Need help choosing next printers, 3 to be exact.

[itsthedanyole]

Hey! Thanks in advance for the help.

I'm currently in the market to buy 3 new printers. Currently have 2 Turnigy Fabrikators and after hundreds and hundreds of hours of printing, they are holding up great. The issue is i want more precision and speed with a larger build volume. turn. fab. 150x150x100 60-120mm/s/300mm/s/non print moves, .1-.22 LH.

I have my eye on,
#1: malyan m180, $560 hobbyking.com and though it has a 280c hotend, the bed only goes up to 85c, really hard to believe.
#2 flashforge dreamer $1099, ebay, price is high but dual color and enclosed.
#3 wanhao duplicator, $780, ebay, seems sturdy, not enclosed, repG, i like repetier, 1yr warranty on everything.
#4,ctc 3d dup.4, $419, ebay, great price and specs, again repG, not enclose3d, 1yr warranty.

Please excuse any mistakes or ignorance displayed within this post, im fresh into my 3dp journey.

can you run repetier and slic3r with repG based machines?
any favorites among this list?
suggest a better printer for the $?

[djprinter]

If you choose flashforge, go for the creator pro over the dreamer.

[itsthedanyole]

Awesome, thanks. Do you have any input on the ctc? Some pretty good reviews on them.

[itsthedanyole]

running out of time, will end up buying 3 Turnigy Fabrikators and one Malyan just to see. Maybe make it a petg printer with its 85c max bed temp.

Anyone on the idea of using repetier and slic3r on a repG based machine?

[curious aardvark]

no you can't.
Makerbot clones use a special x3g file. There are convertors around that will turn gcode into x3g. But can be difficult to get working properly.

rep g is probably the worst slicer ever invented.

Most people either use makerware desktop or simplify3d (preferred)

Also the creator pro is a MUCH better machine than the dreamer.

You can try this: http://knp3d.com/software/#knp3dconverter
use with this version of slic3r: http://knp3d.com/software/

I do have aklic-n-print machine - but always used simpify 3d or makerware desktop with it. Had a look at slic3r and don't like the 2d layout.

[itsthedanyole]

Actually just tried setting up the malyan with repetier and slic3r based on specs. Repetier has nothing to do with code flavor but slic3r has settings for both repG and makerware.

Doesn't matter, I decided against the malyan because of -
#1 85c bed temp
#2 heavy ass extruder makes resonant waves in prints at higher speeds
#3 I think I rather a mixing extruder over dual nozzle.
#4 plastic belt pinions/pulleys

This printer would be sweet with the extruder motors on the back instead of gantry and marlin firmware.

With the $170 per printer I save by buying fabrikators, I can buy a cyclops extruder and all necessary hardware to run it.

[curious aardvark]

This printer would be sweet with the extruder motors on the back

wel it would then be a bowden extruder setup - useless for 1.75mm filament. So, basically you'd end up with a totally different machine :-)

[itsthedanyole]

It already has Bowden fittings and 1.75, just that the steppers are on the gantry.

That being said, I'm converting a fabrikator to a dual Biden setup.

[Bobby Lin]

I would recommend Flashforge creator pro or Wanhao i3. Those are great printers and they have great customer support too . If you want a wider option, Printrbot printers are also great, no problem encountered with these printers so far!