Kingroon 3D Printer Review
Kingroon’s second 3D printer looks to undercut its competitors using a frame that’s reminiscent of the Monoprice Select Mini v2 3D printer and a cost to rival popular choices like the Creality Ender-3. Their goal was ambitious but what they’ve delivered has delightfully exceeded expectations, even if it does make a few shortcuts here and there.
Many new 3D printer companies are constantly looking for an upper hand by making a 3D printer that is cheaper than the majority. Kingroon has achieved that while providing a functioning 3D printer, that works, unlike many other Kickstarter disasters that we’ve seen over the years.
But is the Kingroon 3D Printer good enough, considering the extremely economical price?
Kingroon 3D Printer Features
[ads_color_box color_background=”#fff1a1″ color_text=”#444″]
[ads_row][ads_col col=”cell”]
Specs
- Resolution: 100 Microns
- Modeling Technology: FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)
- Printing Size: 7.08 x 7.08 x 7.08 inch
- Filament: 1.75mm PLA
- Nozzle Diameter: 0.4 mm
- Working Mode: USB or SD Card
[/ads_col][ads_col col=”cell”]
Features
- Removable magnetic heated bed
- Easy setup
- Portable
- Resumes 3D printing after a power outage
- Filament run-out protection
- Onboard bed leveling
- Touchscreen LCD display
- Software included
- Spool holder
[/ads_col][/ads_row]
[/ads_color_box]
Kingroon 3D Printer First Impressions
The Kingroon 3D printer first caught my eye when I noticed its economical price tag. It’s one of the cheapest 3D printers in the market right now! I’m always skeptical at first when I see 3D printers under $200, so I had to check it out.
Surprisingly, I saw some pretty good reviews. Customers of the Kingroon 3D printer were pretty satisfied with its overall delivery, if not for a few problems here and there. I delved deeper because I wanted to know exactly what was so good about the 3D printer and what its downsides were.
Surprisingly Good Features
For the price, there are some pretty nice features here such as the responsive touchscreen, and the removable magnetic bed, which helps to easily remove 3D printed items.
The 3D printer works right out of the box, after a quick and easy setup. Most of the machine is already put together, so beginners, fear not!
Bed leveling is easy thanks to the large knobs and an onboard adjustment wizard. All you have to do are follow the instructions and you should be good to go.
The Kingroon 3D printer comes with an SD card with a test file and its own software.
It also has some features that you normally don’t find in cheaper 3D printers. The Kingroon can resume 3D printing if it loses power, picking up right where it left off. Filament runout protection also comes with this 3D printer.
Cheap product = Cheap Design
Despite all of the positive reviews, almost all of these features come with negative aspects that buyers should be aware of.
You can tell that Kingroon has overlooked some basic 3D printer design rules, and they seem to skimp on quality management.
Lots of reviewers of the Kingroon 3D printer have reported that the Bowden tube is too short, and there is no clip to secure it.
Wires are poorly integrated and get in the way of moving parts and get close to hot areas, increasing the risk of a fire starting.
The fan and motors on the Kingroon are also pretty loud and get squeaky over time. You’ll probably need to maintain certain parts of the machine to make sure it doesn’t wear out.
It’s also hard to change settings as the 3D printer is running since the bed moves back and forth which knocks your finger away from the screen.
On the subject of the bed, many reviewers have reported that there is a high point right in the center, making bed leveling harder, and potentially affecting your prints.
The spool holder doesn’t accommodate smaller 3D printer filament spools, just large ones. The design of the spool itself is pretty bad so you will probably want to buy a different one.
These were all choices that were intentionally made to save costs, making this a much cheaper 3D printer than others on the market.
Dealing with the Technology Inside the Kingroon 3D Printer
Not only is the design pretty poor, but the technology is also pretty bad. Even some of the main selling features have downsides.
The software that comes in the SD card is a rebranded clone of Cura, but not a very good one. While it works fine for this 3D printer, it’s very hard to use any other better software.
Speaking of the SD card, many people have had problems with having to format it after using it once and then losing the files that were on it.
The resume print and filament run-out protection features seem to cause problems, making the machine stop frequently in the middle of prints.
The print quality of the Kingroon isn’t the best but it’s good for the price if you can get your settings just right.
If your settings are off, your models won’t show fine details and you’ll instead find lots of globs and artifacts.
Using anything other than PLA won’t get you the results that you want. The 3D printer also works best at low printing speeds.
The separate power supply could be good or bad depending on the user. On one hand, it could be annoying to deal with. On the other hand, it makes the 3D printer less bulky and you can hide it behind something.
Still A Winner For the Price
Although there are a lot of negative features of the Kingroon 3D printer, there is still one factor that outweighs them all, the price.
Most of these things, we can all live with and fix with patience, which explains why there are so many positive reviews for this 3D printer.
Conclusion
Overall, would I recommend this 3D printer? If you must spend around $150 for a 3D printer then go for it, but be aware of the issues you will face. If you can afford to spend a few more bucks, I would suggest you look elsewhere because there are better 3D printers for a little more money, such as the Creality Ender-3.
If you have a Kingroon 3D printer, let us know what you think of it in the comments below, and if you’ve experienced any of these problems, how have you dealt with them?