Need help choosing a 3D printer

[printbus]

The Makerfarm kits use veneered MDF. I was also leery of that, but the i3v series is different than most in that it utilizes aluminum v-rails. I think the v-rails add a lot of robustness to the printer.

[LambdaFF]

Build kits have been there a long time now for some and they have a huge community. If you buy a built machine, pay attention to support, community and maturity. There is a new project or machine advertised at least once a week, true, but when you pre-order an upcoming project by a brand new start up you might end up having much more than calibration issues.

[Teledog]

Lucked out on my eBay snipe on a Flashforge Creator X. (~$1k)
It arrived with a few spade lug wires disconnected (shipping /shaking?).
Most printers aren't going to run "out -of-the box", expect that.
Been running the FFCx for ~2-3 months now & am really happy with it.
They ALL need a bit of tweaking..and playing with the software..
My 2 cents..
Cheers.
TD

[bshadown]

Craftbot on indiegogo, i got mine from there and Its cost like 400-500 bucks Its like a makerbot rip-off but from all i can see Its a fine option. Also, im an engineer and photographer, do you want to make your Own ring flash? Cheers.

[Feign]

Just as long as you don't expect your Craftbot to ship this year, I'm sur eyou'll be okay... If you actually need your printer before December, get something "off the shelf" rather than via crowdfunding.

[crowbar]

Why steer the guy away from the Craftbot ks project. Sure the company and printer has no track record as of yet but the marketing sounds cool. Yes, there are a lot of printer companies out there with products already on the shelves and in peoples hands. Maybe he likes to fund people's pet project and help out the little guy? Delays of 6+ mos are common on ks, I'm sure he already took that into account and is not ready for his printer for another year.

[Feign]

You have a point that he hasn't specified a time that he needs the printer. It just seems like because people expect delays from KS campaigns these days that it leads the people putting them out to make more and more unrealistic timelines (has anyone asked for evidence of Craftbot sticking to the timeline they have? According to it they've already started production, but all I see on their page is renders.)

I wish the Craftbot team the best, I really do. But not calling them out on their promised delivery dates just feels like rewarding bad behavior.

And hey, they could come out with news that completely changes my tune on them. I was a pretty hefty sceptic of New Matter's MOD-T in the beginning, but they convinced me enough to pledge for one.

I guess I could reccomend the MOD-T just as much as many of the other crowdfunded reccomendations, but their Indiegogo campaign ended yesterday I think. (by the time they're "on shelves", I'll be sure to have some kind of review written.)

[crowbar]

I think this forum/website should do more to steer people away from KS 3D printing projects.

[Trhuster]

I really think Craftbot will deliver first batch off 100 in August or September. I guess we have to wait and see.

[RobH2]

I don't think it's our job to actively steer anyone towards or away from anyone's products really. An open discussion may sway people but we can't be picking sides. That unfair as moderators. Sure, we all have opinions but we really can't actively "steer" anyone away from something that on some level might be a good product. Much of what is talked about here is subjective so we have to be careful what we say. You can feel free to discuss it but "The Site or Forum" (moderators that is) really should not actively "steer."