I have recently received a lump sum of money for a grant that I wrote with which I am going to by printers and filament for a STEM project. I teach 9th grade science…I’m wanting to know which printers I should acquire that will be: durable (because they are all 14-15 years old), reliable, and user friendly. I have played with and upgraded a printrbot simple over the last year, and while that has been fun, I’m not sure that this is the place for that. I am vacillating between the Ultimaker2 and a Makerbot but there are just so many horrible reviews. I like the look of the reprap Prusa Mendel and upgradability but I’m worried it might not hold up agains 275 teenagers. Anyone have experience or an educated opinion that can help me here? Thanks in advance…
I would absolutely steer clear of maketbot. The current generation has serious issues with the extruder wearing out. ultimaker2 is a solid choice but personally I’d go for Zortrax M200 if I was to buy a pre-built. I’m sure @Brook_Drumm from printrbot might be able to arrange one of the large metal printrbots, more suited to a classroom as he’s got some education deals going I believe.
There are so much excellent diy projects in this community, have a look on these.
I’m for my own involved in Quadrap-3D-Printer .
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103539262895202172380
I have got much support from international enthusiasts so i try to give a little bit Back. If you need help, just ask.
as a 15 year old i say. get them to build repraps of some sort, then if they brake them they know how to fix them.
The Metal PrintrBots would absolutely be up to the task.
But regardless, as already said, avoid Makerbot.
I would say buy metal Printrbot Plus’ but save some of the budget for building a couple of machines from printed parts. I think that would allow for kids to get a wider range of experiences.
It would depend on your educational goals and objectives. If you want to have them learn construction, electronics, programming, etc. and are comfortable teaching all those skills, then a reprap variant might be a good choice.
If, on the other hand, you want to focus on model design and have a plug-n-play printer that doesn’t need constant adjustment, you may find the utilmakers to be a better option.
40 years ago my high school physics club built a computer from a rather famous kit. We spent months getting it up and running to the point that we could run simple programs, but we didn’t learn any programming to use what we had built in a meaningful way.
Congrats on the block grant!
Another vote for considering what the objectives are. But: it might also be worthwhile getting a pre-assembled build-your-own version, on the theory that kids are going to break the thing and you will need to print spares and replacement parts. Also, of course, you may want to consider structuring parts of the curriculum so that not everybody needs to handle the printer.
Two or three printrbot simple metal kit. You get to put things together. Have a few students per group to work on one. More print output since you have more printers and the product works out of the box. (after assembly)
I have built three 3D Printers over the past two years. In October 2014 I purchased a FlashForge Dreamer and I have been printing with it every day since. It is extremely well designed and very dependable.
The well designed heated bed has is solidly constructed mounter on a heavy steel frame. I have not had to adjust it since I took it out of the box.
The design of the dual extruder with 3 fans is great.
The ventilation system works great. I have had zero warpage or shrinkage.
I have used Cura, Slic3r and Simplify3D software on my other printers but so far, I have found no reason to deviate form the FlashPrint software that comes with the printer. FlashPrint is simple and easy to use and produces some great results.
The Ultimaker 2 is a fantastic machine but for the cost of one Ultimaker two Dreamers can be purchased.
Don’t get the MakerBot. The average print time for a small print on any printer is about 2 hours, a large print is about 6-10. The mean time to failure for the replicator is about 100-200 hours… The repair costs are $175 per failure as they have one major component that was poorly designed.
Ultimaker. Printrbots are fine, but you’ll always be tinkering with it. I started with the printrbots, but 90% of my prints were for/about fixing/modding the printers. I went and got another preassembled printer and haven’t looked back since.
Stay away from makerbots… Quality has slipped lately
Printrbots are closing the gap fast, and they are more affordable
The Leapfrog Creatr is what we are working on putting in our school district. They offer an educational package with a curriculum.
What did the grant say you were going to teach them? If it is how captialism can ruin technology, get a makerbot 
And while that is a cheap shot, seriously don’t get a Makerbot.
Have you also considered what you are going to do for design? Solidworks? SCAD? Do you need a workstation for these kids to design their stuff on?
I agree that if you get one that is all opensource that the kids can take apart and re-assemble that you will have greater satisfaction in the class.
I’d say Printrbot Metal since the educational price is very inexpensive. I also like the Ultimaker 2 a lot, but that’s several PBM’s per UM2. Ultimaker might have an educational discount too. Maybe it’s worth having one Ultimaker 2 for the final top quality “prestige” models, PBM for the earlier prototypes.