People warned me off this kit but I bought it anyway :)

3D Printing
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1

People warned me off this kit but I bought it anyway :slight_smile:
http://makerhacks.com/tevo-black-widow/

2

Thanks for the review. I was looking at this printer

3

Thanks! Iā€™d heard a lot of both good and bad myself so I think that curiosity and bargain-hunting got the better of me :wink:

4

Happy with mine, but it has taken some tinkering and I swapped to a e3d hotend with Titan. Also had a power supply replaced under warranty. Still, value for money :slight_smile:

5

So $500 + a second main board, + a backup power supply + you need to redo the extruder mount to add a cooling fan. And no auto leveling. You are dangerously close to the price of a proper prusa i3

6

too smart

7

@Camerin_hahn main advantage over the Mk2 is the build area but yes the quality and professionalism of Prusa gives an edge, and upgrades will narrow the price differential for sure.

8

@Chris_Garrett I am just staying. The parts you need to replace, the cost advantage is gone

9

@Camerin_hahn not really NEED as the MKS and PSU are replaced free of charge under warranty, but being RepRap everyone always has at least one eye on upgrades. Even with Mean Well PSU, legit E3D v6, you are still getting a bigger build area for less than the Prusa Mk2. Donā€™t get me wrong, I LOVE my mk2, but itā€™s a different market segment so worth considering for the folks it is appropriate for :slight_smile:

10

I question how unbiased this review is after the reviewer gives it glowing remarks after burning out a damn board on bootup.

11

@ThantiK ā€‹ yeah ā€œIt didnā€™t work because of a mistake they made, but it is greatā€

At this point I think it is reasonable to assume that a ā€œgood kitā€ shouldnā€™t be just most of the parts you need. Also if you have to include that you have a back up part for when the power supply failsā€¦ It is a bad kit.

12

@ThantiK you have never had a circuit board burn up? Spend any time in electronics it is going to happen. My Printrbot board popped after a few months, it happens.

Iā€™d hardly call it glowing either :slight_smile:

A biased review would not have mentioned the problems at all and would not have had the caveats in the conclusion, right?

My glowing review was of the Prusa i3 Mk2, that is my favourite printer and the one I recommend to anyone who asks :slight_smile:

13

@Camerin_hahn The MKS board isnā€™t made by them and they are replacing it. You donā€™t NEED any back up parts. Itā€™s a RepRap, of course you are going to have a thought toward upgrades. Heck people upgrade their Prusa Mk2s - nobody needs to, they want to.

No printer is problem free, certainly no kit printer :slight_smile:

14

@Chris_Garrett , I assemble and engineer retail 3D printers for a living. Not one of our customers have ever set up our machine and ended up with a blown out board.

15

@ThantiK Cool :slight_smile:

Context is important. I am sure you are not sourcing your boards from AliExpress if you have a 0 failure rate :smiley:

You have to remember this is a budget chinese Aliexpress kit, itā€™s not like buying, say, a Lulzbot (and even RAMBo donā€™t have 100% perfect success rate, right?)

16

@Chris_Garrett , we donā€™t have a 0% failure rateā€¦we have test rigs before things get shipped. Thereā€™s no excuse for that.

17

@ThantiK thatā€™s a good point. I did say privately they should take Prusaā€™s example, when you get the Mk2 they give you all the test results so you know who tested what. A lot of the problems could be mitigated that way for sure :slight_smile:

Probably shouldnā€™t put the price up by much either seeing as it would save on returns/admin/goodwill etc, right?