Type A Machines Series 1

Pros Large print area. Clear, detailed user guide. Easy to set up and operate. Generally good print quality. Multiple choices in resolution. Very few misprints.

Cons Tricky to remove objects with print bed in place without damaging them. Only a starter filament supply included. May extrude extra filament before a print job starts. Bottom Line The Type A Machines Series 1 3D Printer has many strengths--including ease of setup and use, large print area, a range of print resolutions, and good print quality--but relatively few drawbacks.

By Tony Hoffman

The Type A Machines Series 1 is priced somewhat above the other 3D printers we have tested, but it is money well spent. It has a relatively large print area, enabling you to print larger objects. It is relatively easy to set up and to use, and consistently prints good-quality objects. It's geared for use by hobbyists and professionals (product designers, architects, and engineers, for example) and in that role it's worthy of an Editors' Choice.

The Series 1 can be bought directly from San Francisco-based Type A Machines or from several distributors; we procured our review unit from Dynamism. In addition to Type A Machines' support resources, Dynamism provides unlimited tech support, and can perform any warranty-covered repairs.

While the Series 1's design lacks the simple elegance of the 3D Systems Cube 3D Printer or the UP! Mini, it has a tasteful wood frame. Unlike the UP! mini, which has an enclosed print area with a door and a hood, the Series 1 has an open frame. A spacious print bed provides a maximum build area of 10 by 9 by 9 inches. (Previous 3D printers we've looked at have had print beds 6 by 6 by 6 inches or smaller, a more typical size.) It has a relatively low price for its build area; 3D printers with large print beds tend to sell for upwards of $2,000.

Software
The Series 1 is compatible with Windows, Mac, or Linux. For Windows, you can download a bundle of software from the Type A Machines website. It includes a printer driver, an Arduino driver (the printer uses an Arduino Mega controller board), a slicing program (KISSlicer) for "slicing" the 3D object file into layers for printing while setting parameters such as resolution, and a control program (Pronterface), which controls the motion of the extruder as it prints out the object's layers. The Quick Start sheet that came with our test unit is seemingly outdated, as it describes downloading each program separately from the Series 1 site, something that you don't need to do.

Each program is installed separately. The two programs you regularly use when printing are KISSlicer and Pronterface. While it's not as easy to use as the Cube 3D Printer's Cubify—a single program is used for the entire workflow—the Series 1's software's basics are not hard to master. When preparing an object for printing, you first use KISSlicer to open the STL file (a 3D representation of the object to be printed will appear on screen), set the resolution and other parameters, and slice the file, and save the file to a printable format (GCode). While the Cube's Cubify software took several minutes to slice a typical object, the System 1 generally took less than 10 seconds.

KISSlicer identifies problems with the object file through color coding and showing the location of the defects on a 3D representation of the object. The Cubify software takes it a step further and automatically fixes structural problems in a "healing" step. Although you can repair some file problems with KISSlicer by changing the settings, it's not something a beginner could do; you're better off running the file through a utility like netfabb, which will fix common flaws in STL files, before opening it in KISSlicer.

Continue Reading: Setting the Extruder Height

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