Tina2S 3D Printer, Fully Assembled WiFi Cloud Printing Auto Bed Leveling Mini 3D Printer for Beginners, Built in 32-bit Silent Mainboard, Fully Open Source DIY 3D Printers for Home, School

The media could not be loaded. I have a rare genetic disorder that causes severe joint damage. I have to depend on braces and splints to function which gets kind of pricey. I wasn't sure if I would be able to figure this out because I'm not very tech savvy. I really wanted to be able to make some custom splints for my hands. My plan was to practice on this budget model to see if I could even figure out how to make them. I wasn't expecting much because of the low price point. I figured that would need to upgrade to a more expensive model once I got the hang of it. I was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked. The quality is so much better than I had hoped and the end result is amazing. Connecting it to the app is super easy and from there it practically walks you through the process. There are educational videos and free designs available in the app. You can also monitor the progress of your project and see how much time is left before it is complete. It comes with a large amount of filament so you can started right away. Their website also has a lot of resources on projects and even information on how to design a custom piece.

I'm almost 40 years old. When I first started seeing 3D printers available on the market, they seemed within reach, but too expensive to get into. I have a family now and they're young because I started late, but life is busy. I immediately saw the useful applications, replacement parts like knobs for stoves and toys, creating things, etc. I thought 3D printing would be awesome to get into, but no longer have the time I did before. I figured once my kids get older they would probably get into it and make some cool stuff. When I was in my teens, Flash animations and Photoshop were the thing, I spent creativity there.This Tina2 printer was much more affordable than others I have seen, and appealed to me because it is for beginners, and seemed compact. It seemed like the perfect way to test the waters without committing too much, and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to give it a whirl. Well, I did, and I am VERY happy with this.I went from having no knowledge of 3D printing (probably still have no knowledge ;p), to feeling like I have some things down. Also, when I see other people's makes on Thingiverse (an easy website where you can 3D print objects others have created), I see some of theirs being ugly and messed up, and mine seem to come out really good in comparison - and I don't even know what I'm doing!!! After reading the directions, this was surprisingly simple and fun. It takes a LOOONG time to print things though. But, due to this, I've used this thing to continually print for days on end. I just see one thing takes about 6 hours, I go back and check on it. I start something at nighttime and it's done in the morning. Start something else big before I go to work, and so on.I did run into two issues though that I wanted to pass on, but customer service for this unit has been EXCELLENT.The very first time I used this, the nozzle stuck into the magnet and burned into the magnet a bit. I didn't know what it was doing since I never used a 3D printer before, but after awhile I saw nothing was happening and stopped it. After that first attempt, it worked flawlessly afterwards. Maybe something got knocked around in shipping. Make note to remove the protective pieces inside before using. Customer service was very nice and great. They sent me a replacement magnet piece for the bottom.The second issue was the fan on the 3D printer stopped working. This was a couple weeks after having it, and using it a lot of times non-stop mind you. I saw a print had failed midway through. After trying to remove the filament and put it back in a few times, it was still messed up. I also swapped out the nozzle, and still kept having jams. I did all the research and wondered what was wrong. After trying a few times, I saw the fan above the nozzle wasn't spinning, and remembered it always seemed to be on during prints. I found that the filament was melting higher up than the nozzle, and although I had cleared it out multiple times, the remaining filament up higher was causing problems. Since it was still less than a month, I sent it for an exchange, and have since been printing more with no issues.So far, the only preventative maintenance I've had to do, and this is on probably around 100 hours of 3D printing, was to use a brass brush and brush off the nozzle while the heat is on periodically. Also, the masking tape on the magnet pad on the bottom I've had to replace a couple times. I am going to try to buy a roll of 6" masking tape to save some money on that and see if it works. Other than that, it keeps going strong. I've found it to be very interesting and cool. I'm sure if these were around when I was younger I'd be making little cool trinkets and things like that in high school instead of making photoshop images and burning CD's. (It was okay back then, Napster had just started!) This also has many more practical applications than doing that. For example, I have some cheap solar lights for my shed outside. Rather than drill and screw the flimsy solar panel, I just set it on the roof of my shed and used two hand clamps to hold it on. My wife complained those were ugly. I 3D printed two small clamps and put them up there, and they're much less ugly. That, and it cost almost nothing since a large roll of filament produces many things.If you're like me and were on the fence about 3D printing, I say to give this a try. It will be easier than you think, and it may lead you to invest some more down the line and start to get more creative.

tl;dr This is a great first printer, would be perfect for someone just starting out, and could easily be used by tweens/teens with very little supervision. It would also make a good school printer because of additional safety features and closed housing. If you're trying to decide between the Tina 2S and the Tina Basic, spend the extra money on the 2S.The Weefun Tina 2S is a great first printer! I purchased it with zero previous 3D printing knowledge and was able to print my first item within an hour after unboxing.Pros:- Compact size, with a footprint roughly the same as my air fryer or instant pot.- Runs almost silently compared to other printers I've been near.- Easy controls that are fairly intuitive.- Lots of controls to fine tune your printing.- Built in LED light. This feels like something optional, but makes a big difference in the closed housing and you miss it when using the Tina Basic.- Great customer service. I had a problem with my nozzle and hot end. The company responded quickly and professionally, sending me a replacement in under a week. It was very easy to swap out and works great again.- Lightweight and compact. I work at a school and have been taking the Tina 2S or the Tina Basic in to work with me nearly every day to use in an educational display for the kids.- Included tools and extra nozzles to get you started.- Built in filament holder that fits 200g and 250g rolls easily.Cons:- The wifi setup runs on 2.4G and was really frustrating to try and set up on our 5G home network. We had to add another wifi at 2.4G and it still will only connect to my phone and not my computer. But since it has a memory card and came with a reader, I just use that method, similar to what I use on the Tina Basic.- Smaller printing area than your more standard printers. The small print bed can be limiting and requires scaling for many print projects. For someone just starting out and experimenting, this can help you learn how to work the various software programs to change models to fit your needs. It can also be frustrating when you have to print things a few times to get the scaling right.- Doesn't fit large filament rolls and requires an extra roller holder (cheap to buy on Amazon).