What printer around 600€

[AutoWiz]

I'm a great advocate of free and opensource software. s3d is the only software I've bought, probably in the last 15 years.
Like everything it's got a lot more expensive. Would I buy it today ? probably not, and I didn't tell you this, but even the latest 3.1.1 version has been cracked and is available from file sharing services - so I've heard ;-)

I'm sorry I accused you of having a sponsorship, lol. I am on a cheap kick right now and not for my sake. But I am alone in my hobby and trying to get any of my friends involved and they all cry about the investment to get setup and going with a printer and filament and software. I have recently talked one friend into joining my hobby for under $250. with a monoprice mini v2($220) and a 2.2lb spool of ebay filament(~$20). It is limited to a 120mm cube build envelope but my friend is interested in making minatures for d&d or Warhammer 40k style games. I wish there were a larger community of 3d printer enthusiasts or at least in my area.

[AutoWiz]

I'm sorry I accused you of having a sponsorship, lol. I am on a cheap kick right now and not for my sake. But I am alone in my hobby and trying to get any of my friends involved and they all cry about the investment to get setup and going with a printer and filament and software. I have recently talked one friend into joining my hobby for under $250. with a monoprice mini v2($220) and a 2.2lb spool of ebay filament(~$20). It is limited to a 120mm cube build envelope but my friend is interested in making minatures for d&d or Warhammer 40k style games. I wish there were a larger community of 3d printer enthusiasts or at least in my area.

So here is this extruder thread that completely and utterly backs up my point and shows what I struggle with in sharing this awesome hobby with others..

...the E3D Volcano and titan combination cost 70 pounds at minimum, that's the old titan and the cheapest volcano kit I could find on E3D's website. I'm not looking to design a low cost printer just to slap on a hot end and extruder that doubles the price ... Even with those E-Bay suppliers the hot end and extruder combo will cost about as much as the remaining mechanical parts.

[curious aardvark]

Well I've been happy with the extruder and hot end that came with my he3d k200 (shamlessly unsponsored plug) needed a ptfe tube in the hotend, no clue why it doesn't come with one already fitted.
But apart from that I've got a bowden delta than will happily print ANY flexible filament on the market.

Expensive add on's are optional.
Personally I wouldn't be without my printbite - you can keep all the tape, glue, spare beds, scrapers, coolant sprays etc I'll just print-n-go :-)
What an expensive add on does is take a cheap printer and seriously upgrade it while still keeping it way way cheaper than a machine that would have come with the upgrade in the first place.

Compared to most things in the modern world - basic 3d printers are now one of the cheapest tech gadgets around.
What do cell phones cost ? Apple crap, digital slrs, decent drones, action cameras - all more expensive than a cheap 3d printer.

And the thing about a 3d printer is that not only can you get a decent one (the monoprice mini is a great example) for around $200 - but it will let you make things to keep your other hobbies cheap.

I'm with you on not knowing anyone else with one. Well I've met sebastian finke, but unless we go to this years tct on the same day, I doubt we'll meet again soon.

I'm used to being the only person i know who has my interests :-)
One reason i like forums so much - a whole bunch of people with the same interest you can talk to without that blank look come over people's faces :-)

The thing with 3d printers at the moment is that unless you are also interested in designing your own stuff - they lack common appeal.
And they are still not as plug-n-play as modern society is used to.

Cheap is relative and as someone who always tries to get the best value i can, I know all about cheap ;-)

[oxidized]

Just wanted to let you know that we started the return, the courier comes next monday to collect the printer, hopefully they'll accept it with no trouble, as i really want to get the qidi as soon as possible.

[curious aardvark]

Good luck :-)

[oxidized]

Basically, as we expected, they accepted the return, but they won't refund the entire sum, but only 80% of it, so it'll be something like 504€. Point is we found the Delta on Amazon for a little under 300€, while the QiDi on amazon is still at 700€, so we're kinda dubious whether to get the QiDi or the Delta, because we just flushed 128€ + 28(of shipping back the 3d printer) down the toilet

[curious aardvark]

make sure it's the same delta !
None of the kits I saw on amazon were as good or gave as large a build volume and they were all more expensive. Get it direct from www.reprapmall.com
plus even with import tax I only paid £193 - so about 220 euros.
The he3d k200 is definietly the best value and quality delta kit around. Even with the few niggles.

As a first printer - I'd still go wth the qidi.
My flashforge creator was £530 about 3-4 years ago. got about 1200 hours on it - never had a single issue that couldn't be traced back to user error :-).
The qidi is the next model up plus fully enclosed.
It's worth the money.

Plus a delta kit will need parts printed before it's 100% - so better as a cheap second printer.
I'd have been completely stuffed as far as getting the delta to work goes, without already having a 3d printer and extra bits for 3d printers in my workshop.

[oxidized]

make sure it's the same delta !
none of the kits I saw on amazon were as good or gave as large a build volume and they were all more expensive.

plus even with import tax I only paid £193 - so about 220 euros.
The he3d k200 is definietly the best value and quality delta kit around.

As a first printer - I'd still go wth the qidi.
My flashforge creator was £530 about 3-4 years ago. got about 1200 hours on it - never had a single issue that couldn't be traced back to user error :-).
The qidi is the next model up plus fully enclosed.
It's worth the money.

Plus a delta kit will need parts printed before it's 100% - so better as a cheap second printer.

Ok, so you actually have a flashforge creator pro, not a QiDi, or both?

[curious aardvark]

nope got a flashforge creator. It's the wooden framed non-enclosed little brother to the pro.
Kinda steampunk looking. I love the fact that you've got a wooden box with hi-tech stuff inside.
Also got a klin-n-print. Which is essentially a full metal framed, unenclosed pro - won it in the big 3dprintboard competition a couple years back. Cost me £120 in import tax :-)
It would be easy to enclose it, and now I've got the delta for flexibles, I might just do that.
The flashforge ha s asheet of printbite as does the delta. Just use pva on the knp - but that's been mostly used for flexibles and dual colour prints.

Currently the delta is printing at 150mm/s and 0.3mm layer height. It's like watching a normal 3d printer but speeded up !

here ya go:

Alexa

alexa-delta_382x600.jpg

Geraldine

flashforge_702x600.jpg

klic-n-print

klicnprint_604x600.jpg

The qidi not only has more recently upgraded components than either of these two - but a different motherboard that lets it use unconverted gcode.

[curious aardvark]

lol
Well given that only ctc still makes the basic replicator dual - and while cheap the quality sucks the big one. So no proper price comparisons for me anymore :-)
She was worth what i opaid when i paid it.

But what I'll most likely do in the future is build another delta. Just loving the speed and precision and the fact that you can see everything goig on. Plus prints flexibles better than the other two as well :-)

Still mulling over saving up for the k280, or sticking with 200 diameter and upgrading a k200 to 600mm print height.

Really need to find some way to make money out of these beasts too.