Cheapest 3D Printer/Kit?

[TesseractDzyn]

I was wondering what the least expensive way there would be for someone to get a complete 3D printer or kit, with all of the parts necessary to assemble and begin printing. Something available now, not a Kickstarter project that hasn't begun shipping.

I know that the Printrbot Simple kit runs about $350. The Peachy Printer purports to be a mere $100, but I'm not sure they're shipping yet. Is there anything else out there that can beat the Printrbot price?

-Crawford

[KDog]

Not that I know of. Printrbot just updated the wooden Simple a few days ago. It looks like they fixed many of the issues that the printer had and added automatic bed leveling.

[Feign]

The retail Peachy hasn't shipped, but the beta test printers have shipped two waves so far, and the beta testers are quite open with their results so far...

I have a feeling that a lot of people will get a Peachy for the challenge of it, but not as their only 3D printer. Currently it's more of an art than a science, but the results (even the failures) have a glass smooth look I've not seen with other printed parts outside of postprocessing with an acetone bath.

Also, the Super Early Bird Special on the MOD-t is $149... At the time I'm typing over 300 of their 500 Super Early Birds are gone already, and they launched less than an hour ago.

Even so, the retail price they're talking about is $249. If the MOD-t halfway lives up to expectations, it'll be a game changer in the FFF market.

[TesseractDzyn]

There seems to be a number of issues with 3D printer "vaporware." It seems like there's a new 3D printer on Kickstarter and Indiegogo every few days, but check in a few months down the road, and there are delayed shipments and upset contributors. I'm always suspicious of claims regarding price and performance for printers that aren't commercially available yet.

-Crawford

[Feign]

The better thing to look at rather than price is delivery date. Does it have the same year in it that you see on your clock? Then it's going to make some people upset.

People in general have no way of even imagining the waves of complication that one runs into between the point of starting a business and manufacturing a physical product in any significant quantity. Instead, people are used to Kickstarters for video games or short films, things that require no self-built mass manufacture. They look at a timeline of six months to make a factory line and they think that looks legit (and I mean the people making the time line, too) when it's flat out impossible.

It's a catch 22. 3D printers with a realistic timeline get very little attention with investors flocking to the ones that promise to deliver at an almost physically impossible speed. Therefore there is an unending stream of dissapointment and broken promises from the entire market segment. And there always will be.

The MOD-t is right at the limit of how fast a time frame I'll consider legit. Ten months, and that's only because they're working with an already established manufacturer instead of trying to make their own assembly line.

[SimianSteam]

The QU-BD OneUp is $200, but the company is super unreliable.

One lesson I've learned already is that you can have it fast, you can have it cheap, and you can have it good, but almost all the time you can only have two of those three.

[KrypTONight]

It seems as thought there are newer cheaper kits coming on the market daily. New Matter's MOD-t 3D printer almost makes it pointless to buy a kit, when you can buy an assembled printer for $250. There are even kits now for SLA printers (minus projector) for $300.

[LambdaFF]

One lesson I've learned already is that you can have it fast, you can have it cheap, and you can have it good, but almost all the time you can only have two of those three.

Not a very popular one but a basic truth indeed.

[Compro01]

One lesson I've learned already is that you can have it fast, you can have it cheap, and you can have it good, but almost all the time you can only have two of those three.

And sometimes you can't even get one.

[Feign]

And sometimes you can't even get one.

Especially if you blindly believe someone who promises all three.