My frustrating journey

Snapmaker 2.0
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Given the 5 year Anniversary celebrations I felt this would be a good time to reflect on my experience with Snapmaker to date.

Personally, as a Kickstarter backer for the A350, I had high expectations but cannot say these were met. For instance, even running with the built in LUBAN profiles and with a gazillion tweaks, I have get to get a print I could proudly display. It actually hurts me inside to see the prints some people display. It hurts me more when those lucky enough to have a good machine blame my issues on ā€œuser errorā€. To be clear my prints are functional but consistently not aesthetically good enough to showcase let alone sell. The laser works slightly better but overall still less than what I expected. As for the CNC I have not tried it yet.

To compound the matter, their pricing is excessive. Unfortunately, many of us tend to fall into the ā€œsunk costā€ fallacy, where we reason, ok I have already paid so much so might as well build on what I have rather than start all over again. But again unfortunately the pricing does not take people like me - who need to fix what we did not break ourselves - into consideration.

Today in hindsight I can conclude that I got a LEMON, one of the machines that slipped through their poor Quality Assurance process.

At this point I have tentatively gone with Plan B, an effort at at trying to get the best out of the situation. Thus, I have ordered the 10W laser so that I will at least have a semi-decent laser cutter and engraver in a nice and relatively safe enclosure. I am of course fervently hoping that I will not be let down again.

For printing, itā€™s more complicated. I have the level bed issue so cannot consistently use the whole print area. So a replacement aluminum bed may be required. Given the discounted price I bought the new printer head in the hope that things might improve on that front. The jury is still out on the new rails however, although I suppose they could be the cause of my printing woes. Again at a 50% discount I am tempted to take this last gamble. At this point the machine would have cost me well over ā‚¬2000.

Again in hindsight I guess I was blinded by the promise of the large bed when a Prusa MK3S would have probably been a healthier (saner) way forward at the time.

For the sake of fairness, the one positive note I have to mention is the support team that Snapmaker have. They have always answered my emails promptly and tried to assist as best they could. So it is not all bad.

To conclude, I am purely a hobbyist and did not set out with the intention of selling anything. I am into other hobbies (electronics arduino robotics and making) and thought the snapmaker would allow me to indulge in some creativity and achieve some synergy across hobbies.

So far it has not done that as I have spent more time messing about with it then actually making things.

Apologies for the rantā€¦ in fairness I will post again (or update this) if anything improves.

Have a good day people.

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I took a look at your posting history, and this is the only thread that you have created since you created your account over a year ago. Some issues require tweaking your setup, while others require parts to be replaced. Really good prints donā€™t just happen, you need to learn how the machine works, how the materials behave, and how to tweak the settings to get the best result possible. If you need help, and it very much sounds like you do, you need to ask for it and present the issue(s) that you are having.

For every issue there is a solution, and it takes time to learn what those solutions are. If you want to learn, I suggest watching videos from respected 3d printing community members and to read all that you can. While watching a video you should always be asking yourself, ā€œWhat if?ā€ and ā€œWhy?ā€, then research answers to those questions. Most of all, experiment safely. You canā€™t learn anything, if you never fail. That is the only way that you will learn what you need to know to get better.

There have been numerous discussions on bed leveling and using the entire build area. The latest versions of the firmware fix a long standing bug that made it impossible to auto-level the entire bed. Since this has been fixed, and you can do up to an 11x11 bed leveling (via USB), unless your platform is extremely bad, there is no reason that you canā€™t use the entire build area.

Now, this is for everyone. If you have an issue, ASK FOR HELP! Unless you are having the EXACT same issue as someone else, and I very seriously mean down to a T, DONā€™T hijack someone elseā€™s thread with your issue(s)! CREATE YOUR OWN THREAD(S)!

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He participated through on topic replies in many threads. Creating topics is not the only way to participate.

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Thank you for your reply. However you are incorrect right off the bat, as I have actually been quite active both here and even more so on the snapmaker facebook groups. I even designed and printed my own external cooler solution and it is posted on another thread here. On the facebook groups I have been assigned badges for my high level of engagement, consistent posts, and supporting others.

Please do not make assumptions on my capabilities or lack of them. I have done my research donā€™t worry. I have even compared settings line with line with other users and compared the end result.

It remains a fact that some were lucky in the quality of machine they got and others were less so. No doubt you were one of the former group. I am happy for you but please do not begrudge me this outlet for venting my frustration.

I am also actively trying to fix matters; In fact I am about to dismantle the whole machine and re-assemble it from scratch just to exclude that as the issue. I ordered the new printing head and may order the new rails also, and maybe the new bed too if necessary . But at the end of all this if I have to buy the rails it will have cost me almost double what I paid just to get to the same point as the ā€œlucky onesā€.

In my view, that - and the waste of precious time - is all due to the lack of Quality Assurance at some stage in the Snapmaker production process. And thus totally unnecessary.

But do not worry, just as I was fair in praising Snapmaker support, I will be the first to come back here and admit I was wrong if it turns out to be so, because as always I believe in sharing any lessons I learn.

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Also thisā€¦

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image1390Ɨ562 42.6 KB

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@JohnFiott I see ā€œ1 topic createdā€, which happens to be this one. That is what I was referring to, so your assumptions about my post are incorrect. Being active, and starting your own threads, are 2 entirely different things, which I explicitly covered in my post.

Your assumption that I was a ā€œlucky oneā€ is also completely off target. I had one of the worst platforms that support had ever seen, 3 linear modules failed, and it took me 3 months to get a good first layer. I fixed the platform myself, and have had no problem printing (aside from the linear module failures) since. I have never disputed that Snapmaker has QC issues, and I have never said otherwise.

The difference is, that I knew what I needed to do to get things done, whereas your post clearly states that you donā€™t. Anywho, I chose my words very carefully, and I stand by everything that I said.

Best of luck

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@CNC-Maker why are you judging someone by how many topics theyā€™ve created?

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You are of course entitled to your views, but coming here to undermine my post does not really add any value.

Furthermore, not that I give this any importance but I note that you also only posted one topic, so it is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black, is it not?

If you would really like to help then I sincerely suggest you consider posting a topic of your own explaining how you resolved all the issues you faced so that maybe I can learn from your experience.

At the end of the day, all I really care about is being able to use my machine to make things.

I sincerely wish you all the best.

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Question: When you say you want to buy the new bed, is there a newly released bed or do you just mean a bed that hasnā€™t been used but the same that you have now? I havenā€™t heard of a new bed but maybe I missed something.

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The forum has a search :wink:
first hit when looking for ā€œnew bedā€

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Yes that is what I mean by New Bed. Now this only applies to Kickstarter backers like myself because after that everyone got the new one anyway.

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@JohnFiott i didnā€™t get the new bed, I got my Snapmaker in February and it came with the old bed but new print head, I had to order the new bed -.-

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I also asked for a new bed and I was sent another old bed, that was even more out of true lmfao. Oh well, now I have 2, so I can mill the other one someday.

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do i think bed, rails, etc can contribute to your issues @JohnFiott , yes.
I think getting flatter bed can help.
However i donā€™t think this is the root issue - it just helps mitigate.

However I am now utterly convinced their levelling system still has fundamental bugs, i also agree I think I have a lemon.
Fundamental Calibration Issueā€¦? - Snapmaker 2.0 - Snapmaker: where creation happens

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Ah, I only know about the ā€œnewā€ bed because that was shipped with mine in Oct 2020 so when he mentioned it alongside the other actual NEW items, I was confused. Thanks for the info!!

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If I need help, I create a post and ask for it. I havenā€™t had a need to ask anyone in these forums for help, as I have been able to research everything that I need. By your own words, you are in need of help, havenā€™t found that help, and posted a rant here instead of asking for help. I find that disrespectful, yet I presented you with helpful suggestions.

Best of luck

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Damn dude, how about taking your own advice and stop making this topic about you and how disrespectful you think it is. You clearly have issues with it.

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@CNC-Maker i donā€™t know what the chip on your shoulder is, but before I left the Snapmaker Facebook groups because of a certain someone that amassed a simp army and started a war all because I called her out for being stupid and lying (you know who you are), I saw @JohnFiott post there all the time. So for you to assume he isnā€™t creating his own topics and thinking the forum is the only resource, you are only showing your own ignorance. Thereā€™s no way for anyone to know anotherā€™s experiences on the internet, take a chill pill.

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I have the new platform bed frame but didnā€™t assemble because of huge gaps if i lay it on a flat surface, i guess it is not better than the old designā€¦

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@CNC-Maker there are more forums than this oneā€¦ John has been contributing ang asking alot of questions in the Facebook groups. I also had a lot of private conversations with him to try to help him with his issues.
Have a great day sir :wink:

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