Honest opinion on GEEETECH A30

[SimonGoback]

So with a shaky hand, I pushed the buy now button and purchased the GEEETECH A30.

I am a little apprehensive with the purchase as I am a little concerned and cannot find any real info on the software that this unit runs. It states that it is a propitiatory software.
https://192168ll.onl/ https://xender.vip/ https://testmyspeed.onl/
Being new to 3D printing, and having a Creality Ender 3 pro, is there many differences that I can expect on printing in CURA, as it is the only program I am familiar with.



Thank you for your in put.

Cheers

[William]

Hi，You can use it and then get to know it.

[BobaLives]

Did you find the answers you were looking for?

[BobaLives]

I am a beginner to 3D printing as well, I have had my printer for close to a year but I still consider myself a beginner because I am still learning and tweaking my printer and settings. All I use is CURA and meshmixer, which are both free software. I do 3D printing strictly as a hobby and to make things for me and my kids. I can honestly say that the Geeetech A30 is a decent printer, but it is the only printer I have ever owned, so I cannot compare to any other printers. I bought the A30 for the print volume and it was cheaper than the CR-10S. It did take me a while to dial in all my cura settings for PLA+ and PETG, those are the only 2 filaments I have really used and gotten some good results. I have played with TPU, but very limited success, I can make it work, but still need to tweak my cura setting and watch the print like a hawk and pause when the hot end plugs to clear and then resume... pain in the butt. I have since upgraded to the Capricorn tube and it fits amazing down in the extruder hot end, all the way in, I get no gap for PLA+ or PETG to curl up in extruder hot end. I have not tried yet with TPU, but hopefully it will get rid of the jams and plug-ups in the hot end and I won't get those fat plugs and curled up filament ( looks like an ingrown hair almost) between bowden tube and the extruder hot end. Stringing... I have not gotten rid of all stringing, but I don't think it is horribly bad. Layer shifts, or salmon skin... I do get it, but I have not adjusted my stepper drivers yet, or added the stepper motor dampers yet. I don't think it is that bad on my printer, but can be noticeable. I print slow between 20 and 40 mm/s, with travel between 90 and 110 mm/s, depends what I am printing and if I care about layer shifts. I did change my hot end tip size to a 0.6mm so the prints are completed faster than the 0.4mm tip and still look nice.

Initially I was having issues with brim/skirt and first layer adhesion, the filament liked to not stick right away and curl up on the hot end causing blobs and then the initial layer would get bumped by the hot end during movements or line passes and they would pop up and get tangled and make a mess, multiple failed initial prints... it was frustrating and really angering. So here are the tricks I figured out and use if you are having problems with initial layer adhesion:
1. first is slow down the print speed for brim/skirt and first layer in CURA to 10-15 mm/s. Also add a few extra lines to the brim or skirt, I use between 6 and 18 lines depending what I am printing and how tall it is. The extra lines are for the filament priming and to see if there is good extruding and to help with adhesion.
2. next trick I use is to first warm up the heat bed to temp I am using for print, when the heat bed is fully heated to print temp, then I heat up the hot end to print temp, when the hot end is fully heated I ensure the filament is fully loaded and I manually push some through the hot end checking to see if there is any filament oozing out of hot end. If and when it is I use needle nose pliers to clean off the tip before I hit print.
3. When I hit print I use a piece of paper and put it between the hot end and the heated bed, just like if I am leveling the heated bed, and as the brim or skirt starts to print I am moving the paper around in circles or back and forth until I see the filament in a smooth line printing on the paper and then pull the paper out and the filament sticks to heated bed nicely, no filament sputters or blobs or mess curling on the hot end and heated bed, just on the paper, and this allows the filament time to prime and gets to full extrusion on the paper... It works for me and I do this before every print, no failures since.

One more thing before I stop rambling like I know what I am talking about, youtube filament dryer, or use this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q46MARHhxAQ
I did exactly this with the same dehydrator and it works beautifully. Just look up the drying temps and set to recommended temps and time it. I think it helps immensely with printing and printing quality. Here are some pics of stuff I am printing, layers are decent, you can see some of the layer shifts and salmon skinning that I haven't fixed yet, overhang drooping in some areas with no supports, and the little stringing. The pics of the paper show you the filament sputter and globs on the paper, then the smooth primed line before pulling paper out from printer when the brim/skirt is printing. T-Rex skeleton by Makerbot ( https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:275091) and Mandalorian helmet by Brokennerd83 (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3578797) are from thingiverse. I did take them into meshmixer and make small adjustments on some parts. The helmet I cut into 6 pieces, so not to print 1 huge piece. I have printed some 20 hour prints, but nothing longer. I try to keep my prints shorter than a day, that's just my preference.

Hope some of the info I put was helpful, good luck and enjoy your A30.