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  1. #1
    Student
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    Paradise, Ca, USA
    Posts
    1

    Need printer recommendation: 300mm - 400mm size for professional-ish use

    First, thank you for your time. The reason I'm here asking for help is that 3D printing is not a hobby for me, and I am not interested in it becoming a hobby. I own and operate a CNC machine shop and bought a $300 Monoprice Maker Select to prototype a new product that would have been extremely expensive to machine. I'll be damned if I'm not using the thing every other day to make actually useful things for the shop! Desk organizers, brackets for washdown hoses, hangers for air guns, work stops for our video measuring machine, jigs for assembly work, just all kinds of things that help our productivity.

    I'm looking for a better quality, larger printer now. Budget is around $1500 or so. I'm wanting to use from .6mm to 1.2mm nozzles because I like my stuff to be clean looking and fairly accurate, but I'm not making artsy type things, and I'm getting pretty tired of 30+ hour prints.

    The goal is to buy a printer that works as-is. Like I mentioned, I don't want another hobby, I just want a tool that works. I had Tiny Machines quote me a custom CR-10 V2 Pro, and to reliably print with the bigger nozzles, it was going to be about $1000 (E3D extruder & Volcano, TM Flex bed, quiet fans, etc.). So they recommended a Formbot Raptor 2.0 for the same price, which looks like a great machine on paper, geared more toward pro-am type users like me. BUT, it has very little information on it online, no real reviews, no communities, and nobody talking about them on forums, which scares me.

    Any advise on the Formbot machine? Or any suggestions for another machine? I think I can get away with 300 x 300mm, but the 400mm beds look very handy.

    Some examples of things I'm making: 20200109_085036.jpg 20191104_084657.jpg 20200109_110606.jpg 20200103_095430.jpg

    To sum up:
    $1500-ish budget
    300mm3 minimum
    1.2mm max nozzle size
    PLA / PETG only
    Not a toy

  2. #2
    if your looking for something to work, and work great i recommend the ultimaker printers. i've seen people go from never even seeing a 3d printer to making great prints in under a half hour, so very simple, very reliable machine. they are expensive though, and might not be right for you, but just a recommendation.

    they are twice your budget, but pretty much don't break down.

    adding a volcano hot end to one probably wont be too hard.

    just my quick opinion.

    edit: try r/3dprinting on reddit for more advice
    Last edited by super7800; 01-13-2020 at 09:17 AM.

  3. #3
    Super Moderator curious aardvark's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Posts
    8,818
    the raptor 2 is an old machine.
    have a look at the t-rex 3 - the latest machine from vivedino/formbot.
    dual idex extruders for hassle free dual material prints, soluble supports etc.

    Yes it's the top end of your budget, but they are really nice machines and huge print volumes. Also come with upgraded hotends.
    the t-rex 2+ is closer to the budget and almost as good.

    basically formbot don't mucj about they make quality machines with the best parts and no frills. They also don't give people printers in exchange for good reviews - which is why there isn't that much on youtube :-)

    Given how much there is online for ender 3's and how absolutely terrible they are - these days, less online isn't necessarily a bad thing.
    https://www.formbot3d.com/c/3d-printer-0371

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