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  1. #11
    Super Moderator curious aardvark's Avatar
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    sla's out of his budget - I agree it would be better. But not only are the machines much more expensive than fdm but the running costs are considerably higher as well.
    And I'm guessing there is a time limit of his job contract which totally rules out anything on a crowd funded website. Even the good ones usually take at least 12 months over the stated delivery time before they ship.
    You also need to factor in learning the in's and out of 3d printing and designing for 3d printing.

    If you fit a 0.2 or 0.3 mm nozzle on an 0.05mm layer height machine. Yes it will take about a week to print anything, but you can get serious detail in there. And if they are going to be painted anyway, you can easy add in extra detail.

    The moai is only $900. Looks good. But if they actually start shipping by june 2017 - I'll eat the hat of your choice :-) Looks like the standard crowdfunded setup.
    The t-1000 looks great, but way out of budget. They claim to be shipping pretty much now, interested to see if that happens. Would be a first. But does look like a more professional setup than most crow fund outfits.

  2. #12
    I've got the perfect hat... He could actually buy 3 Wanhao D7's for his budget. Already shipping. This just doesn't seem like an Anet A8 kind of project to me... For FDM I'd still be looking at something much more serious than anything recommended so far. Even an original Prusa i3 MK2S would suit better, and within budget, and can add multi-extrusion and still be well under.

  3. #13
    Well, you guys have given me a lot to think about.

    I have a friend who is fairly involved in 3D printing and a young little genius, into robotics and math that makes my head spin and so on. He was kind enough to print out some samples for me yesterday at 200, 160 and 100 micron Z resolutions and they were far better than I expected. I think 100 micron max resolution will be fine for what I have to do.

    Curious Aardvark (what do people call you? Curious, Aardvark, CA?) - yes, you're right about my schedule. I have 5 months to finish this whole project (which involves much more than the 3D printed details) - I need a product that is ready to ship. I'd prefer a company that's well established with good tech support and customer service and readily available spare parts and all of that. BoozeKashi, I'm sure I might get a better value from a new crowdfunded product, but I don't think I have that luxury.

    The samples I was given were done on a Printrbot and a Makerfront. What are people's opinions of those two brands?

    BoozeKashi, I'll also research the Wanhao D7.

    My friend seems to think the FlashForge Creator Pro is the way to go. At this point that and the Klic-n-Print are the ones I'm leaning toward. Curious Aardvark, do I understand you correctly that the company that makes the Klic-n-Print is getting out of the 3D printer business? That concerns me.

    Thanks again, folks, and I'm very open to more suggestions if anyone has them.

    ETA: is the Flashforge Creator Pro also a Replicator Dual clone like the Klic-n-Play? Is the major difference between the the price and the enclosed case?
    Last edited by Jeff B; 04-08-2017 at 03:00 PM.

  4. #14
    Jeff, sounds like you need to hit the ground running.

    You are already ahead of the game on design, so you have a big advantage there, but the learning curve for SLA is a bit steeper/trickier than FDM. If you have already determined that 100 micron is going to be okay then forget about SLA printers (and especially the Wanhao D7, do not bother with it), and just look at FDM printers.

    At 100 micron, you will have some leeway of being able to bump up/down a bit as well to get more detail when needed (most likely down to 50micron) at the expense of time, and you can go up to 200 micron and save time when you don't need as much detail. You will also find out that you can actually use multiple processes in Simplify3D and print at different layer settings, or use Slic3r and do essentially the same thing with the new variable layer height options. Things like foundations and base layers can be printed at lower resolution and then the software will increase the resolution when it gets to the building details. Neat stuff we have now.

    Between the two you have listed, the Flashforge Creator Pro is a solid machine. A Prusa i3 MK2s is well within your budget and a superb machine, but only if you can buy from a local dealer, otherwise there is a bit of lead time on buying them online right now. Makerbots and Ultimakers are also good machines, albeit a bit pricey. This guide might help, but you've kind of already narrowed things down: https://www.3dhubs.com/best-3d-printer-guide

    The klick-n-print could be a great machine, but two serious concerns 1) I have never heard of it. 2) That is such a massive price reduction, it appears they are dumping stock, and does not look like a new model is on deck.

  5. #15
    BoozeKashi, I was just looking at the Prusa i3 MK2. It looks pretty sweet, but at present there's a 7 week wait. Can't do that. I saw some available on eBay but I believe they some kind of clone ("Geesomething, I forget). I'll do some more looking to see if there's a local dealer.

    I'm very glad to hear that good slicing software can do multiple resolutions - that's something I've been wondering about.

  6. #16
    I think I have made my decision. I think I am going to order a Flashforge Creator Pro tomorrow.

    Anyone want to talk me out of it?

    I'll admit I am concerned about the whole business with the extra extruder scraping on prints and knocking them loose. But I get the impression it's fixable.

    And if I could quickly get my hands on Prusa i3 MK2 for so much less than the Creator pro, I would probably do that.

    But in an imperfect world the Creator Pro seems like the best balance of price, capability and reliability.

    If anyone thinks I'm making a big mistake, I hope you'll let me know right away....

  7. #17
    Engineer-in-Training
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    If you live near a Micro Center store, you can buy a PowerSpec 3D Pro 2 for about $700. It's a Flashforge Creator clone.

  8. #18
    Super Moderator curious aardvark's Avatar
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    get the knp - same machine, half the price.

    also you could look at the wanhao duplicator i3 plus. https://wanhaousa.com/products/dupli...us-steel-frame

    get both for same price as the flashforge pro :-)
    And if you think you won't need 2 machines - think again. At the resolutions you want to print at - even a small print will take half a day.

  9. #19
    Engineer ralphzoontjens's Avatar
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    I agree, the Klic-N-Print is probably the best machine, and with dual extrusion, it's hardly a price for what you get.

  10. #20
    If I get a klic-n-print and need replacement parts - can I find them?

    And can I use Simplify 3D on the Klic-n-Print?
    Last edited by Jeff B; 04-11-2017 at 12:27 PM.

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