3D Printing has taken the world by storm over the past year or so. I remember seeing my first 3D printer in a movie years ago thinking how cool that would be if we could really do that. Well, now we can with the new DIY kits you can get for under $200 or some of the ready to go printers for under $500 the average joe can now get one for the house. I got the XYZPrinting da Vinci Jr 1.0 Pro 3D Printer in July 2017. Let’s talk about it.
Specifications:
The XYZPrinting da Vinci Jr 1.0 Pro 3D Printer has a print area of 6”x6’x6”. It allows for 3rd Party filaments which is a great bonus for any 3D Printer. Takes 1.75mm PLA filaments and has an adjustable temperature extruder nozzle.
Design
The Design of the Vinci Jr 1.0 Pro is a very nice enclosed design that gives a great eye appeal and helps keep the heat within the print area. It has the ability to put their own filament roll inside the box or you can run your own 3rd party filament into a feeder tube from the back side. The glass on the door is darkened but it still allows for you to look inside and watch the prints as they happen. It is relatively quiet as 3d printers are concerned and the tray is a glass tray which a lot of people like.
Ease of Setup
I would love to start doing some unboxing and setup videos for my reviews and probably will at some point but for now, I am just going to tell you about how the setup process was. Once I unboxed the printer I sat it on the table, plugged it in, installed the filament and then connected it to my Windows computer. I then downloaded and installed the software for the XYZ Printer and once I launched the program it had some sample prints to test with and I did that. The first one wasn’t perfect, the 2nd was much better. I finally printed out some parts to build my own 3rd party filament holder and away I went printing with 3rd party prints. I have to say that setting this thing up was worth at least ¼ of the higher price than doing the DIY printers. I only had to install the filament and software and away I went with printing. So if you don’t want to mess with hours of putting a printer together then I recommend getting this printer.
Print Quality
I have to say that the print quality for this printer is very good, especially for the cost of the printer. I got it for $500 but it is now running for around $330. You can’t beat the price for as good of quality as it is. I use the site thingiverse.com to get most of my print ideas from and a lot of times I modify what I get so I am not completely copying someone else’s work. If you did use someone’s work it would be a good idea to send them a donation which you can do from the site.
The print quality also is determined based on the quality of the PLA filaments you use. To be honest the filaments that XYZ sells to go inside this printer actually doesn’t give you the best prints. I have found that some 3rd party filaments have given me much better prints than theirs. It is always good to do some research on the filaments and even order some samples of a few different brands to see what works best for you.
Customer Service
I have to say that out of all the things about this printer I really enjoyed the one thing I was very disappointed in was the customer service I got from the manufacturer. I had run into a few minor issues with this printer over the course of having it. The first issue was that the heat bead wasn’t heating up enough to hold the items in place. I didn’t think it was a major issue but the customer service rep after going back and forth with me just said “return it to amazon” they will replace it for you. So I did. The 2nd issue although was not as minor, should of been minor. The print head got clogged which it is supposed to stop when it detects that it is clogged. This time it didn’t and the print head exploded (not Boom but expanded so much that ink came out from every part and destroyed the print head. Instead of just sending me a print head replacement which would of been a simple 2 minute replacement they insisted that I send the entire printer into them at my cost for shipping. Umm NOOOO, I don’t think so. They did not bend on this and would not send me the print head so I sent the 2nd printer back. Now some people can look past this type of customer service but I can’t. So just be aware of this if you decide to purchase any XYZ Printer.
Final Verdict.
Pro’s: Great prints, cheap cost for pre-built, 3rd party filimits, easy to setup
Con’s: Customer Service, their filimits aren’t the greatest.
My overall feel of this printer was great. If I gave it a rating of 1 to 10 just on the printer alone I would give it a 8.5. If I had to add in the overall experience which includes the customer service aspect I would say a 5 out of 10. I really enjoyed using the printer and my kids loved the things i made with it. I would recommend the printer to those who are just starting out and what to get their hands into the 3d printing world. If you are a big customer service type of person who wants to make sure their unit is going to be covered and they are going to be taken care of no matter what happens in the life span of this printer I would say you might want to think about the headaches you might get when dealing with their service department. Other than that happy printing.