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Tevo black widow 3d printer
TEVO Black Widow 3D Printer Kit Build and First Impressions Review – Maker Hacks
TEVO Black Widow 3D printer kitThe TEVO Black Widow is a sub-$500 Chinese 370x250mm 3D printer kit. How good could it possibly be?
When I shared with the 3D printing community that I was going to purchase one of these kits, I have to say the response was … mixed …
More than one person warned me to step away from the buy button.
But then there was the 11/11 Aliexpress discount. So, yeah, I bought it, despite some of my friends strong protestations. What do they know, right? 😉
What you get in the box
Fear turned to excitement when the box arrived after a couple of weeks wait.
New @TEVOprinters Black Widow kit arrived. Build and first-look review coming soon! #3dprinter #3dprinting
A photo posted by Chris Garrett (@chrisgarrett) on
Did I tell you it was free shipping via DHL?
There is talk of North American distribution, so I expect the shipping to get even swifter.
Unlike the Australian 3D printer, this was packaged very well. Nice laser cut foam, individual slots for everything, parts boxed and bagged, printed manual, set of tools.
It’s a RepRap cartesian style printer with Marlin firmware. I bought the version with the BLTouch bed levelling sensor (more on that in a bit), but either way you get a 370 x 250mm heated bed with a kind of Buildtak style surface. LCD screen, E3D V6 clone, MKS 1.4 board. Aluminium extrusion, of course, but also laser cut/CNC fixtures too. Red, anodized, beautiful, metal parts.
Points scored.
This might be a budget printer kit but they obviously are working hard to be up there with Mr Prusa.
The build experience
All nicely boxed Aluminium extrusion Bed plate X and Y Bed and steppers So … much … peeling Backing paper peeled Control and powerThe build was a fun experience. Probably ambitious if this is your first 3D printer, especially if it is your first 3D printer kit, but certainly doable if you take your time and ask for help with anything confusing.
Was it up to the Prusa i3 Mk2 high standard? No, nor should you expect it to be, but I think they could get there, and the community is great at filling in the gaps. With Telli Mantelli, Chris Leonardo from TEVO, the videos, and the TEVO Black Widow Owners Facebook Group helping me, I got it working over a weekend, and had fun doing it.
There are a lot of tiny screws and nuts, so take my advice and print off a few of these bad boys. You don’t want these pieces rolling into a dark corner under your desk. Your sanity and eyesight depends on it.
Word of warning, the printed documentation has a parts list before each step, but in places the parts listed differs from the actual steps. Follow the steps and Dean Walsh/The Art of 3D Printing’s excellent videos instead.
Ignore the parts listsAlso, as is often the case with these kits, some of the parts you need will be in past or future bags. And the instructions are not always clear or complete. And the steps in the video aren’t always perfect.
Not to say those things are showstoppers, there are tons of happy Black Widow owners out there who not only got their own printers working, but will help you too. I (and I believe some others) have suggested TEVO take a leaf out of Printrbot and Prusa’s books and put the documentation online, so it is always up to date, and the community can comment with tips, questions and advice.
Disaster strikes
OK so some minor niggles aside, it all went well, right?
Not exactly. First start up my MKS board burned out.
I’d just got through celebrating on Instagram when I smelled the special odour of the magic electronic smoke.
The good news is the company was very responsive and are sending out a new board. Even better, I happened to have a spare on hand that I purchased as an option when my Australian printer RAMPS electronics did the same thing.
I loaded up the Marlin firmware, and … the LCD screen was blank and just making a ticking noise.
Turns out the new MKS board had the cables oriented backwards to the original. Easy fix, once you know.
Then I did a test cube print and found the coordinates were doubling, the printer was trying to print off the back of the bed.
Turns out the firmware/board was expecting the purple stepper drivers instead of the green ones my new board came with. Rather than mess about with configuration I just switched over the drivers. Another easy fix (when you know the answers).
Success! A working printer!
I am going to do some upgrades and mods later, but to begin I will get a feel for it as supplied.
Not cool
No print cooling fan or nozzle? Really?
There is a fan for the extruder itself, but I would suggest a fan and nozzle should be included to cool prints otherwise overhangs etc will be a bugger to print.
Bypass the BLTouch
This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I think you should save your money and get the non-BLT version.
Levelling the bed is not that difficult, and the machine with the BLT option does not come with the mount for it anyway. I now have two unused BLTs sitting here. Perhaps I should do a giveaway.
Initial Impressions
Yes, it took a couple of days from unboxing to having a good print, but those were not full days, probably under 12 hours in total. Not bad at all.
It helped that I had a spare MKS board on hand, and I already ordered a new power supply because the failure rate of those early guys wasn’t the best, thankfully corrected now.
Black Widow Calibration CubeThat all said, the first print off was not terrible, in fact to say I had done zero calibration, belt tightening, slicer tweaking, etc, it was impressive.
I am optimistic how well this is going to turn out well with some tweaking and upgrades.
The price is amazing for such a build area and an updated version 2 was released to new customers right after I bought mine.
Update January 18th 2017
As mentioned in my 3d printer guided tour video, after using the printer for a while I realized I still had under-extrusion, despite doing all the usual calibration and slicer tuning.
Turning to the ever-helpful Facebook Group, I was advised to check the Newbie Guide section on under-extrusion, and low and behold there is a “fix” to my version of the extruder.
Unfortunately the fix involves getting a replacement, adding spacers or filing down a section of motor body. Looking at my extruder, the spacer approach was not going to be a good option because I had good filament alignment so rather than wait for a new one to be shipped out, I went with filing down.
This curved part is in the way Expert filing FTW Blockage begone?I also bought a 24v fan so I can get some filament cooling and will update further with more upgrades as I perform them.
Black Widow Upgrade – Filament CoolingI did reach out to TEVO who supplied me a new external mosfet and a new heated bed. These are part of the new package and prevent the problem I had with my MKS board burning (see above). Big updates and show that the company care about giving their customers care and attention!
September 2017 Update: You can get this printer for $389.
99 right now, that’s amazing value for money!Conclusion
I’d say if you are on a budget, you need a large build area, and are willing to put in some effort and problem solving, then this printer is definitely worth checking out. It’s a kit, so it doesn’t print right out of the box, but in building it you learn everything about the printer, intimately, which is priceless. Tevo have continued to iterate and are responsive in the community, which is kind of a big deal.
(Note: You know the drill. As I always say in my reviews, if you do buy something after clicking any of my links I might get a small sales commission, rest assured that commission does not influence my opinion or writing, and it never raises the price you pay at check out 🙂 )
Is This Large 3D Printer Worth It?
The Tevo Black Widow 3D printer is rapidly catching up in the popularity department with its more well-known counterparts, such as the Creality and the Anycubic lineups.
The good people at Tevo have upped their game with the Black Widow thanks to its extra-large volume.
Learn more in this Tevo Black Widow review.
The Tevo Black Widow Review: First Impressions
This Tevo Machine takes its name from the iconic spider that bears the same name. The packaging of this Tevo Black Widow 3D printer has been by far and large amongst the very best in the market. If packaging can sell the product, the Tevo Black Widow 3D printer would be a definite hit from the time a prospective customer lays eyes on the box!
Even the boxes and packages inside the main box are very well designed and equally well laid out. The Tevo Company took the trouble of not using just plain boxes for the smaller components, but branding those as well, for its Tevo Black Widow printer.
Assembling the Tevo Black Widow 3D Printer
Each and every piece of the Tevo Black Widow that has to be assembled is very clearly marked, and all of them are accompanied by all required screws, pins, and parts.
Moreover, all of them are separately packed in individual bags with Tevo Black Widow branding.
Once you decide to build your own Black Widow, there would be no need to try and sort out just one big bag of screws in the Black Widow bag.
As for the Tevo Black Widow extruder, it comes already preassembled, and it has been packed separately in foam in its own section of the Tevo Black Widow box.
However, it is important to note that the Tevo people have not included a test filament with their Black Widow 3D printer. In this case, if your black Widow arrives before your filament order, then you would be fresh out of luck, and you won’t be able to try out your shiny new Tevo toy.
Since the cost of 10 meters of PLA or ABS won’t cost much, this is an oversight made by the Tevo Black Widow 3D printer makers.
When you open all the packets, you will be surprised to know that the Tevo Black Widow comes nearly fully assembled unlike many other printer kits. The distinctive spider design to its parts is one of the coolest looking 3D printers on the market.
If you want a bit of bling on your 3D printing machine, you won’t need to do much in terms of paint or stickers.
The Tevo Black Widow 3D printer has the option of using glass as an OEM part separately. The current bed has been well-covered with the ever-popular Buildtak type of surface.
This is good enough for basic applications, but more complicated builds with small parts and protrusions might stick to it and would have to be hacked away.
Since most of the main parts of the Tevo Black Widow 3D printer kit come already pre-assembled, there was not much that had to be done. It is much easier to build this 3D printer than to build a Creality CR-10 3D printer kit, for instance.
This printer has been constructed from 40X80MM extruded aluminum, and assembling it was a lot of fun. The Tevo Black Widow 3D printer kit uses proper T-nuts in its construction.
This 3D printer kit comes with a build manual that is highly detailed and very informative. However, there is a bit of data missing regarding the machine’s cable chain and end stops.
But there is no need to worry since the online Tevo Black Widow community has the matter well in hand. There are plenty of forums and YouTube videos that can easily help you construct your very own Tevo machine.
Once finished, you might find the control box of this 3D printer kit a bit flimsy since it has been made of acrylic, but nonetheless, it looks pretty good thanks to the included LED strips.
PLA and ABS Printing with the Black Widow
PLA ABS are two of the easiest 3D printer materials out there that you can print with. However, if you will be using PLA ABS filaments, you will definitely need a cooling fan. Unfortunately, this 3D printer kit is currently lacking a fan. This is a major flaw with this printing machine, and it should be rectified since other 3D printers already come equipped with their own cooling fans.
The biggest issue with PLA ABS prints is that the lack of a fan overheats the bed and the build. If the build is not badly affected, it will at least get stuck on the bed, and you would have to literally hack it away.
This is why it is absolutely imperative that you get a fan for this printing machine. Here it is pertinent to note that ABS may be able to survive a little better than PLA or HIPS without the cooling fan. It also does well on wood PVA too.
Once you get your printer set up, the first upgrade you need to print is a fan. Check one out here.
SD Card
The machine comes with an 8GB SD card; however, the card is empty, unlike many other 3D printers’ SD cards. As a matter of fact, almost every other printer available in the market has included a few bundles of software such as STL files and sometimes even pre-sliced Gcode files in case the user wants to take this black printing machine on a test drive.
While it is not very hard to copy all of these files in the least, but it is possible that these pre-sliced files might have settings that won’t match the specific filament you have at hand when you start your test print.
Operational Software
Most of the inexpensive 3D printers in the market come suitably equipped with free, open-source software.
While Cura comes on the SD card, but that does not mean that you have to be restricted only to this particular system as such.
The beauty of an open-source 3D printer is that there are plenty of other software 3D printing solutions out there. In fact, you can now easily download plenty of them, such as Slic3r and even Craftware.
It is pertinent to note that even if you were to use the top open source solutions, they would still pale in comparison to an actual paid one. Here, one of the very best ones around will easily set you back by at least $150 USD or so.
This solution is known as Simplify3D, and it is one of the best 3D printing slicers around. It is so great because it allows you to customize all of your support structure and thus effectively ensure that you can print very well indeed, irrespective of your 3D prints’ scale.
Upgrades and Modifications for the Tevo Black Widow Printer
This Tevo 3D printer is a great model right out of the box and, as such, doesn’t need much when it comes to upgrades alone.
However, you will definitely need to get a cooling fan and spool holder. A glass heat bed would also be a desirable upgrade. You can also go for an auto-leveling sensor holder and a sensor mount.
Moreover, if you still want to upgrade your Tevo Black Widow, you will have to design your own mods. Or alternatively, you can just go through the bunch of free upgrades that many Tevo users have already added on Thingiverse for new and upcoming users of this Black Widow machine.
Pros
- This printer is heavy and therefore not prone to rattling easily
- All metal hotend makes printing a breeze
- The Extruder’s aluminum frame uses wheels rather than fragile rods and bearings
- This 3D printer kit is very easy to build when compared to others.
- Large build volume
- The bed is well insulated and also heats up pretty quickly
- The Tevo Black Widow branding looks very sophisticated
- It works well on both PETG and wood PVA along with regular filaments
Cons
- Dowdy and fragile looking acrylic housing for the electronic components
- There is a dire need for a cooling fan.
Especially since the Tevo Black Widow does not have an enclosure - No spool holder, which makes it hard to print anything
- A glass bed is a vital necessity since it is not part of the stock machine
Tech Specs
General Specs
- Model: Black Widow
- Category: Desktop
- Technology: Extrusion
- Material: PLA, ABS, Nylon, PETG, Wood PVA, PLA hips, and Flexible Filaments
- Filament diameter: 1.75 mm
- OS compatibility: Windows
Performance
- XY accuracy: 0.012mm
- Max. build size: 400 x 250 x 300mm
- Max. printing speed: 100mm/s
- Min. layer thickness: 0.05mm
Hardware Dimensions
- 600*600*600mm
- Nozzle diameter(s): 0.4 mm
Conclusion
In light of the above, we can state that the Tevo Black Widow is a great entry-level printer that can handle even large builds effortlessly with PETG, flexible TPU, HIPS, wood, and other materials. All in all, it offers great value for money, at least in the x 250 and the 370 x categories.
Check price on Amazon
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