What printer to get under $400?

Hello everyone,

I have a small budget of $400 and am looking for a printer. I looked on Amazon and a few other sites and am overwhelmed at the options out there in this price range! I currently have a Rostockmax V3 and LOVE it, but I don't have that kind of money right now and need a secondary printer to handle some of the overflow work. My question is, what printer do you recommend that has a decent build volume, DIY is fine and under $400? I have a liking for Delta style but could swing Cartesian if the specs and price is right.

Thoughts/recommendations?

Thank-you,

Brandon

The best value for your money right now is:

https://folgertech.com/products/folg...3d-printer-kit

Be sure to spend $10 more and get the 20x4 LCD Panel.

WOW!!! That is a great deal!!! Didn't know folgers made 3d printers :-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roxy

The best value for your money right now is:

https://folgertech.com/products/folg...3d-printer-kit

Be sure to spend $10 more and get the 20x4 LCD Panel.

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Would you recommend this one?

https://folgertech.com/collections/3...3d-printer-kit

Delta's are cool printers. But they have a lot of issues. Soon, when we have a 32-Bit version of Marlin we will have enough processing power to do things right. But right now, it is very difficult to get one calibrated and running smoothly. It is much easier to get good clean consistent results on an i3.

If you are going to get a Delta, that would be a good one. But if you want a printer that just plain works... The FT-i3-2020 is a very good answer. (And really... I know that printer very well.. I was using it as the development platform for the UBL Bed Leveling firmware. There are configuration.h files for the FT-i3-2020 ready to use: https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Ma...ations/Roxy-3D )

Also... If you want any options for it, you can just print them. I put a servo driven Z-Probe leg, 608z bearing based filament rollers, reset and control switch panel, etc, etc on mine.

Awesome! So the 202 has auto bed leveling with the files you attached?

or for a few more dollars you could go for a wanhao i3 (rebadged formonoprice).
Ready to go in 10 minutes :-)
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-138...ords=wanhao+i3

Thank-you curious Aardvark! Can I ask why you recommend that one?

I think any of the prusa i3 kits are good, what really separates them is the construction material. This http://www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-...49.html?wid=21 seems pretty good because it has thick aluminum construction, and although a Chinese company Geeetech has been around awhile.

I saw that one and considered... a lot. But, I decided to go with the Monoprice V2. Great price, lots of users (forums) and upgrades available too. Thanks for the suggestions!!!!

The Monoprice V2 is good.

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Originally Posted by skyjuice

Thank-you curious Aardvark! Can I ask why you recommend that one?

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all metal frame, good reviews and wanhao have improved it with each release. Plus for the money what you get is ridicuklous. And it's already been built and tested, which takes a lot of hassle out of it.

Heated build plate - which is an essential for me, card slot for computer free printing. seperate control panel and power supply so it's easy to enclose if you want to.

If I had any more desk room I'd have bought one by now :-)

Hahaha! The MP select looks nice, but too small. Grab yourself one!

What is the difference between the Folger kit first recommended and the Geetech or Monoprice ones listed later?

geetech tend to get bad reviews, and is a kit.

The main difference between a kit and a ready built machine is that one is a kit that you build yourself and may or may not work properly and may or may not have all the bits, some of which may not work.

And the other is a factory built machine that is supposed to have been tested and should work. And you don't have to build it, so you don't get the chance to bollix up the build :-)

That and about $100.

I have a GeeeTech printer. The quality is very poor. And it doesn't even really work. Who knows??? Maybe somebody out there has had a good experience with their Geeetech 3D-Printer, but I don't know who that person is.

Upon looking more, I think I really want to get a dual element unit. *edit* Maybe I could get away with a single element unit.

Any recommendation on an i3 or similar machine?

I originally was leaning towards a delta style, like a kossel or similar.

This will be my first printer... Keeping the same budget as op in mind.

Gilligan

If it is your first printer... It really is better to start with a Prusa i3 type machine. That will be easier to keep running. And it will be easier to get advice when you do run into a problem. Dual extruder machines are very cool. But they add a whole new dimension to the problem of getting something to print. My suggestion would be to start with a single extruder machine and move onto dual extruders later. It maybe the machine (kit) you choose has a dual extruder option so you can just bolt on the extra hardware later. But even if it doesn't have that option... RepRap printers are great for the Do It YourSelf type. You would just modify the X Carriage and put a 2nd extruder on it. And then reconfigure your firmware to know about it.

I'm with roxy.
I've actually removed the nozzle from one of my machiens to turn it into a single extruder.

And apart from some specialist printing, the other mainly just uses one nozzle. Useful for having 2 filaments loaded - but changing filament takes a couple minutes.

I've got 2 dual extruder printers and I;d have to say over the last 3 years I've done 99.99% single extruder printing.
Have a look at the wanhao duplicator i3 and monoprice maker (same printers, different badges). Around the $3-400 mark and good kit with lots of support and a huge user community.

$400, youcan have many choices , for example this one http://www.reprapmall.com/index.php?...product_id=164
or this one http://www.reprapmall.com/index.php?...product_id=159

I've read several bad reviews of the He3d brand units.

I'm currently setting my sites on the Tevo which is really the same deal, but mostly better reviews. Obviously at $200 there will be some short comings, but Tevo seems to handle them better.