Hello everyone 
This is my first time buying a 3D printer and I don’t want anything too fancy. I’m looking for a printer that is around 600 dollars and fairly easy to use. I was thinking about the printer bot simple metal… What do you guys think?
That’s the best one I can think of in that price range.
Here is Thomas Sanlanderer’s videos on the subject:
a Lot of variables in this question. Are you DIY’er type person? Do you want to take it out of the box and print stuff?
What do you want to print? how big? I’d write up a list before jumping in. You can print small stuff with a bigger printer, but not the reverse
I’m really liking my PrintrBot, but you might want to consider the Solidoodle as well.
I bought the printrbot simple few months ago, if I could go back in time I would take the $600 I spent on the printer and repair parts, and tens of thousands of dollars worth of my free time and instead bought bucket of dildos and dumped them in a river. I has been nothing but pain in the ass, broken all the time, 90% of prints failed, heck it’s even broken at this very time. It’s not just the printrbot simple, I have friends who bought different models and they are garbage too. Just stay away from the printerbot company.
I would only recommend the wooden Printrbot Simple (Maker’s Kit, 1405) if you’re really cash-strapped. It’s just not a great printer - but it’s cheap. The Simple Metal (1403) is a totally different beast. I don’t have a final opinion on it yet, but I’m really liking what i’ve seen of it so far (full review coming up shortly).
I can’t comment on the Zotrax - @Tim_Rastall seems to like it, but it’s in a completely different price range.
We are also selling a Reprap Ormerod printer if that helps. Get in touch on social@3d-print-works.co.uk.
If I had $600 to spend, I would go with the Prusa i3v from MakerFarm. Though I think the wooden PrintrBot Simple for $350 would make for a good entry level printer.
Bukito all the way, its a solid mobile-friendly option that’s a bit more ($900) but I love mine
@Thomas_Sanladerer I think I’m going to go with the printer bot simple metal, the printer bot simple just seems too cheap and flimsy for my tastes and I’ve heard that lots of people have been having problems with it. Also what do you think about the solidoodle 4?
Eh, Solidoodle is meh. Just more headaches/
@Ben_Van_Den_Broeck So I guess the best printer in my price range is the metal… If anyone has any better suggestions feel free to post them…
To be unbiased, I haven’t trued the V4 but the solidoodle3 was a not working upon delivery and fixing it through their support went no where.
@Dante_Paniccia
I think you are asking for trouble. But if you know the trouble you are getting then perhaps it is ok. Inexpensive 3D printers are inexpensive because they cut various corners (like how big the build volume is, or how strong are the motors) or make various assumptions (like you can only print using one type of material). The least expensive way to go would be to build it yourself. Using an inexpensive Chinese import kit or a kit from one of the vendors here and elsewhere. And in the process of building it learn each piece of the machine and what it does and what it needs to do.
By building it from a kit you will have no reservations about tearing it apart to figure out why it is doing something odd, and you will be able to replace parts with better parts as you decide what you want to do with a 3D printer.
When you buy an assembled printer you may feel at the mercy of the vendor to fix problems or to diagnose trouble. And that can feel very helpless at this stage because support is generally not the strong point of any of these companies, preferring instead to send you to places like here or other forums where some fraction of the people will always say “well its your own darn fault for buying a printer.”
I was fortunate in that I sort of dodged a bullet getting a Replicator since it was a pre-assembled printer, but all of the documentation is out there on building it so I’ve had no trouble taking it apart for the problems it has had (and there have been a number of them).
I’m not sure building a Chinese kit is a good idea as one’s very first printer. The Chinese parts often deviate from the official plans and you’re basically on your own when trying to figure out why your parts look different - there is usually zero documentation from the far-east manufacturers.
If you want to build a kit, get the Printrbot Simple Metal Kit. It’s a bit cheaper than the assembled one and there’s very little that go wrong during the assembly (i just built one), but you still get a good idea about how the printer works. Plus you’re getting a widely popular model, so you’re rarely going to run into an issue that you’re all alone with. And it’s upgradeable to a heated bed and works with all-metal hotends.
The Bukito is also an excellent choice, made by folks who really know their stuff.
@Thomas_Sanladerer is the simple metal head to assemble and calibrate for someone that has never assembled a printer before. Do you think I should spend the extra 60 bucks to get the pre assembled model?
@Dante_Paniccia some of the tricky components come preassembled, like the hotend, so i don’t think there’s much 3DP-exclusive knowledge required. For a skilled maker, it should take less than three hours to get it printing (i’m sure the folks at @Printrbot are way faster than that), for everyone else, it’s probably going to keep you busy for a day. Personally, i’d pay an extra $60 to get the _un_assembled version, just to get to know the printer a bit better.
But see for yourself if the process is something you want to do: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDJMid0lOOYnleZAO6Rb8GrQH5HfhWtAI (same link @David_Cushing posted, still not quite done), or the official instructions at http://help.printrbot.com/Guide/Printrbot+Simple+Metal+(Model+1403)/142
I think the metal PrintrBot Simple has a 6" x 6" x 6" print area and if you go with it, you might as well pay the $60 to get it pre-assembled, especially if that includes some testing before it ships to make sure everything works as expected.
If you aren’t afraid of putting a kit together, I don’t think they are that difficult and the better kits start in the $500-$600 range with decent documentation. I would agree with not building a printer from scratch for your first one however.
Pretty sure Thomas has some YouTube videos on the PrintrBot Metal and putting it together. ZenmasterM (?) just did a YouTube review on the MakerFarm i3v which you can get a 10" x 10" build area.
I personally recommend a kit as a first time machine, a good kit that is. My ability to build anything prior to a 3D printer was legos, and although I was initially nervous of hooking up the electronics, there’s plenty of information out there for the Metal Simple or the Bukito. Can’t say for the others though.