Makerbot Sketch

[admiralmattbar]

Hello All!Does anyone have experience with the Makerbot Sketch for their classrooms? My school wants to buy another printer and they are offering a tempting package to schools with curriculum and training but I know some people in the community don't seem to like Makerbot. Are there any other printers people enjoy in their classroom? I'm looking for workhorses, nothing too fancy just something I can efficiently crank out a bunch of prints from students for under $1000. A heated bed, leveling help, and cloud printing are a plus.

[fred_dot_u]

I don't know about Makerbot, but for your price, the Prusa MK3 is likely to be a good choice. Our public library has had a MK2 for quite some time and it's been as reliable as anyone could hope, especially since it's been in a public area. They do have extreme supervision on the machine, which probably plays a big part, but it has heated bed, mesh leveling and a great support structure. Not so sure about cloud printing though.

Get the kit, save some bucks and have a build project out of it as well. The kit is extremely easy to build and there is a good set of build instructions on Prusa's site.

[curious aardvark]

makerbot - while the company that pioneered desktop 3d printing. Just aren't the brand they used to be.

Now one of the problems you will have putting a 3d printer in a school - is the health and safety.
I suspect you will need an enclosed print volume so that the kiddies don't burn their sticky little fingers poking the hot nozzle.

If I were you - and looking. I'd be looking at qidi.
As most of their printers are enclosed.
so machines to have alook at:
X-plus: https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-I...s%2C699&sr=8-3

Or the slightly smaller x-pro - you could afford 2 of those :-) https://www.amazon.com/Function-Extr...s%2C699&sr=8-5

The makerbot sketch has a very small print volume: 150x150x150mm
The qidi x-pro by comparison is: 230x150x150mm
The x-plus is: 270x200x200mm

And if you really wanted to push the boat out and use the whole $1000 (well $977.50 anyway) the x-Max is:
300x250x300mm
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JBXVCWG/ref=emc_b_5_t

All three are MUCH better machines that the makerbot. qidi has an excellent reputation for support, build quality and reliabuility.
And all their machines are fully enclosed.