Cubify CubeX 3D Printer - Frost

Understand that 3D printing is new and we're going to need to expect to have some early adopter challenges but this printer is a waste. The primary problem as others have identified is the print filament cartridge. They jams CONSTANTLY... they claim to have improved on this but I've yet to see it. The company spent far too much time and money designing a proprietary cartridge they can make tons of money on (think HP printer ink) they charge 2x what everyone else charges and it doesn't even work... Had they spent time and effort on making the damn thing print without filament flow errors constantly ruining your prints after hours of printing (and no,you can't fix them and restart) it might be worth it but seriously, I'd throw this thing out a window is I could. It''s that damn annoying. Go buy a MakerBot, at least they print and use standard priced filament.

Printer showed up damaged the first try, sent it back and two weeks later the replacement arrived. This one would not turn on initially so reseated the power cable to the main board, then the printer would power on but would not finish loading the firmware, took it apart and fixed the touch panel as the retaining brackets were pushing the on button out on the front so the machine got stuck on boot. After trimming the brackets to not push on the touch panel the machine finally turned on. Went to the website to activate the printer and the website said the "Serial Number is invalid" so called the 800 number which goes to an answering machine "Cubify is not available, please leave a message after the beep", called the direct line and someone answered "Hello", took the last 4 digits of the activation ID and gave me the activation number. Printer is activated! Download test print files from Cubify and copy onto USB stick and put into printer, does not see the USB stick. Take apart the printer again and reseat the usb port connection. Finally sees the USB and can print now. "Magic" glue tends to not stay stuck so print jobs come loose during printing. Filament feed cartridge does not feed well so jobs stop in the middle. Not for the faint of heart, I like the idea of this printer, just not executed well. Packaging stinks, no attention to detail in assembly, and final quality control is non-existent.

After reading some of the reviews, I think I must be the lucky one. So far, I've had no problems with my printer. Owned it for about 3 months now, and have used extensively. Shipping took about two weeks, it has good print quality and it's fairly easy to service. I use it primarily for building molds for small composite parts. My only real complaint about it is the 3d modeling software (cubify invent) that is included is complete garbage and the price of filament is a bit high. As far as maintenance the most I've had to do is re-level the print bed and remove a clog from the nozzle. Overall though it's easy to use and does what it's supposed to (mine has anyway).

Would give it 0 stars if I could.Worked for around 3 minutes. Wasn't able to be activated (which is stupid anyway, there's no point in activation other than adding an extra step and an extra thing to go wrong for the consumer)Then finally it somehow skipped activation and I was able to move the X Y and Z a few mm before the thing rebooted, touch screen stopped responding, and the activation error came back.Not worth the time. The machine is heavy, big, uses proprietary filament, and breaks way too easily.

Do yourself a favour and spend a lot of time researching what is available for 3D printers before you make an investment. I thought I had done my homework before I made the decision to purchase the CubeX... My bad!As you can see by the other reviews and ratings this printer is a less than stellar (actually less than average) performer. I am not here to slam the product but I will give you my honest opinion based upon my experience over the last 6 months or so of owing a CubeX.The Good:There really is none. Save for the fact that it can do a relatively large print job when compared to other similarly priced 3D printers.The Bad: (Use the facilities first and grab a snack and beverage. The list is long)To be frank, out of the box this printer will not work. To get it to work reasonably well you better be prepared to do some modifications. Google Cubex Blog for a good starting point. My printer arrived damaged. To be fair it was through no fault of Cubify. The shipper mishandled it. The first bit of frustration was trying to get replacements for the damaged parts. The printer sat quietly on a desk for three months while I waited for parts. I actually gave up on waiting for a new print platform (which was shattered in shipping) and spent another $900.00 on an aftermarket heated print platform. By the way, that is the first upgrade you will want to do. Do not buy a 3D printer that does not have a heated platform.Ok, so the replacement parts finally show up. I have my new heated platform and I'm ready to print... oops, not yet! take the time to calibrate everything on the printer. Level the bed, adjust the waste bin height and wiper arm position, and set the Z-Gap. You will need to adjust the Z-Gap before each print job, it seems to wander. Ok, now ready to print. I only purchased a single print head machine (another mistake, I will tell you why in a moment). So, I installed a single PLA cartridge which, by the way was effortless thanks to the on screen instructions (I guess that could go under the good section above). I used the CubeX software and saved the print file to the USB. I put the USB into the printer selected my file and bam! the printer went into action! Amazed at the technology, I just sat there mesmerized and watched it go. After a few minutes I noticed there was no PLA being extruded from the print head. A quick bit of troubleshooting and I found the problem... The filament was jammed inside the cartridge. No problem, I loaded up a new cartridge and tried again... Same thing happens... WTF? It turns out that cartridge jamming is a VERY common problem with the CubeX. Poorly designed and cheaply made.The next modification was to ditch the cartridges and use open reels (which are about 1/3 of the price of the cartridges). That solved the jamming problem and I was actually able to print an object. Not bad, a little lacking in detail, but not bad. Upon close examination of the object it just appeared to be sloppy. A little more skimming the forums and the problem appears to be the CubeX software. In comes the next modification. Dump CubeX software and use Kisslicer. A noticeable improvement in print quality.So, now that I have done a few modifications, am I happy with the CubeX? ... The short answer is NO! Although the printer will indeed produce a reasonable print job now (even a large object) it is still very finicky. The printer has a repeatability factor of zero. One print job will come out great and the next comes out as a pile of goo!Knowing what I know now, would I buy or recommend this printer? ... Not a chance! I, unfortunately, have too much invested in it to set it aside and try something else so I have to live with it for now. My personal opinion is that 3D Systems released the printer before it was ready. I mean come on, an hour of testing this printer would reveal all of it's issues, especially the cartridge jamming problem. The Engineers at 3D Systems should spend the time to resolve these issues before they sell any more units and earn a bad reputation. Yes 3D Systems, there are better products on the market so, if you want to stay in business, get the issues resolved and recall the junk you have already sold! (even the modified printers because there will be a lot of them).My advise to anyone looking for a printer:1. Do your research! Do not depend on the manufacturers web site as your only source. I'm pretty sure that none of the pretty objects on Cubify's web site were actually printed on the CubeX. There is a rapidly growing 3D printer community out there and they are all willing to share their experiences, good and bad.2. Do not buy a single print head machine. Why you ask? Some objects need supports added while they are being printed. With a single head printer you can only print with one material at a time (either PLA or ABS). When the print is complete there can be a large amount of clean up to do including cutting away the supports. Not an impossible task, but time consuming and it is possible to damage the object while cleaning it up. PLA is brittle and will dissolve in water. ABS is strong and will not dissolve in water (it will in Acetone). I recommend printing your object with ABS and the supports with PLA. When the job is done you can place the object in an ultrasonic heated tank of water (you can add chemicals to speed up the process) and dissolve away the supports. Then you can use acetone and a rag to refine the ABS object if you desire. So, with two print heads you can have ABS in one and PLA in the other.3. DO NOT buy a 3D printer that does not have a heated print bed. Large objects will warp and even separate which makes them useless. Believe me, after patiently waiting 12 hours for a large object to print, it is heart breaking to have to toss it in the bin.As I stated early on, I am not here to slam CubeX. I do think the printer has great possibilities, it just needs some refinement first and my experience in dealing with Cubify and 3D Systems so far shows no indication that they are fixing these known issues.I hope this review saves others from the frustration I have experienced since purchasing the CubeX.

This printer has a BIG problem, the Cubex software is @#+-*** !!!But if you use it with Kisslicer and Cubeitmod you'll be able to print with a very high quality and you can use bulk filament instead of the expensive 3Dsystem's cartridges.Go to Kisslicertalk and you'll find the downloads and all the informations you need.