Help me find the best 3 d printer please

[Tinsley]

Okay, so after reading pages and pages of 3-d printer information, I have narrowed my list down to the Markforged, Form 2 (still a bit confused on the wash/cure) and the Ultimaker 3.

Budget - I would like stay under $5,000

I am going to be using this to make costume masks, other animal shaped masks for children and paint them and sell. Like a cyclops mask is what I have built in Studio Max.. I am looking for something that prints a bit smoother, and large enough to print an entire face mask for an adult or child...

What would you recommend beyond the three I listed or would you go with one of those.


Thanks!

[Joe LePaul]

I would recommend you to get the Ultimaker 3, its a wonderful machine if you can afford it.

[curious aardvark]

for masks none of the above have large enough build volumes.
Both the mark forge and form have really small print volumes.
even the ulti3 has a pretty small volume for the money. basically the same as a bog standard $200 i3 clone.

have a look at the formbot t-rex 2+
http://www.formbot3d.com/formbot-lar...ize_p0013.html
Not only does it have independant dual extruders - great for soluble support material. But has a huge print volume allowing you to print whole, full size masks in one go, with the the three you would need to either print very small masks are print in parts.
It'll do 0.1mm - though trust me one this. Print at 0.3, save yourself a whole day printing and spend 20 minutes with some sandpaper :-)
It'll be just as smooth.
Hell after painting you might not need to sand anyway.
But think more along the lines of a little post processing saving you 10-20 hours of print time for a large ish object.
As long as you sand by hand, pla will sand a treat. What you don't want is any powered sander as they tend to generate too much friction and heat for printed plastics.

On top of this the markforge uses really expensive propriatary filaments and is really designed for small scale useable engineering prototypes. The form is mainly for smallish items that need a really high resolution.
And yes there us a fair bit of potentially messy post processing with resin printers.

The ultimakers, while good, are seriously over priced in todays competitive printer market. They also use 2.85mm filament, which is not as readily available in as many colours and materials as the more standard 1.75mm
1.75mm also allows you to print faster as it's easier and quicker to melt thinner filament.
You can push more plastic through, faster with 1.75mm filament than with 2.85mm