CTC Bizer Pro Double Extruder Desktop 3D Printer , 2017 Upgraded Full Quality High Precision, Mk8, Factory Direct Lowest Price, Includes SD Card and PLA Filament

Overall am impressed for the money.Arrived really well boxed – cardboard all over the place.It’s a clone of a Makerbot Replicator using some different firmware.The SD card contains a PDF instruction set and some software / layouts to print, plus a bunch of software that although it installs in English has a Chinese installer & so isn’t clear what you are doing.There is a packet of random machine screws and washers – but no clear instruction as to what they are for – which is a bit daunting. Apart from needing two to hold on the print head the rest I think are spares.You need to attach the print head (look at the pictures in the manual for orientation etc) and there is a comment saying check that the rest of the bolts are tight.I didn’t do that and within 10 minutes one dropped off the bottom of the print floor – so I then did go round and check everything else.There is some play in the frame which might explain some of the noise that the machine makes while it works. I might see about either bracing or locktite on the screws.It’s housed in a laser cut plywood frame (as the original Makerbots were) so while it’s light / easy to take apart replace bits I’m not sure how durable it will be long term – presumably there are still original Makerbots floating around.There is a reel of PLA which actually printed much better than the other reels I had bought / tried. There is only one holder / dispenser - as a dual machine it could do with a second.Follow the on screen instructions for levelling the bed and for loading the filament into one / both extruders.These are all walked through with you on the display and work well – you follow the instructions and confirm when done.There are some files that can be printed straight from the SD card – I assumed they would be examples / calibration pieces but you can;t tell as they're named in Chinese – so while I worked out what the software was doing I kicked one off thinking it would be a quick piece.It built the center of a reel holder & three bolts – quality actually good straight out of the box – but took 4 hours – so wasn’t a quick sample piece.It didn’t really smell – it rattled a bit on the glass table top I had placed it on - but it wasn’t loud enough that you could hear it from the next room and wasn’t such as noise that you couldn’t ignore it and get on with something else.I was expecting much worse given the price.I messed about, swapped filament more than once, printed multiple pieces on the same bed etc - all without jamming filament / needing to take anything off / clean it.For the Software I gave up on the bundled Chinese installer because i couldn't see which software / drivers i was installing. I think it did work but I didn’t trust that I had things correct – so I installed both the newer version of Makerbot Print and the older version of Makerbot Desktop. Both are available to download from the Makerbot website. You need to register on there / Thingiverse (which you’ll want to do anyway if you haven’t already)The older version Makerbot Desktop “sees” the printer when it’s connected through USB – so I’m sure I’m setting the correct settings. The newer version of Makerbot Print allows you to use the printer offline and write files to the SD card – and has better displays of things like estimated build times and allows for better use of infill.Both produce a sliced file that can be used by the printer – either through the USB connection from the older software or by writing / transferring on the SD card – so it’s horses for courses. I’m sure there are other variations that would work.The power lead that came with the printer packed up (the actual lead – the printer itself was fine) so I had to appropriate a better quality one from elsewhere.The USB lead also isn’t all that long – so if you’re going to connect it directly it needs to be fairly close to whatever you’re using.Pro’sDual extruder that produced reasonable quality prints almost straight from the box.Arrived already assembled apart from attaching the print headIs a clone of a known model / hardware so there are options for changing firmware / integration with software.Wasn’t horrendously noisy or smellyConsOnly one reel holderIt’s a laser cut plywood frame – I suspect bolts will eventually work their way loose/ split the ply wood.SD card software and instructions difficult.Power lead itself was faultyAll in all –a dual extruder based on a known set of hardware – for the money it’s not a bad little machine.

All the files on the provided SD card are in Chinese...This appears to be a clone of the Makerbot Replicator so I attempted to use that software as it is in english...Seemed to always set extruder head to 230C and then would stop about 2-5% into any print I attempted. Youtube shows good results but seems I am missing something