# 3D Printing > General 3D Printing Discussion >  What printer is right for me?

## JohnCab

Hi all...I am teacher at the high school level and am in my 2nd year of teaching Solidworks.  I want to incorporate a 3d printer this year and am looking for something reliable and has the ability to create parts relatively cheep so the kids can have some fun with it.  i was also thinking of creating some items for sale to the student population ie phone cases, key chains, etc to help cover some of the costs of purchasing print material (budget cuts!)  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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## Tachout

I am sure that a lot of people will chime in but this is what I have.  It is a Maker Farms i3V.

http://www.makerfarm.com/index.php/

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## JohnCab

thanks...i noticed that the filament cost vary as well depending on the manufacture of the printer.  how expensive is the material for the maker farms i3v?

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## Tachout

Again I would look to others for their opinions but for PLA and ABS the 2.2 LB Rolls range from $18.00 and up.  There are a ton of colors, options and that might change the pricing a little.  Just because you buy a printer from one manufacturer you do not have to buy their filament.  Look around on E-Bay and find a decent source and then if I were you, I could contact the companies and ask if they would give and education discount.  Just my .02 Cents worth.  

Keep in mind I had to build the printer I have ( my 13 year old daughter and I put it together in a 3 day weekend) there are still quite a bit of things I have done to make mine a little better, and thanks to the people on this board, I have been able to fine tune mine some, and over the next month will be tuning it in even more.  I should be printing 3d floor plans for a residential builder before the snow flys with some detail, and be able to add and remove options to the floor plans, and the homes to be to scale for display in their models.

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## printbus

JohnCab, to clarify, not all printer manufacturers require you to use THEIR filament.  Many, if not most, printers will accept spools and filament from any of a number of sources.  The trick is finding a source of quality filament at an affordable price.  

Some printer manufacturers do require the use of special spool unique to their printer.  It seems to me those tend to be smaller spools, and will be more expensive.

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## JohnCab

thanks for the info printbus.  i dont want to put together a kit either....seems like there are too many tweaks that need to be done.  is there a manufacture with a good reputation i should be looking for?  and what special features should i be willing to pay more for?

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## printbus

You're asking somewhat of a loaded question, like "what cookie is best?".  If there's only one best answer for everyone, only one company would be making them.  I also went the MakerFarm i3v kit route, so I won't be of any help. Rather than just ignore you, I can point out that there are threads asking similar questions in the *3D Printers (hardware)* subforum here.  Reading through those threads will help give you an insight into considerations and recommendations made for those people.  If those threads leave you with questions, reply back here with as much insight as you can on budget, what kind of things you plan to print, etc.

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## papabur

I would recommend a Reprap Prusa Mendel. for the price, you could afford more which, in turn, will give the students greater chances to learn hands on. or perhaps the Prusa i3 or even the Mendel90 are god choices too.

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## Geoff

> thanks for the info printbus.  i dont want to put together a kit either....seems like there are too many tweaks that need to be done.  is there a manufacture with a good reputation i should be looking for?  and what special features should i be willing to pay more for?


John, honestly the best advice I can give you is to buy something around the $1000 -$1500 mark that is prebuilt, comes with a good years warranty, and often a general clone is better than a brand name. They take any filament, you are not limited, can use any bed type, have a good build area of 22cmx15cm.. and now you can get metal cases as cheap as wooden.

you can have it out of the box and printing within 30 minutes and enjoy the learning process of driving it rather than figuring out why it wont work. 

Then - show your students you can build another printer, from this printer - buy a cheap reprap kit for $150 and some rods and you can all build a second, and a third etc... 

For about $1000 you can get a very good clone that has easy to replace components and will have you up and running in no time, just Ebay search for "3D Printer Dual"

The dual extrusion will let your students play with combining materials, like carbon fused filament mixed with others to create new structures, it's not just about 2 colours printing at the same time.

Look for one like this, a makerbot clone and you can pretty much choose any of them, they are all fairly direct clones.

clone.JPG

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## Papa Steve

some manufactures have programs to donate machines to schools 
never hurts to ask
our neighborhood school was able to get a Lulzbot TAZ by filling out a questionnaire

a comprehensive list of available printers :
http://www.3ders.org/pricecompare/3dprinters/

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## JohnCab

thanks for your help.  I am going with the Solidoodle workbench.  after doing some research, i decided i wanted dual heads and to have the printer pre-assembled.

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## JohnA136

MAKE Magazine just did their 2014 3D Printer Shoot Out last weekend.  The reviews will all be in the special edition, which usually comes out in October?   It breaks printers down into several categories and price points. Worth a read if you can wait that long.

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## curious aardvark

I'm with geoff - I spent a good 12 months reading up on printers till my eyeballs went fuzzy. 

Spent 9 months waiting for a makibox to arrive - it never did - and as it appears to be stuck in a warehouse in hong kong, it probably never will. 
But in that time the makerbot clones quality went up and their price dropped. 

I am so glad I had to wait. My flashforge is a brilliant printer. You take it out of the box, attach the spool holders and bolt the printhead to the carriage. 
And you're ready to go. 

That said it's also very easy to service yourself, doesn't have a lot of parts and the sd card reader and control panel are seriosuly useful. 

It makes it a stand alone machine - so you wouldn't be limited to a computer attached to a printer. IT could go where you went.

For the money, at the moment, I don't think you can possibly beat one. 

Plus you've got the whole dual head thing. With a bit of application you can break free of the makerware software. 

And should you want to build a delta robot in the future - you can make the parts on the flashforge. 

Like i said I've seen a  lot of different machines, read the specs on dozens (hundreds?) more, and am so glad I went with the flashforge. 

Hell I've seen similiar machines on ebay for £150 less than I paid. And you know what - I don't care :-) 
It was well worth what I paid.

Filament wise - it's cheap and getting cheaper. I've currently got filament from 4 different suppliers, cheapest is not necessarily the worst and most expensive not necessarily the best. 
My advice, buy a roll from a bunch of different suppliers and see how it turns out.
A lot of ebay suppliers will all be selling filament from the same chinese manufacturers anyway - so cheapest option probably the best.

Specialist filaments are not cheap and it's not apparently a good idea to go with cheapest. Look up geoff's saga with cheap wood filament versus expensive laywood filament. 
Not sure he ever got the cheap stuff to work. 

But make sure you do your research - otherwise you'll end up wasting a lot of the more expensive filament in failed prints :-)

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## Placebo

Hey CA I think I know you from another forum. Smoked-Meat.com. I go by Time2Eat there although it's been a long time since I've been active there. Too funny, small world. Have you incorporated any 3D printed items into your BBQ/Smoking world?

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## curious aardvark

lol I get around :-) 

Not yet, only had it a few weeks - though I did print out some bear claws at the weekend. 
I'd recommend the small ones the large ones are huge. Unless you have massive hands, the small ones are probably more than enough. 
polarbearclaws_505x600.jpg
Used transparent abs - so polar bear claws :-) 


Was contemplating doing a bit of food safe (nothing is, but it's necessary) research and making customised bearclaws with logos or text on them. 
And various other gadgets I've been thinking of :-) 

Currently playing with applying text to stuff in openscad. 


@johncab 
Yeah the solidoodles look like good kit. And if you live in the states - they're a good price. Live anywhere else and the shipping, vat and import tax add about $500 to the price. which makes them almost 3x  the price I can get a flashforge for.

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## 3DPBuser

I usually recommend the FlashForge and the Wanhao for $1000, but for his $3000 the F306 is probably most solid.

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## martin

I joined this forum because I found this BravoBot printer on indiegogo I am thinking of buying one. its a good price. i just dont want to get scammed.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/3d-printer-with-heated-build-chamber

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## Feign

> I joined this forum because I found this BravoBot printer on indiegogo I am thinking of buying one. its a good price. i just dont want to get scammed.
> 
> https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/3d-printer-with-heated-build-chamber


The prices seem reasonable on everything beyond the Early Adopter.  The timeline he's presenting is a little less reasonable.

What I find troubling is that Stratasys has a patent on heated build chambers for 3D printers.  (Yes, they patented putting your printer in a box.  This is why people don't like Stratasys/Makerbot.) and they have been aggressively suing anyone who makes their printer with a heated build chamber.  Also worth considering is that Johnny Bravo was the name of a cartoon character, which raises my suspicions pretty badly.  I feel a little sorry for this guy if it's actually his name, because anyone over the age of 20 will think it's a fake name.

EDIT: Nevermind, only the BravoMonster claims to have CoreXY, the one shown doesn't.

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