Why I purchased a Tronxy X3

When I decided to get a 3D printer I found there were so many different ones to choose from.  Orignal Prusa... Makerbots, Ultimaker etc...  and HUGE price ranges, from 150$ to well... really expensive.  I read so many comparison guides and opinions about printers and what beginners should and shouldn't do.  What was crap and what was not....  It seriously felt like the PC Apple wars of the 80's to me (Oh crap I just dated myself).

So after all of that, I settled on a Tronxy X3,  warts and all I still think it was a good purchase... for me.  It might not be a good one for you, there are some things you need to consider first.


There is a reason why this printer is only 200$

To put it bluntly, it's a cheap Chinese product that really could have used some more... thought in certain areas.  Yes, there are MUCH better printers out there... but they cost a MUCH better price. Here are the Cons to this printer as I know them 7 weeks after owning this printer.

• The Melzi 2.0 controller board is garbage, I hate it!  For short jobs its..ok. But if you plan on printing a sizable part it will overheat and possibly catch on fire if you don't upgrade the heater cable for the bed. 
• The Y access bed support SUCKS! Again for small parts, it's fine but as you start printing bigger parts you will notice as you get further and further up on the Z access and further on the X access from the center there will be more and more print defects.
• The extruder filament sink cooling fan design ... is stupid.  The way it is designed basically means the cooling fan for the filament heat sink is also cooling the heating element head.  So the printer is basically fighting with itself in heating the extruder.

That's the big three for me, you might be asking why the hell would I throw away my money on this printer considering these three items.  Well, I did read about the Melzi board having issues,  but most were saying that it could be fixed by just upgrading the cable so no sweat. I noticed that the bed support was questionable but I saw some posts on how to upgrade it with just 15$ in hardware with a couple shafts, 4 linear bearings, and some printed parts. The filament heat sink issue I knew nothing about but I created my own fix for that so again no big.

I did actually solve all these issues, I will post what I did for each of them later in this blog.

Now for the Positives that I saw when I decided to buy it:

• You can't beat the price!  Now I realize many will respond to this and say "You get what you paid for" and that is true... kind of.  My attitude toward that comment is like this:  I can go to Harbor Freight and buy a hand drill for $10...  That same type of drill at Home Depot I can buy for say 50$.  Yes, the drill from Home Depot is a better drill, but when my drill breaks I can go get another for 10$. I can do that 4 times and it will cost me that same as your 50$ drill.
• The 95% metal construction! Other printers in the same price range of the Tronxy X3 are mostly made of acrylic for structural support.  The Tronxy X3 used extruded aluminum,  something in common with the 400$ - 600$ printers. 
• The simple construction design.  Again looking at the other printers in the same price range were much more complex and seemed to me error prone.  I am not afraid of complex things, but I don't think things need to be unnecessarily so.  The rollers on the slotted extrusion for the Z access looked very solid. 

So with all of that it basically comes down to these things:

• You need to be comfortable with this printer not being perfect.
• You need to be able to problem solve and get your hands dirty. 
• You will be adjusting this printer to your liking be it mechanical or electrical.
• You need to have a pretty solid understanding of mechanical things a how to take them apart and put them together.
• You need to be comfortable around electronics.

Nuff said for now...