Hi. I want to buy a 3d printer for < $500? What do you recommend I buy? Thanks all.
Printrbot Play
Buy a delta kit !
Monoprice Mini Select.
Or build a delta from scratch.
@Daniel_Bull @K1111 @kenneth_rooks Why? Appreciate your help.
for $500, I suggest building your own. You are going to disassemble your sub $1000 printer after a few months usually, and at that point you have to learn how it works. You might as well start with that. Printers need maintenance and repair and it’s either learn how it works or spend a lot of time shipping and waiting, assuming the warranty covers whatever the issue is. A business that is making money with it can balance cost of maintenance. A hobbyist is much better off just building it and knowing from the start everything the need to learn when it breaks. It will help jumpstart the learning curve of troubleshooting as well.
I like Delta printers, but for $500 you can build h-bot or core x/y or whatever. Suggest first of all considering a 32 bit controller, it will make you much happier. Build a printer around that, a quality kit or DIY with good instructions and bill of materials. Delta kit+32 bit Duet or Smoothieboard is still under $500, keep the 8 bit stock controller for something you make later, like the 2nd printer you are highly likely to print if you like the first.
I suggest you get a sub $300 printer kit, get a 32 bit controller, upgrade the printer’s controller, print the parts for a better printer, buy the framing materials needed, extrusions or whatever, should be under $100 just for that, transfer steppers and everything over to the new better printer you just made.
Thats sort of what I did with a monoprice maker select i3 v2, which I cannot recommend. Already two ‘smoking electronics’ incidents in 5 months of ownership. Controllers a burnt mess but still works with rigged wiring, will need replacement soon.
I did this plan minus the electronics transfer, I just bought new stepper motors and hotends for the new printers. Now I have 3 printers from the one original, for a total of about $1500 invested, another $100-200 in ‘wtf why did I buy that?’ parts. A lot of extra material like screws and GT2 belt etc from having to buy a bit more than needed. 2 32 bit Deltas with Duet and Duet wifi controllers, print beautifully and very quickly, and have high quality wiring well above the gauge needed for the connections power level. And I have the original i3 now in an enclosure for high temp materials. It prints pretty good when the electronics aren’t trying to catch fire from the bad wiring and zero product safety review time, they dont live with it and use it they just make it and sell it (just a few of the reasons anything under $500 is for sure going to fail and need repair).
@Adrian_Beckett It works great out of the box. It’s cheap (under $200 on Amazon right now). Here’s a photo of a print done in Proto-Pasta’s CarbonFiber PLA.
@Adrian_Beckett Tom sums it up perfectly:
If you really want to build, I second +AlohaMilton’s advice on building a D-Bot. That’s my other printer, and it is a well documented build. The catch is that the parts are printed, so you’d have to get someone to print them for you.
@AlohaMilton sums up everything I would say, especially the emphasis on a 32bit processor. That has to be a must! Any kit you see that doesn’t offer it, move on. But again like Milton stated you’re better off building your own.
If you do decide on the Mini, here it is for $167. https://slickdeals.net/f/9258819-monoprice-select-mini-3d-printer-for-167-shipped-from-jet?utm_content=5d3882fc85a511e6a8c29685f1861067&utm_source=googleplus
@Adrian_Beckett because the general consensus is that a PrintrBot is the best thing you can get for around 500. The question gets asked a LOT.
I have no personal direct experience with it. But I’ve yet to hear someone complain that their PrintrBot was a bad buy. (In the last few years. The early kit versions where a different story)
Also, @Brook_Drumm still answers technical questions about PrintrBot himself on G+. Guess that’s all you need to know about the CEO of the company you want to buy a printer from.
@K1111 that is a darn good deal. I dont dislike monoprice, just the older v2.1 i have is not reliable. they are learning as are we all, at that price I would not expect it to last more than a few months before needing repair, yet find that totally acceptable given what it can do in those few months and how easy the repairs are once one knows what to do. Big online communities really make them easy to find answers for.
For the price, I guess I would recommend Wanhao/Monoprice as well, even with all the wiring issues I have had.
If you are willing to build your own do that. But if not Printrbot Play all the way. Quality and ease of use is awesome.
Thanks, folks. We have some “pre-owned” and most were not even used but when they ship out and get returned, I don’t take any chances and just call them ore-owned. They are $299. I support the advice to pursue other options if you want a kit or to build a one-off, I see a lot of value in that process. Just wanted to chime in w a soft pitch on what I think is a solid option but wish you well if you land elsewhere!
Brook
CEO at printrbot
Thats an offer worth taking up…
A PrintrBot is a whole different level of quality if it’s in budget go for that deal over Monoprice, better everything and still can upgrade to 32 bit
Fans of Microprint or Printrbot. Got 15mins to chat on Skype tomorrow (Sat)?
@Brook_Drumm Hey. Nice to meet you. Can we chat? No number on site.