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3D printing has not turned into the consumer revolution everyone expected. If you need proof, just look at standard-bearer MakerBot, a company conceived to bring 3D printing to the masses that is now narrowing its focus considerably to business and education.
One of the reasons it never quite took off is because 3D printing is more complicated, frustrating and messier than most of us were led to believe. It’s slow, confusing and how many oddball, rough-hewn tchotchkies does anyone need anyway?
Worse yet, so-called affordable 3D printers have not made the process any easier. Last year, I tried out a $399 Mod-T. While gorgeously designed, the wireless setup was a bust and, even when connected to a computer, it failed to properly print a single model. It was an utter failure.
MakerBot has a better rep (though the Replicator 2 we had in the office was often in need of repair) which is why I was excited to try the brand new MakerBot Replicator Mini+. It’s virtually the same size as the last Mini (which is already smaller and, to my mind, more manageable that the Replicator 2), but, according to MakerBot, is faster, quieter and can handle larger prints.
I got one in the office so I could put these claims to the test.
The key to making 3D printing accessible to average humans is two-fold. First, you need to shield them completely from the act of 3D model creation. Most of us are not designers and even fewer people can handle a CAD program. Secondly, the road from set-up to printing your first model has to be as short and bump-free as possible.
With the exception of a handful of minor bumps in the road, MakerBot Replicator Mini+ succeeds on both these fronts.
The good news starts with the out-of-the-box experience. In the box is the printer, a roll of gray PLA printing filament, the print head (or extruder), a power cord and a USB cable to connect to a PC. The 11.3-inch long by 13.8-inch wide by 15-inch tall, 20-pound MakerBot Replicator Mini+ arrives mostly assembled. There’s some packing material to remove from parts that will move during the printing process and you do have to attach both the extruder and the printing plate. I loved that both snap in place with magnets so there’s no confusion about how to attach them. The printer uses a standard AC power cable, has a power switch on the side and a status button on the front.
There’s also a quick start sheet that guides you through the initial set-up, before you switch over to the very effective MakerBot mobile app. Oddly, the one piece of packing material the instructions neglected to tell me to remove (and that I totally missed) was an orange strip of tape covering the extruder tip. I didn’t notice it until I was trying to load in my filament for the first time, which entailed heating up that printing tip and me almost accidentally burning through the tape.
After the initial unpacking, the setup switches to the MakerBot mobile app. It took me step-by-step through the process, though I initially stumbled on the Wi-Fi connectivity. Like many Wi-Fi connected devices, it wanted me to start by connecting my phone directly to the printer as if it was a Wi-Fi hot spot. The problem was, I couldn’t get the printer into the connecting mode. It took me a few tries at pressing the status button for three seconds to get it blinking blue. Once I did, the printer’s Wi-Fi SSID showed up on my iPhone and I was able to move forward.
The biggest problem I had during setup, though, was that, despite all the careful guidance, the mobile app dropped the ball on showing me exactly how to feed the filament into the extruder – a crucial step. It just told me to load the filament and, when I didn’t load it properly, it didn’t warn me with an error message and my very first print was just air.
I eventually found some filament loading guidance under utilities and then I was good to go.
It’s important to note that during my entire setup and subsequent print jobs, I never connected the Replicator Mini+ to a PC. Instead, I was able to do virtually everything through the mobile app.
Using the app, I selected the print object, started printing and visually monitored the print progress through the app (at any time I could pause or cancel the job). The last part is made possible via the printer’s built-in VGA web cam, which gives me a real-time view of the print job.
During my tests, MakerBot’s Thingverse 3D print cloud service was having technical issues and failed to properly “slice” the model and send it to the printer. Eventually, I went on to the Thingverse website, logged in, found some free models and added them to my library. They immediately appeared within the app and I was able to successfully start my first print job.
It’s always a good idea to check how long the model designers say their 3D object is going to take to print, something I failed to do on my first successful run.
Since it’s October, I chose a roughly 4-inch tall grim reaper model (the printer has a max capacity of about 4 inches long by 5 inches wide by 5 inches tall). It didn’t look that complex and it came in three pieces so I could print the main body first and then his scythe and lamp separately. At default resolution of 100 microns, the body took almost five hours to print. I'd also advise you to check the size of your objects before printing. The Mini+ will try to automatically scale objects to fit in its print area. When I tried to print a Frankenstein's monster head that was too big for the printer, it scaled it down to the size of a pea. So, yes, it printed the head, but I needed a magnifying glass to see its features.
As for the noise, multiple people came into my office to ask me what kind of weird synth, techno music I was playing. The printer delivers an endless stream of semi-tuneful sounds as it prints. If this is quieter operation, I shudder to think what the original Mini+ sounded like. The new printer is not exactly loud, but it never stops and made me wish I hadn’t set the printer up right next to where I sit. Eventually, I got used to it, but educators might think twice about putting this printer in a classroom full of distractible students.
When the MakerBot Replicator Mini+ finished its print job, I was away from my desk and I got a notification on my iPhone. When I checked the webcam, I could see the little grim reaper standing there.
I returned to my desk, slid out the print plate and proceeded to try to pry the model off of it. MakerBot redesigned the grip surface so that prints no longer curl up and off the plate during printing. I did not apply blue tape before starting the print job because MakerBot said we don’t need it anymore. It was, though, not easy to get the 3D print off. I actually gave the small plate a little twist to try to loosen its grip on the reaper. The much larger and more expensive new Replicator+ comes with a flexible plate that makes it easy to twist it until the 3D print pops off.
The print looked good, though, I would sand it down if I wanted it to look more polished. It actually printed on its own little detachable base to give the bottom a more finished look.
Later, when I printed both the scythe and lamp (in a few minutes instead of hours, thank goodness), they, too, printed on small, removable platforms.
The successful 3D printing of my little scary reaper only made me want to try printing some more, but it also proved something I’ve long suspected, a good, reliable 3D printer is going to cost you. There’s the cost of the printer, $1,299 ($999 for a limited time) and the filament, $48 a roll. This is an expensive hobby, but could be cost-effective for educators and small businesses. Plus, you can split print jobs into multiple printers, all through a single mobile app installation.
I still don’t think 3D printing is for everyone, but if you’re ready to try, I highly recommend the MakerBot Replicator Mini+.
Easy setup • Can run it via your smartphone • Fun
Printing still takes a while • Not quiet • Expensive
MakerBot Replicator Mini+ is not cheap, but is an effective, fun, mobile-friendly and easy-to-use 3D printer.
