I am new to 3D printing and recently acquired an old Original. I found the heated plate has a large 1" tear in the sticker but heater and printhead seem to work. I notice the only manual available seems to be the Quickstart which lists a spare sticker but doesn’t show use. Where would I get a sticker currently and how is the old one removed? Also are there stock gcode examples for a newbie to check functionality? I only found “benchy” boat elsewhere. Is it useful to still use this machine given support mostly gone?
There aren’t any Original parts available in the store anymore. You can try emailing support@snapmaker.com to see if they have any old parts sitting around. But there’s nothing special about the bed sticker. The bed is heated, and the sticker is passively heated by the bed. Amazon has several PEI stickers for larger machines, I search for “3d print bed sticker”. Just get one of those and cut it down.
I was able to peel the sticker off by grabbing a corner. It did leave some adhesive randomly on the plate, so I cleaned the old adhesive off with rubbing alcohol before putting a new sticker on. You do want to be careful not to scratch the bed though. Aluminum is soft, and you want a smooth flat bed to print on. I destroyed a bed with my pallet knife.
The hot end and nozzles are all fairly standard too. The only thing that could be a problem is if you fry a toolhead or the controller. A few people managed to fry the Original controller a while ago, but I don’t remember how exactly they did it. The 2.0 cables were easy to insert wrong, but the Original cables are hard to do incorrectly.
I’ve had my Original since Kickstarter in 2018. Other than having to re-tighten the bed screws every ~6 months and relevel, and replacing the bed, I’ve done no maintenance on it. I did print a couple of pieces for it though. The default spool location can cause it to bind and print poorly, so I found a spool holder than mounts to the top of the Z axis (re-uploaded because the original was removed). I find that my bed adhesion is bad if the bed gets dusty, so I designed a cover for the Original’s bed. Luban also include a sample chainmail cloth you can print. I use Cura for my 3D printing, but if I ever pull out the CNC or Laser head, I’ll use Luban to start. I mostly surf Thingiverse looking for ideas. They have a “popular” and “featured” RSS feed that I watch to find things I didn’t know I wanted 
[Edit to add] I found the manual leveling process a bit confusing at first. I found that I want to get the print nozzle down to where I can pull and push a piece of paper under the nozzle, without the paper getting stuck, then lower it 0.05mm once, until I can no longer push the paper in. That seems to be the sweet spot for me. If I’m being extra, I’ll print a 12cm square 0.04mm thick, and see how it looks. If there’s a thin or bubbly spot, raise that corner. If a corner won’t stick to the clean bed, lower that corner. I can usually level by feel now, but it took some practice.
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I have an original, as well as a spare still in the box, and a few spare parts for them. Thye are like hen’s teeth now. Hard to find.
Clewis’ answers is pretty much covers everything, but feel free to ask any more questions or ask for clarity on a topic. .
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Thanks for the very useful information to get me started. I see the current Cura plugin is listed as only compatable for newer models, not the Original? Not sure how it compares to Luban.
Luban is quite simplistic. Best to start there, as you probably won’t want the advanced features till later on anyhow. Plus Luban is machine ready, so you won’t have to set the machine parameters up in Cura.
Luban uses Cura under the hood, and is very similar. I started with Luban, then switched to Cura later when I wanted more control. The Original works fine with Cura, but it doesn’t have pre-built settings. It’s easy enough to configure when you’re ready.
IIRC, the Cura plugin lets Cura print over WiFi. The Original doesn’t have a network connection, so the plugin isn’t useful anyway. I only print using a USB drive.
Oh! I forgot to mention @xchrisd 's 3D Printing Guide.
It can get very technical, so feel free to skip sections and come back as you get more comfortable. It says “Snapmaker 2.0”, but there are files and directions for the Original. I saved the temperature towers, and print one whenever I get a new-to-me type of filament. Those require manual editing of your GCode file after Luban slices it (or a better slicer), so it’s worth saving a copy.
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