- Today I am really excited to review
with you this printer right here,
the Monoprice Delta Mini 3D Printer.
I had this printer for about a month.
I actually did a livestream when I unboxed,
and did my first test print, so you can go check that out,
and see what's it's like directly out of the box.
Over the last month it's been a very interesting experience
to get to know this printer and use it a little bit more,
and I think that overall that's probably the best word
to use when describing this 3D printer,
and that is interesting.
This is a very interesting printer and I will explain why.
And so first let's jump into the design
and the layout on this printer.
On the front of the printer is the LCD panel
with the selector buttons.
This side of the printer is blank.
There's nothing there.
You've got this spool holder that just clips on right here,
and then the rear of the printer
is where you have the power adapter.
You have a USB port.
You have this LED slash button,
and you also have the slot for the micro SD card.
This LED which is also a button serves a few purposes.
It can turn on the printer's wifi,
which I haven't messed with 'cause honestly,
I don't even wanna begin trying to play with that.
I just don't trust that on any
of the cheap printers that I have.
I prefer to print straight from the SD card.
That seems to be the most reliable way to do it.
That's what I would recommend everybody does is just
print directly from the SD card and you're good to go.
So if you plug this printer in, it powers on.
You're supposed to be able to just push this button
and it prints the first print that's on the SD card,
which is what I did when I set up the printer,
and so if you watch that livestream where I set it up,
a lot of people kinda got upset and criticized me
for like not reading the instructions
and taking the time to learn.
It's like of course normally that is something I would do.
It's what I've done on any of my other printers.
Even on an inexpensive printer like this,
I would normally take the time to get to know it,
but Monoprice has been billing this as an all in one,
out of the box 3D printing solution.
Like you just push one button and it'll start printing,
and I wanted to test that.
And it actually worked pretty well during the livestream,
but knowing what I know about some of the quirks
of this printer now, I definitely don't think
it's a total total beginner's choice.
So it's sort of a strange option, I guess, especially me.
I know I have a lot of print files usually on my SD card.
It's not usually just the one.
If you keep one print file on your SD card,
it could be really quick and easy
to skip over this annoying interface.
Pop in the card, press that button,
and then it'll just start printing that file,
but for me I usually keep a few things on there.
Some test prints, some things that I print regularly,
and so I need to navigate through,
and select what I wanna print each time.
So now it's worth mentioning this is the first
Delta style 3D printer that I've used.
The first one that I've owned,
and so it's been a bit of a learning curve for me
to kind of understand how it works and how to set up,
but I wanna through with you the pros and the cons
that I've discovered about the Monoprice Delta Mini
over the month that I've had it.
So let's start with the pros, with the good stuff.
The best thing about this 3D printer by far is its price.
I was able to get this directly
from Monoprice for $150 dollars,
which is the normal selling price on their website.
That means that this is one of the cheapest
3D printer options out there right now,
and really if you're thinking about buying this printer,
it's $150 dollars regardless of any of the pros and cons
that I'm gonna say in this review.
It is 100% worth $150 dollars.
I even did another livestream where I compared this,
a print on this against the Prusa Mark 2,
and obviously the Prusa did outperform the Delta Mini,
'cause it's an $800 to $1,000 dollar printer.
It's got the reputation of a Prusa.
This is $150 dollar new kind of odd entry into the market,
but I was really impressed with the quality of the print
that this produced compared to the Prusa.
There was a difference but it wasn't a huge difference,
and that was pretty awesome especially for the price.
So the next pro to talk about when dealing
with this printer is the build quality.
The size.
It's very very small.
It is called the mini.
Some people criticize it 'cause it has
a very very small build plate.
It's about that big of a build surface for you to print on,
but it has Mini in the name so how can you be upset
when the print size is mini?
Like it's not called the Delta Large,
and then it's built this big.
It's called the Delta Mini and it prints mini,
so I'm fine with that.
The build quality overall is really really nice.
Most of the printer is made out of metal.
The extruder motor and the hot end are very very similar,
if not almost identical to what comes on the Select Mini,
so if you've used those printers,
it should look very very familiar.
Most of the frame is made out of metal.
The only real plastic on this printer
is the panel around the LCD display,
this surface near the bed, and then the top panel.
Those are all plastic and the handle is plastic,
and it's kinda funny that it has a handle
'cause Monoprice's thing is like portability.
You can 3D print from anywhere.
So it's kinda like Apple in the 1980s
with the original Macintosh,
how they put a handle on the back,
or even the original iMacs that came out in late 90s
where it's like you can just grab it and go anywhere,
and I don't know how realistic it is to be like,
yeah I'm gonna take my 3D printer and just go,
but it is kinda nice if you need to move it.
If you've ever had to move 3D printers,
you know it can be kind of a frustrating experience,
or kinda like awkward or you risk damaging something.
This does make it really easy to move,
and I will confess that I have taken it back and forth
to work a couple of times to work on projects,
and it's really nice to be able to walk like from the car
to the building with the printer just in a handle
and I'm not awkwardly carrying it.
So as goofy as it kinda seems to have a handle on top,
I have found it very very useful.
So the small size, the durability,
the build quality is honestly above
what I would expect for $150 dollars.
The next pro on my list which might be the most important,
but I'm saving it not quite as
the most important is the print quality.
This thing, sometimes to get it to print,
if you have to kinda like finesse it a little bit,
but once you get it the quality
of the print is really really impressive.
It definitely blows away any other printer
I've seen under $300 dollars.
I think the print quality exceeds that of the Select Mini,
which a lot of people love as a first printer,
or even just as a printer in general.
The print quality on this is really really nice.
It also prints really fast which I'm not used to,
especially my Prusa which I love.
It's my favorite 3D printer.
It prints kinda slow.
Even though the quality is off the charts,
it takes awhile to get that quality.
This sucker prints fast and you'll see if you go back
and watch the livestream where I printed with it.
It finishes really really quickly.
So that is definitely a huge bonus.
The print quality, probably one of the things
you're concerned about if you're buying a 3D printer,
is exceptional with this printer but the number one pro
that I think is the most important thing,
in my opinion, with this 3D printer is that
this printer is really really fun.
It's a super fun printer to use.
The Delta style is actually just super fun to watch
because it's just so crazy the way that it moves
and the way that Delta printers work.
It looks like nothing you've ever seen.
It almost looks totally foreign and alien,
and it's really really fun to see that.
It's fun to set up.
It's fun to print with.
It's a fun fun printer even with its quirks.
So to spend $150 dollars on something
that's gonna give you great print quality and be fun to use,
I mean that's for me totally recommend that.
Now, it might sound like I've been
gushing over this printer a little bit
because I do really like it and 100% recommend it,
especially for the price but honestly,
my list of cons is longer than my list of pros.
So I had found more quirks and negatives
than I have positive.
I just think that the positives outweighs those negatives.
So let me jump into some of the issues
that I've been having with this printer over the last month.
The first one, which is super weird
and I'm confused that I haven't heard more about it,
is that this printer does not have a power switch,
and that is just straight up bizarre to me.
The way that you have to turn the printer on and off
is to actually just plug the AC adapter to the printer.
When you plug it in, it turns it on.
When you unplug it, it turns it off.
I mean I guess in the grand scheme of things
it's not really a huge deal but I find it really annoying.
It would be much nicer just to have a switch you flip,
and the printer's turned on,
especially if you have stuff set up
where it's kinda wired a little more permanently.
It's sort of annoying to have to
constantly unplug and plug in.
So right now you might notice that
there's part of a print here.
Originally I was like, oh it'd be really cool
to have this printer printing while I'm talking
and reviewing it but one thing about this printer
is that it is very very loud.
(printer whirring)
It's not really a big deal if you just have printers going
and you're in an environment
where you can do that sort of thing,
but if I were to have this printer printing
while I'm talking it'd be so hard to hear what I'm saying
because it's exceptionally loud.
So for the sake of this review,
I had to leave the printer unplugged and turned off,
so that you can actually hear my voice.
Another con on my list is the menu navigation.
I actually really like the design
and the layout of the menus.
They're very clear.
They're very simple.
The first most frustrating thing is that this screen
when it turns on looks so much like a touchscreen.
I keep, I know it's not a touchscreen and I keep touching it
because I think that it's going to do something.
It has these three buttons on the side.
The middle button is to select and the top
and bottom buttons are to go forwards and backwards.
Once you get the hang of it, it's actually not a big deal,
but it's sort of awkward and it's not
what I would call intuitive at all,
so Mini navigation is really annoying.
Another issue I've had with this printer
is the heating time.
For the most part I found that it actually takes
quite awhile to get up to temperature, especially the bed.
Sometimes though the hot end will jump up
the heat super fast and it makes me wonder
what's going on inside the printer
that it's not super consistent.
Whether it's fast or slow, I feel like it should
at least be consistent and this sort of seems
to be all over the place.
Also, if you're monitoring a print,
you'll see the print temperature
jump up and down all over the place.
It kinda stays within maybe five degrees
of your target setting.
It almost seems like it's struggling
to maintain the temperature.
Even though I mentioned that the build quality
was fantastic on this printer,
and I actually talked about the fact
that I like the handle on top.
The handle itself is one of the few
plastic components that's on the printer,
and it doesn't really feel super super strong.
I feel like if this is something
that you are actually pretty regularly,
like maybe you do a lot of demonstrations or exhibits,
and so you're constantly setting up like a booth
or a table somewhere and you have your printer
constantly traveling around in and out of cars.
I feel like this would be one of the first things to break.
It definitely has some flex to it.
It doesn't feel super strong.
It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.
And finally the last negative that I have found so far
with this printer has to do with the Z axis,
and this is an issue that I've seen
in a few Facebook groups and message boards,
but what often happens is when the printer starts,
it will just jam the print head really hard into the bed
and that first layer's gonna be way too thin.
The way around that is to go into your print settings,
into your G code settings through
whatever slice you're using and adjust the G29 setting,
which is the Z axis height.
And that just kinda takes some experimentation.
I've had to take that down quite a bit,
but I still don't have it dialed in perfectly,
and it doesn't even seem consistent really
from one print to the next.
You have your setting.
It's giving you one result.
You do the next print with the same settings
and the results aren't exactly the same.
So the consistency with this printer
is something that can probably be approved
because I tend to struggle with it a bit myself,
and so that pretty much wraps up this review
of the Monoprice Delta Mini.
Like I mentioned before, for the price, for the fun
that you get out of the printer, and the quality it prints,
I absolutely do recommend this printer.
This is not a paid review or endorsement.
I bought it from Monoprice at full price,
but I highly recommend it as long
as it's not your first 3D printer.
I am very worried that if someone
gets this as their first printer,
it's gonna be just confusing enough and just quirky enough
that it might drive them away from the hobby,
instead of encouraging them to continue on in the hobby.
Of course when it comes to 3D printing, learning to tinker,
and adjust and modify things is part of it.
It's part of the hobby.
That's part of the fun, but when you're just starting out,
there's only so much of that that you probably wanna do
or even capable of doing, and so I would stick
with something like the Monoprice Select Mini
as the very first 3D printer,
and jump into this as like a second or third printer
when you got a little more experience and knowledge
and you're just kinda curious about something
that's a different style.
But I love is that Monoprice is willing
to find these printer designs and these styles
and do things that are interesting in the 3D printing market
where they sale pretty high quality printers at low prices
that have unique features sets.
Like a heated bed at $150 dollars
on a Delta printer is really unique to me.
So that about wraps it up.
As time goes go and I get more and more familiar
with this very interesting printer,
I might update this review or add to it.
In the meantime, please feel free
to ask any questions in the comments below,
and I'll do my best to answer them.
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and I will see you guys next time.
(bright music)