TLDR: The biggest headache of my life, but I kinda love it
This printer was the first I bought for myself and the second one I worked with after the Flashforge Finder. I wanted something to play with at home so I could test settings and test whether or not my issues lied with the Finder or with 3D printers in general.
One of the biggest selling points of Monoprice Mini Select is the price. It is easily one of the cheapest machines you can buy; I got it for about $180 at the local Microcenter. It’s also pre-built and complete with a solid metal frame.
So, the good?
- Cheap. Super cheap. ~$180
- Heated bed.
- Pre-built (you only need to level it).
- Nice-looking screen user-interface.
- Tiny nozzle for very fine detail.
- Nice resolution prints.
- Works with Ultimaker Cura slicer program.
- Replacement parts are cheap.
- Doesn’t take up much space
Unlike the Flashforge Finder, this printer does not have an auto-leveling feature and so you’ll be playing the “paper” game of leveling. (Paper Leveling: You stick a piece of paper on the bed under the nozzle after “auto home”-ing and screw the bed up and down until the nozzle just barely catches on the paper in all locations of the bed.) When I first brought the Monoprice Mini home, it was already level and ready to go without any real fiddling. Of note, though: make sure you buy good filament for this printer, it doesn’t like the cheap Inland filament offered at Microcenter.
Now, all the terrible things wrong with this machine:
- So many design flaws! The control nob right under the heated bed, the nonsensical wiring of the heated bed, the one side supported x-frame, the weird extruder placement, etc., etc.
- Tiny print bed (okay for minis, but it’s really small)
- Multiple fan deaths in a really short amount of time.
- Loud and cranky, even with plenty of oiling.
- Antiquated SD card hook up (you must use a very specific, less than 4mb MicroSD or SD card for this firmware to read it.
In many ways I’m thankful this machine had so many issues because it taught me a great deal about how FDM 3D printers work. I got over my fear of taking one apart real, real quick, because lord was I replacing and rewiring and redesigning every damn aspect of this machine.
Would I recommend this printer? If you want the very cheapest pre-built machine you can get your hands on, sure. It’s fun to play around with and make modifications to, it’s become my little pet mod project now that I have plenty of other printers to get work done. If you want something cheap and reliable? No. No no no. Get an Ender 3.
