Print quality and $$'s.

I've been using my Printrbot Simple Metal and Simplify3D for about 6 weeks now. Spent a lot of time getting things calibrated and properly set up. I'm really amazed and pleased with the quality of prints that I'm getting. I know this is not the case across the board but when I look at prints people have done on Thingiverse and Youtube with other printers I see some pretty bad quality. Not all of course but a lot for sure.

Even when I look at samples from the "prosumer" models like the Ultimaker 2 and MakerBot Replicator, they don't look anywhere near the quality I'm getting with my Printrbot. I'm not picking on any particular printer models, I'm too much of a newb to really to really know for sure, I'm just thinking out loud on what I seem to be seeing. I watched the video on the MakerBot display at HomeDepot and the prints looked horrible.

Is it merely the fact that I have a good setup and some don't take the time or is it really the printer? I'm already looking to upgrade to a more prosumer model with a larger build platform but honestly I haven't seen anything yet that makes me want to spend the $$'s. Gotta say I do love my little Printrbot Metal.

A lot of these prebuilt printers print 'horribly' out of box and still need considerable calibration to produce acceptable prints. In my honest opinion, the higher priced models are a rip off and it's the little ones like the simple metal etc that really make this industry shine.

i have to agree with meo. simplify3d doesnt hurt either. its a fantastic slicer.

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Originally Posted by dklassen

I've been using my Printrbot Simple Metal and Simplify3D for about 6 weeks now. Spent a lot of time getting things calibrated and properly set up. I'm really amazed and pleased with the quality of prints that I'm getting. I know this is not the case across the board but when I look at prints people have done on Thingiverse and Youtube with other printers I see some pretty bad quality. Not all of course but a lot for sure.

Even when I look at samples from the "prosumer" models like the Ultimaker 2 and MakerBot Replicator, they don't look anywhere near the quality I'm getting with my Printrbot. I'm not picking on any particular printer models, I'm too much of a newb to really to really know for sure, I'm just thinking out loud on what I seem to be seeing. I watched the video on the MakerBot display at HomeDepot and the prints looked horrible.

Is it merely the fact that I have a good setup and some don't take the time or is it really the printer? I'm already looking to upgrade to a more prosumer model with a larger build platform but honestly I haven't seen anything yet that makes me want to spend the $$'s. Gotta say I do love my little Printrbot Metal.

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People suffer from what I call "Fugly Print Vision" Which is where they are so in love with their printer (which I can understand) that anything that comes out of it seems like gold to them, no matter how poorly it came out, how fat the lines, how many holes, how curved the base is.. etc etc.. they still post a picture for all its glory.

I think the same as you often, and this is till after a couple of years. I see people with $3000 and $4000 machines and they just can't set them up well enough to print as well as my el cheapo Flashforge which was 1/3 the price. Sure, it's noisy as hell and vibrates the entire room, but the print quality is still pretty impressive to me.

Funny you should mention Flashforge. I've been gravitating towards the Creator X as maybe my next printer.

Skip the Creator X and get the Creator Pro. Creator X is discontinued anyway but there are some out there to purchase. Most of the Creator X can be updated in some way to Pro but I wouldn't do it unless you got a steep discount on the X.

Yep, I meant to say Pro. I saw that the other day. I was all geared up to spend the big bucks on a MakerBot or Ulti, but I'm rethinking the whole thing.

Yes it seems that user-configuration is the most important thing for quality.

Ok, how about the craftbot instad? Yes it havent been out of the factory, but what do you guys think about it? Im seriously thinking on getting one but im not so sure, be cause im completly brand New to 3D printing. Cheers

It has the CoreXY gantry, which is supposed to be a high precision type.

I would say to go for the CraftBot if you don't mind waiting a bit. Yes the Craftbot is still an ongoing crowdfunding project, but they promise delivery in August for their VIP backers (I'm VIP #2 http://www.3dprintforums.com/images/smilies/wink.png ) and September for those who have chosen the Early Bird Perk #1
Of course things can still go wrong in a lot of places, but CraftUnique who is behind CraftBot is an established company who has been around since 2008 and have worked on the CraftBot for a couple of years. Since they only required a low amount of $40.000 to reach their goal, I suspect them of using Indiegogo purely for marketing purpose.

I don't think the CraftBot in itself prints better than any other printer out there, but it' should be very easy to use, it has the largest build size in it's pricerange, its pretty and they provide a very easy to use slicer tool, CraftWare. Furthermore they seem very professional about this project, and is answering every comment and question their backers have, and listens to our suggestions. Basically they communicate with their backers - Something that lacks in many other crowdfunding campaigns.

I'm very much looking forward to my CraftBot and I believe they will deliver an easy to use and out of the box 3D printer! I believe it is a very good product for the money :-D

I went in on craftbot as well. Time will tell!

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Originally Posted by Friborg

I would say to go for the CraftBot if you don't mind waiting a bit. Yes the Craftbot is still an ongoing crowdfunding project, but they promise delivery in August for their VIP backers (I'm VIP #2 http://www.3dprintforums.com/images/smilies/wink.png ) and September for those who have chosen the Early Bird Perk #1
Of course things can still go wrong in a lot of places, but CraftUnique who is behind CraftBot is an established company who has been around since 2008 and have worked on the CraftBot for a couple of years. Since they only required a low amount of $40.000 to reach their goal, I suspect them of using Indiegogo purely for marketing purpose.

I don't think the CraftBot in itself prints better than any other printer out there, but it' should be very easy to use, it has the largest build size in it's pricerange, its pretty and they provide a very easy to use slicer tool, CraftWare. Furthermore they seem very professional about this project, and is answering every comment and question their backers have, and listens to our suggestions. Basically they communicate with their backers - Something that lacks in many other crowdfunding campaigns.

I'm very much looking forward to my CraftBot and I believe they will deliver an easy to use and out of the box 3D printer! I believe it is a very good product for the money :-D

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And the award for saying Craftbot as many times in a post as possible goes to... :D

I admire your enthusiasm for the printer, but I think maybe tone it down a little, it really does come off as a paid presentation. I almost expect to get 2 for 1 after reading your post lol...

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Originally Posted by Geoff

And the award for saying Craftbot as many times in a post as possible goes to... :D

I admire your enthusiasm for the printer, but I think maybe tone it down a little, it really does come off as a paid presentation. I almost expect to get 2 for 1 after reading your post lol...

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Haha sorry about that ;-)
- I can assure you that I am not paid by them in any way, but I am definitely excited about getting my printer :-D

Well the thing about printing absolutely perfect things is: they take a long long time.

So far I've printed most things at .3 - because they do what I want them to do, come out fast (relatively speaking) and are damn strong.

For things that are ornaments I might print them at .2

I've only ever printed at .1 once - entirely by mistake (well makerware resets every single setting on saving a custom profile - be aware of that if creating custom profile, it HAS to be editted after creating) 14 cm high stanford rabbit - took 18 hours !
I actually wanted a hollow rabbit printed at 0.4 to see how fast i could turn out a big garden ornament :-)

So for me absolute smoothness and prettiness of a model, just isn't that big an issue. I'm not an aesthete nazi. Mostly I want stuff to be strong and functional and not take all day to print.

The fact that my printer CAN print a hollow stanford rabbit at .4mm resolution - is, to me, amazing.
To me, that kind of precision at lower resolutions is far more important than being able to print something really smooth in a whole day.

Now fair enough, a lot of people aren't going to do the homework and put in the time and effort to get their printer working at peak performance.
But that's probably not why a lot of printed things don't look like museum pieces. It's simply that - like me - they really don't care :-)

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Originally Posted by Friborg

Haha sorry about that ;-)
- I can assure you that I am not paid by them in any way, but I am definitely excited about getting my printer :-D

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I can totally understand that... it feels like waiting for Santa on Christmas day as a kid, and the best part is.. its better!

I've had one for 2 years and still get excited about getting a new one... probably more excited than my bank balance allows but hey, we all need an escape :)