Our Experience with FlashForge 3D Printers: A Comprehensive Guide for Families

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Our Background with 3D Printing

We have been working with 3D printing since 2015 and teaching it to kids since 2016. Back in those days, it was much more difficult, slow, and expensive. We did a lot of research on 3D printers in 2021 because we would be investing in a new fleet. Up until then, we had been working with a mishmash of printers as new options became available and as we figured out what what features were important to us and for 3D printing with kids. We have previously owned or worked with Ender, Afinia, UP Mini, Makerbot, and Zortrax 3D printers.

Why We Chose FlashForge

FlashForge printers met all our criteria:

• Quiet: We need to be able to teach/work while they are running
• Economical: We have 6, so for obvious reasons we need the price to be reasonable
• Ease of Use: Plug-and-play, we don’t want hours of building the machines and upkeep
• Safety: Safe for kids to be around

We started with the Adventurer 3 Pro model (we owned four), added two Adventurer 4 Lites, and, more recently, the Adventurer 5M models. We now have three 5M Pros and three 5M’s in our line up at Nerding HQ. We just ordered the new AD5X (released Nov 2024) which can print in 4 colors. We will update you when we get it!

Our FlashForge Printer Models

Adventurer 5M Series

Adventurer 5M

• Price: $399 (Black Friday $279! though I’ve seen them at $299 for the past several months)
• Build Volume: 220 x 220 x 220 mm
• Self Leveling: Truly just push the button and it’s done in a few minutes
• Speed: up to 600mm/second, AKA REALLY FAST (literally 4x faster than our previous printers, which were industry standard)
• Build Plate: PEI flex sheet (flex to pop off completed print. easy.)

Note: The all the 5M models print so fast that it can cause the table to shake. Place them on a sturdy surface to prevent this.

Adventurer 5M Pro

• Price: $599 (Black Friday $449!)
• Build Volume: 220 x 220 x 220 mm
• All of the features of the 5M plus:
• Enclosed: with HEPA filter (benefit if you have kids and pets, for safety and to keep clean)
• Quieter: Slightly quieter than the 5M
• Camera: Built in, use to monitor your print

Is the Pro model for you? Maybe. For families new to printing, it’s really just a difference of the enclosure, which is nice and it does stay clean. I find the price difference a little hard to justify. We do have three of these though because we feel WAY safer having the Pros in the hallway at Nerding where small nerds might be walking by and tempted to touch.

Adventurer AD5X

• Price: $549 (Black Friday $449!)
• Build Volume: 220 x 220 x 220 mm
• 4 color printing

The AD5X is simply a 5M with 4 color printing capability. Literally JUST came out Nov 20, 2024. We ordered one, but it hasn’t arrived yet. In general, I wouldn’t recommend this as your first printer.

Ordering Tips

We recommend ordering directly through the FlashForge website rather than third-party retailers or Amazon. Keep an eye out for sales and coupon codes, especially around holidays, to get the best deals.

Our Experience and Tips

Reliability and Maintenance

Be warned. No 3D Printer, no matter what the company tells you, will print without some hiccups and failures. You’ll need to persevere in troubleshooting, and we have found Reddit and FB groups to be largely friendly and helpful. But if you have a strong understanding going in, most issues are avoidable and simple to fix!

Use Quality, Plain PLA Filament

Our go to brand and type is Hatchbox PLA in regular solid colors. Hatchbox is available on Amazon (we don’t have and affiliate link for this).

At this point, we don’t even mess with any other brands or “fancy” filaments unless we have time to play with settings and risk clogging the nozzle. Wait until you have lots of success at printing regular PLA before getting any tricky filament like matte, silk, rainbow, UV, or any filament that is mixed with another medium like glitter. There will be a learning curve of temperature and setting changes in your slicer program to get these to print will and you will risk clogging your nozzle. Always use a separate nozzle for “fun” filament because often they are abrasive.

Software

• Slicer: We use FlashForge’s own slicing software, FlashPrint 5. It works well for our needs, though other open-source options like Orca are compatible.
• Free 3D Design Software: For kids we love TinkerCAD. We even love it for most adults. It is FREE and browser based.
• Free 3D Models: Sites like Thingiverse offer tons of free models. However, we recommend parental supervision. It’s community submitted designs, so some are inappropriate for kids.

Safety Considerations

While these printers are family-friendly, it’s important to supervise kids during operation. Remind them to keep their hands away from the printer while it’s running, as it moves fast and the print nozzle is hot. Also, stick to PLA. Some other filaments have toxic fumes. Do your homework before trying them. Even so, we always recommend keeping your printer in a well ventilated area.

New Course from Nerding Coming Dec 2024!

Happy Printing! – Niecy and Micah, the nerds

If you have any questions or want to share your own experiences, feel free to leave a comment below.