In mid-June 2020, I started using the Geeetech A30M desktop 3d printer.
The printer can print 2 colors mixed with 2 filament geared drive units on top of the frame and a fan for each feed to the combined hotend.
A few adjustments are needed on this printer if you really want to work well with it.
First of all, I had a lot of trouble with the standard noise from the 24 Volts fan under the bottom plate, which is supposed to provide cooling for the motherboard. This fan is always running at full power.
I put a controller in between with controls on the left side, through a drilled hole. I secured the controller with 2 tie-wraps through the cooling slots on the left side. The dial just comes through the case and you can hardly see it. Most motherboards I use don’t need a fan for cooling because they are placed freely in the open frame but the A30M has a closed case so a little air circulation is necessary. Plan is to add a thermostat control so the knob is no longer needed. Later. The controller is set to the position that there is a lot of air movement but without the whirring of the fan.
Second modification is the addition of a Geeetech 3d touch on the hotend. The bracket was included with the printer, suitable for both a thick inductive sensor and the 3d touch sensor. What’s nice is that the software (or firmware, if you will) as suitable from the factory for autoleveling. Do pay attention to the correct placement of the connectors, from the front view the brown and black wires should be mounted to the right.
The disadvantage is that the firmware from factory does not really work well with auto leveling. In the middle of the hotbed everything goes fine but with larger prints I noticed that the first layer was printed very differently, so everything kept coming loose. So now I work with manual leveling while automatic leveling is possible.
The hotbed is nice and big with a workable size of 320x320mm. The print height is 420mm.
The price was over 400 Euro, and the delivery was from Germany.
I recommend everyone to secure ALL and especially to include the block hook. My one was really not assembled properly. All threads were OK but all bolts were either too tight or not tight at all. I only found this out during the first test print. I stopped and checked everything. Pay special attention to the rollers of the hotbed. It is difficult to reach them but in my case the adjustment wheels were not set at all and did not rotate. The disadvantage of such a desktop printer is that you hardly have any space under the hotbed.
The vertical V-profiles were not mounted perpendicular to the upper profile. That is difficult to repair because everything is drilled through and bolted. I recommend installing corner stiffeners at the back in the top 2 corners. I have them on order and then they can go right on.
And… what some large printers have and the A30M does not: Additional stabilization rods to the front (or to the back, that is also possible) so that the vertical profiles cannot move. Now when you apply a little force there is about 2mm of play on it, despite the solid mounting to the desktop housing.
:
