Hello all 3d printing experts/enthusiasts,

i've been thinking about getting 3d printer for a long time... as there is a gazilion of items i "could" make (especially ideas for quad /asg mounts and missing parts)
the problem im facing is that currently there is ... 12387198361825327634 models on the market and i havent got a clue which is poor which is good.

- i don't want professional grade (i've read how much costed the Oscar one... and this is our of my reach)
- i want to find something decent at reasonable money
- i want to print in decent materials (i've read that there are some strong not expensive ones)
- at this moment i don't care that much about perfect finish (ofcourse it would be nice)
- i've read that heatbed + cooling the nozzle is a must
- small form factor ( i can have smaller print area i can't spend a room for a printer)

i have 0 knowledge on existing 3d printers, this is why i ask for help not to spend the money on a

beside BG and Gearbest i've seen printers being recommended as so:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=15365

so almighty power of forum please share what is decent on the market withing a decent price

add "- I want to print in TPU" (flexible stuff, great for soft mounts)

Any "inexpensive" printer can probably be made to print extremely well by upgrading a few key parts (extruder, hot end, etc). If you don't want to go the full DIY route, at least pick a "ready-to-go" printer with a large, active community forum. (Many of these fora are hosted at reprap.org). That way, if you run into problems, or want to upgrade parts, you can benefit from someone who has already done it (much like here).

Check out Tom Sanladerer's you tube channel for reviews of a wide range of printers (and upgrades).

I too have been wondering this.
But I have spent more time researching fpv quads lol.

Any good models that people here have owned/used?

subscribed to this thread, I have already been thinking about building a 2nd printer

I started with a cheap $200 kit, and wasn't satisfied with the results so immediately started upgrading it with new hot end, self-designed bowden extruder, various hacks I found on community forums, etc. After all the studying and research i did, I decided I could do better, so I designed and built my own.

I am very happy with my printer now, but I wouldn't recommend the route I took for anyone who mainly wants a reliable printer to use. However, if you are willing to do a little bit of DIY (mostly assembly), there are plenty of affordable full kits out there.

Probably #1, and with a large support community is the Prusa i3. There are many variants of this, but the big dog is sold by Joe Prusa himself for about $700.
http://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/5...2-kit.html

The nice thing about building a kit is that you will learn a bunch about how these things work.

Now if you are not into DIY at all (can't believe that applies to anyone on this forum), then I suggest starting with something like the Lulzbot Mini.
https://www.lulzbot.com/store/printers/lulzbot-mini

It has great reviews and it's not "cheap-o" at $1250, but IMHO, you will not be happy with many of the "ready-to-print" printers that cost much less.

Hopefully, after I retire in 7 weeks, I will have time to do some in-depth tutorials on 3D printing and components, but for now these would be my recommendations.

Thanks a lot Scotty......you just cost me 700 clams....at least that's what I'm gonna tell my wife...that it's YOUR fault. That IS a nice printer.........

(22-Jan-2017, 06:50 PM)sirdude Wrote: Thanks a lot Scotty......you just cost me 700 clams....at least that's what I'm gonna tell my wife...that it's YOUR fault.  That IS a nice printer.........

Tell her it's to further your education...or for extra income when you retire...or that it's my fault . 

My son, 17 now, did a lot of research and we ended up with a Wanhao Duplicator i3 for our first printer. It works fine, but it's really not meant for more than PLA and maybe ABS (if you add an enclosure) out of the box.  With upgrades, it can do PETG and even TPU. It cost about $400, and for entry level, is fine.

However, few things to note
1- you get what you pay for. In some cases it will come incomplete (ie, parts not assembled or missing or bent)
2- you need to be a tinkerer. you'll need to be comfortable with everything from general electronics and soldering to trouble shooting jams and clogs and print quality issues
3- you will expect the "Jetsons" where you press a button and it just works. Not true, at all
4- you will NEED to spend time learning about materials (PLA, ABS, TPU, PETG), their different settings and qualities, what makes them work in different situations, slicing and printing settings, etc. I spend HUNDREDS of hours to get it down for the first few months, well worth it.

we ended up starting a blog (that i fail to update often) and ultimately a 3D Printing business for both quad parts and custom prints. I really need to update the blog more : http://jetprints.biz

happy to help. Oh, and the Wanhao, which is based on the PRUSA of course, has a super strong support group on facebook! Its the only reason I can print well now : I have a 2nd printer now, the Raise3D N1 Dual Extruder. 5 times more expensive than the Wanhao Di3 but 5 times better

I can +1 on the Prusa i3 and most of it's variants. It's really a budget printer and has good quality prints for what you pay for.
I got this variant (in australia only) https://www.cocooncreate.com.au/

It's not possible to print medium / large sized ABS reliably without modifying the heat bed type and adding an enclosure to trap the heat.
Crappy ABS filament will be very noticeable.
For PLA prints, they're almost all good if you've set the bed level correctly. The only difficulty I've had was printing the small scale maker faire robot where the legs occasionally came out stuck.

Downside to the printer is u can't really change out the nozzle easily if you wanted to try something else.
The belts aren't rigid enough and slack a tiny bit if the sheet metal that the pulley gear is on starts to bend.
Because Y-axis movement is done by the entire bed moving, you wont get accurate prints on higher speeds. Imagine printing the Eiffel tower quickly; you'll get the top of the tower vibrating / wobbling at higher speeds.
one thing to be careful about is how you pull off the print after you're done, since the bed is cheap metal, it will deform if you try to pull larger prints off instead of using something to leverage it off.

I've occasionally had the feeder jam but it's really simple to remove and clean, which I think is really great.

Wooo...

I just found this forum, and then you guys went and did THIS to my hobby budget. Not cool at all, friends.

From here, I went over to RCGroups, then AliExpress, then Amazon, then Reprapguru, then Reddit, then Folgertech, then Makerfarm, back to Reddit... and...

I'm on the waitlist for a Wilson-II now.

(31-Jan-2017, 05:34 AM)zx2gsxr Wrote: Wooo...

I just found this forum, and then you guys went and did THIS to my hobby budget. Not cool at all, friends.

From here, I went over to RCGroups, then AliExpress, then Amazon, then Reprapguru, then Reddit, then Folgertech, then Makerfarm, back to Reddit... and...

I'm on the waitlist for a Wilson-II now.

Just tell the spouse you can make money back by selling custom 3D printed drone parts. Its an investment so doesn't need to come out of the hobby budget lol

I thought I'd add my own few cents worth, based on what I've seen on the 3dprintboard forum for the last three years or so.  I try to help out there with technical issues when I can.  The question of what printer to buy comes up multiple times a week.  There's never been a simple answer to that. It's like asking someone for recommendations on what car to buy or, my favorite, "what cookie is best".  If there were only one answer to such questions, the reality is there would be far fewer products on the market.  

As mentioned earlier, pretty much any printer can eventually work well.  On the opposite, even expensive machines can print crap.  The common FDM/FFF filament extrusion printers all pretty much work on the same principles, often leveraging the same design concepts and sometimes even using the same opensource components. The 3D printers are a tool, and like any tool, they'll only work as well as the owner's knowledge and experience.  They're a delicate machine that can take some futzing and periodic maintenance, calibration, and repair.  Not everyone is able or willing to deal with that.

Speaking in general terms, printers with more frequent recommendations than others seem to be with the Prusa i3 Mk2 (already mentioned), the Wanhou (also already mentioned), and Flashforge Creator Pro.  Are those guaranteed to be the best? No.  Will any of several others work out just as well?  Probably.

One key consideration should be the kind of support you're going to be able to get. I couldn't count the times that someone bought the cheapest thing they could find on Amazon, Aliexpress, or wherever and ran into issues with no where to turn. Some get a kit with no instructions or instructions that aren't right or aren't in the right language.  Some receive kits with missing parts, broken parts or electronics that doesn't seem to work.  And a frequent problem is that people want to tweak the firmware on their printer but the selling company doesn't provide the source code, often a violation of the opensource world where that firmware came from.  So, once you've narrowed the selection down, I suggest coming up with some question to send to the support people. Not finding a support contact isn't a good sign. Not getting a response is not a good sign.   

My printer is a MakerFarm (another company already mentioned) i3v. There's a link to my build thread in my signature. It came as a kit from a company based in Utah.  The owner of the company responds to emails typically within minutes almost 24/7.  I've revamped the printer several times over and it has little resemblence to the original, but I'd consider going back to MakerFarm just because of the support. 

Those in larger cities can look around for a Makerspace or hackerspace, where tools like 3d printers are available for member use.  In some areas, libraries are offering this. If nothing else, that's a way to get exposed to 3d printing and get first hand impressions from people using them.  Best case, you can get access to using a 3d printer without having to buy one. 

Sorry for the length of the post.

(13-Feb-2017, 02:51 AM)Helibus Wrote: I thought I'd add my own few cents worth...

The owner of the company responds to emails typically within minutes almost 24/7. 

I'd recommend a Wilson-II. Marty is nearly as responsive as MF, and his kit fit/finish is superb. For $500-540 shipped, it's complete, robust, and current with the latest mods (maybe 1 month behind).

Quote:Those in larger cities can look around for a Makerspace or hackerspace, where tools like 3d printers are available for member use. 

Totally concur.

Thomas Sanladerer has started a new video series on "Building the cheapest possible Prusa i3 MK2 clone".  Here is the first video - obtaining all the necessary electrical parts.