PrintrBot Simple Metal Vs. Stratasys uPrint

[Brian_Krassenstein]

The heated competition was on as Scott Hanselman and his friend Brandon decided to test the outcome of two 3D printed coffee mugs being produced by 3D printers at complete other ends of the spectrum from each other — mainly in price. Using a 3D design from Thingiverse for both prints, Scott's Printrbot won hands down from speed, quality, and appearance, to much better affordability as compared to the Stratasys uPrint SE Pro from Brandon's office. Check out more details on the face-off in the full article: http://3dprint.com/43054/printrbot-s...ys-comparison/
Below is a photo of the two 3D printed coffee cups. Scott's Printrbot print is on the left, Brandon's uPrint version is on the right:

[joealarson]

It's very positive and encouraging, this experiment. But it's also unfair. A model downloaded from thingiverse is designed to work on the sort of cheap home 3d printer printrbot makes. Those overhangs on the handle ain't nothing. What about something that isn't designed with home 3d printer restraints in mind? What if unrestricted engineering level precision is needed? That's what you pay for with those high end 3d printers. Take that mug and rotate it so the handle is pointed down and try this experiment again I say.

[Pottertown]

You hit it right on the head there Joe. This is an inappropriate comparison, plus, the writers interpretation of the results is extremely biased. I'd call this, at worst, a draw. Issues that I see with the coverage:
- The residue from cleaning washes off, with water, you fix this by rinsing your part under the tap for 10 seconds after removing from the bath
- The quality of these two cups is pretty close, no hands down winning
- The print quality/speed was not the same, the printrbot printed at twice the layer height
- The print file chosen, and the orientation printed is biased to allow the printrbot to compete - Flip the cup upside down then see which one wins.

Don't get me wrong, I love 3D printing, and what's happening in the consumer space (Have a UM1). But telling new people to the industry this kind of thing doesn't help them. Someone's going to out and buy 10 printrbots (also have a printrbot, love them!) and think they can start an outsource print business because they read articles like this. Even the original writer of the piece says he doesn't have any 3D printing experience. What the heck are you doing publishing something so biased then?

I appreciate 3Dprint.com and generally the articles are good. But try to keep it objective when you're reporting on things, as a number of people use this site for real advice and ideas.

Cheers,