What printer around 600€

[oxidized]

Hello everyone, just registered here because me and few friends of mine decided to get into 3d printing world several months back. Our goal is initially to master this art, and reach a good level, who knows, maybe good enough to start designing stuff and sell them, especially small gadgets and such.

Let's go to the point, our first printer was a DIY Geetech i3 pro c, we build it all, but in the end it had some kind of problem making it work, as it refused to print correctly, so we sold it to someone expert who probably managed to set it all good to print. After that we decided to get something already assembled so we wouldn't have to hassle building it, and maybe doing something wrong that could keep us from printing. We raised the budget to around 600/650€ and we got a xyz davinci 1.0 pro, now since we're pretty inexpert on the matter, we trusted the marketing we saw around, but i feel the overall quality and support isn't very good.
So the printer was shipped, we unboxed it all, plugged it and tried to calibrate it following the instructions (actually a dozen of a4 sheets stapled together, not a sick initial impression, but whatever) and we noticed that the nozzle sensor couldn't reach 2 of the 4 corners of the printbed, we tried everything and in the end we noticed there were 2 supports on the side that could be regulated in order to make the printhead move further in the front, so that it could reach those 2 corners, we did everything, and luckily for us we were able to calibrate everything alright this time, we started by printing one of the demo projects present into the printer's memory, it came out ok, it had some imperfections but well, it's a first try with the demo project, so it doesn't really matter, and it's now that we tried to print a project of ours, a toothbrush holder, so basically a cylinder with some openings, the project was not really good, but the printer added its own, making it almost a mess, also because of the wrong scaling of xyz standard slicer, so we went looking for another slicer that allowed us to set more settings (we found out on the internet that the default program isn't that good, it's pretty bad actually) and avoid scaling problems. It's when we realized that the only decent program that could work with our printer was simplify3d, but it's not free, and we couldn't manage to find other slicers that recognized our printer, and since we want to avoid flashing it, we might just send it back, (it's still within the 2 weeks of trial time) and get something more open source, supported by more free slicers. Also another issue we had with it, is a PLA filament from bq keeps breaking probably because we had to hang the full reel outside the printer with a support (the original comes in a cartridge that needs to be inserted into the printer itself.

tl;dr What do you suggest we could get for 600/650€ that is more open source possible (especially slicers) and needs little hassle to get working?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the Wall of text, i just wanted to explain our situation.

[AutoWiz]

Hello. First off I just want to say that I love my GEEETech i3 pro b. I got mine in acrylic. Had my 3 minions help with the assembly and it has been an absolute worhorse since. Here is my build thread for that printer:
http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/foru...d.php?t=269457
These printers were a little tricky getting together because they didn't come with instructions just an inventory sheet and all the software they needed was on the sd card that came with the printer from ebay. The correct assembly instructions for these printers can be had here:
https://www.geeetech.com/Documents/A...nstruction.pdf
So good has my GEEETech i3 been to me. I detailed the first bunch of things I made with it here:
http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/foru...d.php?t=270130
And then I started upgrading it for better features like better resolution and wifi capabilities and a touchscreen and whatnot. Those modifications went down here:
http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...twork-Printers

I think you should pick an open source printer like the GEEETech you had that is easy to modify as you grow and don't be so quick to give up. Get as far as you can on your own. Identify specific problems you are having 1 at a time and search out help here or on another forum for help. And one by one resolve your problems until you have a decent printing machine. There is a reason that the prusa i3 printers were so popular and it wasn't because they were a bad design and didn't print good.

[oxidized]

Hello and thanks for posting, i'll think about it but it's very unlikely we'll go back to our steps

[AutoWiz]

I don't mean specifically going back to a GEEETech. We are half way through 2017 and there are much bigger printers out there that let us design and build much bigger things. Like the Tevo Black Widow, or the creality CR-10. But if you are quick to toss in the towel than I fear 3d printing as a whole is going to be flawed for you. This hobby is all about patience and chasing perfection and taking time to work/ iron out bugs. And I say hobby because one visit to ebay and/or thingiverse should set you straight on your ideas about financial gain from something that every tom, dick, and harry is doing right now. 3d designs are shared and downloaded for free and printed items sell for such a cheap price that it almost doesn't warrant the time and wear on the machine it took to make the item. There are always exceptions but this is the market right now.

As a rule of thumb the printers that you have to build or assemble yourself will always take to the upgrades and modifications better. And that is important as time wears on and you identify imperfections in your prints. To have the ability to do something to correct your print quality is very much worth having. You also end up with a good working knowledge of the printer and all its parts right out of the gate. And this knowledge really helps down the road when you start chasing better print quality.

[oxidized]

I understand what you're saying, i kinda agree on something.

We'll try and see if simplify3d works, after all there's a 2 weeks time trial we can use. Anyway is it any good?

[oxidized]

I own a Qidi Tech 1 and would recommend it. A piece of 9"x6" glass, some hair spray, a short dial indicator with a 3/8"-10mm shaft, some parts printed from Thingiverse and it hasn't missed a beat! PLA and ABS capable. The filament it comes with is actually pretty darn good and you get two full rolls. I did have a temp sensor go bad within the first week of owning, but they sent me a complete hot end, minus the extruder motors to fix it and I had the parts in just a few days.

Oh, Flashprint works great with it! And its FREE. Get an older version and not the desktop or whatever it is called.

Alright thanks, i'll keep an eye on flashprint

[oxidized]

Heck, you might try flashprint with your XYZ.

I'll see if it's compatible and has no problems, thanks again!

[curious aardvark]

for $600 you'll struggle to find anything better than the qidi: https://www.amazon.com/TECHNOLOGY-3D...&keywords=qidi

Not the largest build volume - but I've rarely needed anything bigger.

And if you're serious about 3d printing - Printbite makes life an awful lot easier :-)

Both geetech and xyz are kind of low end in build quality and support.

qidi are at the opposite end.

The other thing I'd suggest is change tact completely and go for a big arse delta. : http://www.reprapmall.com/index.php?...product_id=117

yes it's a kit, but very easy to build and stupidly large build volume and very fast print speed.
Completely opensource, quality components and great support.
My build 'blog' for it's smaller sibling. http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...t-a-delta-kit-)

[oxidized]

for $600 you'll struggle to find anything better than the qidi: https://www.amazon.com/TECHNOLOGY-3D...&keywords=qidi

Not the largest build volume - but I've rarely needed anything bigger.

And if you're serious about 3d printing - Printbite makes life an awful lot easier :-)

Both geetech and xyz are kind of low end in build quality and support.

qidi are at the opposite end.

The other thing I'd suggest is change tact completely and go for a big arse delta. : http://www.reprapmall.com/index.php?...product_id=117

yes it's a kit, but very easy to build and stupidly large build volume and very fast print speed.
Completely opensource, quality components and great support.
My build 'blog' for it's smaller sibling. http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...t-a-delta-kit-)

That qidi looks very interesting, how is it in terms of slicers support or similar stuff, i want to make sure i don't end up using only a proprietary software or not free ones, also you think the qidi is worth the refund of the current davinci pro 1.0 for roughly the same price?

[oxidized]

also that delta seems insane, i was watching this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFx6mcCGodQ seem muuuuuch more precise than my davinci pro