new to 3d printing, general questions and need help choosing printer

[mitchelldesigns]

hello forum my name is mitchell and this is my first post here. a little about me, i started my own business making metal signs, knives and hatchets, with a cnc plasma cutter and a cnc milling machine. if you want to see some of my work its at http://www.mitchelldesignandfabrication.com so i would like a 3d printer to print out a smaller scale physical example of my work before i do it in steel. and another thing i want it for is to make prototypes of some things I'm trying to make out if steel on my milling machine. so with that being said i now need to find a printer and software. now i don't know too much about 3d printing programs i don't know if some printers only work with special programs and others are open source? so i would be looking for a 3d printing program i could put my 3d solid works files in. if that is out their. and now for the printer i am looking to spend around 700$ to 1000$ and i would like one that can print stuff relativly large. one i was looking at was the robo 3d printer its at http://www.robo3d.com does anybody know if this is a good printer and can it print fine detail. or if somebody has another printer in mind they thing would work for me that would be much appreciated. i know i wrote a lot but my basic questions are. what software do i need ( if you could recommend a good one that would help ) ( and if i can import my stuff from solid works ) and if the printer i was looking at is good and not buggy ( not something I'm going to be spending all my time calibrating rather then printing ) and if anybody has other printers they like in that price range. thank you

[LambdaFF]

Hi there,
Solidworks is a good soft, you can do your STL export from there so no issue.
There are free "slicers" like CURA, but personnally I use Simplify 3D and I have never regretted the purchase : it's fast, efficient and the iteration loop is made easier by all its features. It also has the advatage of handling the whole process from creating the gcode to commanding the machine.
Since you are in the US I would recommend printrbot who has very good printers, excellent support. They also have a few refurbs to knock down a few dollars at the moment.
If you want to check quality, order a few models on 3D Hubs, you'll know what to expect.

[mitchelldesigns]

ok thank you for your help