Quote Originally Posted by J_Man View Post
This is where I am at myself. I have made myself somewhat knowledgeable but I could really use some advice too. I'm looking at 3 printers right now. I'm thinking Ultimaker 2, Flashforge Pro Creator, or a WanHao 5S Mini. Out of everything I have looked at, I am assuming those are the top of the list for the 1k to 3k price range. I'd just like to hear from some of the people here what their opinion is too.
The ultimaker is an amazing machine. My friend has a flashforge which is great too, I don't know anything about the Wanhao. Also, you should throw a makergear M2 in there as it fit in the price range.


Quote Originally Posted by xphoniex View Post
I did my research but the info out there is little so I though I could use some help.


I want to run a small business operation, print new toys with the printer and then sell them but looking at the quality of some printers, I'm not sure if it's the right time to jump in, technology-wise.

What I'm looking for in the printer is ( in order ) :


+ Quality and Precision :

I was looking at the print samples of Ultimaker 2, ranked #3 by 3dhubs.com under Enthusiast category, and THIS is what I found. One can't simply sell that kind of thing. Seems like FDM technology is not what I should be looking into.


+ Scale-ability and Low Operating Cost :
I want a printer that can print fast. Also the material it uses need to be cheap. Given that I probably won't be able to print high quality stuff with ABS & PLA my only option might be Resin or other options. So, the least I could do is to choose a printer that can print FAST. correct me if I'm wrong.
+ Price :
Yup, that too. I'd prefer if I could keep it under $1000, $3000 is okay but anything over that I'm gonna have to look for investors.

For starters, I wanted to print some Danbos. The are flat for most parts and not curvy so printing them might not be actually that hard. Maybe I could use FDM to print them ?
Phoenix, I have been down this route. As others have said 3D printing is still not really practical monetarily and time-wise. The cost of printing out a toy from a 3D printer is many times more then if you were to injection mold it by the thousands. You would have to factor in the time aspect more then anything. I also wanted to sell small toysand trinkets for a few dollars each. But when someone comes at you with an order of 100 bracelets, and you calculate it will take you a week to make them. Well there goes that idea. I've been there and it's part of learning what these machines CAN'T do.