large-format, easy-to-build unit that makes it easy to get into the world of 3D printing. I started out with an Ender 3 & currently use a Mingda Max2, Pro, and Pro 2. The Pro2 is great because the current price ($400 USD) is bonkers for what you get. It includes a heated bed & a flexible print plate. It doesn't have any of the modern really fancy features (it's slow, the touchscreen interface is super basic, etc.) but it's an absolutely incredible machine for the money due to the size & ease of use!

I mostly use mine to print out nonsense stuff for fun. 3D printers make great toys for adults who want an easy creative outlet because there is an endless amount of cool stuff to print! You can make useful stuff like functional prints. I like to do a lot of food-related projects (goldfish cracker molds for sourdough crackers, custom cookie cutters, baking & chocolate molds, etc.). You can use it to make reverse molds & then use that to make silicone molds, which you can then use to do things like make resin castings or do breakaway plastic molds for concrete casting. Lately I've been into string art, silhouette art, and doing multi-colored layered projects with my single-filament printer. You can go as basic as you want (print stuff out that you find online for free) or as advanced as you want (build your own 3D models, paint them, etc.).

Features:

1. Huge build surface (400mm)
2. Very fast assembly time (takes longer to unbox than it does to build lol)
3. Automatic bed leveling
4. Quiet operation
5. 500F max nozzle temperature (print PLA, PETG, TPU, etc.)

Resources:

1. All3DP & 3D With Us are my favorite news sites
2. NoClogger is a good tool for cleaning out clogs
3. OctoPrint lets you make timelapse print videos using a webcam
4. Thingiverse has millions of free models to print
5. TinkerCAD is a great, free, and easy way to get started with making your own models
6. Cura is free 3D printing software

Notes:

1. 3D printers are finicky beasts. Modern units like these make building & operating them MUCH easier!
2. This is a VERY LARGE printer, so you'll need a dedicated space with a large footprint for it. It can run standalone with just a power cord using an SD or USB card, so you don't have to tie it to a computer for printing.
3. There are lots & lots of really cool filaments (plastic spools of printable wire) available on Amazon & elsewhere: Hello3D has glow-in-the-dark, Strong3DHero has multi-color metallic, they sell infused filaments (wood, carbon fiber, rustable magnetic iron, etc.)
4. 3D Chameleon lets you change filament colors
5. This heated filament connector lets you connect the last bits of your spool to a new spool (note that the printer itself has a filament runout detection system)
6. Mini heat guns are a great way to zap the supports on the 3D print to peel them off more easily
7. TikTok is my favorite resource for finding out about cool 3D printing stuff

 

[Kaido]

Update: Elegoo has their large FDM model on sale:

ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max FDM 3D Printer

ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus FDM 3D Printer with Up to 500mm/s Printing Speed, 300℃ High-temp Nozzle, Dual-Gear Direct Extruder, 320x320x385mm³/12.59x12.59x15.15 Inch Printing Size

www.elegoo.com

* $430
* 420 x 420 x 480 mm³ build volume
* 500 mm/s max printing speed
* Klipper firmware pre-installed
* Wireless connectivity

 

[Kaido]

Update: I currently have 3 models from Mingda: (previous Pro model with the glass bed went to my nephew)

1. X2 (small)
2. Max2 (medium)
3. Pro2 (large)

Assembly is pretty simple:

1. Unbox everything. The individual components come pre-assembled, so assembly is easy.
2. Attach the vertical assembly to the base & screw it in (on the Pro2, flip up the arms & screw those in too)
3. Plug in all of the wires & screw in the bed wire, then screw in the print head & plug that in

Literally takes 10 minutes. All units have a bendy PEI plate (easy part removal) & auto-bed leveling, as well as filament run-out detection. Again, these aren't the fastest or most sophisticated printers in the world, but they are relatively cheap & have a lot of modern improvements over the old printers like the original Ender series. Pretty happy with the results so far! Here's a flexible dragon in progress on the Max2: (17 hours total print time)

https://imgur.com/tXDtsF8

A simple vase for pens in spiral mode: (2 hours, small size)



Really incredible technology for the money! I'd recommend picking up a 32gb USB stick & formatting it to FAT32 to use with the printer, for convenience.