Review on SainSmart Ender 3 3D Printer Printing by Brian Olson

This car was fun to build. The instructions were clear, everything was labeled and everything was assembled in about 20 minutes. He straightened the bed and soon made his first print. I then immediately started printing all the most notable upgrades to the machine, even converting it to direct drive extrusion with the printed part. Setting it up for the highest quality prints takes time and a willingness to google and watch videos, but there's a lot of information out there. So far I haven't had any trouble holding onto the bed. The only bad print I had was a bad one in the middle where the part had a thin part that was peeling off. The magnetic printable surface works well but is easily damaged by the included (metal) scraper so be careful. PLA adheres too well to damaged areas and can further damage the mat if you tear it off. For power users, I was able to pair this unit with a Raspberry Pi 3, Octoprint, and Klipper to print as quickly, quietly, and accurately as a 32-bit controller board without the cost and hassle of an upgrade. The only problem I had was a crash when printing. After switching off, the bootloader and the firmware were deleted. Flashing the bootloader is not the easiest operation, especially for a beginner, but it can be done if you have the right tools and follow the instructions carefully (google!). From now on, every time the device is completely switched off, the firmware will be lost. I contacted SainSmart support and they sent me a new motherboard very quickly. A NOTICE. The motherboard is standard on all Creality Ender 3 clones, so SainSmart is not responsible for this issue. I have no explanation for how the initial error occurred, other than that it might have been caused by a nearby fluorescent light being turned off. (Ground loop through Raspberry Pi's USB port?) Again, this isn't SainSmart's fault, so I'm not deducting a star. Overall, this is a solid machine that's really fun to tinker with and can produce great prints for not a lot of money. Definitely recommended.