Zortrax M300 3D Printer Problems

We have brought a Zortrax M300 3D Printer.  It was recommended to me by several people.  They told me that it was really reliable and made good quality prints.  I have spent just over 92 days using this printer and printed a wide variety of things.

Image result for zortrax m300

When the printer works, it is a dream and can makes good quality prints.  However, when it doesn’t work (which is around 50%) of the time, it’s a complete nightmare.  It has had a catalogue of problems.  Here is a little diary of my Zortrax M300 printer problems.

18th April 2017
Straight out of the box the printer was non-functional.   Zortrax sent out replacement parts including a new extruder cable, extruder PCB, heater and a thermocouple.  We contacted Zortrax on the 18th April; new parts arrived on the 27th April   The printer was unusable for 10 days

30th April 2017
Amazingly, a large print burnt mid print.  The fan shroud was ripped off and the hot end damaged.   We had to print a new fan shroud using our far more reliable Makerbots.  The odd thing about this is that the Zortrax software sets the route of the printer.  I have no idea why we would have this sort of problem.

Camera
DMC-FS16
Focal Length
5mm
Aperture
f/3.1
Exposure
1/8s
ISO
400

Erm

 

Camera
DMC-FS16
Focal Length
5mm
Aperture
f/3.1
Exposure
1/60s
ISO
200

What a mess!

The damaged hot end

10th May 2017
The second strange to happen was that the printer nozzle drove into printer bed and caused significant damage.  Again, there is nothing that we could have done wrong because their computer program does the programming on the machine.

31st May 2017
After a few weeks of successful printer suddenly the printer stopped extruding any material or would print just one layer of raft then stop extruding but carry out the remaining printer movements.  We contacted Zortrax, and they sent replacement parts including a new heater and a thermocouple and perforated print bed   We contacted Zortrax on the 31st May, new parts arrived on the 7th June.  The printer was unusable for 8 days.

23rd June 2017
Again, after a few weeks of printing… you have guessed it…. the printer stopped.  It will not extrude any material or print one layer of raft then stop extruding but carry out the remaining printer movements.   The printer was sent back to Zortrax, looked at by their engineers, given the all clear, then suddenly they found a problem (apparently some material was stuck in the extuder head) and it was sent back to us.  We contacted Zortrax on the 23rd June, and the printer arrived back on the 18th July.  The printer was unusable for 25 days

18th July 2017
So… finally got the printer back and you have guessed it….  straight out of the box….. it didn’t work!.  The printer will read the extruder temperature at 4% even though the hotend is visibly very hot, smoke can be seen and a burning smell is noticeable.

I currently don’t have a working printer.

In summary:

Total length of ownership of the printer – 92 Days
Total time the printer has been completely unusable – 43 Days

So, I’m afraid that I can’t recommend the Zortrax M300.  It’s an unreliable, temperamental and generally frustrating machine.  The customer service isn’t very good either given the length of time it takes to get spares and repairs.  You can’t speak to them on the phone; they are unapologetic and slow to react.  We have had to wait for ages to get the printer shipped back and forth between Zortrax UK office.   In comparison, Makerbots have proved far far more reliable.  We are looking to purchase two new 3D printers.  At this rate, there certainly won’t be from Zortrax!

One thought to “Zortrax M300 3D Printer Problems”

  1. Unfortunately we have been having major issues also. Being a business that massively replies on our 3D printed items, it has been a huge hit, as we are now on day 10 of zero successful prints following the arrival of our brand new M300.

    The service from Zortrax is shocking, the lack of urgency or care is highly frustrating. I was told to follow their printing instructions on one of our STL’s that will just not print, I did this an reported back first thing in the morning with attached photos and info via their online chat service, marked for the attention of the advisor who I had had speaking with regarding my various problems. After 6 hours of waiting I saw the message was still unread, so when I logged on to their chat service using a bogus customer name (John Smith) I got a response within seconds, well doesn’t that tell you all you need to know.

    When I advised the Zortrax team member I sent a message 6 hours prior and explained everything, I was advised there must have been glitch as they did reply, call me cynical but it sounded like a whole bunch of BS to me.

    What was so frustrating is that getting close 5pm there time, so there goes another weekend of no printing, meaning we are to lose even more $£€, when I explained that to the zortrax team member, I feel they quite literally couldn’t care less.

    Tomorrow is do or die and as I feel now this machine is going back, as it was bought under the premise of reliability, quality prints etc, but as it hasn’t printed anything that we need, we feel this proves the point that the reliability is terrible!!!

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