Shining3D Einstart-S Printer Review

[Johann]

This is my first time posting on this forum. Here is my review of the Einstart-S 3D Printer.

I was sent by Shining3D a 3D printer to test and write an article about what I think about this 3D printer. I have been testing the printer for about a week now and have printed many things with it and I am very happy with most of the results I’ve gotten.

There are many printers online that have a lesser known brand and may not have many articles about it. We often don’t look at these much as it is unknown how efficient and how good the 3D printer is. In this case, I could only find a couple sites selling the Einstart-S and only a few sites that have articles about this printer. I can tell you tho that this is a great 3D printer to start with.

Who is Shining3D?
Shining3D is based HangZhou, China. They are a company that was founded in 2004 and specializes in 3D printing and 3D digitalizing. They create printers that can print in many different forms and for many different purposes, from industry to medical to individual creativity.

What is Einstart-S
Einstart-S is a printer designed for personal or home use, that features easy operation, a great look, 1 press operation and it meets all your 3D printing standards. Any user can operate the printer within 10 minutes and can start printing your first model.

The Einstart-S is available in green, yellow, blue, black, or orange.

What comes with the printer?
When you get your printer, inside are 4 bags that include all your accessories and pretty much everything you need to start printing. Already installed in the printer is the micro-sd card, which has preloaded sliced models to print right away. On the SD card is also the manual, drivers and software (windows). If you need the Mac drivers and software, you can head to en.shining3d.com/print_detail-3875.html where you can download it at the bottom of the page.

1st bag: quick start guide
2nd bag: Glue, a scraper, 3 Hex tools and a wrench, 2 chisel type tools (all of these tools have 3D printed tool holders, that come with the printer)
3rd bag: USB-B Cable, and micro-sd to USB-A
4th bag: 500g of Filament

Technical specifications:
build size: 16 x 16 x 16 cm
number of printheads: 1
printhead diameter: 0.4 mm
filament type: PLA
build plate: acrylic, unheated
LCD panel
communication: USB, MicroSD card

Performance and Quality

Build of the printer
The Einstart-S is fully made of sheet metal with a acrylic panel on the front. The acrylic panel comes in either green, yellow, blue, black, or orange. The printer is sturdy with little vibrations when printing. All the parts in the printer are high quality parts and I believe only one part that is 3D printed, which is a part for the fan to cool down the print.

Printing
When printing with the Einstart-S the fumes are minimal, since it is PLA. The noise level is on the high end but still acceptable. If you plan on running the printer through the night, I wouldn’t recommend it, and the lights on the printer are bright and there is no way to turn them off. I mean you can unplug them from the main board if they are affecting you.

Filament
The filament that comes with the printer is 500g. The printer can only hold up to 500g without a separate spool holder and can only print PLA. The filament seems to be printing great, and the quality of it is great. I haven’t had the chance to measure the filament with a caliper yet, but I think the prints speaks for itself.

Quality of Prints
The quality of the prints, I would say is excellent. I printed the #3DBenchy with no problem. For those who don’t know what a #3DBenchy is, it is a model that is designed for testing and benchmarking 3D printers. Visually looking at it, it looks correct and I will go back and measure it correctly with a caliper.

On #3DBenchy’s official website, 3dbenchy.com, it says “…prints in well under two hours.” To achieve this, I set it on “Fast”, which takes less time, but lacks quality, generally speaking. Even though it was on fast, it aced all the tests, except for the letters on the back of the boat, since fast was at a low resolution.

Other prints I have printed have also been great and I am happy with the results. I typically print on “Fast” mode, as the quality is still great. I have tried “Standard”, but the print doesn't have much improvement. I think its more infill and a little higher resolution. I haven’t tried any other mode yet.

Printing simple things are great on this printer, but when you start printing models that are move complicated and require supports, that print quality isn’t that great but is still acceptable.

Printing Bed
The printing bed is made of acrylic and its performance is pretty good, I would rate it 7/10. It is not a heated bed, which does causes some problems but there are fixes to some of them. One excellent feature that they had put in is under the bed itself are magnets that attach to the moving platform under it. This allows you to remove your print easily, and you won’t have to be using a scraper in such a small space. It also allows you to fix a warping and sticking problem, which I will explain. When printing with rafts, the printing speed is slower which allows time for the filament to stick onto the bed allowing it to be a platform for your model, but the downside is that rafts waste a lot of filament. If you try to print without the rafts, the print wouldn’t sticks, and would causes a mess. Even when using rafts, if the print is large, the raft would start to warp and ruin your print. Even though the printer came with some glue, or some substance for printing, I would never use it, as you could already smell thats its very strong even without opening it. One solution for not using rafts or the included glue, is to add a layer of masking tape, or packing tape and adding a layer of glue from a glue stick right before printing. The glue stick would help the print stick onto the bed without a raft. If you do use a raft, this would also prevent the raft from warping. The tape isn’t necessary but the glue does mess up the surface you apply it on and when you take of your print with a scraper, it prevent scratches on your bed. After adding the tape, be sure to recalibrate, as it is higher and would affect your prints. After this solution I would give it a 9/10 stars.

Overall performance
Overall performance of the 3D printer itself is great, but the printer is loud, especially the fan and while its printing.

Software/Firmware
Shining3D has created their own software to use with the Einstart line of printers, called “3dStarApp.” The software is easy to use, but does use up a lot of your CPU and RAM which then freezes the app. The software does all the basic things like slicer, setting the temperatures, calibrating it, and setting the quality of the print, but lacks a few features that are important to 3D printing. A few features it lacks is the ability to change how much infill you have and changing the speed of the nozzle.

While I was testing the software, I ran into a problem where it doesn’t automatically connect my printer to the software. You will have to manually connect to the printer by going to “Tools”, under “Select Machine” and then set the printer as default. Even though you set the printer as default, you might have to manually do this when the printer doesn’t connect to the software.

In the software, there is an option to print from your computer, which saves a lot of time, but it doesn’t work. Using the SD card, you have to turn off the printer, use the adapter, plug it into your computer, drag the .gsd into the card, plug it back into the printer, turn it on, and start up the board. The whole process is a pain, but it gets the job done. When you attempt to start the print from your computer, the Z axis doesn’t seem to work and your printer would just print in midair.

Calibration
The calibration process is simple. Before you can calibrate your printer, you will have to install the drivers, software, and registration files. You will also have to manually check if the bed is level, I recommend using a bubble level, and if it is not level, you should turn the knobs on the bottom of the bed till its level. To calibrate the printer, you plug the printer into the computer, and head over to the software, under “Machine”, I believe, and connect your printer to the software, either by the popup window that occasionally pops up, or under “tools” and then “select machine”. You can then head over to “Preferences (Mac)” under “3dStarApp” and then select “calibrate machine”. You can manually adjust the Z axis until you can slip a piece of paper under the nozzle, and it can move freely but with a little tension. You can then save the settings and start printing.

Slicing
Using the included software to slice the model is recommend, unless you know how to use 3rd party software to do this. Using the included software to slice the models is easy and quick. You will again head over to “Preferences” and under “Generator”, you can set the quality of the print as well as rafts, supports, and temperatures, and then click “Start Generator”.

After you slice, you can check the total print time of the model by going to “Tools” and “Path Viewer” and you can see the total print time and look at each print layer.

I did run into a couple problems while using the slicing part of the software, when you slice a big print at a higher quality, the software would be laggy or even freeze. Another problem is that when you slice a specific print, sometimes it would fail but sill generate a .gsd for it.

One good feature is that if it detects that your model is too big for the printer (160x160x160mm) the model will be in red and you are not allowed to slice it. There would be a pop up saying its too big.

Firmware
The firmware installed on the printer is okay, but isn't the best. When you receive your printer, it has the firmware that is two updates behind. I install the latest firmware but when I start to print, the bed goes up the Z axis like its a rocket and smashes into the extruder. I then downgraded to the previous firmware and it works great. It might also be that I haven’t recalibrate the printer after the new update, but regardless, the motor control on the LCD screen isn’t smooth and when you try to move the bed, it just goes to the other side of the printer in the direction you press.

The firmware is easy to navigate through and it’s easy to use. One features that it lacks is to detect when a SD card is taken out or put in. If plug in or take out a SD card while the printer is turned on, you have turn on and off your printer for it to read the SD card.

During printing, you have the option to pause, stop, or save and shutdown. When you pause the print, you ahem the option to resume or change the filament, if you wish to change the color, if you are running out of filament.

You can download the latest firmware and software from en.shining3d.com/print_detail-3875.html at the bottom of the page.

My thoughts/opinions:
Overall, this printer is a great for beginners and intermediate users. It has the accuracy and functionality that you need to complete most printers. The printer is reliable and works well, having followed all the steps, calibrated and leveled the bed correctly.

There is a few software and firmware things that Shining3D needs to work on but they aren’t really necessary but are things good to have.

I do hope that in future software updates, that they add the option to see the cost of the print and how much filament it uses.

I would give this print about a 8/10 stars. Even though there is a few things the printer and the software is lacking, the printer overall is great, especially of beginners.

Advantages
Simplicity of the software and 3D printer
Great looks
Easily set up
Affordable price

Disadvantages
Very loud
Very slow
If you are a more experienced, it is too simple and is missing a lot of features in the software.
Slow software

Where to buy
You can purchase the Einstart-S at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D11TAAA at $389 w/ prime shipping.

There are very few places online where you can purchase the Einstart-S. The only other location is on eBay for $999.95 (+$18.17 shipping)

These are the only two places online that I could find that sells this. One other option is to “Get a quote” from Shining3D.

More info and technical support
If you need more info about this printer or need technical support, you can go to Shining3D at en.shining3d.com/print_detail-3875.html

FAQ:
Q: Where is the .gsd (sliced file) after it is sliced?
A: You can find the sliced file in the same folder of where your model is (Ex. The model your using is in the downloads folder, the sliced file will be added to your downloads folder with the same name)

Q: Where can I find support for the Einstart-S?
A: I will first tell you that you shouldn’t bother googling about your problem, as there are few articles/communities about this printer. I recommend either emailing Shining3D themselves or commenting your question below, and I or another user will back to you as soon as possible.

Feel free to drop any questions and tell me what you think about my review!

[Johann]

Does anyone know how to upload images and videos? I try to upload pictures but it doesn't work. I click upload but nothing happens

Also, please do comment below any questions and what you think about my review. Participating in the poll would be appreciated

[Johann]

Does anyone know how to upload images and videos? I try to upload pictures but it doesn't work. I click upload but nothing happens

Can a moderator get back to me?

[Johann]

What do you guys think of my review?

[curious aardvark]

I like the review. I wouldn't - personally - buy a printer without a heated bed as it's necessary for printbite to work properly. But if you're managing - then great :-)
backfoot_800x284.jpg

Not sure why you can't upload pictures - as the above proves it's on and working in this thread.
Try resizing the pictures to around 800x600. Could be a size filter in place and people tend to try and upload ridiculously large images to forums.

So how do you get people to send you free printers ? I need to know.

[Johann]

I like the review. I wouldn't - personally - buy a printer without a heated bed as it's necessary for printbite to work properly. But if you're managing - then great :-)
backfoot_800x284.jpg

Not sure why you can't upload pictures - as the above proves it's on and working in this thread.
Try resizing the pictures to around 800x600. Could be a size filter in place and people tend to try and upload ridiculously large images to forums.

So how do you get people to send you free printers ? I need to know.

Oh ok, maybe my photos are too large. Is it possible to upload videos?

[Johann]

How do I private message you?