Help Me Choose Which 3D Printer to Buy (Around $500 USD)

[Trakyan]

The main thing the prusa i3 (or any reputable company) can offer over the chinese kits is after sales service. If a part is bent, broken or dead on arrival they will replace it. A chinese manufacturer is less likely to do so, and even if they do they will be slower to do it. They also offer other after sales service like troubleshooting, better assembly instructions and so on. Chinese kits though tend to have big communities around them due to the price so the community can offer a lot of support for assembly and troubleshooting (though not for parts that need to be replaced).

As for the delta vs cartesian, cartesians are more straight forward. If something goes wrong or isn't doing what it should, troubleshooting is straight forward. Everything is decoupled and works individually (except in corexy, but they are coupled in a very straight forward and simple way so it's not much harder to troubleshoot). If something goes wrong in a delta or isn't doing what it should, like a straight line turns out curved or undersized, there are a million and one possible causes with no real way to know which ones the right cause without trying them all. Most 3d printers also segmentize delta movements which can lead to lower resolution at higher speeds. There is much more to it but long story short, they are more complicated and can be troublesome. There is a reason industrial machines are all cartesian.

I'd have to disagree with CA on the fact they are faster and better quality. The "deltas are faster" mentality seems to stem from the fact most deltas are bowden drive and most cartesians are direct drive, it's the difference in moving mass from the extruder choice that lets them go faster not the delta design. You could put a bowden on a cartesian and make it go fast, or put a direct drive on a delta and watch it shake itself apart. And the quality part of it depends more on the printer than the motion system. You get good and bad deltas and cartesians, the motion system has very little to do with it.

They have upsides. They are the second coolest looking printer (GUS Simpson #1) and can sometimes be more simple mechanically, so they can be easier to assembly. They also tend to be cheaper for a larger printer. I quite like them and find they're more fun to design than cartesian printers, but if I needed something simple and rock solid, I'd go for cartesian.

Sorry for the long post, initially replied to the OP but accidentally deleted that when I went to edit to reply to the newer posts.

[alexwalters08]

The main thing the prusa i3 (or any reputable company) can offer over the chinese kits is after sales service. If a part is bent, broken or dead on arrival they will replace it. A chinese manufacturer is less likely to do so, and even if they do they will be slower to do it. They also offer other after sales service like troubleshooting, better assembly instructions and so on. Chinese kits though tend to have big communities around them due to the price so the community can offer a lot of support for assembly and troubleshooting (though not for parts that need to be replaced).

As for the delta vs cartesian, cartesians are more straight forward. If something goes wrong or isn't doing what it should, troubleshooting is straight forward. Everything is decoupled and works individually (except in corexy, but they are coupled in a very straight forward and simple way so it's not much harder to troubleshoot). If something goes wrong in a delta or isn't doing what it should, like a straight line turns out curved or undersized, there are a million and one possible causes with no real way to know which ones the right cause without trying them all. Most 3d printers also segmentize delta movements which can lead to lower resolution at higher speeds. There is much more to it but long story short, they are more complicated and can be troublesome. There is a reason industrial machines are all cartesian.

I'd have to disagree with CA on the fact they are faster and better quality. The "deltas are faster" mentality seems to stem from the fact most deltas are bowden drive and most cartesians are direct drive, it's the difference in moving mass from the extruder choice that lets them go faster not the delta design. You could put a bowden on a cartesian and make it go fast, or put a direct drive on a delta and watch it shake itself apart. And the quality part of it depends more on the printer than the motion system. You get good and bad deltas and cartesians, the motion system has very little to do with it.

They have upsides. They are the second coolest looking printer (GUS Simpson #1) and can sometimes be more simple mechanically, so they can be easier to assembly. They also tend to be cheaper for a larger printer. I quite like them and find they're more fun to design than cartesian printers, but if I needed something simple and rock solid, I'd go for cartesian.

Sorry for the long post, initially replied to the OP but accidentally deleted that when I went to edit to reply to the newer posts.

Thank you for your reply,

I do not mind going with a printer from a Chinese company that may not offer the best in regard to customer service. I am one who doesn't mind if everything isn't polished and simplistic out of the box. I am going into the 3D printing world expecting to have to troubleshoot a few things here and there, as well as modifying my printer to my liking. If I had to choose between a large community and decent customer service, I would choose the large community. I have found that large communities offer faster support and as good, if not better advice than many customer service representatives (but maybe this is because I generally go with cheap Chinese brands when buying products...). As for parts arriving dead on arrival, I generally just hope that I am not the unlucky fellow. Of course all of what I have said in this paragraph is from someone whose mind-set is "there isn't a cheap 3D printer around $500 that includes BOTH a large community and good customer service." If this is false, please inform me otherwise; I am just learning about all these brands.

What you said about Cartesian printers being simpler and therefore more reliable makes sense to me. However, I have one question about drive mechanisms. What is the difference between a bowden drive and direct drive? I don't understand what you mean by, "it's the difference in moving mass from the extruder choice that makes them [bowden drives] go faster." Would you or someone else mind explaining that a bit more to me?

I'd also like to ask one more question to people on this forum, "If you had $500 to spend on a printer, which printer would you buy, and why would you buy it?" Maybe this question will help me hear about what printers the community likes and why so I can then research them and see if they are best for me too.


Thank you,

Alex Walters