Quote Originally Posted by curious aardvark View Post
All good points :-)

did have a quick look on ebay and second hand 'cubify' seem to go for around $300-350. Okay they've expensive locked down cartridges - but there are plenty youtube videos telling you how to get round that.
And it's a sound design and about as idiot proof as it gets.

The biggest issue you're probably going to have with a real low budget machine is that it'll be pla only. Well cold bed print filaments only.
Some of the more exotic filaments are cold bed printable.

But abs is out - and I love printing with abs. Thick bits are rigid, thin bits are flexible. And it's all seriously strong.


lmao - my first 4-5 cars were all around £400, they all ran for at least 12 months and did what I wanted a car to do. I couldn't afford anything more exoenbsive and only regretted one. Never take a car mechanic with you to buy a car. They just assume stuff can be fixed - I have no interest in fixing cars. But it still ran for 12 months after I changed the water pump, and I sold it for decent money.

So no he won't regret buying a cheap printer - because he'll be able to improve it quite quickly.
And learning the art of 3d printing can be done on ANY level machine.

Is it necessary ? Well if you were on any kind of design course, yeah this day and age I'd say it was.
I am going to disagree with you here. If he gets a dirt cheap printer, a fake chinese hotend is going to give him a boatload of troubles. I have seen hotends literally just fall apart.

A car is sometimes a necessity. I have never seen a design curriculum where a 3D printer was in the syllabus, but if you can prove me wrong I would be definitely all ears.

I also never said he could not learn 3D printing on a cheap machine.

How much cheaper do you think he can go? 250? You still had to pay for gas all those years. If a 3D printer for him was truly a "necessity" he will be going to be going through rolls of filament, various colors and materials. Let's even lowball it and say 1 roll of filament is $30 dollars, and he gets 5 rolls. He would have to at least needed to save up $400 to purchase all of that. And if he can save up $400 to buy that, he can save up $350 to buy a printrbot.

I think you would agree with this. Would you have purchased the £400 car if you didnt have enough money for gas?

I am not telling him to just forget about 3D printing. I am advising him to make sure he can afford it, and that there should be a bottom line for you to venture into a new activity. 3D modeling is a difficult thing to learn on its own and will keep him plenty occupied until he can save up enough money to make a reasonable choice. I am not telling him to go out and buy an Ultimaker either. But if $50-100 dollars more is too much for you to purchase something in an activity where the consumables range between $30-50 a pop, I would hope you can see my point of view.