PRINT Your Own Accessories With the Monoprice Voxel 3D Printer

In this episode, we show you how to unbox, set up, and create your first 3D prints on the Monoprice Voxel 3D Printer.Show more

In only 6 months, I really come to enjoy the hobby of 3D printing. Kris from @GameDad and I both bought our first 3D printers together, and have worked together to help the other learn. He got me in touch with the folks over at Monoprice to see if I would be interested in checking out their all-in-one enclosed 3D printer, the Voxel.

Getting the elephant in the room out of the way, this is the same basic printer as the Adventurer 3 from Flashforge. That's not a bad thing, as you will be able to find files and accessories for one that will work on the other. That being said, this is an all-in-one 3D printer system with an integrated enclosure, LED light for better visibility on the print head, Wi-Fi connectivity, a camera to keep an eye on your prints, and more.

This was the easiest 3D printer I've ever set up. Simply take it out of the box, set it on your bench, connected it to power, and feed your filament. That's it. The Voxel does include a 1/2 KG spool of some amazing-looking red filament, I absolutely love the look of this. It will not accept standard one-kilogram spools, but there are 3D printable adapters that will allow you to do so, which is what I did.

A slicer is what actually converts a 3D file into something a printer can interpret and print, and I normally use Cura 4.13 for my slicing software. When I sliced my first file and loaded it into the Voxel, I was getting clunking sounds and very inconsistent print outputs. Cura does not have a dedicated profile preloaded into it for either the Voxel or the Adventure 3, so I copied the setup file from what Kris used. No matter what it just didn't print out properly, but I did learn that he is only on Cura 4.0, so I don't know if something significant has changed between that build and what I am using. Monoprice recommends FlashPrint Slicer, and while not quite as feature-rich as Cura, it sliced models beautifully. Once I switch to this slicing program I had no problems whatsoever.

With the red filament loaded, I proceeded to print out their test cube that is preloaded into the system. One of the things that I don't like is the fact that it is preloaded with what is called a raft on the bottom of the model. A raft is another layer of material, several layers, to be honest, that helps the model adhere to the print bed. While this does help with adhesion, it can be a pain to remove from the model. I found this to be the case. That being said, the cube printed out wonderfully, and confident in my calibration setup and everything I proceeded to start my normal printing.

Up first was one of my go-to print items, Diskun. It gives me good areas to check and see if my printer settings are where they need to be. On my initial print, I did get some stringing around the eyes and the pupil of the model. This tells me that my print temperatures may be a little bit on the hot side and I may need to adjust my retraction settings. I did both of these, changing the temperature from 235° down to 220°, and increasing both my retraction speed and distance. Once I did this I was off to the races.

To load files onto the printer, Monoprice opted to utilize USB ports that you could use a thumb drive. Thankfully, the Wi-Fi communication eliminates this from even being a concern. From within FlashPoint, I can simply upload the file wirelessly to the printer, it loads it into local memory and prints the file. I didn't think that I was going to like or utilize this as much as I did but it's absolutely wonderful.

Why it RoX:
- Terrific print quality
- Fully enclosed
- Included red filament is beautiful
- Wireless file transfer and print monitoring
- Integrated camera
- Touch screen navigation
- Flexible print bed for easy model removal

What could be improved:
- Only accepts half kg spools
- No dedicated profile in Cura
- Smaller build plate
- A bit on the expensive side for entry-level users
- Does not get hot enough to use with PETG
- Camera is very low FPS

Should you buy one?
Many people think that getting into 3D printing needs to be complicated and expensive, and it just doesn't. How I got into 3D printing was by setting money I was going to spend to purchase items aside and ended up simply using that money to buy my first printer. I then simply printed those accessories myself. I know I have annoyed my wife when she comes up with a problem and I suggest that I can 3D print a solution. While 3D printing is not the solution to everything, it's a solution to a lot of things, and the Voxel is a really good performer. Setup is a snap, The FlashForge slicer is easy for beginners and has some advanced features in it for more experienced modelers, and the print quality is terrific. While I do wish that it was a little bit less expensive, the quality of the machine and the prints somewhat help justify that higher cost.

#Monoprice #Voxel #3DPrinting