I mention that I’ve used 4 other large format budget priced IDEX printers before. They are, in order that I experineced them:
- The JGMaker Artist D (pre kickstarter)
- The Kywoo3D IDEX
- The Weedo X40
- And the JGMaker Artist D Pro
I’ve mentioned before that I have limited space for keeping the 3D printers I review, so I often sell or give them away locally, keeping only the best and most capable for myself. And as I worked on each of these printers in turn I had a different reason for choosing one over the other in turn. I sold the Artist D because the Kywoo3D was coming, and considering how positive an experience I had with their Tycoon, I assumed the IDEX would be nothing but goodness and joy. But I should have held on a little longer because the wifi didn’t work and the extruder head was having under-extrusion issues from the word “go”. I was more cautious with the X40, and, as I made a point of in the video, it was good, provided you didn’t mind using their jank slicer. If you wanted to use Cura you were pretty much on your own. But then the Artist-D Pro rolls along and, quite frankly it makes me think I didn’t appreciate the Artist-D enough. But it still required a huge investment of my time and I’m not entirely sure the bed is going to stay level yet.
Now, in conjunction with this discussion, I’ve also kept the FlashForge Creator Max 2. It doesn’t sit in the same category because it’s smaller and costs more, which you might think is an automatic disqualification. But the Max 2 actually sat neglected for months in my dusty shed, and owing to it’s enclosure, when I needed it I was able to fire it up and it printed great right from the start. That is until a print wrapped itself around the print head and I shorted out the heater element trying to clean it off causing a fault in the motherboard that caused the nozzle to heat uncontrollably. Had to replace the whole motherboard. But it’s back to fine now.
In this video, I realize I am using an editing decision to eek 2 weeks of content out of a single recording session. But I can honestly say I didn’t plan this. I can’t plan something like this. Well, I could, I suppose. I planned the fake silent video. But this was, honestly, serendipity. And it’s a good thing, too, because I need the time to work on another project.
