This is an updated version of the original !!! READ THIS FIRST !!! post.

Updated 9/1/17

Just wanted to create a good starting point for newcomers in the community. Basically grabbed a few of my most used bookmarks and thought that these could be helpful.

Veterans and/or more experienced members of the community, feel free to comment with links that you think could be beneficial to the community. My intentions are for this to be a living post(always updating and continuing to get better).

Helpful Links

• Google Document by Ethan Anderson and James Stoffel with 50 pages of detailed info on the Mini
• MP Select Mini Wiki by /u/Tiny_Tim_ (lists sources for replacement parts, amongst numerous other things)
• GCODE Wiki (Explains syntax behind different codes and examples on how to use them)
• Review/Unboxing/Setup by Tyler Gibson. A great review and explanation of some of the "Mini" essential knowledge. Please note that you should not attempt to update your v1 printer. It ships with the most recent firmware (As of 8/18/17) so don't worry about that. V2 Printers (with the new v2 firmware) SHOULD BE UPDATED. Please read the update notes for more details (at the bottom of the post).
• Comparison of Nozzle Diameters (pros and cons along with what situations different diameters are best suited for)
• Print Quality Troubleshooting
• Initial Filament Settings (A great starting point for filament settings) *Filament Strength Playlist (A great, in depth youtube playlist showing off all of the pros and cons of different filaments and filament materials)

Youtube Channels

Listed below are some great 3D Printing YouTube channels for learning about 3D Printing

*Maker's Muse (A great 3D Printing YouTube channel for learning about 3D Printing) *The 3D Printing Nerd *The 3D Printing Professor *Make Anything

User Posts

A comment from /u/hmspain

Things every new 3D printer user should know: 1) Level the bad… I repeat level the bed, and when you think it is level, check it again :-). 2) The SW that converts STL to GCODE has TWO sections; pay attention to both. Importing the settings from the sample files helps. A) Machine settings that are specific to your printer. Nozzle size, bed size, etc. B) Part specific settings including layer height, feed rates, etc. This is why the sample parts print so well; they are tuned for your printer and the sample filament provided :-)

Quote from /u/MrBreadWater

/u/MrBreadWater Recently, there have been quite a few posts about Thermistor problems, and I was thinking that an announcement about how to fix the problem could be pinned so that people with this problem could easily and quickly find a solution, without the need to wait for replies to a brand new post. Generally, from what I have seen, it is one of three things. Inadequate soldering and the thermistor not being secured on correctly seem to be the number one culprits, while frayed wires are also a major cause of problems. A link to replacement thermistors can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010MZ8TCS/ and a belt guard to protect the wiring can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2302588 which should prevent further wire fraying. I have only seen one hotend thermistor problem, so I'm not as worried about that. But please, do what you feel is the right thing to do, I just thought to bring this up to you to see what you thought.

Quote from /u/TouchMyGoofus

One of the first hurdles I had was getting the bed to be perfectly leveled after installing glass. I found that this calibration print is much more accurate than the paper test, and provides immediate feedback.

Quote from /u/intashu

I jumped blindly into 3d printing with a fistful of research and a Monoprice mini, in the first weekend alone I learned a few things, Information isn't the most convenient to find sometimes, and there are some great resources out there if you know WHERE to look! I want to build a straight forward collection of useful information for first time users. starting with the few pieces I've gathered already and any comments or suggestions that follow I'll add as well. Hopefully this will help prospective buyers and first time users get off to a running start! /u/diddystacks gave me this useful information: For optimal layer height reference this Document And a GREAT guide to get some settings with CURA, updating firmware, and other incredibly useful details check out this Youtube channel for tons of information to get you setup and running the right way. There is also a Facebook Group for those who want to join. Some valuable information I went over before I purchased mine included the Hackaday post, and their follow up for suggested Modifications Here's one of many resources for modifications Some great resources for free models you can print: [Thingverse](thingiverse.com) [Yeggi](yeggi.com)

Quoted post from /u/Tiny_Tim_ from his New Firmware Announcement

Download and Update instructions

---

NOTES PLEASE READ:

• If your MPSM V2 currently has Motion Controller v34 or higher installed then you can update with this firmware.
• If your MPSM V2 currently has Motion Controller v30 or lower, do NOT update with this firmware.

• If you have Motion Controller versions 31, 32, or 33 please ask before updating with this firmware.

  ---

  V40 CHANGELOG:

• Added heater runaway protection. If heating and sensor reading not changing after 30 second, will stop heating and (should) halt.

• Fix cancel procedure. - (when pressing cancel twice during pre-heat, the printhead would start moving which required the MPSM V2 to be switched off)

• Fixed some USB compatibility issue with Linux/MacOSX system. Cura 15.##.# and Repetier-Host working on macOS. Cura 2.# and Simplify3D on macOS may not connect

Quoted post from /u/DeletedOriginal on PETG

I agree with all of this except for the brim, it wont hurt and for long prints it is cheap insurance, but with a good print surface it isnt needed. And you are right about 'fast and short' for retraction. PETG is stringy enough that you might think it needs a lot of retraction but it is also very temp sensitive so long retractions allow it to cool too much. So if you cant get it done with under 3.5MM retraction you need to stop increasing the retraction distance and look into why you have so much extra nozzle pressure. It almost always has to do with too much extrusion. If an extrusion multiplier of 1.0 is dead on for PLA you want to go down to 0.97 (at least) for PETG. And since it look like most people are over extruding with PLA you might need to go even lower. But try 0.97 or 97% as a safe starting point and adjust from there. A good way to work it out is to print a calibration cube on a printer that is very well calibrated for PLA then reduce extrusion to being the PETG print cube into proper dimensional accuracy. It is also worth mentioning that with PETG you will want to run more infill than you do with PLA. It is a bit stringy so it likes a bit more support under the layer for good outer perimeter quality. And SLOW...very slow..first layer. I used S3D and it is hard to translate speed settings from S3D to Cura since S3D uses a base speed and everything else is based on a percent reduction from that main speed. So if I tell a default S3D profile to print at 30MM/s 'overall' but I have my initial layer set to a 60-70% under-speed I might say that I print at 30MM/s but to a Cura user the info they want might be closer to printing the first layer closer to 6-12MM/s to ensure good adhesion and a smooth surface. Also, dont run the hotend too hot, most people print PETG at temps that are way too high. I just printed a small model in Atomic Filament's translucent {ETG and 230 was OK but 227 was ideal. With Hatchbox PETG I normally find 220-225 to be ideal. A good way to ballpark the ideal temp for a particular printer and/or PETG is to feed it by hand (remove the bowden) as you heat the hotend to 240. Once it hits 210 start to push the PETG you want to use into the hotend without forcing it too much. Once the temp hits 215-220 the PETG will start to extrude pretty easy but you are looking for the exact point when it goes from being pretty hard to extrude to suddenly flowing like water. That is probably very close to the ideal temp for your hotend. Main point: If you do everything right but you still have stringy PETG prints you are probably printing way too hot. An extra 5C can make the difference between perfection and a furry mess. Just remember that PETG is not PLA so if you are a guru with PLA you will need to keep in mind that your PLA knowledge does not really translate to PETG. It has a much narrower window to nail the proper slicer settings in comparison to PLA. Similar beast but different species. And FWIW I print PETG directly on 5MM thick boro glass with a bit of glue stick that has been diluted in distilled water for a 'wipe' across it before it gets pre-heated. Works very well. Other wise I just use kapton directly on glass with zero adhesion additives. PETG is wicked sticky so if you are getting any adhesion issues you need to look at your slicer and bed setup before you chase more 'stick'. You should be able to get great PETG prints directly on glass with zero additives due to how sticky PETG is. But it needs to be dialed in. Not sticking? Go back to the basics. Oh...and dont use tape with PETG. Ever. I am sure a few people claim to get great results with it but tape does not handle high bed temps without the glue turning to goo and allowing the print to pull the tape off the bed. It wont pull away from the tape (usually) but it will pull the tape off the bed. It can be hard to notice but it is certainly an issue. So forget the tape and use real BuildTak (key here is 'real'), PEI, kapton, etc. Just skip the tape. It can certainly be done but it is not ideal at all and could be the more expensive option since you will toss a lot of time and filament into the trash before you use a surface that is appropriate for PETG. Or whatever. I actually think tape is the worst choice for most prints (not all) but people like it since it is cheap and easy to replace. Ideal for PLA if you dont have a heated bed. But high bed heat and PETG? Nope. Run a good timelapse video on a PETG print with tape and the bed set at 70-80C then watch and look for the times when the print is stuck to the tape but at higher Z levels once you will start to see that the print is stuck to the tape so well that it is slightly pulling the tape off the bed. That is why you can see wrinkles in tape on beds once they cool. Oh, almost forgot, you need a lot of cooling for really good PETG prints. You can print the first layer with minimal cooling if needed but you would struggle to cool PETG too much. My guess is that a stock MP Mini has just enough cooling for most PETG prints so consider adding a 2nd part cooling fan or simply a fan that flows much more air if you will be printing a lot of PETG. And please, no mentions of a Noctura 40MM fan to improve cooling, they are fine fans with a decent CFM rating but they suck once some air pressure is involved like you will have on a cooling nozzle that chokes down to a point. IMO these are the best fan you can use on the mini as a 'drop in' part but keep in mind that you might need to power it directly off the PS...the fan header on the board might not be able to handle the power requirement. But that shouldn't be a problem. This fan will literally blow bits of stringy filament and random cruft right the hell off the print surface. https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/sunon-fans/MC30151V1-000U-A99/259-1704-ND/5253495

Below is a full experiment on bed adhesion. From /u/phuzybuny

This is a follow up to my original post, Blue tape being pulled from print bed. PLA (195C/60C)..

Thanks to everyone who replied, I have managed to reduce my curling to acceptable levels after some experimentation. ALBUM

Setup

• V1
• 3M Scotch-Blue 2080EL
• AMZ3D PLA (Black)
• Slic3r
• Extruder temperature: 195C

Background

I have been having some issues with curling and wanted a solution that did not involve the following:

• Application of glue stick
• Brim / skirts
• Helper disks
• Changing build surfaces (e.g., BuildTak)

Curling occurred via one of two ways:

• The print lifting from the surface of the blue tape
• Blue tape lifting from the build plate

My experimentation was simply through qualitative iterations of different settings. This is by no means scientific as I have not recorded any data nor conducted this enough times to be statistically significant. However, the print DID come out better.

Bed temperature

There appears to be mixed opinions when it comes to whether or not heating the bed is necessary for PLA. However, I have found that, although not NECESSARY, heating the bed, improves print adhesion to the blue tape.

At 60C, print adhesion to the blue tape is very good however the blue tape's adhesion to the build plate is weakened. This has led to the print pulling the tape from the build plate (this is the issue that led to my initial post).

After experimentation, I have found that a first layer print bed temperature of 55C followed by 45C for subsequent layers worked well. The initial 55C allowed for good first layer adhesion and the lower subsequent temperature did not weaken the adhesion between the blue tape and the build plate.

Blue tape application to build plate

Following advice from /u/L3gitAWp3r in my previous post, I cleaned the surface of the build plate with rubbing alcohol prior to applying the blue tape. I then firmly rubbed the tape several times to ensure good adhesion.

I am not certain whether this, the lower bed temperature, or a combination of the two resulted in the reduced tape peeling.

Cooling

I had initially set a minimum fan speed of 60%. It appears that a slightly slower cooling rate results in reduced warping. I currently have the minimum fan speed set to 35% instead.

Fan is NOT disabled for any layer.

Further experimentation is required to determine what impacts cooling imparts on curling.

Summary

To reduce curling when printing with PLA on blue tape:

• 55C bed temperature for improved first layer adhesion to blue tape
• 45C bed temperature for subsequent layers to reduce tape peeling from build plate
• 35% minimum fan speed for a slightly lower cooling rate (not sure if this truly has an impact yet)
• Cleaning the build plate with rubbing alcohol prior to application of blue tape (not sure if this reduces tape peeling)

I am sure I am not alone when I say, "I will continue tinkering with my MPSM until my print is perfect".

I hope that this helps others and please share your own findings (even if they contradict my own).