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The Da Vinci Jr. 1.0 3D Printer Review You Will Want to Read

The Da Vinci Jr. 1.0 3D Printer Review You Will Want to Read
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XYZprinting has attracted a lot of attention lately due to the success of their 3D printer the Da Vinci Jr. 1.0. The unit is offered at an attractive price and is designed as an entry-level unit for those who are new to 3D printing and want an inexpensive way to experience it or more experienced 3D printing enthusiasts who need a basic low-cost unit.

The Da Vinci Jr. is priced at $349 (For the latest prices and discounts, check here) which makes it competitive from a price standpoint with any other entry-level unit offered on the market. While it does not offer many of the “bells and whistles” of more expensive units, it does fit nicely into the budget 3D printing category.

The New Kinpo Group is a large manufacturing company based in Taiwan and is the parent company of XYZprinting. The company offers several 3D printing products including several models of printers and even a scanner. All of their products have a starting price point of under $1,000 and most are well under that figure.

The main focus of the company is to offer 3D printing products that are easily affordable for consumers and that help expand the exposure of 3D printing to the mass market.

Getting Started

By design, the Da Vinci Jr. is very simple and straightforward to setup and begin printing with. The unit does not require a lot of time spent on calibration, in fact, no time at all, and the designers the printer made convenience a key feature within all of the unit’s operations.

The printer has a modern and sleek appearance that is appealing to the eye and so far the overall feedback from customers has been very positive.

It offers several safety features including a print bed that is not heated which helps avoid potential burns or accidents and the entire printing area is enclosed as well. The unit is on the small side with a smaller build area offered but we would not classify it as “tiny”, although you are limited somewhat in the size of products you can print.

Design & Features

The Da Vinci Jr. 1.0 is orange in color with white outlines and the dimensions are 16.5 x 15 x 16.8 inches, weighing only twenty-six pounds. Its light weight and relatively small dimensions make it easily portable if you need to move from your home to your office or between different rooms.

The printer’s build area only measures 5.9 x 5.9 x 5.9 inches, which is on the smaller side but very comparable to many other printers that are competitors in the same category.

While the print area is enclosed for safety, it does have a clear window that allows you to view the printing process while it is in action. The unit is SD card capable and the main connection is via USB cable that connects to your computer.

The printer utilizes filament fabrication cartridges that are both safe and easy to use, as they automatically load and you are notified when the levels are low and need to be replaced.

The cartridges are specific to the Da Vinci and must be purchased through XYZ, although the cost is very reasonable compared to other 3D printer models that have proprietary cartridges, with a price of just under $29.

As mentioned above, no calibration is required when working with this unit. Simply take it out of the box, install the software on your computer and load the proprietary filament. After that, you are ready to begin your very first 3D printing project. The loading of the filament does take a minute or two as it requires you to heat the extruder while manually feeding the filament into a feeder.

In addition to the filament cartridges being proprietary, so is the software which used to control this 3D printer, named XYZWare. It uses a .3w file format and allows various commands for scaling, working with and importing print designs. Additionally, you can choose print resolutions between 100 and 400 microns, which is impressive for a unit of this size and in the budget price category.

Printing operations overall are relatively quiet compared to other models, largely due to the enclosed print area. However, it is certainly louder than a whisper so make sure you are prepared for at least a moderate level of noise while printing with this unit. It is certainly much better in the noise category than many other units and even units that are significantly more expensive.

Specifications

  • Printer dimensions 16.5 x 15 x 16.8
  • Total build area measurements 5.9 x 5.9 x 5.9
  • Filament-PLA Only
  • Proprietary filament cartridges
  • Proprietary software
  • Low noise level printing operation
  • Sleek and modern design
  • Enclosed print area
  • Print bed non-heated

$349 (For the latest prices and discounts, check here) price point

Downsides

If there is a downside to using this printer it is the proprietary software, XYZWare. The software tends to hang and respond slowly when reacting to user commands and general navigation.

Opening and closing windows, navigating between screens and initiating commands can be a bit awkward and not all smooth. After a while, this can be a little annoying as you are not sure if the software has received or is processing your command as it sometimes takes a minute for the program to respond.

This can lead to users repeating commands which result in the program crashing and users having to restart it. The problems appear to be intermittent and do not happen all of the time.

So while the program may hang up and crash, after restarting, it may work fine and perform the entered commands without delay. Depending on your patience level this can get frustrating. It may be less of an issue for experienced users as they may not get as easily confused as to what the program is doing, or not doing.

The one other obvious downside is the printer does not exceed expectations when printing products that require very detailed designs. It will complete the product printing job but the quality is just not quite as good as some other 3D printers in its category. Although, it does do a nice job with products that are a bit more basic and do not require intricate detail.

Final Verdict

There are many things to like about the Da Vinci Jr. 1.0 from its price point to small portable size and even its consumer-friendly ease of use. The unit is very easy to learn and it does not take long to figure out how to navigate the software and complete the setup process.

The unit is not suitable for those who are looking for very high-quality printing or especially commercial quality printing but then again that is not what it is designed for.

If you are new to the 3D printing world and looking to learn what it is all about, this is a great unit that is inexpensive, has acceptable print quality and is easy to use.

As long as you don’t need an extremely fast 3D printer or very detailed printing, then you won’t find too much to complain about with this model.

Da Vinci Jr. 1.0

$349.00
7.4

Print Speed

7.0/10

Build Area

7.5/10

Precision

6.0/10

Value

7.5/10

Ease of Use

9.0/10

Pros

  • Price
  • Portable Size

Cons

  • Proprietary software
  • Problems Program Crashing
  • Low Precision
  • Non-Heated Print Bed