WEEFUN Upgraded Tina2 3D Printer, Auto Leveling DIY 3D

The Tina2 is almost the step before most entry level 3D Printers, it’s designed as a first 3D Printer for an adult or child (under supervision) with no experience in the area and the emphases is on compactness, safety and easy of use, it certainly succeeds in these aims but it should be noted that this requires compromises, it’s important to understand what it’s suited for and if it matches your needs I think it’s an excellent little machine that will you’re going to enjoy using and learning from but it’s not suitable for many of the applications a full size machine is capable of and if you buy it not understanding it’s strengths and weaknesses then you will probably be disappointed. It’s a Fused Deposition Modelling or FDM printer (I’ll go more into what this means and how it compares to resin printing section by section as for a machine of this size & build volume this is a significant comparison) that uses standard cheaply and easily available 1.75mm diameter PLA or TPU filaments.

Size wise it’s absolutely tiny, so small it will fit on the print bed of my standard printers, the design is light but sturdy and less ‘industrial’ than most printers which tend to have a lot of extruded aluminium & wiring on show. The footprint is kept even smaller by having it’s little LCD screen and single control dial fitted in the roof of it’s tidy little enclosure and a fold away spool holder on the side. This is easily small enough to fit in the corner of a desk, or on a shelf (although be aware that there needs to be space behind for the print bed to fully retract) and light enough to put up out of the way when not in use. It’s even smaller than a resin printer, with the added benefit of not needing cleaning & curing equipment, which can take up the same space again. You should be aware that it’s quite noisy in use so it’s not going to be suitable for locating in a bedroom for overnight printing.

Being small does have disadvantages in a 3D printer though and this compactness is also the Tina2’s biggest limitation, the build plate is a mere 100mm by 120mm and the maximum height is 100mm, this is a very small build volume, on a par with smaller desktop resin printers, it’s normal for FDM printers to range from the low 200’s up in all three dimensions, this limits you to printing small items or those that can be broken down into many parts then assembled after printing. Miniatures, such as those used for table top gaming for example, models that can be scaled down are, or can be split into parts for printing. Many predesigned models are already split in this way for the convenience of Resin Printer owners. There will be many practical prints and projects that can be done with this printer too, but the small print bed is limiting as it’s too small for even a phone case (unless you come up with a multipart design of course!). However reviewing my earliest projects I found that a lot would fit, a replacement for a broken release lever on my food mixer, a gate hasp, various custom enclosures for break out boards. Cases for Raspberry Pi computers or laptop sized hard drives are within the build volume.

A less obvious issue with the size of the printer is it’s attached spool roll holder which is only big enough for a 1/2Kg spool of filament. While these are easily available and you’re not going to be burning through it as quickly as a larger printer (which might use more than this in a single big print) the 1Kg rolls work out better value and not all colours/types of filament may be available in smaller sizes. There are plenty of designs for spool holders to fit the larger spools and hold them next to a printer, but most of them are going to be too big to print on this printer!

As 3D printers go this is an extremely safe design, the machine is fully enclosed helping to keep small fingers away from moving parts and although it lacks the guard on some other versions of this model (not a bad thing as far as I’m concerned as that would make even the simplest maintenance somewhat akin to a Crystal Maze Challenge!)but the sole heated part, the aptly named hotend is well out of the way & withdraws to the top of the enclosure on completing a print, the flexible build plate removes the necessity to pry parts off a solid bed with a scraper, the cause of many injuries), the use of tape to provide surface adhesion saves needing to use ethyl alcohol or acetone to clean the bed surface and the machine doesn’t support materials such as PLA which can give off really nasty fumes when printing. FDM printing does have risks, primarily hot and moving parts, and the presence of melted plastic which need to be considered if buying a printer for a younger person, but when deciding whether to go for FDM or resin printing it has to be weighed up against the safe handling of resin, which by it’s nature is generally toxic by contact or usually by fume inhalation, more user friendly resins are becoming available but wearing rubber or nitrile gloves, eye protection and a mask is recommended when using resin. Printer filament is pretty benign in comparison or young children should of course be supervised.

From unboxing this has to be the easiest printer I’ve ever used, it comes assembled other than plugging in the external power supply, attaching the Bowden tube (a white PTFE tube running from the hot end to the extruder on the side of the casing, this simply pushes into a coupling) and inserting the SD card. The printer comes with a nice clear manual and a wizard guides you through loading your first filament (a small sample is supplied, I suggest buying more with the printer), then you can select one of the pre loaded models and off you go. And the model prints, no further configuration required, the printer simply prints and a a little while later (depending on which design you chose) you have your model & it’s actually good! If you’re new to 3D printing then the idea that something works being a cause for celebration might seem a little odd, especially since this first print is a design the manufacturer supplied, sliced by them to be perfect for their printer and the filament they also supplied, but the idea that a new 3D printer user can take a printer at this price point out of the box and the first print you ever print will almost certainly work is actually pretty amazing, my first few weeks of 3D printer ownership (about 18 months ago) were an exercise in frustration as I gradually learned how to correctly level the bed and set the exact correct gap between bed & nozzle manually, what types of adhesion aid worked best with what printing materials and a hundred other little tips & tricks, culminating in some big changes to my machine, before I reached the point where I can send a print to my machine & be pretty confident I can safely leave it to do it’s thing and come back to a finished print rather than a pile of plastic vermicelli, this printer is like it out of the box. The main reason for this is that this tiny printer has an automatic levelling probe, it will automatically check the gap between bed and nozzle before each print so the bed height isn’t even adjustable. Secondly, the bed surface is very good for use with the supported filament materials, the print bed comes in three parts, a metal plate on the machine itself, a flexible magnetic pad that sticks to it and a thin self adhesive surface layer stuck semi-permanently to the magnetic pad. this surface layer can be peeled off when it becomes old or damaged and replaced with a new one, a couple of spares are supplied and you can buy more from Weefun (just between the two of us- it’s painters masking tape, a great build surface for PLA & TPU).

The interface is a standard 3D printer ‘Turn-to-choose ,Press to select’ jog wheel and the printer runs a very cut down version of the regular Marlin interface, it’s pretty easy and intuitive, has pre-set wizards for loading and unloading filament and a very useful little feature that tells you how long is left on a print. The only configuration option is that you can set Z-Offset, this is the distance the nozzle is lifted when printing the first layer, it was pretty much right out of the box and while I’ve made a tiny adjustment it was fine as it was. One of my few complaints about the printer is in the interface though, if you want to manually set the hot end temperature, for example when setting the Z-Offset to ensure that there’s no set plastic on the nozzle to put your setting off, the temperature goes up a degree at a time meaning that a 200 degree setting takes a LOT of dialling!

When you want to move on to slicing your own models Weedo have included their own slicer on the SD card that contained the models, Wiibuilder is simple to use with a very simple interface and preconfigured with the settings for Weefun’s printers, as you grow in knowledge & confidence there are advanced options available to give more control over the slicing process but the pre-sets and options on the basic tab are pretty good to get you going and produce reliable results. Inspecting the resultant gcode file shows that slicing is actually performed using the Cura 3 engine, Cura is a pretty good slicer, it’s the one I’m most familiar with myself, but the current version is 5 and it has a lot of improvements since v3, a customised version of v4 is also available from Weefun’s website website if you want to use a more generic and closer to up to date slicer. However Wiibuilder is pretty good for starting out and I have to say that this is one of the easiest slicing/printing experiences you’re likely to have. The basic interface is extremely user friendly and intuitive but the advanced options are reasonably comprehensive should you choose to use them. My main complaint about it is that it doesn’t allow you to save slicer settings for different printing materials, you have PLA and TPU to choose from and that’s it, if you want to fine tune for a specific brand or try a new material you’ll have to modify one of these & then change it back or reset to default afterwards.

Maintenance on the Tina2 is minimal, replacing the bed surface is as simple as peeling off the old one and sticking on the already cut to size replacement, the only adjustment is Z Offset which is done via a wizard and very easy. The printer is supplied with a spare nozzle and when the thermistor or hot end need replacing Weefun sell the hotend as a single part, they have Youtube videos showing how to do these tasks. This is easier than replacing the hot end components individually but more wasteful, with some careful sourcing or a little cut & splicing of wires I’m sure the necessity of swapping out the whole hotend could be avoided.

Of course ease of use is pointless if the results are rubbish and at this price point and without a dedicated parts cooling fan I had my doubts about what the results would be, however my first print, a simple square from the supplied models came out nicely, good sharp corners & smooth sides, however as I’ve previously said you expect good prints from the ones the manufacturer supplies, so instead of printing more of their files I sliced and printed a ‘3DBenchy’a model deliberately designed to highlight problems, and it was pretty good, really pretty good, it’s the white one in the photos, the bow is smooth detail is excellent, there is a tiny bit of distortion on the underside of the arches, but that is literally what they are there to test & it’s really not surprising on a printer without a dedicated parts cooling fan. I’ve attached some other prints including one of a ‘Cute Cthulhu’ printed in TPU, a notoriously difficult material as it has a tendency to block the nozzle, and being flexible can jam the extruder gears or in the bowden tube. No problems at all though as you can see by the attached photo! The Silk Purple filament Benchys have some pretty severe distortion on their funnels, but I think that’s down to having been under a lamp on a very hot day as I tried to capture a time lapse. This printer is capable of really fine detail, I think a big part of this is that the print head is really small and light (as is the print bed compared to other printers) letting the motors accelerate and stop it really quickly and easily.

Quality of filament has made a big difference to output quality with a particular brand name black filament that I’d had sitting around because it gave great results but had poor bed adhesion producing beautifully detailed prints (and sticking well) while cheaper, and in some cases low quality non name brand filaments gave results ranging from excellent to meh.. But all printed which is good and no printer can make great prints with poor filament.

One thing I did want to mention is that at this stage in the development of 3D printers, modifications are quite a big thing in the consumer market with third party companies selling spares and upgrades and more technically able users creating their own modifications, my own pair of bigger machines have been extensively modified to add heated beds, better mainboards, more powerful power supplies and better cooling, the Tina2 isn’t really designed for this, it’s much more a ‘finished product’ where most printers are quite modular and there isn’t really a Tina2 modding community in part because it has been sold as for children, however one Tina2 modder is definitely worth a look if you’re interested in what might be done (be warned that many modifications to a printer will invalidate the warranty and some may be dangerous to the printer or to you, you shouldn’t attempt anything like this unless you know what you are doing)-:http://www.reppersdelight.spacymen.com/index.php/category/Printers/Weedo

I initially tested this printer with PLA which is by far the most popular printing material, and it works very well, results do vary a bit depending on the quality of PLA used, but that can be mitigated to a degree with a little experience by adjusting the slicer settings for the specific brand. The manufacturer also states it can be used with PLA Pro, this is something of a catch all term for any PLA that has had additives used to improve or change it’s characteristics enough that the company wants to market it on this fact, I didn’t have any of Weedo’s PLA Pro but I did have another manufacturer’s MPLA (Modified PLA – another catch all term for the same thing), this didn’t work, it just wouldn’t stick to the bed, a coat of gluestick might have done the job but I’d suggest avoiding any PLA Pro or MPLA that says it needs a heated bed, I’m sure Weedo’s own filament would have been fine. The third material the manufacturer recommends is TPU, as I’ve already mentioned this can be a tricky material to print but the Tina2 handled it very well indeed producing tough prints with good layer adhesion and not jamming. Finally I tested it with PETG, this isn’t a material they say the printer can handle, but it sticks well on tape, doesn’t require a heated bed and it’s popular because it’s strong and has a higher melting point than PLA and consequently stands up better to environments like cars in summer time where PLA can soften. In my initial attempts the printer kept throwing Heating Errors and I discovered that although the slicer will allow you to set a temperature of 245 degrees and the firmware will accept it the head wouldn’t reach it, 240 seems to be the maximum (and be aware that by default the first layer will be printer 15 degrees higher than the temperature you’ve set for the filament, the setting is in “Advanced>Warping Precaution”), dialling the heat down to the lower end of the heat range for my PETG, 230 degrees, I was able to print quite happily in this as well, making the printer even more practical. I have some PLA with carbon fibre on the shelf which I’ll probably give a go with it at some point, however this does have a tendency to wear extruder gears and especially brass nozzles, but I see no reason it shouldn’t print with this or other specialist PLA’s such as wood or copper.

So the big question is, what is this printer actually good for? It’s a capable little printer for printing PLA or TPU but limited by it’s build volume to making small items, however it’s ease of use and low price is undoubtedly attractive. It’s a good first printer, especially for someone young or not overly technical, and it could be a good choice for someone wanting to print models, or miniatures for tabletop gaming, this printer produces good results for an FDM printer, it won’t produce the really fine detail you can achieve with a resin printer (hence they are the favourite of miniature & model makers), however this should be balanced against the running costs being lower, it’s easier and it doesn’t involve messy & potentially hazardous resin or the requirement for eye protection, gloves and a mask. I’m also very tempted to try a smaller nozzle for this application, maybe a 0.2mm, as this will improve the detail it can produce even more. It’s also more than capable of printing small home or project parts, a lot of the items I print would fit on it’s bed or could be broken down into multiple parts to fit, but if you have an eye to larger projects this won’t be suitable.

It’s also a good introduction to 3D printing, particularly for younger people or those who don’t feel confident jumping in the deep end straight away, it really is as user friendly as I’ve found and but the opportunity is there to push yourself a bit further to get even better results and learn most, if not all the principals involved in more advanced 3D printing, be warned though that if you enjoy it and want to develope you are probably going to want to advance to something bigger pretty quickly.

At this price I’d also suggest that if you have an FDM printer and use it a lot this is a possible ‘2nd Printer’, you can set it to printing smaller parts while your main printer is busy on large ones, save power when printing low numbers of small items (the whole printer consumes less power than my bigger printers’ heat beds alone!) and use up the ends of rolls of filament without having to keep swapping them in and out of your main printer(s), this is very much the role I see this playing in my setup going forward and I have no doubt that it will have a useful role to play beside my two fulsized FDM printers and single resin printer.

In conclusion, this is a great little printer, with the emphisis on ‘little’, it produces great results and is a very easy introduction to the world of 3D Printing without spending a fortune, it’s bed size is a major limitation but if you can accept that it will get you up and running quickly and easily.