Update to this thread.

The company I am working with purchased the F400 as described earlier. The F400 cannot print the sample parts I was given for use in selecting a printer (posted early in this thread). Also, it does not have the ability to use "support material". When I watched them setting up the printer, the finished parts looked "crude" to me on the bottom, as there were "support" posts that had to be broken off. I expected parts that looked as smooth and shiny as from the Stratasys Mojo, and in that sense I was not that satisfied. The lower part of those parts needed to be smoothed out with hand tools.

I think the parts that I needed for my own project came out well. I expected smooth, shiny surfaces, and this was close enough. The F400 seemed to be better at printing large parts, not tiny parts. One sample part was a small boat an inch long, and to me it just looked "crude". On the positive side, the F400 could print many different types of materials. I was concerned with service in India, but when I asked, I was told nothing was likely to go wrong.


The part shown below is designed to house a Raspberry Pi computer. This version has indicator lights and push buttons on the "front". The other end has an opening that fits over an eyepiece in the microscope in an Operating Theater, and it can/will record video of surgery. It's rugged, and by using the three components assembled in the photo, it's easy to service. The nuts that the screws go into to hold the assembly together are embedded into the plastic. A future version will have a small LCD screen instead the pushbuttons.


Thanks again to all of you for your help. I still have lots of other projects to work on, and this was a good start. I'll be back at the company in three weeks, and will find out more about how their printer is doing.

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