Cheap 3D Printer Recommendation

This is probably the best made clone with quality components http://www.3despana.com/kit-de-impre...-completo.html

this is also a very nice variant https://www.reprapwilson3d.com/colle...nt=18734558981

for a prusa MK2 copy http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1692666 and http://reprap4u.cz/


Anything less or cheaper is seriously compromised, will lead to frustration and the learning will turn to nightmare and unsatisfactory. round unsupported rails is a minimum that i hardly accepted. Rollers rolling on aluminum profile is a joke, dont be fooled.

if you are serious to get into 3d printing i will not consider anything less than Prusa MK2, even that with many reservations.

The questions " what printer for 300$" "What printer for less than 250$" and so on are the main reason i stopped to participate in any printing Facebook group. It ridiculous. To me it sounds like" I want a Ferrari, i see people are driving them, what model for around 3000$? " . or i want a CNC that cuts Aluminum, "which one for 500 quid?"

I was accustomed to bash people here for the CNC question, but at printing forums all jumped against me, when i say anything less than 700 is crap/ which it is/ . So i just stopped educating them on bearings and stuff. Just make the math. Hiwin 12 bearings for 3d printer are 250$, the cheapest sensible board is 130$, aluminum profile is 50$, even Chinise Hiwin copy is 150$ and Good round rails and bearings are 150$ and more. So how do you make a 150$ printer? using crap parts of course. Good boards and drivers are at least 180$, the good ones like Duet are around 300.

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Originally Posted by Desertboy

but oversized so I can print bigger

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Bigger sounds like a good idea until you try it. Bigger makes for all sorts of problems like lifting and everything being stone cold when you go back to start the next layer :encouragement:

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Originally Posted by Robin Hewitt

Bigger sounds like a good idea until you try it. Bigger makes for all sorts of problems like lifting and everything being stone cold when you go back to start the next layer :encouragement:

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Bigger is a art form but you can make it work I've seen some good large parts.

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Originally Posted by Boyan Silyavski

The questions " what printer for 300$" "What printer for less than 250$" and so on are the main reason i stopped to participate in any printing Facebook group. It ridiculous. To me it sounds like" I want a Ferrari, i see people are driving them, what model for around 3000$? " . or i want a CNC that cuts Aluminum, "which one for 500 quid?"

I was accustomed to bash people here for the CNC question, but at printing forums all jumped against me, when i say anything less than 700 is crap/ which it is/ . So i just stopped educating them on bearings and stuff. Just make the math. Hiwin 12 bearings for 3d printer are 250$, the cheapest sensible board is 130$, aluminum profile is 50$, even Chinise Hiwin copy is 150$ and Good round rails and bearings are 150$ and more. So how do you make a 150$ printer? using crap parts of course. Good boards and drivers are at least 180$, the good ones like Duet are around 300.

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IT gets better...let make a 4 axis CNC with two drives off one set of pins....can't save everyone:ambivalence:

I have been trying to research in to the buying a off the shelf reedy to run printer v a genuine prusa v building my own using hiwin rails. I'm tempted to go with the prusa mk2 but quite fancy building a nice frame using single arms from extrusion running on some hiwin carnages so I can go a fraction larger.

How hard is it to get a diy printer super reliable like I read about off the shelf printers?

My way of thinking is there is no point in saving $1000 on the printer if it costs $2000 in time messing about trying to set it up.

I just bit the bullet and ordered a original prusa i3 mk2 kit 7 week wait mind! By the time you spend a few hours f!!!ng about with a clone getting it set up the extra cost will pay for its self easy I figured. say 8 hours of faffing @ $40 a hour and a bunch of wasted prints and you have made your money back plus you have support, spare parts and constant development and upgrades available. The plan will be to use this for a while and then use it to help build something larger

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Originally Posted by charlieuk

I just bit the bullet and ordered a original prusa i3 mk2 kit 7 week wait mind! By the time you spend a few hours f!!!ng about with a clone getting it set up the extra cost will pay for its self easy I figured. say 8 hours of faffing @ $40 a hour and a bunch of wasted prints and you have made your money back plus you have support, spare parts and constant development and upgrades available. The plan will be to use this for a while and then use it to help build something larger

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If you're into cnc 3d printing is not so hard as the tolerances are far more forgiving. Can't go wrong with a prusa really nice machines for the price point.

Getting an original kit you're paying for the guarantee of good smooth rails and bearings but other than that there's not a lot difference between decent chinese clones and the original.

You can of course get complete crap and the sub £300 ones I would start to worry about the linear stages.

For under £400 you can get very nice printer that does nice prints but as anyone into cnc knows you can also spend 20 times that to improve a couple of microns.

You have to decide what it is you want and how much is it worth to you.

Boyan Silyavski I disagree about the electronics nothing wrong with ramps/arduino for 3d printers on a budget in fact using arduino and cnc shield for my milling machine for now and will upgrade the electronics later as I believe a ballscrew is more important than running my steppers at full potential.

I dont see how one will sell a print having something less than Prusa MK2.

With my knowledge in CNC i needed about 2 months 24h printing to figure almost >90% how to make excellent prints, so i can say i am almost an expert in filament printing now. Not Super expert, mind. For that i need some more 1 ton of printed stuff in the next couple of years. having a crappy printer easily could translate that 2 months of learning to 2-3 years trying to figure stuff out.

Most of the people on 3d forums and Facebook groups dont have really a good idea about whats happening, but that does not stop them to give advice... beware of that. About 99% of them still dont comprehend the simple fact that you have to measure every time filament diameter and not touch the bloody extrusion multiplier in adjustments, which is for totally different purpose

I am not saying there is something wrong in the Ramps and Arduino, as obviously they are fast enough for what is needed. I am saying that a brand board with 5+ and 6+ good motor controllers 2xx will be more than 130 euro, as simply each controller is >10 euro, so you do the math. And yes, thats needed to maintain fast speeds on a bigger printer.

Quality components are expensive, even the PSU. Find me a not crap PSU at 24v around 180w for 20euro? Check how much costs the Tridonic LCU 180W 24V SR TOP i am using in my build...

I'm a "material removal" kind of guy but I do fancy a fiddle with 3D printing, there are things I could usefully make where tensile strength and surface finish aren't major issues but I'd prefer to buy a complete kit to play with initially as time is something of which I don't have much spare.
I'd welcome suggestions based on actual experience, including things to avoid.
I'm thinking that if I go for something with a full aluminium frame I will at least have a base worth improving upon at a later date,

- Nick

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Originally Posted by magicniner

there are things I could usefully make where tensile strength and surface finish aren't major issues

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Do it!

I have 1400 faulty circuit boards that need a very precise trim to put them right. It was so easy to make a Dremel attachment and regain control of a tricky situation. The M19 thread for the Dremel nose had to go on a separate piece to get the grain right. Print time around 4 hours...

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