I’m thinking about buying a high end mostly open source 3D printer. My top choices right now are Lulzbot TAZ 5 or Makergear M2. I’m open to any and all suggestions though. The Lulzbot would be on the high end of my budget at $2200.
If it helps to know my past experiance, I currently own a Printrbot Simple Metal with Heated Bed and I have experiance with Prusa i3, UP! Plus 2, XYZprinting Da Vinci 2.0 Duo, and Makerbot Replictor 2X. Dual color printing isn’t mandatory but I’d like the possibility to upgrade to it, I’d like decent quality (I know the TAZ uses 3mm filament and a 5mm nozzle so it’s not exactly high quality), good community or company support, heated bed, and reliability. Feel free to ask me any questoins.
IMHO Lulzbot over Makergear, easy pick for me. Have you looked at the Series 1 from Type A Machines (out of the budget), ROSTOCK Max v2 from Seemecnc (you could buy two), or the AXIOM from Airwolf (over budget again)?
Lulzbot, any day of the week.
Regardless of the nozzle size, I think the quality of the Lulzbot is pretty good.
@Jon_Gordon The Series 1 doesn’t have a heated bed, only the pro version does and that’s way out of budget. The ROSTOCK Max v2 seems good. How would you compare it to the similar delta printer the Kossel XL?
@Jon_Gordon @Justin_Nesselrotte I’m worried that the Lulzbot doesn’t have the quality I’m looking for in smaller prints. It seems like a fantastic printer for larger items but smaller items should be printed using a printer with more precision. I haven’t used it though so I’m just speculating based on the specs and a few pictures.
@Adam_Steinmark Well, how small are you printing? You still get fairly good accuracy with a .5mm nozzle.
@Justin_Nesselrotte I guess small isn’t the right word, intricate would be better. Intricate chess pieces would be a good example
@Jon_Gordon @Justin_Nesselrotte Pretty much everywhere I look people say the Lulzbot is better than the Makergear but nobody ever gives a clear reason why
How’s the Zortrax M200 as a printer? Don’t know of many deets off the top of my head, just heard about it
@Adam_Steinmark Just get a smaller nozzle if that’s what your worried about. They sell them from .15 to .75 but just remember to have a balanced nozzle for your work or you’ll be wasting time.
Forgot about the heated bed. The ROSTOCK has better support and user base I think.
If you got all that experiance, just build one to your specific needs - Its pretty easy and well within your budget. Then again I can do the same but dream of that delta.
@Ishaan_Gov The Zortrax M200 looks good but is it open source? Can I use 3rd party filament and a 3rd party slicer like Cura?
The Zortrax is not Open Source!
You can’t use Cura.
3rd party filament is not supported, but
the quality is really excellent.
Maker Gear M2 - Have used if for more than 2 years. Solid, great support. My prints look great, better than 90% of what people post. It is a workhorse is you plan to run it a lot. Very hard to find a printer that stands up to it for the price in my opinion. Checkout the makergear m2 forums for an idea of how well it works and what users are saying. Compare to other printers support forums. You will see a big difference.
@Erich_HaHaOh That’s kind of a deal breaker if I’m required to buy filament from Zortrax. I went through that hell with the Da Vinci 2.0 Duo and I won’t go back.
You are right, the original filament is really exspensive! I know what i say …
@Jon_Gordon I just checked out the .35mm nozzle for the Taz 5 and that shoud be fine but what exactly do you mean by balanced? Like don’t use a tiny nozzle for a large print?
Thanks for the help. I may just end up building a Kossel or a version of it if I decide to go delta. Apparently the Rostock is super loud but that doesn’t bother me a whole lot.
Thanks @Theo_McCormick . I always appreciate user testimonies.