If you had $3K and wanted a printer next week what would you get?
I’d like an ultimaker 2 perhaps but it seems you have to wait 3 months to get one. What do you guys think?
I want to plug it in and print with minimal tinkering.
Zortrax M200. I’ve been hearing good things about them, print quality looks as good as Ultimaker and they have great pricing on their ABS. The only down side is its closed source, if you care about that sort of thing.
Actually I’m not as concerned at open/closed source, but I do highly value cross platform accessibility. I want to be able to use it from Linux. Mac too but mostly Linux.
Seems like I read somewhere you had to buy their filament only as well.
The Form 1 ($3300) would be my choice… but you’d have a wait there, too, since it’s not slated to ship until July 
Yeah the reason I say 1 week is that I really have a week if I want to actually do it. Have some items that I could do on a 3d printer and the demand keeps going up. But if I can’t get started right away I might as well just get them printed 3rd party solution and keep waiting. Been waiting quite a while though.
You don’t need to only buy the Zortrax filament but they will likely be less helpful with support if you use third party filament. At least their own stuff is very well priced. If you want one right now, try the Alfina UP! 2. They should be available off the shelf in a few retailers. The build volume is a bit limited though.
The RepCraft stuff any good?
http://omni3d.com/en/sklep/3d-printers/rapcraft-1-4/
No clue. They look pretty nice. I’d suggest you get simplify3d as a software tool separately as the open source slicing software will let you down in the clickg-to-print domain. Particularly when it comes to support structures.
Looks like a good piece of software.
For pre-tested stuff, there is an Orion printer from @seemecnc , but I have not used it before. That is at $1374 before shipping at the moment.
Else than that, I don’t know…probably a cartesian style printer that can also do clay extrusion and dual printing. Cartesian printers are more flexible that way.
I’d also take a good look Zortrax, but if a small build volume is not a deal breaker then the UP Plus 2 seems to deliver good results also. Can Lulzbot deliver one that fast?
I think no matter what printer he gets, he will probably find some problems. Even using the filament that printer makers want you to buy can’t get rid of all of the problems. Sound about right, guys?
Yeah I’m aware nothing is 100%. But I’m not afraid of electronics and mechanical stuff either. Heck I could build one from scratch if I had the interest time. I just don’t wan to add this to my already long list of hobbies that I sink lots of time into. I just want to sink a little bit of time into it to tune appropriately and print a bunch of stuff. 
Maybe you should explain what materials you wish to work with and what your maximum print size would be.
One thing that I think is really important is that whatever you get, try to get an enclosure. Printing without one is more troublesome than I would like.
Besides the plastic squirting printers, you could consider a powder based printer that uses a binding agent. That may increase the range of materials that you could use. I may want to get myself a powder based printer myself some day.
I’m probably happy with just PLA to start but every time I think I won’t need ABS I start thinking about different use cases where some would be more rigid, some more flexible, some less prone to warp in the sun some it doesn’t matter etc. I also wouldn’t mind testing out something like Nylon on occasion.
Print size I like the size of the ultimaker 2 but slightly smaller and we’d still be OK I think. My immediate needs are only for a couple inches square but then I have something that is about 5-7" x 2 x 2. Lots of printers easily can print in that size range.
ABS is a much better choice for many applications. An enclosure is very useful to reduce print warping and improve interlayer bonding for ABS but if you look at the printers that do solely ABS, they generally rely on snap away support structures. A good example of what you can achieve is shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak03wmi-3FE
You should be able to print Taulman Bridge Nylon on any machine that accommodates for ABS.
@Dennis_Muhlestein 5-7" x 2" x 2" or 5-7" x 2’ x 2’? I imagine you mean 5-7"x2"x2", but I wanted to be sure. Not many printers will do 2 feet wide or high.
Inches
I wouldnt buy the Zortrax. A lot of the functionality is missing. Closed source software is buggy. Forums censored and now removed. Get the Ultimaker2. Prints like a dream, open source, thriving community.