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Cheap 3D Printers Revealed

tim12

Personally, I think a nono to cheap ones; this is a thread for you to discuss this.

 

Have a look at the 3D printer that runs on stereo created by Blender. What is the point - it is really small ad therefore prints small things. And the quality? I don't think the quality is too good. On the other hand, it can be great for school kids to play around with it, but not for adults.

 

Moving on to the Makibox printers. For me here in England it would cost me £110 including filament. However, if I want to upgrade it, I will need an LCD (aprox. £40), plus a heatbed (aprox. £20), plus a second hot end (£30) and the hardware e.g. Greg's extruder plus stepper (£30) and then the electronics for up to three extruders (£60) from printrbot (though I can no longer find it).

 

So: £110 + £40  + £20 + £30 + £60 = £260

 

Well, I can make a 3D Printer for the same price:

 

Ramps 1.4 lectronics including LCD and Heatbed (£96), Frame (£50), Dual extruders including stepper and hot end (£100) and all the steppers: £40

 

This makes £286. This is a £26 difference, however is it really worth it?

 

I think so because you have to wait 7-10 weeks for the lead time of the Makibox Printers excluding delivery! If you buy all the items above, you can get everything much faster!

 

 

What do you think?

 

Tim

  • I also forgot to add £20 for the filament!

  • in reply to tim12

    I've talked to Ben many times on 3D printers, and though he loves building them, he thinks its often just easier to buy one. Unless you want it for the experience of building one, you are better off getting a prebuilt that has many of the issues worked out, is aligned correctly, mechanically sound, etc.  He loves his Replicator as it just works.

  • in reply to colecago

    Tim

    If you would look at any SLA based printer the build volumes are small compared to a FDM.  Now with that said you should get higher resolution from a SLA as your using a laser which is much smaller that what you can get from extruding filament.  I like the dirction the company is taking by eliminating the need for expensive electronics and a z-axis but will need to tighty up the resolution. 

    Colecago is right that it is almost always cheaper to buy a kit or a fully assembled printer that it is to source the parts out yourself.  The down side to buying a fully assembled printer is you have no knowledge of how the thing went together or how to fix it when it breaks and let me tell you they will break its only a matter of time. Just my thoughts.

     

    Nate