Hi everyone! I recently came across of a 3d printer website, which offered a pretty cool printer( to me). But I would like to learn more about the 3d printing world…
What brand would you suuggest? And can I post the brand here for review?
Not really so much “you get what you pay for” in the 3D printing world as much as “you get what you support”. If you’re looking at some no-name, cheap named knockoff of an existing printer, you’re going to have a bad time. Go ahead and post a link to it and we’ll look at it.
I suspect everyone will have their favorites and probably for all good reasons. It would be like asking car guys if you should buy a Ford, a Chevy, or a Mercedes. Best thing to to do is read, study, and check out user communities for machines that are in your price range.
It is great fun and there are many more options every day.
Going with a well-known name doesn’t mean success either, @ThantiK !! For example: Makerbot.
This whole market annoys me. Price and market share don’t mean nearly as much as I’d like…
What are you interested in printing? That’ll help people recommend options. Do you care most about price? Print volume? Speed? A professional printer you can use in an office vs a home hobbiest printer? Multiple extruders? Which materials you can print with?
@Dave_Durant I consider the Makerbot to be a half-assed clone of the ultimaker. =D
To be fair though, the Makerbot Replicator 2 works fine for a lot of people, and though my personal beliefs would never allow me to recommend them, by all technical merits they are a fine machine. It’s just the support from them sucks and they tend to take ideas from the reprap community without giving credit.
I grabbed one of the many reprap printers that was reliable and had many unique features that put it above alternatives, because it is simple and open source. Why? Because it would be easy to hack, optimize or change when I want to step into the next stage and tinker. You wont get to do that nearly as easily with the closed-box systems. (But they will work with less setup and maintenance required)
Makerbot, as the clear market leader, has a lot of fans but also generates a lot of jealousy. Best to tune that out and focus on constructive issues. 
There are a wade range of options, with important differences in cost, technology, etc. Are you looking for a cheap entry to play around? High end? Exotic new technology?
@Laird_Popkin , Makerbot isn’t a clear market leader. They’re simply a company that has a lot of marketing and got some investors. They’re now part of Stratasys so effectively they’ve been absorbed by the very people who locked people like us out of the market for the last 25 years to begin with. They’re like Saturn to GM. Just another name under a large umbrella.
@ThantiK Where’d you see a rep2 working fine? If you use anything but their exact favorite flavor of ABS in them their extruder shits the bed. And after you mess it up once good luck fixing it.
@Nick_Parker faro is using one of them for some of their prototyping for measurement arms. It works fine.
Grain of salt: I own a 3d printer company. Having sold over 5000 printers, I can speak to the challenges of setting realistic expectations and the trials of supporting so many customers - from 0 to 8000+ customers in a year and a half. I have tried to be honest, admit mistakes, give back to the community and keep prices low to reach the most people. All that said, there are a number of great printer companies doing what I am doing. My latest hire is a full time customer support guy… Long overdue. It’s such a fast growing space, you have inexperienced businessmen finding their way on their own. We all have different strengths. Ours is value, arguably. Do your homework and above all else, ask the community- the CEO is the wrong guy to ask. We all love what we do and love out product. I am no exception.
Good luck!!
Brook Drumm
Good point Brook! (BTW Great printers)
@Nicholas_Teo my best advice is find a community…
Here in Spain @Juan_Gonzalez_Gomez began a project called CloneWars to help university students to build their own RepRap printers. It grows exponentially and you can read all about it here (sorry in Spanish): http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Proyecto_Clone_Wars
Good point Brook! (BTW Great printers)
@Nicholas_Teo my best advice is find a community…
Here in Spain @Juan_Gonzalez_Gomez began a project called CloneWars to help university students to build their own RepRap printers. It grows exponentially and you can read all about it here (sorry in Spanish): http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Proyecto_Clone_Wars
@Nick_Parker that sounds like a feature not a bug for them. HP just wishes they could sell printers that actually broke irreparably if you ever used third party ink.
@Brook_Drumm +1 for hiring a full time CS guy (and a concurrence on long overdue).
I just bought an Ultimaker which I am very very happy with. It just prints and prints
Thanks for the comment and suggestions, guys~ learned something here ^^ Well… I would like to have one to try on first, and maybe I would go into business of 3D printing? Is it possible, since everyone can own a machine? Haha… However I do think that there’s still market for it cause perhaps not everyone wants to print by himself/herself?
However, besides ABS & PLA, any other materials available? Please I do love the comments from you guys, constructive or not^^~
Nylon is coming. And then you have more flexible materials like Flex-PLA and Bendeley.
Laywoo is interesting as it contains 40% wood and you get woodlike prints.
Nylon has been out for months. Taulman’s Nylon 618 and 645 are both reported to be increadible. I’ve talked to him myself, one of the most involved and engaged guys ive seen in the community. He is very friendly and everything Ive bought has arrived the next day.
There is also some glow in the dark, conductive and 'color changing filaments, quality may be at question. There is a new ‘soft rubber-like filament’, but I havent seen any reliable reviews yet.
There is PVA (Water soluable, good for making support mass)
PC - Polycarbonate, very strong with a high melting temperature. Not all bots can print with this. The Bukobot can, I’ve done it firsthand.
there are some PVE, a recycled ‘wood’ filament and you can modify extruder replacements that can print paste like candies or ceramics.
Your creativity, persistance and imagination are all that hold you back. Grab the reins and head forward!