anyone have the monoprice Maker Architect

[MiniMadRyan]

Any upgrades you did to it? Wondering how it performs with smaller detailed items....Going to need a print cooler I see...

[Steveb48]

I received one for Christmas and have been having a lot of fun and learning it's limitations. Rigidity can be an issue. If I'm printing something tall but thin, the sudden changes in direction makes the machine shake and you end up with a pretty wobbly looking print. This is really a problem if the object is rectangular rather than curved. I've tried slowing way down but need to work out the layer time such that the PLA has time to set up before the next layer goes down. I can watch the head move the previous layer around. This doesn't seem to be a problem below .75" in height. Seems like rigidity to me.

I'm using Cura and then routing the code through ReplicatorG to produce the x3g file. I really like the ability to look at the layers before printing. I had to make a couple changes to the start up code to get it to work. I also added a plugin to add % complete that Cura doesn't include in their gcode.

I've looked into upgrades. Monoprice seems to have put in a smaller power supply which will have to be replaced if you want to use a heated bed, perhaps a second extruder. The drivers for the second extruder are also missing from the Mightyboard. Not a big deal and they don't seem to be expensive but it's a little more than just adding a second extruder. I'm not sure what I would do with a second extruder. The heated bed has me interested with the hope that it would help the parts to stick. I'd be interested in comments. PLA is fine at this point. I've read the comments about the plastic arms.

It's been interesting learning how to drive it and also getting getting my head to switch from taking a block of metal and removing material to only putting down what I want. Different perspective.

I'm having a bit of trouble with my parts sticking to the bed even with a raft. It may be because I was playing around with extruder temp and and went from 210 to 205. I'll have to go back to 210 and see what happens.

Steve