Hard time deciding on which 3D printer - $1500 budget - advice?

[Ward]

Hi,
I'm looking to purchase my first 3D printer and I'm "hoping" to be able to print my 3D designs and potentially sell copies for profit.

My target budget is $1500 (but I can go as high as $2500) and I have looked at numerous printers but so far am still unsure.
I seem to read bad reviews on every one I think is great.

My preferences are....
I need high resolution (I think) but I do not need multiple extruders.
I do not want one that uses Proprietary supply spools.
I seem to be drawn toward closed box printers (not sure why)
minimum bed size of 6 inches or greater
Reliability is important
Good customer support is important

What would be a good printer in this price range?

Thanks

[richardphat]

What kind of industries/company are you working with, that would give me a specific idea and might suggest you.

I can tell you if you're planning to start a busisness into 3D printing, you either rip off people or get screwed big time.

I myself get caught between the borders, the students expect to pay cheap since the cost to run them is very low and you don't do anything once you are printing it.
On the other hand, if you're a 3D printing busisness company and your printer is being monopolized the whole day, that mean you can't do anything else , therefore, the price skyrocket for stupid ass print object.

Of course, the solution is to get more than one printer, but who in the world has that much money when you're planning a startup?

Have a look on this link, please pick more than one printer and tell us what you have in mind. There are people here who are experienced with them and can share their thought.

http://www.productchart.com/3d_printers/

[Ward]

There's no happy medium between ripping people off and getting screwed?
I keep hearing a lot about the Makerbot M2 I think it's called?

[richardphat]

It's not impossible to find the in-between, but that will be hard time. You will have much more success if you actually focus on your main job, and do printing & selling model as a hobby. You will live a better life with less stress tbh. Having regular customer can be quite hard.

Architect, artist, engineers, Jewelry maker as client have better potential but then, it's much more occasional. I do know my mentor managed to make a profit of 30,000$, but that was one time event unfortunately. He simply used his UP+ printer, he never told me who his client were, but I would assume it's an engineering firm.

[wachuko]

I went crazy reading forums, reviews, watching youtube videos, etc... The one that stood out was the LulzBot TAZ 5 . It can take many more medias/filament types, self leveling heated plate, self cleaning nozzles... excellent reviews... If I had the $$ that would have been the printer I would have gone with.

Since that is not my situation, I went with the clone of a clone... QIDI TECHNOLOGY Dual Extruder Desktop 3D Printer... I was able to get it from eBay directly from QIDI for a few $$ less than it is listed in Amazon. It gets here on Wednesday (just three more days!! ). I will report back on what my experience is with it. This will be my first 3D printer...

Others in the forum with more experience will sure chime in.

[Davo]

Afinia / UP printers probably meet your requirements. I've seen some very good prints from them.

[LambdaFF]

I have a Printrbot Metal Plus and I'm quite happy with it.

Regarding your specs, 2 deviations :
1/ it is not enclosed
2/ it has an autolevelling feature (you really should consider adding that to your requirement).

http://3dprintboard.com/forumdisplay...rintrbot-Forum