Hi all,

I am new to the forum. I am 39 and based in Hull,UK. Whilst I have many years experience in computing, photography and photoshop etc, I have never delved into the 3D arena. I would like to teach myself 3D modelling and 3D printing. My main reason is that I am a father of five and currently DIY'ing our victorian house. I am currently planning and building bedrooms for 2 of my 5 kids. The 3D printer would be making props, decorations and gadgets to incorporate into the rooms. For example, my 16yr old is a massive movie/tv buff. So I'd be printing iron man and guardians of the galaxy life size helmets, terminator skull and arms etc. My budget is obviously limited to the cheaper end of the market. I have found the models below on ebay, offering large print areas (which I think I'm going to need). Originally I was considering this:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LCD-Screen-Reprap-Prusa-i3-3D-Printer-Self-assembly-Print-5-Materials-/281866136586?hash=item41a087ec0a:g9wAAOSwv-NWVCOu


As it incorporates a nice large print area. However, on further research, I have come to the Wanhao Duplicator i3 V2. Whilst is print area is smaller-it seems to get very good reviews and theres lots of online support and mods for it.

So I am almost sold on it. But theres a catch...

On ebay, the UK sellers charge £329 for the printer. Yet to import it from China is only £170!?! See here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3D-printer...MAAOSwr7ZW6L3-

Is this too good to be true? Obviously I'm likely to get some import tax added, which I think will be vat (20%) and approximately another 3% on top of that (please correct me if I'm wrong). So that still only comes to £209!?! Obviously, I would also be waiting a few weeks for delivery too, but to save potentially £120.....has to be worth it surely?

Any thoughts/comments greatly appreciated.