3DP Unlimited vs Raise 3D Pro2 Plus

Looking at purchasing a 2nd hand 3DP Unlimited. What are these machines like?
I am looking at printing patterns for sand molding and I am less concerned about the surface finish and more interested in the dimensional side (warping on large parts etc)
Do they have the same issue with pulling off the bed?
Print volume is 1m x 1m x 0.5m. Can you actually use this or are you just going to run out of material and have warping.


I am also considering the Raise 3D Pro2 Plus. 1/2 the price but half the volume.

What are peoples opinions on the Raise vs the 3DP?

3dp are seriously engineered machines.
Plus a great company if you had any problem I reckon they'd be pretty good at helping even for a second hand machine.
You can mount pretty large spools of filament so as long as you know how much a print wil use and how much is left on the spool - then you should never run out.
That actually goes for any one using filament rolls :-)

warping is pretty much not an issue these days. There are so many really good printbed coatings you can use.
Just started trialing a new one (for me) last night.
So far, really impressed.
http://dimafix.com/dimafix-pen/
I picked up a couple of the pens at tct in september.
Finally got around to trying it out last night.
Very impressed. Upped my first layer speed from 10mms to 40mms with no adverse effects. Put 3 layers on the bed and I can't see any visible loss of liquid in the tube/pen. So a little goes a long way.
So far done aboyt 5 prints on it - most the same thing and in the same place. No loss of grip so far.
That would be ideal for something like the 3dp.
More importantly than the filament gripping is that it also release the prints pretty easily too.
The other stuff I've been trying recently is a sticky back sheet I got from lankeda.com.
I think it's buildtak. Things stick amazingl;y well - but you have to be very careful with your nozzle distance from the plate as they can stick too well - and buildtak doesn't let go easily.
Dimafix also comes in an aerosol can that might suit the 3dp better.

3dp themselves always swore that they used beer on the printbed.
First year they got me, and I tried it. It does not work :-)
Lord knows how many people they've fooled with that over the years. :-)

For a large bed, out of everything I've tried in the last 6 years (and that's everything from bluetape to printbite - even beer) I'd currently go with the dimafix.

And yes the 3dp will print right to the edge. The gantry runs along the outside of the machine so the printheads can get right into the corners and edges.

Another machine to look at - cheaper again but with a larger volume than the raise is the formbot t-rex2 + : http://www.formbot3d.com/formbot-lar...ize_p0018.html

The idex printheads are a great feature. In fact it's just chock full of great features.

It really depends whether you want more width or more height. Formbot do an extended t-rex with 700mm print height.

Thanks for the reply.

What is the print speed like on the earlier machines? This one is from 2015 and has the volcano nozzle. Not sure of the nozzle diameter though.

Im not too worried about speed as long as its reliable but I dont really want it taking weeks!

nozzle diameters can be easily changed. It's usually just a screw in part that goes on the bottom of the extruder and hotend setup.

2015 - not sure they were using the servo motors then. Your best bet for hard info is just to contact 3dp.
https://3dplatform.com/contact/

Are the servos substantially better? Is it mostly a speed thing or is the reliability/quality improved?

Any reason to stay away from the stepper version?

no reason to avoid steppers.
servos are stronger more precise and more expensive.
I only know this because a couple years ago the chap from 3dp had a servo versus stepper demo setup on their booth at tct :-)

What price are they offering the 3dp to you for ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

no reason to avoid steppers. servos are stronger more precise and more expensive. I only know this because a couple years ago the chap from 3dp had a servo versus stepper demo setup on their booth at tct :-) What price are they offering the 3dp to you for ?

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About $10k. It only has a couple 100 hrs on it so I feel its a good deal. Just having some samples done on it first.

good luck :-)