3D printers are getting cheaper; especially Chinese 3D printers. But are they any good? And which one is best?

This 30 minute video guide details my build of this budget cheap Chinese 3D printer the TronXY X1 and it's first print. Along the way I review the quality of the kit and the printer when built.

I found numerous problems along the way:

1. Missing/surplus nuts and bolts
The kit came with a bag of nuts, bolts, washers, etc. But it looked like no one counted them. I had far too many of some things and not enough of others. I had substitutes available, but not everyone would have.

2. Wobbly build plate
The X axis wobbles. You can get around it by loosening and retightening the bolts against the spacers, but it will come loose again. The solution is to print a support bracket from Thingiverse job done.

3. Z axis misaligned
If you attach the Z axis motor as instructed, it will not be correctly aligned. The Z axis lead screw will be bent, and the machine may squeak or bind up. The solution is to place a 5mm spacer between the Z axis motor and the Z axis support. I used some nuts, but many people redesign and print the spacer.

4. Base screws protrude below base
These scratched my desk, which is pretty annoying. The fix is, again, easy. Countersink the base plate to allow the bolt heads to drop below the surface,

5. Construction instructions just plain wrong in places
They specify an order of assembly which simply cannot work. You have to follow those instructions, then find the problem, then disassemble, then do it correctly. A pointless wase of time.

For all these problems, once built, the printer, once built, is extremely competent.

Since i made this video, I've been hammering my X1 to make 3D printer parts for instruments I sell, and it's worked extremely hard for a year with no loss of performance, and I haven't even needed to tighten a belt!

If you're interested, you can find a page about that here: http://chriswesley.org/spectrometer.h.... That page includes a sales video.

Anyway, my money extremely well spent the day I purchased my TrojnXY X1. The world of 3D printing opened up for me, and I've never looked back!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2709836

MUSIC:

Operating System (Sting) by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/