This is by no means a thorough review and neither am I an expert on the subject. This is in fact a very subjective review and you should take any part of it with a grain of salt.
My background: Engineer with a solid understanding of mathematics, electronics, programming and materials. I got my first 3D printer about two months ago. This was the XYZPrinting Da Vinci 1.0. In fact a very user-friendly printer (and the cheapest one at that, too! around 500$ afair), pre-assembled, calibrated and ready to print when you receive it. It only prints with one head and only with ABS. You have to use XYZPrinting filament and the firmware is proprietary and even though Repetier-Host is used, it is “closed” so that settings are not user-modifiable. If this had just worked, I would have no problems with using slightly more expensive XYZPrinting filament and proprietary firmware/software. However on larger prints, delamination of the layers was always an issue and since I could not increase the temperature of the hotend, there were no way to fix it. Thus, using “hacks” on the Voltivo.com forum, I replaced the firmware with open-source firmware and now had a reasonably working printer which I am still calibrating…
The delamination issue is fixed by upping the temperature, but warping is something I will probably have to live with using ABS for larger prints. So I wanted to try PLA.
Vertex enters the scene…
I received my Vertex a few weeks ago. I had it assembled in two weekends (if you don’t have any kids or a wife you can do it over a single weekend, no problems). It was very nice to actually be able to build everything (almost) from scratch; on the other hand I can see why some would not want to do this; the Da Vinci is obviously soooo much easier to start with.
One of my Iglidur linear bearing were shattered in 4 almost identical pieces. I think this is due to the fact that they were packaged along with 4 steel cylinders (the Z-rod bearings, don’t remember their official name). If they had been packaged separately I don’t think this would have happened. In any case, Velleman sent me two (!) replacement bearings free of charge immediately. Very nice service. In the mean time I had superglued the broken bearing and it seems to work as of now.
You really have to be careful assembling the frame; I was not and I can see that I have to re-assemble some parts to make things fit together better. On the other hand, the most important part is the movement of the xy-axis, and that seems to work nicely after a few trials and adjustments.
There are however places where I really think the construction of the printer could be improved a lot; several places it is very difficult to get to the screws and nuts after-the-fact and really I don’t see why it could not be made a bit simpler. Also, even though I only used standard tools, it would have been nice if Velleman had provided a few plastic tools for the job (you know, IKEA-style ;-)). Yes, the price is obviously a factor, but still. My standard tools were simply too big and in some places I really had a hard time tightening everything up. Not crucial at all (some other things as described below is more crucial imo).
I made a few mistakes along the way; I forgot to tighten the x-axis pulley (doh!) and the LCD-to-controller board connector did not slide in correctly so the LCD did not work the first time I turned the printer on (double-doh!). But I must say that the manual is extremely nice and very thorough!
My biggest complaint about this printer has actually nothing to do with 3D printing at all. It is the power supply. Now, there are probably EU rules covering electronic kits, specifying that it is ok to sell deadly power-supplies as long as the user has to assemble the kit himself (or not?). But come on! Why on earth would you choose a power supply with exposed 230 V terminals??? Or with holes where all sort of things could get in to? I am sure there are dozens of other china-produced power supplies where the terminals ends in a “normal” plug of some sort. Considering that this printer will probably be used by a number of hobbyists with kids at home, this is simply not acceptable from my point of view. Yes, I know, the printer should be under supervision all the time, it contains a very hot nozzle, etc, etc, but let’s be realistic: This is simply too stupid…
Software: I had a few issues with the software (as I installed it without being administrator) but again Velleman support was superb and helped me out there.
Calibrating the first layer was a pain (but I knew that from my Da Vinci). The BuildTak did NOT help out during this crucial step. Removing thin or tightly squished layers proved to be very difficult (read: impossible) without leaving marks in the BuildTak. The few prints I have printed now in a more “operational” sense, seems to suggest that the BuildTak is fine for adherence so I guess in that sense it is ok. But having to remove the BuildTak every N prints (and pay for it in the long run) is simply not something I want to do; your mileage may vary. So I have ordered an MK3 heated bed (which by the way was cheaper than one piece of BuildTak!) and hopefully this will prove to be better during calibration (and operationally of course). It will be interesting to try to print directly to the aluminium.
The bed mount with three screws (and six adjustment knobs) is not my cup of tea. I think the Da Vinci approach with a single spring-loaded adjustment knob per screw is much easier to calibrate. However I don’t know about maintenance in the long run; maybe the spring-loaded mechanism gets out of calibration more often than the Velleman-approach; who am I to judge that… On the other hand, the spring loaded bed is far more forgiving of calibration errors; the nozzle simply pushes the bed down if the bed is too high. It would of course be nice to have auto-levelling, but that is obviously a major cost-driver so it is completely understandable why this is not part of the printer (and in any case, the reviews I have been reading seems to suggest that even high-end 3D printers with this functionality still needs calibration).
Enclosure: It is a nice touch that most stuff is enclosed and the general external impression of the printer is ok in my opinion. Compared to the Da Vinci, the Vertex is waaaay smaller (even for the same print volume!) so that is really good (I was chocked when I saw the Da Vinci for the first time!). It would be easy to fit a door to further enclose it (for ABS printing this will probably help a teeny bit). As I don’t really want to use it for ABS (as I have the Da Vinci for that) I will probably not do anything about it, but if I had to use it for ABS I would make a door and somehow try to make a top as well (this on the other hand can probably not be done as easily/pretty).
And then there is the bottom fan. I simply don’t get it. Looking at the mounting of the power supply and the controller board there is no way this tiny fan will do anything to cool the stepper drivers. The only thing it could do is cooling the power supply a little bit, but the power supply has no holes (facing the fan) for this to be effective so I simply don’t get it. In my setup this fan is also the noisiest component, even when the printer is printing (but maybe this is just some weird resonance effect in my setup).
The plastic pulleys will probably have to be replaced with steel ones at some point in time (maybe soon?); but for me they still works.
The overall conclusion is…inconclusive… This is my first home-built 3D printer, so I have nothing to compare with. You can certainly get cheaper DIY 3D printers and you may even get cheaper ones with approximately the same specifications. I have not printed enough on the Vertex to be able to say anything about long-term quality and even if I had I would still not be able to say anything about comparison to other printers on the market. Personally I like Velleman (I have used their electronic kits since I was a kid) and I am currently very pleased with the support they have given. So maybe paying a few bucks more than what I would pay somewhere else is not really the main driver for me. But for me this printer is a very nice starting point for PLA and I will surely buy the two-head option when it becomes available.
Please feel free to comment… 