Love the attention to detail that you give to all your testing procedures. You don’t cut corners and you give an honest opinion in all that you do. Great content.
What a fantastic review! The Magician X2 was my 2nd 3D printer after the first one I chose failed to function properly. And after having chosen this one I'm so glad it did. It's so much better and so much more capable than the other one was. Great job on this review video!
Love your channel. One of your cons made me chuckle. Im a Tool Maker and ran CNC mills for years. Whenever we get a new programmer we have to train them whenever the machine rapids to a location, X and Y, then Z. Learn it. Love it. Live it. Thanks again for the video!
I love your channel and your Pros and Cons are always very concise. I was sent one of these machines to evaluate and when it arrived, a PCB inside the machine had come off and was rattling around inside. And yes, that Styrofoam was a mess! I agree with everything you have said. For the price, it is a surprisingly good machine. I'd add the following (1) the "light" inside the hot end to illuminate and see your first layers is useless (2) The extruder tension spring is way too firm. I twisted and twisted and that spring wouldn't budge. I replaced it with one I had on hand from a genuine BMG (3) I'm not crazy about those ribbon cables on the X axis and the connection it has. I'm always checking that (4) I wish they listed what they have changed/fixed on their firmware download page (or a link to a GitHub, etc) (5) For using Octoprint, I learned I could only use the USB C port to make a connection
thank you for these videos, i have been looking for a 3d printer,and these are very helpful in knowing what i should be looking for in mid range printers.
That z auto level is amazing, that needs to be the standard everywhere... lord knows I've spent my fair share of time getting the CR-10 Smart gantry perfectly level
Great review (as always). I have always had great respect for your work - and then I saw your 8th grade graduation video - YOU are a goddess of both humanity and technology.
@Aurora Tech is it running Linux? I'm currently using docker to run octorpint instances on old xeon server pc. But, haven't connected all my printers because I'm scared it will have gcode delay
Yes, you can install Debian or Ubuntu Linux to run Klipper. Since a Cortex A53 with 2GB RAM, like a Sonic Pad, can control up to 4 printers without any issues, I would assume that an i5 with 16GB RAM can easily handle 12 or more printers.
Manufacturers are keeping you and your team quite busy generating your high quality reviews. Especially helpful to them IMHO should be your "Cons" section, i.e. eliminating the final Z Offset requirement should have been already been completed.
Great review once again. I have a few Mingda Magician series printers, including the X2 ... While listening to the Pros and Cons section, I just want to clarify something. I think there is a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of the 'Quick Swap' feature. Mingda is referring to the whole extruder assy and not just the hot-end assy as being 'Quick Swap' - this meaning that the whole extruder assy can be installed or removed from the printer with only 2 screws.
@AuroraTech Thank you for mentioning our company in your video 👍 Just so you and your viewers are aware, the "print assembled" needle nose pliers that you printed in the video (and also the standard pliers) have been redesigned since the last time we updated our 3d printable tool set. The new design has a raised pivot point so that you can push it like a button to break loose the top and bottom half. This is much easier than using a razor blade to separate the top and bottom like you had to with the older version in the video. We also designed another version of both pliers that can be printed unassembled and then snapped together, a feature which will usually be needed if printing in metal. The next update to our tool set will be on July 1st but I'll email the new designs to you so you don't have to wait. As for the printer that you reviewed in the video I really like the self leveling gantry and the bed leveling probe being the nozzle itself. The higher temp hot end should just be included with the machine and not be an add-on but it's still a very affordable printer, even if you have to buy the higher temp nozzle separately.
I bought the printer and i have to say that is very solid, and yeah, the foam was a little problematic. Overall is a great printer and the price in my case is great because in my country (México) this printer is cheaper than the Artillery X2 and the Ender 3 S1 Pro. Also it looks you got a PEI sheet, mine came with glassbed and damn, adhesion is X-treme in that glass bed, in my country people has a cult following of the Ender 3 so seeing something like this Magician X2 really leaves astonished. I will use the Magician X2 to get more experienced and then add a Bambu X1C to the team.
A timeout for heating would be nice generaly, but last winter I got the downside: Due to energy prices I heated my house only to about 10...12°C. The 3d printers are in an enclosure, so after heating the thermistors with a hair dryer to avoid min temp warning, I just preheated the bed for about 20 to 25 minutes, so the air inside the enclosure had about 23°C - enough for printing PLA or smal PETG-parts. In my opinion, there should be a timeout for the hotend at about 10 minutes, but at least about 45 minutes for the bed. Heating the bed uses some energy, but does not destroy something (so even one or two hours are o.k.), but the filament inside a hotend can actually start degrading if "cooked" to long.
Their website also shows a flexible PEI sheet on the X2 product page, while the old Magician X uses a glass bed. You may contact Mingda and see what they say.
Mine came with glass bed too, and that was because i bought it from Amazon. The bed is pretty good, i just wait the glass to cool down and the print gets out of the bed without problems.
Actually is not a Jeep, is a Suzuki Jimny, i have one. Is pretty good because you can park on tiny spaces and go off road, the only downside is the space, the back seats are useless.
While I have generally enjoyed using this 3D printer, it has some annoying quirks. I got one of these as a birthday present. After 8 days of use, it appeared to fail. When I would power it on, it would do nothing. The unit would power on. I could hear the fans. The display would not turn on. When I contacted Mingda about this, their first suggestion is that I open up the printer, which breaks the seal that is on the bottom saying that I will void my warranty if I open it. After going back and forth with them for a few days, they sent me a new printer. Within a few days I got the same issue as before. The printer powered up but did nothing. I figured out completely on my own that if the SD card is still inserted and there's still a file with the name "firmware" on it, the printer will get confused. The printer is designed to look for a firmware file on the SD card when it boots up. That's OK, but what was on the SD card was a remnant of the firmware update, not the actual update. When I booted up the printer without the SD card in, it booted up normally. I deleted the firmware file and then booted the printer up again with the SD card inserted. It booted normally. Had Mingda told me about this quirk, they would not have ended up sending me a second printer. I was using the second printer for just over a month when it failed. The sensor that works with the X axis stopped working. Because of this, the X axis no longer operates properly. I never returned the first printer. I got it back out of the box and set it up again. It's now working perfectly. Mingda needs better support. Had they been available during normal US business hours and had they actually knew how to troubleshoot their own product, they would have saved me and themselves a lot of trouble. I will return the defective printer to them as soon as they pay to have it shipped back. I WILL NOT pay to ship a defective product back to them. I hope I don't have any further issues, but if I do, I will just dump this thing at an electronics recycler and buy a different brand... one with better support!
Another Great Review (cough K1 COUGH) Very precise as always. (Cough K1 cough) I think a this Magican has decent upgrades but I don't see it competing with that MK4 you tested a few videos ago (Cough K1 COUGH). You were saying about this 2nd version of this machine? K1!!!
I own the Mingda Magician X2 as my first printer. Its actually pretty good. All i did was setup. Auto bed levelling and starting printing. Though even after 4 months sometimes i still need to adjust the Z-Offset for some reason and after many test with retractions (because it leaves some stringing) i gave up on retraction due to no matter what setting i put it has stringing so i just leave it at default. and recently set my Cura Z-Offset to -0.1 whenever i print anything and has consistent results. I never go past 120 for printing speed. So far pretty good for a beginner. Question though, do you think its worth saving up for the Mingda Magician X or Pro for the larger printing bed? or should i aim for something like the new K1 thats coming out soon with a large printing bed and 3-4 times printing speed. @AuroraTech
Hackerman! Also i would recommend to wait a little for the K1, Creality still needs to repair some problems and the modding community is beginning to do some hacks for obtaining the full potential of the printer (Creality is blocking the specs using propietary klipper mod).
How much longer are they going to use that same old trash display the Artillery uses? It's literally the worst touch screen as well as UI in the industry. I'd rather have the knob from the Ender than deal with that nightmare again. Per their website the MSRP is $350??? A "clown" would be a lot more fitting of a name than a "magician."
Love the attention to detail that you give to all your testing procedures.
You don’t cut corners and you give an honest opinion in all that you do.
Great content.
Solid good looking machine. Well done.
What a fantastic review! The Magician X2 was my 2nd 3D printer after the first one I chose failed to function properly. And after having chosen this one I'm so glad it did. It's so much better and so much more capable than the other one was. Great job on this review video!
Love your channel. One of your cons made me chuckle. Im a Tool Maker and ran CNC mills for years. Whenever we get a new programmer we have to train them whenever the machine rapids to a location, X and Y, then Z. Learn it. Love it. Live it. Thanks again for the video!
You reviews are very good. Thorough, balanced and honest. Thank you.
I love your channel and your Pros and Cons are always very concise. I was sent one of these machines to evaluate and when it arrived, a PCB inside the machine had come off and was rattling around inside. And yes, that Styrofoam was a mess! I agree with everything you have said. For the price, it is a surprisingly good machine. I'd add the following (1) the "light" inside the hot end to illuminate and see your first layers is useless (2) The extruder tension spring is way too firm. I twisted and twisted and that spring wouldn't budge. I replaced it with one I had on hand from a genuine BMG (3) I'm not crazy about those ribbon cables on the X axis and the connection it has. I'm always checking that (4) I wish they listed what they have changed/fixed on their firmware download page (or a link to a GitHub, etc) (5) For using Octoprint, I learned I could only use the USB C port to make a connection
That printer seems pretty good, i will consider it for my birthday.
thank you for these videos, i have been looking for a 3d printer,and these are very helpful in knowing what i should be looking for in mid range printers.
That z auto level is amazing, that needs to be the standard everywhere... lord knows I've spent my fair share of time getting the CR-10 Smart gantry perfectly level
Great review (as always). I have always had great respect for your work - and then I saw your 8th grade graduation video - YOU are a goddess of both humanity and technology.
What is the software running on monitor behind?? I'm running 16 prusa, looking for software to monitor mulitple printers!
just Klipper, with 12 instances installed on an old PC (i5-6500, 16GB RAM).
@Aurora Tech is it running Linux? I'm currently using docker to run octorpint instances on old xeon server pc. But, haven't connected all my printers because I'm scared it will have gcode delay
Yes, you can install Debian or Ubuntu Linux to run Klipper. Since a Cortex A53 with 2GB RAM, like a Sonic Pad, can control up to 4 printers without any issues, I would assume that an i5 with 16GB RAM can easily handle 12 or more printers.
Manufacturers are keeping you and your team quite busy generating your high quality reviews. Especially helpful to them IMHO should be your "Cons" section, i.e. eliminating the final Z Offset requirement should have been already been completed.
Great review once again. I have a few Mingda Magician series printers, including the X2 ... While listening to the Pros and Cons section, I just want to clarify something. I think there is a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of the 'Quick Swap' feature. Mingda is referring to the whole extruder assy and not just the hot-end assy as being 'Quick Swap' - this meaning that the whole extruder assy can be installed or removed from the printer with only 2 screws.
Can you get the Troodon V2 and review that? It looks super promising, and you'd do a great job with that printer.
That printer is impresive
Looks solid and nice features. I was thinking about getting it.
@AuroraTech Thank you for mentioning our company in your video 👍
Just so you and your viewers are aware, the "print assembled" needle nose pliers that you printed in the video (and also the standard pliers) have been redesigned since the last time we updated our 3d printable tool set. The new design has a raised pivot point so that you can push it like a button to break loose the top and bottom half. This is much easier than using a razor blade to separate the top and bottom like you had to with the older version in the video. We also designed another version of both pliers that can be printed unassembled and then snapped together, a feature which will usually be needed if printing in metal.
The next update to our tool set will be on July 1st but I'll email the new designs to you so you don't have to wait.
As for the printer that you reviewed in the video I really like the self leveling gantry and the bed leveling probe being the nozzle itself. The higher temp hot end should just be included with the machine and not be an add-on but it's still a very affordable printer, even if you have to buy the higher temp nozzle separately.
Excellent review!
@2:34 Nozzle probing! Yay!
Makes you wonder when budget-friendly FDM printers will come standard with Klipper. The Elegoo Neptune 4 seems to be the first one to do so in the
I bought the printer and i have to say that is very solid, and yeah, the foam was a little problematic.
Overall is a great printer and the price in my case is great because in my country (México) this printer is cheaper than the Artillery X2 and the Ender 3 S1 Pro.
Also it looks you got a PEI sheet, mine came with glassbed and damn, adhesion is X-treme in that glass bed, in my country people has a cult following of the Ender 3 so seeing something like this Magician X2 really leaves astonished.
I will use the Magician X2 to get more experienced and then add a Bambu X1C to the team.
A timeout for heating would be nice generaly, but last winter I got the downside: Due to energy prices I heated my house only to about 10...12°C. The 3d printers are in an enclosure, so after heating the thermistors with a hair dryer to avoid min temp warning, I just preheated the bed for about 20 to 25 minutes, so the air inside the enclosure had about 23°C - enough for printing PLA or smal PETG-parts.
In my opinion, there should be a timeout for the hotend at about 10 minutes, but at least about 45 minutes for the bed. Heating the bed uses some energy, but does not destroy something (so even one or two hours are o.k.), but the filament inside a hotend can actually start degrading if "cooked" to long.
When are you going to build a Voron 2.4?
Great. Review as always 👍😀
Both of my X2s bought within the last month came with glass beds. Which I don't really mind but wondering why yours came with the flexible bed?
Their website also shows a flexible PEI sheet on the X2 product page, while the old Magician X uses a glass bed. You may contact Mingda and see what they say.
@@AuroraTech apparently Amazon versions come with the glass bed. I asked in the forum but havent got an answer as to why yet
Mine came with glass bed too, and that was because i bought it from Amazon.
The bed is pretty good, i just wait the glass to cool down and the print gets out of the bed without problems.
Great review !!!
Might I ask where you got that jeep model? Does it roll?
link under the video description
Actually is not a Jeep, is a Suzuki Jimny, i have one.
Is pretty good because you can park on tiny spaces and go off road, the only downside is the space, the back seats are useless.
Thanks
Where the K1 review at?
I will release the K1 video in about 2 weeks.
Great videos, and very informative 👍🏻
Will you guys review the elegoo Neptune 4/4pro
Yes, the video is scheduled for September.
While I have generally enjoyed using this 3D printer, it has some annoying quirks. I got one of these as a birthday present. After 8 days of use, it appeared to fail. When I would power it on, it would do nothing. The unit would power on. I could hear the fans. The display would not turn on. When I contacted Mingda about this, their first suggestion is that I open up the printer, which breaks the seal that is on the bottom saying that I will void my warranty if I open it. After going back and forth with them for a few days, they sent me a new printer. Within a few days I got the same issue as before. The printer powered up but did nothing. I figured out completely on my own that if the SD card is still inserted and there's still a file with the name "firmware" on it, the printer will get confused. The printer is designed to look for a firmware file on the SD card when it boots up. That's OK, but what was on the SD card was a remnant of the firmware update, not the actual update. When I booted up the printer without the SD card in, it booted up normally. I deleted the firmware file and then booted the printer up again with the SD card inserted. It booted normally. Had Mingda told me about this quirk, they would not have ended up sending me a second printer. I was using the second printer for just over a month when it failed. The sensor that works with the X axis stopped working. Because of this, the X axis no longer operates properly. I never returned the first printer. I got it back out of the box and set it up again. It's now working perfectly. Mingda needs better support. Had they been available during normal US business hours and had they actually knew how to troubleshoot their own product, they would have saved me and themselves a lot of trouble. I will return the defective printer to them as soon as they pay to have it shipped back. I WILL NOT pay to ship a defective product back to them. I hope I don't have any further issues, but if I do, I will just dump this thing at an electronics recycler and buy a different brand... one with better support!
...todaaay 😛
Right?! What’s up with that 😅
But I guess it’s just as good a catchphrase as others.
@@jantwehncke1528 This is her cute feature. ☺
Great review. I'm waiting for your thoughts on the creality k1 before I even think about buying it. Thanks.
I will release the K1 video in about 2 weeks.
I like your review video.
Hope to see your review of Kingroon KLP1😂😂👍.
👍@Aurora
k1 when
2 weeks
👍🏻👍🏻
Another Great Review (cough K1 COUGH) Very precise as always. (Cough K1 cough) I think a this Magican has decent upgrades but I don't see it competing with that MK4 you tested a few videos ago (Cough K1 COUGH). You were saying about this 2nd version of this machine? K1!!!
We are working on it and plan to release it in about 2 weeks.
@@AuroraTech Your awesome
It should have klipper
minute ago! 2nd i guess. also Aurora tech let me know if your open to selling 1 or 2 of your machines. im in your area
I’m waiting you to review the Creality K1 😅 , always I’m not interested review from female but you’re the king of tech review in all genders ❤
I will release the K1 video in about 2 weeks.
“MK” is pronounced “mark” so the Prusa MK4 is pronounced “Prusa mark 4” and not “Prusa emm kay 4”.
Firstie baby ❤
great printer with bad customer support! They dont care about you as a customer, after you but it :(! watch out!
You are the first person i see that has bad experience with the customer support.
Can you tell me more?
I own the Mingda Magician X2 as my first printer. Its actually pretty good. All i did was setup. Auto bed levelling and starting printing.
Though even after 4 months sometimes i still need to adjust the Z-Offset for some reason and after many test with retractions (because it leaves some stringing) i gave up on retraction due to no matter what setting i put it has stringing so i just leave it at default.
and recently set my Cura Z-Offset to -0.1 whenever i print anything and has consistent results. I never go past 120 for printing speed. So far pretty good for a beginner.
Question though, do you think its worth saving up for the Mingda Magician X or Pro for the larger printing bed? or should i aim for something like the new K1 thats coming out soon with a large printing bed and 3-4 times printing speed. @AuroraTech
Hackerman!
Also i would recommend to wait a little for the K1, Creality still needs to repair some problems and the modding community is beginning to do some hacks for obtaining the full potential of the printer (Creality is blocking the specs using propietary klipper mod).
How much longer are they going to use that same old trash display the Artillery uses? It's literally the worst touch screen as well as UI in the industry. I'd rather have the knob from the Ender than deal with that nightmare again. Per their website the MSRP is $350??? A "clown" would be a lot more fitting of a name than a "magician."