What printer is right for me?

[JohnCab]

Hi all...I am teacher at the high school level and am in my 2nd year of teaching Solidworks. I want to incorporate a 3d printer this year and am looking for something reliable and has the ability to create parts relatively cheep so the kids can have some fun with it. i was also thinking of creating some items for sale to the student population ie phone cases, key chains, etc to help cover some of the costs of purchasing print material (budget cuts!) Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Tachout]

I am sure that a lot of people will chime in but this is what I have. It is a Maker Farms i3V.

http://www.makerfarm.com/index.php/

[JohnCab]

thanks...i noticed that the filament cost vary as well depending on the manufacture of the printer. how expensive is the material for the maker farms i3v?

[Tachout]

Again I would look to others for their opinions but for PLA and ABS the 2.2 LB Rolls range from $18.00 and up. There are a ton of colors, options and that might change the pricing a little. Just because you buy a printer from one manufacturer you do not have to buy their filament. Look around on E-Bay and find a decent source and then if I were you, I could contact the companies and ask if they would give and education discount. Just my .02 Cents worth.

Keep in mind I had to build the printer I have ( my 13 year old daughter and I put it together in a 3 day weekend) there are still quite a bit of things I have done to make mine a little better, and thanks to the people on this board, I have been able to fine tune mine some, and over the next month will be tuning it in even more. I should be printing 3d floor plans for a residential builder before the snow flys with some detail, and be able to add and remove options to the floor plans, and the homes to be to scale for display in their models.

[printbus]

JohnCab, to clarify, not all printer manufacturers require you to use THEIR filament. Many, if not most, printers will accept spools and filament from any of a number of sources. The trick is finding a source of quality filament at an affordable price.

Some printer manufacturers do require the use of special spool unique to their printer. It seems to me those tend to be smaller spools, and will be more expensive.

[JohnCab]

thanks for the info printbus. i dont want to put together a kit either....seems like there are too many tweaks that need to be done. is there a manufacture with a good reputation i should be looking for? and what special features should i be willing to pay more for?

[printbus]

You're asking somewhat of a loaded question, like "what cookie is best?". If there's only one best answer for everyone, only one company would be making them. I also went the MakerFarm i3v kit route, so I won't be of any help. Rather than just ignore you, I can point out that there are threads asking similar questions in the 3D Printers (hardware) subforum here. Reading through those threads will help give you an insight into considerations and recommendations made for those people. If those threads leave you with questions, reply back here with as much insight as you can on budget, what kind of things you plan to print, etc.

[papabur]

I would recommend a Reprap Prusa Mendel. for the price, you could afford more which, in turn, will give the students greater chances to learn hands on. or perhaps the Prusa i3 or even the Mendel90 are god choices too.

[Geoff]

thanks for the info printbus. i dont want to put together a kit either....seems like there are too many tweaks that need to be done. is there a manufacture with a good reputation i should be looking for? and what special features should i be willing to pay more for?

John, honestly the best advice I can give you is to buy something around the $1000 -$1500 mark that is prebuilt, comes with a good years warranty, and often a general clone is better than a brand name. They take any filament, you are not limited, can use any bed type, have a good build area of 22cmx15cm.. and now you can get metal cases as cheap as wooden.

you can have it out of the box and printing within 30 minutes and enjoy the learning process of driving it rather than figuring out why it wont work.

Then - show your students you can build another printer, from this printer - buy a cheap reprap kit for $150 and some rods and you can all build a second, and a third etc...

For about $1000 you can get a very good clone that has easy to replace components and will have you up and running in no time, just Ebay search for "3D Printer Dual"

The dual extrusion will let your students play with combining materials, like carbon fused filament mixed with others to create new structures, it's not just about 2 colours printing at the same time.

Look for one like this, a makerbot clone and you can pretty much choose any of them, they are all fairly direct clones.

clone.JPG

[Papa Steve]

some manufactures have programs to donate machines to schools
never hurts to ask
our neighborhood school was able to get a Lulzbot TAZ by filling out a questionnaire

a comprehensive list of available printers :
http://www.3ders.org/pricecompare/3dprinters/