Which 3D printer should I purchase?

[curious aardvark]

With that kind of budget I'd be inclined to get a couple of duplicator i3's
A bnc3d sigma: https://www.bcn3dtechnologies.com/en...g/bcn3d-sigma/

And a flashforge replicator pro.
And printbite print surfaces for them all.

The i3s are great all purpose single head machines, cheap to buy easy to mod and if a student breaks one - you won't go into the corner and cry.
http://wanhaousa.com/products/duplicator-i3-steel-frame

The bnc sigma - because it's simply the best dual material printer on the market. The only one that can handle two completely seperate materials with different print temps and no messing about in the slicers with wipe walls and pillars and all that crap.

basically you can run one head with soluble pla and the other with just about anything else for really complex prints that you just throw into a sink of water to dissolve the supports.

The flashforge pro as it's an enclosed printer so useful for engineering prints where you need to use nylon or abs.

The printbite is handsdown the best print surface I've yet used and the only one that doesn't require a scraper, or removing to flex the print off and won't wear out.
polycarbonate is the only material I've failed with so far - but I don't think my extruder goes high enough.

Having fought prints that were practically glued to the bed with most other methods.
Being able to just print, wait a few minutes and just pick the print off the bed - is wonderful :-)

Depending on what you can get the pro and sigma for, you could probably buy another duplicator i3 as well.

I can guarentee that no matter how many machines you have, they'll all be in use, all the time.
All of the above printers will go anywhere and print without needing a computer. they all have sd card slots and built in control panels, so just need a single power outlet and they're good to go.


You can use one of the i3's to build parts for a delta as a school project :-)

If I were going to splash out on just one expensive machine - I'd seriously look at the builder range.
http://builder3dprinters.com/shop/3d...-extruder-red/

You could probably get one of those and still afford a couple of duplicator i3's as well.
Not quite as good a dual material machine as the sigma, but compensates with a very large build volume

[ralphzoontjens]

For a school I recommend a closed box printer with minimal supervision and maintenance needed. For art a great print quality and dual extruder are necessary. Stick with one brand to rapidly get to expert level with the printers.
If you are yet unrestricted to a stock of filament in a certain size, I would go for a 1.75mm system such as the Flashforge printers.
Put in a grand for filament and see if you can make a deal, again sticking to one brand (I recommend colorfabb, EUmakers or Formfutura)

The BCN3D+ is also an interesting printer because it is affordable and direct drive. I am looking for people that have experience with this.