3D Systems - Cube Wireless 3D Printer - White

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• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Intuitive handling

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  The Cube 3D printer is a good value for the casual user. It performed nicely right out of the box. I have had a few issues with the filament becoming clogged in the cartridge. This made the two color printer print in a single color. Other than the filament issue the cube is a reliable 3D printer

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  Posted 9 years ago by Printyplease

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Great turn-key printer

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  The Cube (3) 3D printer is a solid product. The printer itself produces quality prints, especially at its 70 micron resolution. It also has the ability to print in 2 colors, which is a large plus for a printer in this price range. That said, you may find some issues connecting it to a wireless network (The Cubify associates told me, "Our WiFi module supports 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.11b/g. We generally support WPA, WPA2 and WEP. We do not support any Enterprise level security (typically used in the office or school environment). You should also make sure the password is less than 16 characters and has no symbols (alphanumeric only).") So this may impact your ability to use the printer in wireless mode without altering your WiFi setup. The cartridges are a bit expensive in comparison to bulk filament, but it's a price I'm willing to pay for the convenience. The cube software occasionally has issues with generating appropriate supports on custom designed parts of odd shape, so it is occasionally necessary to create those manually using the 3D modeling software of your choice. All things considered, this printer does a great job, is reliable, and apart from some minor inconveniences in software, really is easy to use.

  This review is from 3D Systems - Cube Wireless 3D Printer - Black

  Posted 10 years ago by sirnigel

• Rated 3 out of 5 stars

  Family friendly 3D Printer

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  3D printers often require some technical savvy and the desire to tinker and fiddle with them to get the best possible output. The Cube 3 may take away some of the flexibility you get with other printers, but 3D Systems has also automated a lot, making it one of the more user-friendly 3D printers now available. The Cube 3 is sleek, with a polished look and open print bed. Cartridges on the sides hold the filament, which is available in a variety of colors, and also include a print head at the end of a plastic cable that feeds into the top of the Cube 3. The filament runs through a foot of plastic cable before being heated up and extruded out. This design is simple, but can lead to failure if the filament breaks inside the path to the printer. As a good precaution, take care in handling to prevent this cable from bending and breaking the filament inside, in order to keep the printer running smooth. The software is simple and -- while leaving out some of the more advanced settings to tweak and fine tune -- does a good job of keeping it basic. For a lot of prints, this ends up working. The software can store a library of past and future prints and syncs with the online Cube account. It can also send you an e-mail once a project has completed printing, and will even verify the print and sync back an updated file if it made any corrections. Updates to the printer are handled with the software, or you can use the LCD on the front of the printer to update using a Wi-Fi connection. The touch LCD can be used to connect to Wi-Fi, update firmware, change filament cartridges (to another color or when it needs replacing), check the percentage of filament left, calibrate the bed, and start a print from a connected USB flash drive. The printer uses PLA plastic, which doesn't need a heated bed and is more biodegradable and eco-friendly than ABS. During our testing, the Cube 3 was able to handle a variety of objects with pretty good results. Like any 3D printer, it did handle some objects much better than others. Simple geometric shapes without overhangs or complex patterns did best. Spheres and anything with little surface area on the bottom of the print tended to release from the ceramic bed and end in a ruined print, but this happens on other 3D printers as well. Some imperfections were noticed when using dual colors on some prints, as one color would get mixed into the other, with pieces of loose or extra filament strands being the main culprit. Printing from iPhone, Mac, PC and USB flash drive is supported. It's nice and portable compared to other printers, and great for taking somewhere and using an iPhone in Ad-Hoc Wi-Fi mode to print something. It still takes between 1 and 4 hours to print, but being able to take it somewhere with minimal hassle and not need to do calibration and tinkering is great. Overall: The Cube 3 has the "safe for the whole family" aspect about it (for kids 8 and up), and that it does deliver. It's easy to use and set up. Filament is available in multiple colors, and two print jets allow for some fun multiple-color objects to be made. The filament-break issues did happen to us, but being careful not to bend the cable on the cartridge too fast or more than 120 degrees seemed to alleviate the problem. Like all 3D printers made for home use, some objects print out better than others, but overall the Cube 3 does a pretty decent job and is very easy to operate. If you are looking for a good-looking printer with good print quality, think technology should just work, and don't mind paying a little more for filament, the Cube 3 may be a good match. If you are looking for something that lets you dial in more advanced settings, have access to many filament manufacturers, and don't mind tinkering, you'll want to look at another printer. Pros: -- Automatic leveling and calibration require no technical knowledge to complete. -- Ceramic base is easy to clean and use. -- Dual print jets allow objects with two colors to be made. -- Filament cartridge system makes it very easy to change out filament. Cons: -- Proprietary filament cartridge is 50% more expensive and can malfunction, with no way to fix without replacing it. -- Dual colors can mix in prints, leaving streaks of color where they don't belong. -- Ceramic base does not have great adhesion for prints with small footprints, and software does not automatically know that a "sidewalk" or supports are needed for a print. -- The noise while printing has been mentioned as annoying by a few, so listen to a video of it printing to make sure you're OK with it. (It's not bad, but something worth mentioning.)

  Posted 10 years ago by JasonR_BBYSTAFF