I’m ordering an entry level printer to tinker with some character concepts I’ve made. The resolution I’ve seen seems pretty impressive but I’m currently torn between the finder or a wanhoa i3 v2. I’m more interested in designing then I am tinkering and while the wanhoa is the best option to some, the amount of technical issues and mods leave me feeling slightly overwhelmed. So what are your experiences with the finder or better yet finder vs wanhao?
I have Finder and best entry level printer if you are looking for hobby prints. Stable and reliable.
If you are looking to learn from the bottom up, you can purchase kits which you can assemble yourself.
I have both. The finder is ready to print out of the box. You don’t have to calibrate the printer. Unbox the finder, put on your desktop, level the bed and print. The quality of printing is awesome like any other Flashforge printer.
The wanhao need some mods to print like the finder but the bed size is larger. First, the cooler need to be changed. The tiny 30mm fan is not enough powerful for printing great overhangs. You will need to print a Zbrace to stabilize the z tower. And if the leadscrew are not perfectly straight, I suggest you to buy flex couplers 5mm to 8mm.
If you don’t print the z brace, don’t put the spool on the top of the printer, you will increase vibration to the z tower and this will affect the print quality.
The cool thing about the wanhao is you can modify this machine with many printable object and many aftermarkets parts like the Flexion extruder which is an awesome extruder. You can also add many other upgrades like Micro-swiss all metal hot end.
The nozzle are mk10 on both printer. Personally I prefer Mk10 instead Mk8
You can check my website blog to see how the finder print.
P.S: The Flashprint software is a very good software for Flashforge printers. If you use Simplify3d, you can force the finder to print 150 x 145 x 140. The bed plate is enough large to add some millimiters
What I do not like about the finder is that it is closed source. Addons and repairs come only from Flashforge.
If you buy a closed source printer, it does not grow as folks come up with new and better ways to approach FDM, because no one can contribute to upgrades.
Hi, I just bought one (today) and just like you, my interest is print, not tinkering. Just as I expected, in less than an hour I was printing a simple box, sharp edges, flat and smooth surfaces and the correct size, just remember to put glue on the bed. Also printed a hulk figure, but it has a lot of over hang, and it fails after one of the supports fell off. The printed half has very good quality and detail, next try I’m going to plan supports better. So far so good, I’m very happy. Edit: added some pictures
