MarkOne Unboxing!

I was quite surprised when my MarkOne 3D printer arrived earlier this week.  I honestly wasn't expecting to see it until early 2015.  Well, it is here, and it looks awesome!  Too bad I can't print with it yet, but more on that later.

Here's the box, and what it looks like in the box.

I carefully removed the MarkOne and placed it on my floor.  It is quite heavy.  I wish they had put in straps or some kind of carrying handle to make it a bit easier.  Getting my short arms around the machine and lifting up from the bottom was tough.  :)

Inside of the box was also a smaller box filled with accessories.  These included the build plate, some removal tools, a wireless antenna, a spool of Kevlar, and the power supply.  Shipped separately was a Pelican box that is used as a "dry box" for the nylon.  Since nylon absorbs water, you need to keep it dry for the best results.  The case was internally modified to accept a spool of nylon with a shaft to spin on.

The build plate is of exceptional quality.  I love the fact that it's a machined flat aluminum plate, with fly cutter marks and all.  Three bolts are inserted in the bottom, which I assume makes up the kinematic coupling.  I don't know what material they've used on the top surface.  It's kind of tacky.  And since I can't think of anything else, my guess is PEI?  I don't know.

But you probably could care less about the accessories, let's look at the hardware.  In a word, this printer is beautiful.  The best looking thing I've ever seen.  I once oohed and aahed over the Form1, but this is ever nicer.  I only have a couple of minor gripes.  The edges, while not technically sharp, are still...well... sharp.  Not enough to cut, but enough to not feel good.  It reminds me of my iMac from 2011ish, which I did cut myself on!  And the surface feels like it came straight out of the sandblaster.  I wish the frame surfaces were smooth like iMacs.  But hey, you can't have everything.

The front door is enormous and spans the entire machine.  It's very easy to lift to give you access to the entire build area.

Another really nice touch is the lid, which rotates upward and is assisted by a gas cylinder, seen below.

Opening the lid gives you access to all of the mechanical bits of the MarkOne.  Here are some photos.

This looks like the FFF drive mechanism.  Bowden-like design?

Here's the CFF / FFF extruder.

This looks like an interesting spin on a belt tensioner design.  I've never seen it done this way on any of the automation I've worked on before.

Nice energy chain.  I don't see IGUS anywhere, so perhaps it's a different brand.

A closer look at the FFF drive mechanism.

Here's what the extruder looks like from below.

Another nice upgrade I wasn't expecting was an LCD touchscreen.  It's a little mushy because it's a resistive panel, but it's still very responsive and easy to use.  I set up my wireless network and didn't have any trouble entering my huge WPA2 key.

So, at this point you're probably wondering, "How does it print?"  And there lies the biggest flaw with the Mark One, in my opinion -- the registration / activation process.  The printer software is entirely Chrome-based.  The app runs in the Chrome browser and sends the part data to the printer via WiFi.  It sounds powerful, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.  Registration involves going to a special website and entering your email and a very long device key.  The problem is that my hosting provider's system somehow deleted *all* of my email aliases, so when I registered, the notification email bounced.  I have yet to get Markforged to reset my device activation so I can try to re-register my MarkOne.

I'm really excited about getting the new printer, but unfortunately for the past several days I have had to be content with staring at a very beautiful paperweight.