12" i3v for first printer

[printbus]

The 12-inch printer also switched from RAMPS electronics to Rambo electronics. I don't know if that is significant - just pointing out the additional difference.

The micro adjustable Z endstop change on the 12-inch printer can be argued as a big deal. Without that, you were pretty much frustrated with the bed height adjustment or forced to retrofit in either a different Z endstop approach or implement an automatic bed leveling scheme that measures the out-of-level characteristics of your print bed and compensates for it in the printing process.

In the migration from 8-inch to 10-inch printers, I believe there's been a higher percentage of people who have had issues with the wood Y-bed warping. It seems like increasing the size to 12-inches could further increase this risk. Colin, however, appears to have taken care of people and replaced their warped Y-beds as they've came up. Some people have also been having problems getting the 10-inch heat bed up to temperature for use with ABS; heat beds draw more current as they get larger, so you need to pay more attention to the wire size being used for it. The concern for this would be higher with the 12-inch printer.

Beyond that, your printing needs probably drives the size you'd want more than anything. Printing takes a long time. I have an 8-inch printer. I can't fathom the time it would take to print something that would fully utilize even my 8-inch printer, what yet a 10 or 12-inch. But to each their own.

A number of people use and like the hex hot end. It probably has a larger percentage of i3v users here than the other hot ends offered by MakerFarm combined.

On 1.75mm vs 3mm, that seems to be a common discussion. Either will likely work once you get the proper settings for it figured out. With less diameter involved in the extrusion process, working with 1.75mm filament is arguably a bit easier/forgiving on settings.

The LCD panels provide a subset of controls local to the printer. From what I read on the forum here, there are a few that take advantage of them for standalone operation, but most do all their printing from a laptop or computer using host software that provides a better user interface. Again, to each their own. I can't speak to the advantage of the graphical display over the 20x4 character display. I'll admit there are days where the character display looks pretty crude (1970's technology).