Love the machine, compliments my existing Adventurer 5M and 5M Pro. Great job Flashforge
Haven't really ran it through it's paces so far but I have a P1S as well and this is easily on par with print quality and I believe better speed due to the IMS system. No issues yet abd about 50 hours of printing in.
Top quality Filament at a sale price, thats a win win. Can not print without it so its a buy and save. Delivery was quick and tracked 100% Deal.
A quick review extremely happy with the machine. My experience has been. It’s been great out of the box. Everything so easy to work with.
Der AD5M bietet eine tolle Druckqualität zu einem guten Preis. Die Bedienung ist einfach, und der Support war sehr hilfsbereit. Sehr empfehlenswert!
So I realize I am a noob to this whole 3d printing thing but the AD5X has been great to work with. The system has had flawless prints and uses multiple materials well.
This is my first filament-based printed and I was amazed at the quality and ease of use with the 5M Pro. The print results are great (on a par with my resin based printer) and I love the way the prints are just ready to use imediately with no post processing needed. Filament changes are a breeze, and when I accidentally unplugged it during a print, the printer offered to complete the print when I plugged it back in and the prints themselves were still perfect. It's just great.
This was my first printer I’ve purchased. Being clueless about 3D printing I figured I’d get it to learn on and familiarize myself with everything. So far it has exceeded my expectations. Now that I’m familiar with the basics I want to buy something better with an AMS and enclosed.
The printer turned up well packaged. Setup was easy and thorough. The filament loading system is excellent and very user-friendly. The printer worked perfectly out of the box!
I was a pre-order customer so I got a couple of discounts that brought the printer down, plus 2 kg of free filament for being patient through the shipping delay that happened. FlashForge took the extra time to perfect the printer, which makes me happy - much better to have a quality product than a rush, imperfect one.
This is technically my 4th FlashForge printer. FlashForge was the maker of my 2nd 3D printer I bought in 2014, a Makerbot Replicator clone sold under the PowerSpec brand by MicroCenter, Flashforge has been around for a long time! My next printers were a pair of FlashForge Inventors. Those were high quality workhorses for me for a long time, and are still on my "duty roster" if needed. When I saw this 4-color printer from FlashForge, I felt I could trust the brand!
I made a YouTube video of my unboxing experience, link below. I still haven't figured out exactly how to use the 3D-printed accessories that came with the printer which have a short length of PTFE tubing in them - perhaps there's a Wiki entry somewhere. I know they seem to be meant to attach to the spool holders. Another oddity was the 5th spool holder - four are numbered to match the mounting points on the right side of the printer. I'm guessing that might be the default for the AD5M model included by mistake?
The printer is very compact, though that does come at a small cost in build volume versus the Bambu A1 Combo that it competes with. The AD5X is physically like a clone of the Bambu P1P, just about 20% smaller in every dimension. Functionally similar to the Combo (AMS) version of that but much more affordable, and the multi-material system is more functionally similar to the A1 Combo. The AD5X, like the A1 Combo, brings 4 feeder tubers to the printhead, so the retraction distance for color changing is about 2 inches (5 cm) versus 40-ish inches for the Bambu AMS options. That will save a lot of time for color swaps, while being much more affordable than the multicolor tool changers like Prusa has done on the high end of the market. Additionally, FlashForge says the multi-material unit can handle TPU -- this was the primary reason I sprang for it, as the Inventors, despite being dual-head, I could never get to print TPU. I have not tested the TPU handling, but I hope I can print flexible TPU hinges in PLA parts, for instance.
The build volume places the AD5X midway between the A1 Mini and A1/X1/P1P/P1S models from Bambu. I think that is a good position to be in, in terms of marketing to the 3D printing audience. The price point is much lower than Bambu's A1 Combo, and if the discounted price I paid is any indication, there is margin to offer nice discounts in the future, especially as the market is starting to heat up in the Bambu-like machines coming out at very aggressive price points. The framed design of the AD5X clearly has enclosure kits in mind, and I can't wait to see those come out, along with additional nozzle sizes. There seems to be a bit of lag in the accessories coming to market.
I did several test prints, including a couple of multicolor benchies and the 2-color medalion like the Inventor models used. My first print failed due to some kind of homing issue, so the print head was printing in the air about a centimeter above the build plate. I re-homed the printed and started again, which worked out better. I also printed a plate full of springy cats. 3 of 5 came out great, while there some bed adhesion issues on the other 2 pieces. This can happen with any printer and usually resolves by cleaning the print bed or applying glue stick or nanopolymer adhesive. I have been a big fan of the WhamBam 3rd-party build plates on almost all of my printers, as it sticks well and has a smooth finish.
I would note that the benchy was not adapted for maximum speed - IIRC, it estimated about 48 minutes, perhaps a bit disappointing but it was a 4-color print, after all. I guess my sub-10 minute FLSUN printers have me spoiled there. I think the machine could be pushed to substantially higher speeds without changing the hardware.
Final impressions:
Middle of the road build volume
Best price for 4-color printing currently
Could push the speed a little faster
Give us nozzle and enclosure kits in the store!
Get them back in stock so I can buy more!
For the price with multi-color, this machine is hard to beat! I had 2 clogs after my initial test print, but the support team was able to help me get everything figured out quickly! The support team is just as amazing as the printer. I can't wait until someone comes up with an enclosure option. My only notes are that the machine is loud, very loud when running at full speed. The size of the IFS should make it possible for the community and Flashforge to come up with something.
This is a great machine. I have had it running 24 hours a day. No problems whatsoever. I have 3 other flashforge 5ms. All are great printers.
I've had my printer for about 3 weeks so far, and I must say I am very impressed with it so far. It was very easy to set up with the instructions provided, and I was up and running within less than 20 minutes from the time of unpacking it. I have only printed with PLA so far, but all of those prints have turned out well and not required any tinkering with the default settings. Very happy with the ease of use as well as the speed and quality of printing!
All in all I think it's a fantastic printer for the price there are a few things that I would have liked to have seen on it like lighting, camera, power button on the front of the unit, the ability to move the filament loader from the right side to the left side which would have only taken a threaded hole on the left side simple and easy to learn
Titanium is my new favorite. It has worked perfectly every time.
This is my first multicolor printer and it has worked flawlessly. I haven't made any adjustments. I set it up and started printing. It's been great right out of the box.
Love the printer. It takes a few tries to get to understand the nuances of multicolor printing, but it works as it should. Really happy with it!
Works great, wished I ordered it sooner. Definitely a must have.
