XYZprinting da Vinci Nano 3D Printer Review: Good for Beginners

Our Verdict

This entry-level 3D printer from XYZprinting packs in a lot of features for its low price. We'd recommend the Monoprice Voxel over the da Vinci Nano, simply this remains a good budget buy.

For

Elementary to apply
Inexpensive
Helpful software
Decent prints

Confronting

Works simply with XYZprinting's own PLA filament
Irksome

Tom's Guide Verdict

This entry-level 3D printer from XYZprinting packs in a lot of features for its low toll. Nosotros'd recommend the Monoprice Voxel over the da Vinci Nano, just this remains a good budget buy.

Pros

+
Elementary to use
+
Inexpensive
+
Helpful software
+
Decent prints

Cons

-
Works only with XYZprinting'southward ain PLA filament
-
Boring

XYZprinting produces a wide range of 3D printers, but the company seems especially adept at making printers aimed at novices and newcomers. The da Vinci Nano, XYZ's entry-level printer released in 2018, is a prime case of that, as this simple printer offers a lot of features for a pocket-sized price, and it remains among the all-time 3D printers.

da Vinci Nano 3D printer review: Price and availability

Every bit an older model, the da Vinci Nano 3D printer tin exist difficult to find at retail sites, but you'll nevertheless have some luck if you lot buy it direct through XYZprinting'southward store. There, the da Vinci Nano w is bachelor for $199. This is a wireless version of the printer, but it'due south essentially the same model we reviewed here. A wired version of the printer is listed as out-of-stock, as of this update to the review.

da Vinci Nano 3D printer review: Design

The da Vinci Nano, which measures fourteen.9 x 14 10 11 inches, looks more like a kitchen apparatus than something high-tech; information technology's like a cantankerous between a bread maker and a 1970s sci-fi movie prop. Though a front door blocks off the moving and hot parts of the printer, there is no override. If yous open up the front door, the printer keeps going, then it isn't suitable for unsupervised use by younger printers.

The door does help block off much of the noise of printing, though — a depression whirring and buzzing sound that is quieter than that from nearly printers.

Backside the lift-up front door is the impress expanse, with a glass impress bed that allows for prints of upwards to 4.seven inches on each side. That's non as big every bit the prints possible from printers like the Dremel Digilab 3D40, but it's big plenty for about uses. (And considering the size of the Nano, information technology's a pretty generous impress surface area.) This print bed is a piece of drinking glass that can exist hands removed by releasing a couple of latches, which makes information technology easier to remove prints.

da Vinci Nano 3D printer review: Materials

The Nano uses filament stored on a reel that fits onto the printer's back. As with most XYZ printers, the PLA filament features a scrap that identifies it to the printer, with the Nano working merely with filament supplied past XYZ. Each of these reels, which holds 600 grams of filament, costs nigh $27.99.The filament comes in 14 colors, ranging from clear to black. That's a bit more than expensive than the printing materials for many other printers, some of which tin can utilize 3rd-party resin that costs about $20 for a ane-kilogram (2.two pounds) reel.

Because the Nano lacks a heated impress bed, you're limited to PLA; the Nano won't work with ABS or other filament materials.

da Vinci Nano 3D printer review: Setup and controls

The da Vinci Nano is simple and straightforward to use. You just unbox the printer, remove the numerous $.25 of tape and foam property it in place, snap the print head into place and feed in the filament. It took united states less than one-half an hour to go from opening the box to starting the first print.

The controls on the da Vinci Nano are limited to a single glowing button on the front and a power switch on the dorsum. The glowing push button shows the status (green for prepare, orange for print in progress and reddish for error), but everything else is controlled through the XYZmaker software, which is free for Windows, Mac and Linux. (However, yous practise accept to annals with XYZprinting to access the download page.)

The XYZmaker software is quite simple to utilise, offering the ability to import, scale, movement and combine 3D models. Information technology can likewise create 3D models such as text, logos and primitives such as spheres, cubes and pyramids. These tin can be combined with (or removed from) existing models, and then you can do things like create a 3D model of text and and so use it to cut out the shape of that text in another 3D model, like a machine that engraves your pet's name onto a tag. XYZmaker is not a full-featured 3D-modeling plan, just it is overnice to see that more features for these kinds of unproblematic tasks are becoming available in 3D-printing programs.

Once the print is ready to become, y'all pass it over to the XYZ Printer plugin, which slices upward the model and prepares it for press. Again, this is a uncomplicated-to-use program that offers all of the basic features y'all will need, plus a few more. You get a 3D preview of the model, and information technology tin can add together supports (the pieces of textile that concur a complex print in place) and tweak other settings, such as infill (the amount of material that is printed inside the model to hold it together). You can utilize the 4 print-quality settings — Typhoon, Normal, Fine and Hollow, a special mode that removes any infill — or tweak the settings yourself to go the perfect print.

da Vinci Nano 3D printer review: Impress process

Once you hit Print, the XYZmaker program sends the file to the da Vinci Nano over the printer's USB connection. Once that'south done, you tin disconnect your computer from the Nano without affecting the print, simply the software provides the only way to monitor the progress. There is no visual or other indication on the printer itself of how long your print will take.

We found the da Vinci Nano to exist a fairly tranquillity printer while running; information technology exhibited simply a slight whine from the motors and fans, accompanied past a whirr and buzz from the impress head moving. It's a fiddling irritating if yous are sitting right adjacent to the printer, but the noise was barely audible a room away.

da Vinci Nano 3D printer review: Print speed

The da Vinci Nano is not a fast printer, particularly when compared to a blazing fast model for beginners like the Polaroid PlaySmart. Although the Nano tin can print sizable objects, information technology takes a long time to do and so, specially on the higher-quality settings. Our test print of Auguste Rodin'south The Thinker, which is about 4.3 inches high, took between 7 hours and 36 minutes on the Typhoon setting and a lengthy 21 hours and three minutes on the High Quality setting.

That'south a lot slower than other, more expensive printers, such as the Dremel Digilab 3D40, which took between 3 hours and fifteen minutes and xiv hours and 2 minutes, respectively, for the same impress. Even some similar low-priced printers were faster; the $160 Monoprice MP Mini Delta, for case, took less than 5 hours to print in its highest-quality speed manner.

This is probably the nearly obvious place where XYZprinting has cut corners to keep the cost down: In the Loftier Quality print way, the print head moves more than slowly so that information technology can be controlled more accurately. More expensive printers, past contrast, use bigger motors that can exist accurate at higher speeds, thus maintaining both speed and print quality. The cheaper motors in the da Vinci Nano make yous choose one or the other.

da Vinci Nano 3D printer review: Impress quality

We were impressed with the quality of the prints that the da Vinci Nano produced; they had a clean, smoothen finish and well-made edges in the Typhoon and Normal modes.

The print of our Thinker model in the Draft mode (which uses a 0.4-mm print pinnacle) had very visible print layers, but it yet featured an attractive, clean cease on the back and arms of the figure and lilliputian or no disjointed layers. Prints produced in Normal way, pictured above, (0.4-mm layer height again, but printed a chip more slowly) looked smoother but however had a lot of visible layering and some plain-featured layers that didn't quite seem to have stuck together properly, especially on smaller details such as the fingers and toes of The Thinker model.

The High Quality impress mode (in a higher place) nevertheless had some obvious layering. But the smaller layer elevation made them less intrusive and produced a smoother overall wait, and the details were reproduced more accurately.

da Vinci Nano 3D printer review: Verdict

For around $200, you get a lot of printer with the da Vinci Nano. Although it is restricted to printing with PLA from XYZprinting, the Nano does a great job of producing attractive prints, and the visitor's PLA filament is not overly expensive (although it costs more than third-political party options).

The software that controls the da Vinci Nano is simple to employ and offers some neat, unusual features, like basic modeling tools to add text to existing models. The printer is tiresome, though, so look to wait a while for your prints.

Since we starting time reviewed the da Vinci Nano 3D printer a few years ago, other models aimed at novices accept come along with more than impressive features, including the Monoprice Voxel and the Polaroid PlaySmart. Just those 3D printers toll more than the da Vinci Nano, which remains a great packet for anyone who's curious most 3D printing — whether at home or in a classroom — and doesn't desire to spend a lot to go started.

Richard Baguley has been working as a technology author and journalist since 1993. Too every bit contributing to Tom's Guide, he writes for Cnet, T3, Wired and many other publications.