I would appreciate thoughts, advice and warnings from those of you who have been down the "My first 3D printer" path. Honestly most of the specs like... MK8, E3D. V6, FFF, PLA, ABS, Moldlay, Mendal, i2, i3, v noth head, 1.75mm, 3mm, is mostly techno garble to me at the moment.

I've been looking at $200-$400 range Prusa i3 printers on Ebay. Being a complete newbie I really don't see a lot of differences between one offer and another. Some have aluminum beds some glass and some pyrex. some have 15A power supplies some 18 or 20Amp. Should I be looking for specific servos, bearings etc... to help me decide which one to buy... which kit is cheap and which is quality.


I am an advanced class amateur radio operator (K4MLW). I work as a tech building custom automation electrical controls. I plan to use the printer to make parts, gears, cases, bulkhead component panel faces for my personal hobby projects. My wife likes to make Jewelry... (wire wrap, beads, charms etc) so we thought about printing wearable items (ear rings, bracelets, charms, necklaces). We both have fineart degrees and thought about possibly doing lost wax plaster molding for silver, gold, pewter. My son is 17 and occasionally is involved with robot projects with arduino, AVR and basi stamp micro controllers... but mostly he wants to make a geared heart for his girlfriend and a POKEMON chess set. I've been playing with BLENDER for the past few days getting acquainted with 3D modeling.... we are about to buy SOMETHING... the only thing stopping me at the moment is I want to make a more informed decision.

I've been leaning towards a printer with the Prusa i3 frame, 200x200x170mm work space, Arduino Mega boards and Ramps 1.4 board. (Cause I'm familiar with arduino) Other than that I am open and welcome to any and all advice.

I'm in the South East USA.. and don't mind buying from China or HongKong... but would just as well buy from USA... and preferably East Coast.... so feel free to point me toward a seller. (providing it isn't against forum rules.)

Thanks for reading my newbie dribble,
Marty in Greenville, S.C. USA