Ultimate 2

I always do a lot of research before purchasing a product and unfortunately I made the wrong choice purchasing this printer. We are new to 3D printing and we were very excited to start the adventure. The first 10 prints came out flawlessly and then we started having issues. The prints were coming out with burn marks on the prints and the door was having trouble shutting due to warping. This happened after less than 2 months of ownership. When we contacted support, we were treated rudely and told that we need to modify our usage. Here is the response from Monoprice: “I'm not sure why this would suddenly happen but I know I had issues after a while with the door closed on similar models which is why I made that suggestion.” There is a known issue and now they want us to print with the door open. We have a toddler and keep the printer in a separate room, but bought this with the intention of having extra protection. When we mentioned this, the representative was condescending and made us feel like we were stupid for taking as much caution as necessary. If we weren’t looking for the extra safety, I would have purchased a model that was not enclosed.In addition to the burn marks, the burnt prints were also having trouble being removed from the base. There is definitely an excessive heat issue which didn’t exist upon initial purchase.When the printer was printing correctly, the prints were great and the learning curve was moderate.Also, there is very little community support for this model, so I would suggested a more known model/brand.

This is my third printer. My first was a Solidoodle, which is still operational, but has its limitations.My second was an Instone Inventor, which worked for a while, but wasn't durable.Now there's this one, which is solidly built and has excellent print quality.If you've ever worked with a Zortrax, you should feel right at home.It has a filament runout detector, but you have to enable it in the settings on the printer.It comes with masking tape on the build platform, and it lasted for a few prints before tearing. I put on a BuildTak surface, and I'm really pleased with it.So far, I've just printed PLA with it. I did a lot of ABS on the Solidoodle, but I'm doing all PLA lately because it doesn't distort as much as it cools.Anyway, the one thing I found that I needed to be careful is when feeding new filament, let the printer take it in. If I forced too much filament in, it missed the internal path and jammed inside.Also, the spool hanger seemed a little flimsy to me, and changing spools is a little clumsy - really hard to do if you run out and/or want to change spools in the middle of a print.Update:After using it for a year, I noticed a couple of things which may contribute to the negative reviews here.I'm not sure if I did it when I disassembled the head, but it might have come like this. The extruder cooling fan must run all the time or the filament gets too hot and wraps around the feeder wheel. The fan had been plugged into the wrong socket - it needed to go into the "fan" socket.The X-axis stepper motor cable broke a wire. It was secured by a tie wrap to the carriage, and the tie point caused too sharp a flex in the cable that damaged it. I had to run a new motor cable and left it hanging more loosely.I also used Arduino to load Marlin firmware with the heater set to half power so it settled better. Before that, it overshot to an incredible amount. (unfortunately, after I did that, the auto leveling no longer works, but I can do without).On the plus side, the printer was very easy to work on, except for some of the motherboard screws that were hard to get to, particularly the one in the corner behind the ribbon cable header.I also replaced the impossible-to-get-to leveling nuts with wing nuts, which makes it much easier to adjust.

This is my second 3D printer. I upgraded to this because of the auto-leveling. Very glad I did for more reasons than just that. No assembly required. I took it out of the box, looked at the quick-start guide, ran the wizard, and started printing.It came with everything needed to get started, including a roll of PLA, masking tape, glue stick, two different programs, and about 6 different test files.The print quality is outstanding right out of the box. I’ve printed both PLA and ABS successfully multiple times.The only issues I’ve had have been due to issues with print files I downloaded online, not the printer itself or included files. I’d recommend this printer to anyone interested in 3D printing, novice or advanced. Well worth the money it costs.During my research, I saw a video by YouTuber DrVax in which he closely compared this printer to a $1000 Prusa i3. If I’m not mistaken, he’s also called this the best printer under $1000.UPDATE: after having this printer for 6 months, it has started giving me feed issues. I’ve been in contact with customer support a few times and I think we’ve already come full circle without fixing the problem. I’m now being told to clean the nozzle, which I had already addressed and specified so in my first email. I’m still no expert in 3D printing, but I think I know more than he does.UPDATE 2: I completely replaced the nozzle assembly. Had one small semi-successful print and then the same feed issues. The "Product Specialist" at Monoprice is still insisting that I clean my BRAND NEW NOZZLE.UPDATE 3: Original printer was sent to manufacturer. Received another, but wouldn’t hit a Y-axis limit switch due to faulty construction. Received yet another and I’m back to printing.UPDATE 4: Successful replacement lasted about 2 years before something went crazy. Bed wouldn't get close enough to the nozzle, even when running the leveling program. Customer service was excellent and I got yet another replacement exactly 8 calendar days after shipping the old one. This is the same printer, with a few minor differences and it is WAY quieter. I've only printed a test print so far (not with the included filament), but things are looking great as I'm currently printing a custom-made file as I type this. I'll update again soon.

SI eres como yo y no sabes nada sobre impresión 3d, definitivamente recomiendo esta impresora. No tuve que moverle nada y estaba imprimiendo en menos de 20 minutos después de sacarla de la caja.Llevo unas semanas usándola y no he tenido ningún problema con ella. Recomiendo utilizar Wiibuilder (incluido en la sd de la impresora) para hacer el slice ya que automáticamente te pone los settings correcto para la impresora y solo debes presionar un botón para hacer el slice.

I did quite a bit of research before deciding to buy this 3D printer. One aspect that I didn't check was to care about what materials are being used to create the unit. I have always felt Monoprice to have that same AmazonBasics relationship of price to quality ration, but I really think that Monoprice has missed the standard with the Maker Ultimate 2.I would have been happy to figure out how to fix this myself if the support team could just send me the required parts (weak plastic brackets that hold x-axis, maybe?). When I contacted support, they decided that I should claim the warranty and go through the RMA process. I just sent it back to amazon. I love Amazon. When will you make an AmazonBasics 3D printer for us?

No funciona!