Good and cheap printer that can print Flex

Hi! I'd like to ask for a little bit of help, I'm currently looking for a 3D printer to buy. Preferably a cheap one, under 700 usd. I need it to be able to print Flex material and PLA/ABS. Would be nice if it could print wood and metal filaments too but it's not a must.
Currently I'm thinking about buying the Trinus 3D, but the only problem is that it has such a small print volume. I've also looked at the Wanhao Duplicator i3 V2.1, it has at least a bigger print volume.

Apart from it being cheap I still want it to print good quality, smooth prints. How would you compare the Trinus and the Wanhao, which is better? Or can you recommend me another printer that's even better than both of those?

Looking forward to learn more. Thanks in advance! :)

the trinus is better.
have you considered the qidi ?
To make printing abs worthwhile you need an enclosed heated print area.
neither of the two you mentioned have this - actually the trinus has one you can buy.

what country are you in ? (makes it easier posting links to printers)

Your reference to USD leads one to believe that you are US based. As such, the Prusa i3 Mk2S is in your price range. If you purchase the kit, that is. I recommend the kit, as the instructions are quite well done. The printer is also an amazing product in terms of both quality components and quality output. Our local public library purchased the kit and our makerspace group assisted in the assembly. That increased the time involved to built it, of course!

It has already printed NinjaFlex filament and many kilograms of PLA. No enclosure means no attempt at ABS, however. There are a number of DIY solutions for making an enclosure for the Prusa i3 and the bed and hot end are capable of the necessary temperatures for ABS.

Thanks for the answers! I'm in Sweden, but when speaking internationally I always use USD so that people wont have to convert my numbers.

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

the trinus is better.
have you considered the qidi ?
To make printing abs worthwhile you need an enclosed heated print area.
neither of the two you mentioned have this - actually the trinus has one you can buy.

what country are you in ? (makes it easier posting links to printers)

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Cool! The Qidi seems badass. I'm a noob though, but I will surely read more about the Qidi.
Yes, I was thinking about getting the enclosure for the Trinus if I go for the Trinus.

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Originally Posted by fred_dot_u

Your reference to USD leads one to believe that you are US based. As such, the Prusa i3 Mk2S is in your price range. If you purchase the kit, that is. I recommend the kit, as the instructions are quite well done. The printer is also an amazing product in terms of both quality components and quality output. Our local public library purchased the kit and our makerspace group assisted in the assembly. That increased the time involved to built it, of course!

It has already printed NinjaFlex filament and many kilograms of PLA. No enclosure means no attempt at ABS, however. There are a number of DIY solutions for making an enclosure for the Prusa i3 and the bed and hot end are capable of the necessary temperatures for ABS.

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Nice, the Prusa seems like a reasonable choice. It's in the upper limit of my budget though, I almost think that the Trinus is a bit expensive. I have to say though, since I'm a noob I'd like something that works good without much tweaking and stuff. DIY kits seems like much work. I'll learn alot but I think I just want to get started as quick as possible. :)

I was the primary "consultant" for the library when they decided to purchase a 3D printer. I'm not too worried about my reputation, but one can maintain ethics as well as a bit of pride. A big part of the Prusa kit is being able to construct it, to learn how it is assembled, and keep that valuable information forever. The library people enjoyed very much the process of building.

When the build was completed, the first print was well beyond expectations. One might expect some tuning or adjusting for a printer constructed by a collection of library employees, but this was an astonishingly good result.

Very little problems over time, other than a few user-caused ones. The first problem was some of the nuts were not fastened securely to the threaded rods. They fell off during a print, but nothing went wrong and were easily re-attached. The PEI bed grips PLA filament quite well, and when cool, the part releases easily. The library folks have been running the printer nearly all day every day and the PEI bed is starting to lose grip.

An easy fix, some fine sandpaper, denatured alcohol cleaning and it's gripping strong again.

I think you'll find it challenging to locate a genuine Prusa owner who dislikes his printer.

I understand the budget considerations. I suggest to people who are considering to purchase a 3D printer to buy the best one they can find for the most money they can afford. It worked well in this case! It's not so much a too-much-work DIY as it is a bolt-together and go type of kit. I think you could DIY an enclosure if you decide to go ABS, but that's a box. The enclosure doesn't have to be heated as the bed and nozzle will provide the necessary temperature increase. My SIgma 16 does not have a heated enclosure and I only have to place a blocking cardboard at the opening, leaving the top clear, to print good results in ABS.

Good luck with your choice, and have fun!

And yet not one single picture of an enclosed delta have we seen :-(

Yeah I'd definitely go with buying a ready built (or in 4 parts like the trinus) machine for your first 3d printer.
In my experience you generally need an existing printer to properly finish a kit off - or in our case, get it working properly at all.

So which amazon do you buy from ?

Is the Prusa or Qidi better than the Trinus you'd say?

I can't say about the Qidi or the Trinus, but I disagree with curious about building a kit. The Prusa comes with everything necessary to construct it, although you should have internet access to view the most recent version of the construction manual. The assembly instructions are superb and the print quality is equally good.

Joe Prusa is also well known for good support via email. If you have the slightest problem or question, you can send an email and get a prompt response. During the construction of the recently purchased kit, one of the staff had a question that was even more easily located by searching using the terms "genuine Prusa i3" followed by the question phrase.

If you purchase a Prusa kit, you will also gain much experience and understanding of the construction, making life easier should minor issues arise. Save US$200 and get a bit of an education as well.

I can vouch for Prusa MK2 too, bought one 9 months ago and very happy with it. Everything needed to get it printing is included in the kit (even tools), assembly took one evening and print results have been good from the very first print. The auto-calibration even fixes misalignment to certain degree. No need to print parts, unless you want to upgrade. I've done some improvements (Raspi case, Igus bearings, stepper dampeners).

I'll accept that - i was mainly thinking about the multitude of cheap kits .
an actual prusa brand mk2, would definitely be in a different category :-)

Bumping with a question that I didn't get answered:
Which one is better, Trinus or Prusa MK3? In terms of printing quality, and features (easy to use ect).

both in different categories.
Trinus has very small print area, but interchangeable tool heads and industrial components.
prusa has much larger print area and is a dedicated 3d printer.

So as you didn't mention needing a laser engraver or milling head - the prusa is probably better for you :-)

The Trinus looks like a great device,affordable but only for the North American market.
Snapmaker is a great alternative, a very similar build also with laser and CNC toolheads. They haven't run an official test with flex material yet but I expect this toolhead to do great with that.
From Prusa machines I have seen nothing but awesome results, especially with Filaflex.

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Originally Posted by spegelius

I can vouch for Prusa MK2 too, bought one 9 months ago and very happy with it. Everything needed to get it printing is included in the kit (even tools), assembly took one evening and print results have been good from the very first print. The auto-calibration even fixes misalignment to certain degree. No need to print parts, unless you want to upgrade. I've done some improvements (Raspi case, Igus bearings, stepper dampeners).

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I own a MK2S along with two other printers, and I would say it has some good points and bad points. On the positives is a big build area, PEI base, pretty easy to maintain, but even some simple things like a light or enclosure are missing. And using flex material I would say its average at best.

The biggest flaw, I think, was that Joseph tried to get "techie" and used a proximity sensor rather than a simple switch. As Joseph learned in the years after, was the proximity sensor works differently at different temps. The MK3 tries to compensate for that by measuring the sensor temp, but it still seems overly complex just to tackle a simple problem. Other problems are no filament sensor until recently. For the price, the Prusa is a good deal but not a great deal.