Any thoughts on the Monoprice MP Select Mini 3D V2 printer? I know it's smaller but it gets good reviews it seems. Mainly looking to make smaller parts here and there, but it seems like it's pretty much ready to go right out of the box.

Ordered a Creality Ender 3 Pro and some PLA/PETG filament last night. I've played around with TinkerCAD already to try it out and see how difficult it was and it seemed fairly straightforward. Already have a few easy prints I'd like to do for some things around the house. Looking forward using it for some pinball things.

I did NOT design this eye crank for Funhouse and Roadshow. But it's an improved version I remixed of one that was already on Thingiverse. I improved it slightly in a few key areas to make it function better. You can get the STL file and see the improvements here:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4777438

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I have an E3Pro and get that extruder clicking too occasionally. Like others have said, make sure the brass extruder gear is clean and the spring tension tight, but not too tight. My gear has set screws, so when the gear gets worn from the filament, I just move it up or down slightly.

The other thing to check is the amount of in/out movement you have in your bowden tube right at the extruder fitting. The tube needs to be cut and flared slightly when you push it in the extruder to keep the tube from moving. I think that movement makes it harder for the extruder to push the filament through the tube.

Another thing I've noticed is that it's worse for me when I slice at 0.2mm vs. 0.12 or 0.16mm. I think that's a culmination of a lot of things here, but you are pushing less filament at the finer settings. My prints turn out fine even with the occasional clicking so I haven't messed with it too much.

PLA easy to print but brittle.
PLA+ easy to print, a little tougher than PLA
PETG harder to print, litte more flexible than PLA
TPU hard to print, rubbery and flexible
Nylon hard to print, probably need a printing enclose, fairly tough
ABS very hard to print, tough, gives off bad fumes, need a print enclosure, tough. Some lower end printers don't get hot enough to print ABS.

There are way more materials available and many with materials mixed in (wood, carbon fiber, etc) which can cause nozzles to wear out or plug up. I have no experience with resin so can't comment on those, but have heard those are best suited for prints with fine detail.

I buy my filament from 3DXTech, a local manufacturer not too far away from here. They make their own filament more suited for industrial applications really. They make a version of PLA+ called ToughPLA. They said it's not as brittle as PLA which it seems to be. Regardless, I use it interchangeably with PLA, but honestly, I don't really notice much of a difference with regular PLA. It is more of a matte finish, but that might just be that manufacturer's formula.

Hold coil not really, as it's high resistance. TZ home ROM has a pause feature built in that you can trap a ball, press the extra ball button and walk away. It only holds the ball for 15 minutes like that. Should be good enough for most #2s I'd imagine.

Click on the supports box by the adhesion box in your recommended settings before you slice.

Not pinball related, but I printed title strip holders for my jukebox. I built a custom over-cabinet that holds additional song selections and needed the title strip holders. Used some clear filament and printed them at 100% infil. Installed them in the cabinet and backlit them to match the look of the jukebox.

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