With the LulzBot Mini 3D Printer, the audience enjoys a wider net. Such audience includes personal users, libraries, businesses, schools, and other institutions requiring 3D printers of superior quality.
The manufacturer of LulzBot Mini 3D Printer is Aleph Objects, a company based in Colorado in the USA. The firm has previous experience in producing and developing various other 3D printers through LulzBot projects.
The Mini 3D printer is the latest invention in the products of the range.
Let us now come with relevant details of the product:
Design
The LulzBot Mini 3D Printer has some acute differences from its bigger counterparts. Unlike those bigger accessories, it does not use the black rolled steel frame; instead, an alumina frame is used in this piece.
However, the same open-frame design also opts-in these pieces.
The user needs to adopt cautionary measures against the parts that are left exposed.
Younger users need to be more alert while using the device.
The big red power button and the USB port are located at the frontal of the device. Such positioning makes the uses more comfortable.
In this way, the device can be made useful with multiple PCs. The small size helped it in becoming more comfortable for the portable nature.
The printer needs not to be tethered to PCs at the time of printing an object. Therefore, it is suggested that the device is attached to one computer and print the things required in the machine.
If the user aims to place the device in one location and use it in one computer he might have to be depressed with the loose connection.
Print Material
The LulzBot Mini 3D Printer can make printing possible with ABS plastic filaments as well as PLAs. Besides, printing is possible with other materials too. The apparatus is able to make use of the newly introduced light-weight high-impact polystyrene filaments too.
The printing job is easily accomplished as the printing material stays affixed to the bed at lower temperatures too.
The machine is also liked for its optimum durability.
Quality of Printing
People like to use LulzBot Mini 3D Printer for its easy accessibility of printing. The printing process is smooth and is also capable to express a lot of detail.
Printing, when done in bulk, may leave thin pieces of filaments but these pose no problem to the users.
The printing quality is consistently good and the device offers continuous services throughout the lifetime of the device.
Despite equal treatment capability with various kinds of printing material, there are issues with specific kinds of colorful materials.
White pink plastics might not appear much different from PLA varieties, the former requires settings that are somewhat varied in nature for enabling the same layer as that of a PLA plastic.
It may also occur that the filament stays entangled as the procedure progresses. Such an occurrence might cause several entangling and in a continuous process.
The process is recommended to keep under strict supervision in order to avoid snapping the filament and clogging of the parts that are heated. It means that under such circumstances, printing without supervision will be an impossible task.
Such occurrence may found in common and stay prevailed in the same types of devices having an open frame. Observation is easy provided the instance happened at earlier hours.
Speed of Print
LulzBot Mini 3D Printer keeps an average range of speed in comparison to other printers that possess some kind of layer height.
Geometric sculpture on a fast setting takes around two hours to print. Larger and detailed models take seven hours which is at par with similar devices.
The device emits noise at the time of performance. It is due to the fact that the device has an open frame; therefore, no sound within the apparatus can be shielded. The rotating motors create high-pitched whine at the time of continuing the process and such high-decibel sound may even create annoyance to the neighbor too.
Spirited Alignment
In the LulzBot Mini 3D Printer as well as in many of its counterparts, plastic filaments are used via following a process.
In the process, it is ensured that the extruder is properly aligned with the platform. Therefore, the user gets some extra time getting things printed.
With the device, LulzBot has included an already-aligned layer of filament at the time of commencement.
Features
The summation of the Print Area of this majestic device is 6×6×6.2 inches. It is able to eject a total volume of print that amounts to 1650 sq. cm. At the height of 0.38 layer height, it is able to eject at 275mm per second.
The beautiful LulzBot Mini 3D Printer uses several kinds of filaments for printing.
Besides PLA and ABS, it uses PVA, IIPS, wood fill filaments, Bronze and Copper fill filaments, Polycarbonate, Nylon, PETG, conductive PLA, and ABS and many of the similar others for printing.
Software
The inner build of the LulzBot Mini 3D Printer finds compatibility with various kinds of operating systems. These include Linux, Windows, and Mac. It has also included Cora Software.
It allows the users to import a 3D model and set up to print in the LuizBot Mini devices.
If the user decides not to go with Cora, there are several other open-source control programs to provide support to the whole enigma.
The SD card slot has no physical control on the device. It is thus recommended that the whole thing is controlled through the PC at the time of printing. It also provides scope for a streamlined and consistent printing process.
The software Cora is highly intuitive in nature.
The clean interface discloses everything. With this, the user can access 3D models under various formats that include OBJ and TSTL. Sometimes, a number of image files are also resulted in.
The user is thus able to scale, rotate, shift, and do several other ways of manipulating the resources till the final print is drawn out. Multiple models are thus put to print in order to get one by one from the same proceeding.
Again, detailed manipulation is not possible as the Cora Software is not exclusively made to support objects like model 3D. It can also be made to run in the background at the time of printing.
Using LulzBot Mini 3D Printer
Using the printer is quite easy. You have to just power on and make sure that the printer gets connected to the USB and stays plugged in and powered on before launching Cura.
After that, you have to begin the configuration by selecting the printer, adding it, and clicking on the finish button when it pops up.
Select the load model and the right material from the categories. After that, you have to select the standard.
Then, you will see that a screen appears for you to accept the filament. There are options for you to explore the advanced features in this printer as well as the profiles.
The profiles include around 30 different filament types like ornamental and industrial-strength copolymers.
Pros
- The main facility with the LulzBot Mini 3D Printer is its invariable speed. Printings are accessed at a continuous rate. Besides, prints are available with greater details that are available with the peering machines.
- The device is able to work with a host of plastic materials. Being the configuration done in the open frame, the user is able to witness the process from start to end.
- The acute compactness and portability are universally adored.
Cons
- The common dealing persons with fewer resources will have to think for hours before deciding about the purchase. The machine is far away from expensive than its peers.
- Another drawback is the price. An average LulzBot Mini 3D Printer costs more than 40 percent in excess of that offered by most of the peers.
- The noises the machines create at the time of execution is enough to aggravate the neighboring people.
Prices offered
Since there is no doubt that the LulzBot Mini 3D Printer offers comparatively higher prices than many of its peers. The cost never reaches the range of dearness offered by many of the predecessors.
Despite being the high or medium dearness, the features offered by the excellent product reach beyond the limit of others.
The machine is capable to offer excellent material resilience at the time of printing; the quality of printing is always better.
Experts pay little heed about the prices of these machines as the level of return stays at a much higher limit.
Final Thoughts:
As the concluding review, we must mention the excellence of the device.
LulzBot Mini 3D Printer is attractive to look at and is capable to accomplish its job at a much faster rate and with absolute accuracy.
The device is known to expel a high range of resilience in handling materials.
The device is able to manage a number of various printing filaments in one go. Such flexible performance is not possible by any of its peers.
Irrespective of technical expertise or experience standard, the persons dealing with the machine has conclusively opined that the machines offer the best kind of imagination and intuitiveness with the performance. And that’s a wrap for LulzBot Mini 3D Printer review!