Test of the JGMaker Magic, a good ender like?

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I am going to present you today a 3D printer, the JGMaker Magic, manufactured by the Chinese company JG Maker, new name of the brand JG Aurora, present on the market for several years, not very well known on the French market but nevertheless very popular in some European countries or in the USA.

This printer is released in 2019, it is equivalent in size to an Ender 3, with a printing area of 220 x 220 x 250 mm, it is sold for about 220 € on Amazon and about 200 dollars on the official website of the brand

Machine details:

• Printing area: 220 x 220 x 250 mm
• Heating plate 110°C Max
• Flexible printing surface
• End of filament sensor
• Resume printing after interruption
• All metal structureFind the complete description of this machine on the Amazon product sheet.

This 3D printer is not equipped with an automatic levelling sensor, nor silent TMC drivers, for a 2019 model this is relatively normal, but its price remains interesting at the moment, for this type of configuration

Unpacking the machine:

When unpacking the JGMaker Magic printer, we can see that it is partially assembled. We also find a set of accessories such as a spatula or a cutter, at first sight the components of this machine are of good quality.

Assembling the machine :

After having fixed the profiles on both sides of the machine, you will then have to insert the X axis carriage with the extruder and the print head, and pass the belt and adjust its tension, this is not very complicated, even if it is not fully detailed in the documentation.
Don’t forget to connect the motors and various sensors!

Count about 30 minutes to assemble the machine, no need to be a great handyman.

Starting the machine :

At the first start-up, you will have to check that the various axes are working properly, and that the print head and the platen can heat up to the desired temperatures.

These checks can be made using the printer’s “Control” menu, with the options Move Axis and Preheat PLA.

As this machine is not equipped with an automatic levelling sensor, before launching your first print, you will have to adjust the plate to level it on all four corners. You will have to do this with a sheet of A4 paper, you will find many tutorials on the internet, for example this video I made 2 years ago for another printer. Note that with the JGMaker Magic, I had to fold the A4 sheet in 2 (double thickness), to have a first layer not too crushed.

Once the adjustment of the plate is done, you can start your first print! I strongly advise you to print the test model provided on the micro SD card of the machine, it allows you to make sure that the machine works properly.

Here is the test model

Printing:

Concerning the Slicer software to be used with this machine, you are free to choose the software of your choice, personally I progressively migrate all my profiles to Prusa Slicer. You can start with a profile for ender 3 which will work without making too many adjustments, for my part I just increased the shrinkage value a bit, to 6mm instead of 5mm.

Here is my first impression, a Benchy (yes this is not very original), the rendering is really clean, for a printer just out of the box without having made any modification, this JGMaker Magic starts to please me!

A small detail, not having mentioned the type of plate used yet, it is a “flexible” plate, the plate is covered with a buildtak type surface, held by clamps, you can easily remove your prints without a spatula by slightly bending the plate. It’s really handy, and the grip is really good.

Here are some other prints I was able to make with this 3D printer, all with a layer height of 0.15mm, with different filaments from different brands (Sunlu, Prusament and Creality).

When I wanted to use Prusament filament, I could see that unfortunately the spool support was not adapted for this type of spool, in this case I will have to use another support.

To conclude, I already knew the brand JGAurora, having tested one of their machine in 2018 (the A3S), it is true that this brand is much less popular than Creality in France, and yet their machines are very good quality, this is also the case with this Magic, which is perfectly suited for a beginner.

It is true that this machine is not all optional, but for its very affordable price around 200€, it is a product that I would recommend without hesitation.