Solved Why ROBO over Monoprice?

I'm about ready to plunge into the 3D printer world and have been reading your forum for a while. You guys (and girls) are very knowledgable and informative so I value your opinion.

My question is the ROBO 3D R1 +Plus (odd name) looks to be a good printer but needs upgrades such as a LCD display / controller. Why not buy a printer such as the Monoprice Maker Select 3D Printer for $350 which already has a LCD display / controller and make upgrades to this printer? (I'm new so I can't post a link to the printer, sorry.)

Does the auto bed beveling feature make the ROBO 3D +Plus worth twice the price of the Monoprice? Or are there other features or components on the Robo 3D +Plus that warrant the price difference?

I look forward to your replies.

 

Yeah I'd have to agree there is major power in having the forum community!!!!

 

Thanks for the replies so far, and yes I do agree that the ROBO community forum is a a big plus (or +Plus) for ROBO.

I don't mind spending extra money for quality or features but I also like getting the most for my money, and that was the reason for my original question.

Mark pointed out the bigger build capability of the ROBO which is a plus in their favor. How about the aluminum bed on the Monoprice? Is a glass bed better?


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Oh great, now I have another printer to consider. And they all have their plus and minuses.

ROBO 3D
+ has good solid reviews
+ has an excellent user community
+ comes with self-leveling bed
- is twice the price of the Monoprice Maker Select
- does not come with a LED display/controller

Monoprice Maker Select
+ is about as inexpensive as they come
+ comes with a LED display/controller
+ 1 year warranty included
- bed is not self-leveling
- no user forum

Microcenter PowerSpec Ultra
+ comes with dual print heads
+ the printer is enclosed (stable temps better?)
- no user forum, at least for the specific Microcenter brand
- warranty is only 180 days
- no self-leveling bed

Well, I guess I'll just choose the brand/store that is closest to me. Wait, I live smack dab in the middle of them and they are all about an hour's drive from my house.

Question. What's the consensus on dual print heads? I have read that they are more trouble than they are worth. (Probably written by people who wish their printer had dual print heads.)

 

As someone that briefly had dual print heads on my Robo before figuring out they really were more trouble to set up than they were worth for actually printing, I'd say they really don't benefit you very much unless you're printing two different materials for a very specific reason.

One case would be printing a wheel for a model car where you printed the wheel hub in ABS and the tire portion in Ninjaflex, so that the components were printed together as a single part, but that's pretty much the limit other than using the second head for dissolvable supports (pretty limited since proper support settings make them unnecessary for 99% of prints, as you can snap them off without marring the main print when set up properly). So unless you see yourself making a lot of model wheels, don't bother.

One thing to keep in mind on build area is that the Robo's actual heated bed area is about the same as the $349 Monoprice printer, so when it comes to anything not-PLA printing, the effective build area on X&Y stays about 8" x 8", so it's a little deceptive to look at the travel area of the nozzle as the actual build area (but all printer manufacturers do that on the ones that have oversized beds with regard to the size of the heater under the bed).

Everything that can go wrong on the Monoprice printer will also be able to go wrong on the Robo in it's stock configuration, plus the Robo lacks the LCD controller from stock (so most of the issues people have using laptops or PCs that put the USB hub into power save mode will be an issue where the Monoprice wouldn't have that problem).

If you're mainly looking for a low-cost entry point to learn on, the Monoprice is a much better learning machine than the Robo. If you already have a good idea what you're doing, get the Robo or save up for the next price point on printers (Ultimaker, Taz, Lulzbot, E3D Bigbox, etc.). It's a lot easier to swallow something breaking on a $350 machine two months down the road than on an $800 machine.

 

I actually got that first Monoprice i3 clone (Maker Select 3D Printer) about a month ago mainly because of the attractive price (it was 399 and dropped it down to 349 right after I got it) before returning it and thankfully found the RB1+ after watching Noice Expert's videos and going through this forum. I thought at that price, I could fix it up and make it as good as a $1k printer. I was able to find a google group for the actual clone version (Wanhao i3) which has a decent community and lots of mods that are recommended right from the start (some of which have been applied already in the model I received).

For the price it's a decent printer but that doesn't come without its caveats. There is a definite need for modification out of the box and far more involved with maintenance than the Robo. For example the quality of the prints came out decently well, as long as the printer stayed in calibration. The leveling was a nightmare and would need to be readjusted after every successful print (if it started failing/screw up somewhere, which most prints were, I would relevel the bed and try again) there's one guy on the google group that simply got it leveled and then gobbed a bunch of E6000 over the leveling bolts and springs to keep it in place. The aluminum bed definitely did warp as even when I had mine fully preheated, I could never get the center level (nozzle was hitting the bed) even after getting all the corners perfect. So I had to get a boro glass bed to clip on top of the aluminum. The temps (or at least the readings) were extremely inconsistent like if i wanted 230 then I'd set it around 240 because I knew it would jump around 225-232. I bought lots of stuff after a day of having it and realizing so many things need to change/added. Then spent a couple weeks trying to print out mods/upgrades (with lots of failures).

Basically you will have to spend more than what you paid out of the box and still constantly fiddle with things for it to work for it to give you anything remotely reliable. I love fiddling with tech but this took it to a level of annoyance. Had I been working on the clock for the amount of time I had spent fiddling with the i3, I could have easily paid for the RB1+ and an LCD upgrade.

The only good thing that came out of buying that printer, for me, was the steep learning curve that came with diving head first into the 3D printing community so once I got my RB1+ I felt like I "knew what I was doing", knew exactly what to change in my slicer settings, and felt a huge relief from not only the reliability but the ease of use of the Robo printer by comparison.

Hope this helps you with your decision!

 

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and thoughts, your replies have been more than helpful.

I did a lot of reading on the Monoprice Maker Select and the issues you encountered seem to be standard. Adding a glass printer plate and securing the adjusting screws with locking nuts seem to help, but the printer definitely will still have issues.

I'm almost tempted to get the Monoprice just for the learning experience. I'm off for a few weeks later this month and want to be able to dabble with some prints. If I didn't have the free time coming up I'd almost would want to wait to see what is going to be announced at the upcoming CES in January.

Speaking of CES, I wonder how ROBO is going to handle questions about their "new" R2 3D printers they announced were coming out "later this summer" at the last CES. Also, what happened to the partnership with Spectrom 3D? Spectrom 3D looked very interesting.

 

Okay, I just ordered the Monoprice. They have a 30-day return policy so at least I have a "test drive" period.

Best Buy also has the latest ROBO 3D for $699.

 

I am no longer a Looky-loo and have proudly joined the 3D printer world. (As I write this my printer is churning out another holiday trinket.)

To my surprise the Monprice printer was delivered the next afternoon. Set-up was straight forward and my first print came out looking very nice. (I was really expecting just a glob of PLA on my first print attempt.) Everything went well for a few days and then on the 3rd day the LCD screen would not come on and the printer was basically dead. I called Monoprice the next business day and got a pleasant guy who made no fuss over sending out a new printer or letting me pick up one from their warehouse. They also agreed to let me take a look inside the control box to look for loose connections without voiding my warranty, which I did finding and correcting a loose connector and I was back up and running.

When I called them back to let them know what I found they offered to keep the RMA ticket open for 30-days and I could still return or replace the printer if I wanted. Since the controller is not easily replaceable I asked what happens if I have an issue in this area within the 1-year warranty period and they said they would just replace the printer.

So, even though it is an inexpensive (aka cheap) printer I feel better knowing I am going to get at least a year of use out of it. And, I am quite amazed at the quality of prints I am getting. I bought 7 rolls of Solutech PLA from Amazon which has worked well so far, and I am waiting on a roll of Hatchbox just for comparison.

Anyways, I just wanted to thank all of you for your help and suggestions. By reading your forum before buying a printer I was able to avoid some common problems, and when I have run into printing problems searching your posts has provided some great solutions. (Blue painters tape and glue sticks are my friends.)

 

Glad to hear that you're getting such great support out of Monoprice. One-year replacement is outstanding.

Post some pics of your prints!

 

Just wanting to post a follow-up here that the Monoprice Maker Select (the $349 printer) is running strong and basically kicking the shit out of the Robo printers I have.

The one R1 that I bought back in April of 2015 has been one long sob-story that people in the Shoutbox on a regular basis are very familiar with. It is currently dead and collecting dust.

The CES 2016 print contest R1+Plus that I won is currently also sitting collecting dust until I have the free time to order replacement parts for the bed heater and work on replacing it.

That printer arrived with only the stepper motors connected to the RAMPS and I had to plug/wire in the thermistors and power supply wires before thinking about a test print.

First test print was the Vase Double Twist model, which failed around 70% thru the print because the ribbon wires connected to the bed heater worked their way loose from the heater, which did thankfully put the printer into a fault-out shut down mode.

Meanwhile, on the Monoprice Maker Select, I've printed all of this in the past couple weeks (sorry about the motion blur in the photo, I've got some nerve damage from the chemo I went through a few years ago that makes any precision photography a no-go).

The 3DBenchy and Gnome Birdhouse were printed in JustPLA, the Odile Swan was printed in a red Glow-in-the-Dark filament by 3DPrima, and the Owl and Aria on the left were printed in a knock-off Laywood filament I bought on Amazon around the time I bought the R1 back in 2015 (that always resulted in a nozzle clog on the R1, but runs just fine on the Monoprice).



For scale/context, here is a time-lapse for the 3DBenchy. Skip to about 0:14 once the night-time blackout happens.

 

Good looking prints Daniel. I'm glad the Monoprice Maker Select is working out for you.

I took up Monoprice on their offer to replace my printer when it developed an intermittent fan noise over the holidays. I returned the original printer and they sent me a new printer in a couple of days, no questions asked. Unfortunately I got as far as putting it together and then left it abandoned as work got crazy busy. After seeing your post and fine prints I decided to make some time and start printing again.

This weekend I merely leveled the bed, applied painter's tape and stick glue to the bed, and went crazy printing. Not a single failure.
I'm just amazed how well this cheap little printer works. I don't expect it to last for years, but I have at least until the end of the warranty period. And if it breaks after that, all the parts are easily accessible and most are rather inexpensive.

And when I am ready to upgrade hopefully Robo3D will have a printer I can't live without.

Kyle