After having some bad luck trying to buy a 3d printer in the past (i bought a makibox and after 2 years of tweaks and delays the company went belly up before sending me a printer) ive been looking at printers again, because simply put, i still want one, ‘dammit!’
So lately ive been asking people in a makibox g+ group what they would recommend, and most said Printrbot Metal, a few said Kossel, and one said Prusa i3.
Now im on a budget, and pmuch the cheaper i can get it the better, even if that means getting less quality, i just want to get a 3d printer now, its taken way too long and ive actually got projects lined up for when i would have finally gotten my makibox, but yea, that didnt happen.
I think the biggest problem with the one you listed will be assembly. I have nothing against buying stuff from cheap chinese sites. I do it myself all the time
However, you’ll notice this is a kit. i.e. You assemble it. The odds of it having good documentation for the build is pretty low if you ask me. I’ve purchased many electronic parts from cheap chinese sites (PIRs, relays, boards etc etc for Arduino/RPi) and the one thing in common with all of it? Zero documentation
So when I buy these things, I always check the comments to see if it’s fully compatible with an equivalent part that is documented.
For this printer, I don’t know how that will work out for you
I would go with the odds and just get a @Printrbot . It’s a well known quantity and lots of people around these parts have experience.
(Disclosure: I have a printrbot LC. post-kickstarter kit. Assembled it myself, with cobbled together videos and documentation from the intertubes. Their documentation is much better now.)
This is an upgraded version of i3. I recently got the older one also from china. It was flawlessly packaged, and the documentation included was good. Not perfect, but good enough to build the kit and it actually worked fine on the first print. It was an other chinese company, so I’m just saying that chinese companies can make quality too.
An I3 is a great starter build in my opinion. There are build instructions on the net (videos on youtube also). There is also a wide range of “upgrades” on thingiverse and other sites if you decide something about your build isn’t sufficient. I suggest looking on youtube for “prusa i3 build” to see whats involved in building one.
Even though a complete noob regarding 3d printers, im quite a techy, so i dont think assembly will be that much of an issue, but based on Joe’s comment i started searching for (and bookmarking) prusa i3 assembly guides, just in case
Would love too hear from anybody that dealt with this company/site before, but all other comments are also still more then welcome off-course, i’ll probably decide tomorrow if i should go for it or not, based on your opinions so don’t hesitate too let me know what you think!
Thanks so far guys!
I have a Printrbot Simple kit and it’s been a good learning experience, but a cheap i3 is a much better deal based on design, print volume, and reliability.
My #1 recommendation (for the technically inclined) is to build a RepRap with an expensive hotend (E3D) and cheap Chinese components.
the he3d prusa i ordered came same as the original post
-the printed parts arent that good, you will need a drill to enlarge the holes
-no instructions and its slightly different to other prusas so you will have to improvise some stuff
-my arduino and stepper drivers stopped working and fried
-the heated bed had a few scratches
-the frame had a break in it where there is the cut out text, its not a too important part though
-you need to do a little bit of soldering
now the good
-easy to build(for me), just time consuming
-the arduino had the firmware already installed
-looks good
-comes with everything you need, a couple of tools and some spare screws
Meanwhile i ordered it roughly 24h ago, but noticed that they charged something different from the price shown on the site trough PayPal (they charge 30 dollars more…?!) so i sent them an email asking about this, haven’t heard back, will give them 1 more day to respond, then i will prolly tell PayPal and get them to undo the payment. (Dangit why cant i learn to buy from reputable sources? :P)
Will post here what i end up doing/if anything changed, but i currently give it a 60% chance i will have to find a new ‘deal’ somewhere So still open for suggestions! (though sorta leaning towards a Prusa i3 now, since in general that seems to be a nice fit for my budget and want-to-haves, where-ever i get it)
once i get mine running and set up i will post a more detailed review thing
i forgot to mention, the nozzle is part of the heater block so you cant change nozzle sizes unless you get a new hotend
So still open for suggestions! (though sorta leaning towards a Prusa i3 now, since in general that seems to be a nice fit for my budget and want-to-haves, where-ever i get it)