Can anyone who has recently gotten their first 3D Printer share with me what they got and how they like it? I know there is not any one printer that is best, but I’m hoping by getting some feedback from people about their first 3d printer and their experiences with it, that I’ll be able to get some insight into what I might like to get. Thanks!
I bought the Makerfarm 10" I3v. I am liking it a lot. Plus the support that collin give is awesome, and there a a large community on http://3dprintboard.com for the Makerfarm printers. When I get another I will get it from there again.
My first 3D printer was the Solidoodle 2, although I got it long ago now, it had too many compromises to reach its price point to really make me happy with it. And that’s something which is (generally) still true today.
Within the last couple months I got my second printer, the Bukito from Deezmaker, and I’ve been VERY happy with it.
I’m not saying you’ll always go wrong with a cheaper printer, but you need to know what has been scrimped on to get to that price.
You always want an all-metal hot end, you always want a power supply that has a capacity higher than what the printer needs even at peak power usage, and you always want to read as many reviews and user impressions as you can to find out if it’s using underpowered motors or has other quirks that will make for headaches down the road.
My first, second, and third have been CEL Robox units. The unit is now performing very well after a few months of beta testing. The small build area (7 inches by 6 inches by 4 inches) is countered by the ability to print just about every material except flexible filaments. I have run the original unit for probably 200 cumulative hours and a later unit for at least that. Once I learned the printer, I have been able to get good prints the first time on several occasions and after one test most of the rest of the time. To fill in the need for larger prints I will be adding a Cobblebot in February.
Yeah, I’m sure you get your moneys worth when buying more expensive printers vs the budget models.
Do you guys use them for work or serious stuff or more of a hobby?
I’ve been interested in 3d printing for some time. Is there any certain model or models that are good for someone that’s just learning?
You want to get a printer that has a thriving community to support it. For instance printrbot has a nice community with some pretty great popular printers. The benefits of having a big support community of people that have the same printer as you is that whatever problem you come across someone else has likely already experienced it and figured it out. I have a gmax printer and while I like it, the community isn’t that big for this printer so a lot of questions I have I just have google around till I find the answer.
I always recommend Printrbot. Build it from a kit so you understand how it works, then improve/modify/expand the heck out of it.
I got a partial Mendel90 kit, and I’m quite impressed with the care and thought that’s gone into it. If I were to do it over, I would get the full kit, which also makes the excellent manual directly applicable.
If you don’t mind spending money on it, the Ultimaker 1 or 2 are good choices. Their product line has expanded into larger and smaller models now, which I don’t know as much about, but I would trust to be just as good as the originals. As far as commercially made printers or kits, Ultimaker comes out on top pretty consistently.
If you want a more budget conscious option, the Bukito is good, but doesn’t have a heated bed available yet (that’s coming… soon… ish).
Printrbot is well thought of, and well priced, although I’ve never used one myself. The one issue I know of with printrbots is they use imperial threaded leadscrews for the Z-axis. This means you’re not going to be able to use even sizes for your layer heights (because .3/.2/.1mm doesn’t divide evenly into imperial threading) and even when you use a more fully calculated value for your layer heights (i.e. .31032, or something like that) you’ll still get some cumulative rounding error after enough layers which will cause visible banding in your print. The problem can be minimized, but not removed unless you replace the screw with a metric threaded one.
That’s something they’re looking to transition away from, but for the moment it’s still an issue to keep in mind.
For true GPL source rep raps, the Prusa i3 (http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3_Buyers_Guide) or Prusa i3 Hephestos (a slightly updated i3 design - http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3_Hephestos) are both quite well thought of and kits are available from many places. When looking for kits, you want a more rigid frame (so, metal) and the lightest weight moving components available (so, light metal, or lighter wood).
Any of the options I’ve listed would be good, and many of them come as kits, so you get an opportunity to see how everything goes together which is important because you’ll need that knowledge when it comes time to troubleshoot… and you will always end up troubleshooting. These printers are great machines, and once they’re dialed in will tend to hold calibration more or less well, but it’ll take work to get any of them to that state.
I use my printers for a mixture of things, but all personal projects. I don’t design things for a living, and I don’t sell the stuff I make, but I do occasionally design and print things for friends and their projects.
I do a lot of tabletop gaming, so I make set pieces and supplies for that, but I also make more prosaic and mechanical things. So it’s important that the things I make have fine, accurate detail on them (for the gaming), as well as have accurate dimensions and remain relatively mechanically tough (for my more utilitarian designs). So I’ve really put my printers through their paces, and in the end I’ve been pretty happy with them both, even the cheaper Solidoodle 2… it’s just a matter of how much work you have to do to get your printer working well, and then how often you have to put in more work to get it back into that state.
We have a huge community and tons of pictures of prints from users. We best all printers in quality except ultimaker has a slight edge… At four times the price. We tie with lulzbot at four times the price. Reviewers never ever mention the lead screw being imperial- only people that decide by reading specs and have never used one- it’s a red herring. Don’t take my word for it though, talk to people that own the printer you are considering… Many have used multiple printers and that’s always a good perspective. I would try to find those folks, since anyone with one data point needs to be taken with a grain of salt- especially my opinion about my bots. Of course, I’m gonna be a fan 
I think price is the first barrier. Decide on a budget and compare on specs. Then check out the community.
Good luck!
Brook
It’s not a red herring, it’s math. Division doesn’t lie. The impact of that math on what you see in your prints can be negligible, depending on the layer height you’re using and your efforts to deal with it, but the effect does still exist.
I’m not saying don’t go with a printrbot because they use imperial leadscrews. But I am saying, as someone who has used both imperial and metric leadscrews, there is a difference, that difference needs to be accounted for, and when you start pushing for perfection in your calibration efforts it’s something you’ll have to deal with.
I bought a Rostock Mini Pro (delta printer) from 3D Printer Czar last spring. Seems like a great kit and was easy to put together even with a lack of documentation. But I haven’t done much with it since putting it together because of trying to calibrate it and such.
Based on my experiences, I would recommend probably recommend a PrintrBot Simple to get your feet wet. Last year I think they were $349 for the wood kit and you could get them from Adafruit for 10% off Wednesday nights and with free shipping.
Alternatively, I would suggest an Prusa i3 kit as it seems to have a lot of support online. A little more difficult to put together than a delta printer, but I imagine a lot easier to calibrate and get working afterwards.
Printrbot is one of the ones I keep coming back to because of it’s popularity and good price.
It can be confusing because some places sell kits and some sell kits that don’t include everything you need and it’s hard to tell sometimes.
How does everyone feel about Rigidbot? The RepRap’s seem to be pretty popular and I like the open sourceness but they can be confusing because of the number of different models and so many places that sell kits.
my first printer was and UP Mini which came as a bonus with Autedesk Inventor suite. It was plug and play and has never printed anything. A bit slow and smaller build volume but works well
I’ve had a Printrbot Metal Simple - my first printer - for a few weeks now, and I am very happy with it. I got it pre-assembled from Amazon in 2days, and was making pretty good prints in no time.
I would like to make one from a kit next time, but I am happy that I did it this way to start. I think I might have gotten frustrated spending a lot of time up front in the build, and during calibration I would have been second guessing whether I did it right.
I like my printrbot. It is always getting better, it is a wonderful machine with a huge value for money. (As far as 3dp is concerned)
I love my Da Vinci, but have nothing to compare it to. It is cheap, works out of the box and is easy to use. My use is hobby printing. Uses proprietary filament which is convenient but a little more expensive. ABS only at this point. Some ribbing is obvious. Accuracy is good, but it is a bit slow, especially the slicer. Works very well with Sketchup. A good first printer but the limitations might get frustrating fairly quickly. I’m not convinced a kitset printer makes for a good introduction, I want to print things, not spend all my time trying to get it to work which seems to a bit of a theme in these communities.
Have you considered one of the SEEMECNC units.
I presume the main advantage of a delta unit is the build height? ‘Play’ in the joints must be an issue given the physics, does it translate into a real-world problem? Are there other advantages and disadvantages?