Hey 3d Printers.
Lately the price of low end entry products have fallen enough - i’m really tempted to give it a try.
Especially the Anet A2 and A6 look interesting to my untrained eye. Both under 170$.
Does anyone of you has experience with one of them and can give some insight ?
Maybe even can say something about the difference of the two, possible problems or general comparison to other printers ?
Thanks in advance.
I hate to say it, but the old quote from John Ruskin rings as true today as it ever did:
“There is nothing in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and he who considers price only is that man’s lawful prey.”
Now, that said, I own neither of the two printers you mention, but there IS a reason why such printers are being sold for less that others. Higher price alone does not automatically mean a better printer, but it is a necessity to provide quality parts and design.
I think I just saw a video on Youtube by Thomas Sanladerer who takes a trip through his shop and discusses the various printers he has, why he has them and how they perform. I believe he also mentions a few he no longer has.
Thing is, if you’ve already got some experience with 3D printers, the sorts of printers you mention may not be a bad deal… but if you are looking for your first printer and wish to avoid too many headaches, it may be better to go with a different printer to start as there are so many things to learn.
Well… at least that is how I see it…
Thanks - but the decision is more - cheap or none - not perfect but useful or just a waste of time. That kinda decision =))
@Jorg_Walossek I would go with cheap over none, just be aware, assembly and debugging issues is extremely time consuming with any kit printer. Luckily there are some great blogs with pictures to diagnose, temp, filament quality, level components, etc. That being said, totally worth the effort.
@Jorg_Walossek I don’t have a 3D printer yet, but most of the Geeetech 3D printers look pretty solid!
http://www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits-c_11399/brand12_geeetech/
The problem I see with the Anet brand is that it doesn’t have the filament feed servo on the hotend, which will provide tighter feed control. Geeetech has some solid aluminum frame models which for the price look quite nice!
@James_Nelson Totally aware - actually the type who can have fun figuring out some quirks =)
@Fook_INGSOC That sounds really interesting with Geeetech - will have a look.
Thanks for the insight.
i think the more expencive one beacause it might be better qualaty
aka the a
6
at the moment you can buy both same price on different sources - and could be just different techniques - not neccessary one is the better one and therefore more expensive ?
sorry for the bad spelling
np - not a native speaker either
The A2 has a few places where it’s surprisingly well designed (mostly in how the frame is built), but others where huge mistakes were made (like misaligned belts and acrylic plates under tension for the wheels). The A6 looks like a bog standard crappy i3 clone.
My general advice is not to trust anything under $400. At that price point, the Printrbot Play is my recommendation (a much better design than the more expensive Printrbot Simple). If you insist on the ~$200 price point, I’ve heard good things about the Monoprice Select Mini. This one has some good points (being based loosely on some of my designs), and I expect it will perform adequately, at least as long as you keep the speeds low.
Thanks ! Will have a look at both the Printrbot Play and Monoprice Slect Mini - although at the moment it’s more about the 200$ price bound.
If I ever got one of those super cheap <200$ kits, I would not have the guts to run them unattended, I have experienced what a fire in your home does and would not expose myself to that again, and frankly, I consider many of these kits a fire hazard.
Is it really the price or the price relation to the cost of living of the area. I would imagine the latter, but it would also require a bit more research to find out that relation.
That get’s kind of offtopic - but it’s quite brain tingling ^^. So - i shouldn’t get a cheap printer if my apartment is expensive ? In relation to my income or generally =)) ?
@Jorg_Walossek I was actually suggesting the relationship between the cost of the printer and the cost of living for the people making it. if a person can live on $1 a day, they will be rich off of $30 profit.
Ahh 
right… - just thought because of the mentioned burning hazard by cheap printers above ^^.
@Jorg_Walossek a person should always be around to watch their printer regardless of quality. It takes a lot of trust and acceptance of risk to leave one unattended.
@Lukas_Mathis I agree, $200 printers are not only disappointing but have done a disservice to the perception the public has about 3d printing in general… a person buys a $200 printer… isn’t impressed… tells his friend… and so on.
If you are a serious tinkerer and not easily discouraged- jump in! If you don’t want to go deep down the rabbit hole, consider carefully before buying a cheap printer.
Brook