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  #1  
Old 04-30-2016, 12:17 AM
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Frozenguy Frozenguy is offline
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Default 3d Printers

So I've done a little bit of searching but I need further guidance. Is RepRap still a good kit to go for? What do people do these days? I want to spend about $400-$500 if reasonable. Building it from scratch better than a kit?
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Old 04-30-2016, 5:51 AM
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If you are getting a 3d printer, make sure to get the DEFCAD_MEGA_PACK* files, for liberty-related purposes.
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Old 05-01-2016, 6:52 PM
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I bought a Wanhao Duplicator i3 for $399 a couple months ago. I don't have any experience with any other 3d printers to compare it to but I'm pretty happy with it. It printed good out of the box after just putting it together and levelling the bed but there are also a lot of mods you can do to it. It has a heated build plate but its not enclosed. I have trouble printing anything very tall out of ABS, it starts to crack and come apart as it cools. I think you will have the same problem on any non enclosed printer though. It prints PLA great. I haven't tried anything else yet.
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Old 05-13-2016, 4:58 PM
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I'd also like to hear peoples experiences with 3D printing. I'd like to get an idea which one might be the best to purchase.
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Old 05-13-2016, 5:09 PM
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Have you tried Sugru?
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Old 05-13-2016, 5:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ElvenSoul View Post
Have you tried Sugru?
No I don't know him. Hopefully he will comment.
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Old 05-13-2016, 5:20 PM
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Unfortunately your price range is too low to get you a printer of any practical value other than printing low finish quality trinkets off Thingiverse. And you'll get bored of that in 3 months.

Build a quality machine yourself.

I recommend to start with this one ($699):

http://makerstoolworks.com/minimax-printer-details/

You need the E3D V6 hotend to print materials more advanced (higher temperature) than PLA or ABS. There are a lot of good filaments on the market and more coming every week that require temps over 250C.

It's a fun hobby. Building your own machine will give you an appreciation of what is involved in improving various aspects of the machine to drive ever higher print quality. Once you get the machine built start learning how to do 3D CAD if you don't already know. I recommend Sketchup for beginners. Blender is useful too. Both are free.

-Mark
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Old 05-15-2016, 11:50 AM
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I have a Makerbot Replicator II and a Makerbot Mini. The Replicator II is over 2 grand, but I got mine for a few hundred dollars as part of a DonorsChoose crowdsource for teachers. The Mini was purchased off of Ebay for $300.

When they are working, they work fine and can make some pretty cool stuff. Right now both of them are down and I need to fix replace the heating element in the Replicator 2 and remove a filament jam from the Mini.

I like the advice from lowracer and think that's what I'll be doing next. Fortunately for me it's a tax write-off and more fun stuff for me to do in my classroom.

3D printers definitely have a learning curve, so you might as well learn as you build one. I wish I had done that when I started out.
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