Off topic.. 3D printer recomendations


 
F

Frank Giacinto

TVWBB Member
I am looking to take the plunge into buying a 3D printer.
With all of the people involved here figured it would be a great place to ask.

Would like dual head, but can add it later.

Thanks for your advice on what to purchase, there are way to many choices nowadays.
 
S1000 or so for now, not really looking at budget.
More of a good unit that will last for a while.
Add on dual head later if needed due to budget/need.
Big enough to print hm case for myself as practice run.
Maybe a bit bigger if budget allows.
 
I've heard some folks having good luck with the Flash Forge Creator. It comes in right at your price point too.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008CM2TCU/tvwb-20

It's essentially a makerbot replicator clone from China. I have a sneaking suspicion that they have access to and are using higher quality parts than MBI used in the original replicator.

The ultimaker2 is a beautiful machine and makes stunning prints, but it's single-head only and about twice the price.

seemecnc's has some beautiful deltas that are in your price range as well.

There's lulzbot and the TAZ series of machines. About the same price as the ultimaker2.


I could go on, but I have work to do. ;) I'm sure others will point out additional machines.

Whatever you do, don't buy anything closed source. If you do you're tied into that ecosystem of support and consumables (filament).

Keep asking questions! :D
 
Yeah, both the creator and creator x have dual-heads. Creator x has the metal chassis, which is nice. Read the reviews for both. Even the negative reviews seem to be handled really well by their support team.
 
if you are talking about the printers I linked, I will warn you that it built like a Chinese knock off. for example there are no filament unloading arms (one can be printed)

I am looking into better parts on ebay, I really want to change out the MK7 extruder gear for a MK8 extruder gear, The one problem I am having is the exturder is clicking alot and I get inconsistent extruding especially when printing with PLA.
 
I'm sort of conflicted as to how to guide you in your decision and I'll explain why. There is definitely an art to 3d printing that you pick up with time and starting off with an easier build will help you get up and running faster and move you along your learning path more quickly. On the other hand, depending on how obsessed you become with it, you will soon find better ways to do things and will start coming up with enough ideas for improvement that you end up just building a new machine. After finishing my latest corexy based machine, I am now a firm believer that every possible effort must be exhausted to remove mass from x-y movement in Cartesian axes machines. Unfortunately, none of the entry way machines incorporate this philosophy because there are certain nuances that might be troublesome if you haven't learned many of the tricks associated with the traditional moving extruder on the x-axis with perpendicular moving bed. There is also a much smaller information bank for these sorts of things so you get into sparsely charted waters very easily which may not be very comforting if you haven't built one before. From my previous discussions with you I get the sense that you are very technically inclined and could probably handle any problems that come your way but I think I would still recommend building a solid traditional Cartesian machine before experimenting with some of the newer designs. As far as the solid machines go, I think a mendelmax 1.5 or Matt's Prism would be excellent choices. Both use aluminum extrusion frame construction and are extremely solid.

I would be happy to discuss more depending on what you are thinking and how much you want to take on.
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence Tom,
I have been reading and reading and reading some more on all of the 3D printers out there.
There are so many to choose from that it gets exhausting every one claims to be the best and has all of the greatest thing on them.
I am leaning towards a kit for now for the same reasons you explained, I know I can build it better or at least try...
Not sure if you noticed that there is now a mendelmax 2.0 argh more choices..
The good thing is I have some 80/20 that I can play with too.

One unit that really caught my eye is the http://seemecnc.com/collections/3d-printers/products/rostock-max-complete-kit looks as if they are thinking outside of the box on their design, and has one of the larger print areas that I have seen in similar priced units.

Not the first or last time I jumped into something and wished I spent a bit more research time on it...
I guess I have more homework to do on this idea.......

Thanks for all of the ideas so far.
 
I've seen the mendelmax 2 and it was actually the inspiration for the second printer I built a little over a year ago. I didn't recommend it to you because the kit is way overpriced and it's a hard printer to source on your own if you don't already have a printer and/or cnc at your disposal. In all honesty, I'm not a big fan of the delta style printers. I think they are fun to look at, but I question their mechanical stability. That being said, I've never built one or tested one myself. The reason why I like the mendelmax 1.5 style printers is that they have such a large user community that there is very little that you can run into without somebody else having already seen it. In the end, it's like you said, there are so many to choose from and I don't think there is a clear winner over any other. I think the key is to pick one that is mechanically sound with a large user base. To that end, I would stick with printers that use aluminum extrusion for their frames.
 
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