What 3D printer would you suggest?

[Fresh]

Good morning everyone, I have been thinking of buying a 3D printer of my own, although I am not completely sure which 3D printer would be the best. At my place of work, we had Afinia 3D printers, and they were easy to use and repair; except the printer's build volumes were too small, and ABS plastic might not be the strongest material to use. The list below has my ideal requirements for a 3D printer, and I suppose that many people would agree with these points. If someone agrees with these points, this thread may hopefully help to them as well.

- 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm (or larger) build volume.

- Uses a filament that is very strong and will not shatter and can resist constantly high temperatures (wont melt or bend in 110+ F weather.)

- Costs less than or around 1,000 USD.

- Does not require constant support from the manufacturer (exchanging broken parts for new ones, long wait times.) Generally speaking, it is able to be repaired at home.

- Can operate for extended periods of time without clogging or malfunctioning.

- Has a precision of 0.1 mm.

What would you say fits these requirements the best?

Thanks.

[LambdaFF]

The build volume and the price would point towards a custom modified Prusa kit.

The Printrbot METAL PLUS comes close to most of your requirements, in fact it is shy of 2 : it is slightly smaller and slightly more expensive.

[curious aardvark]

yep basically for $1000 you won't get what you think you want.
The printrbot plus is a good machine, gets plenty good reviews and has decent size build volume.

material wise - there are some hi-temp pla's on the way. polycarbonate is always worth a try as is pet and if you have huge wads of cash and a hi-temp hotend you can use peek :-)

[Fresh]

The build volume and the price would point towards a custom modified Prusa kit.

The Printrbot METAL PLUS comes close to most of your requirements, in fact it is shy of 2 : it is slightly smaller and slightly more expensive.

How much would a custom modified Prusa cost and how easy would it be to modify?

The Printrbot Metal Plus may be a little more expensive and the build volume a little smaller, but it is very close to these requirements.

yep basically for $1000 you won't get what you think you want.
The printrbot plus is a good machine, gets plenty good reviews and has decent size build volume.

material wise - there are some hi-temp pla's on the way. polycarbonate is always worth a try as is pet and if you have huge wads of cash and a hi-temp hotend you can use peek :-)

Does anyone on this forum have a printrbot plus, and have reviews?

[Sebastian Finke]

How much would a custom modified Prusa costiews?

Have a look here

... how easy would it be to modify?

This is subjective. Are you technically-minded?

Does anyone on this forum have a printrbot plus, and have reviews?

See this thread.

[Bobby Lin]

I'd recommend Printrbot. It's really a great printer and they have incredible customer support. A satisfied customer here!

[jcdammeyer]

I've put an extruder in place of the router on my JGRO CNC router and it works but really isn't fast enough. I've got a replicape on order for my BeagleBone Black and already have the touch screen. What I'd like is the bare bones hardware kit for a Delta 3D printer. Any suggestions or should I just buy something from AliExpress and toss the control electronics.

[Fresh]

I'd recommend Printrbot. It's really a great printer and they have incredible customer support. A satisfied customer here!

Does the Printrbot have an option to turn raft or supports off? With some 3D printers, there isn't an option to print without supports and it could ruin a print if you are making something that is hollow, like a bottle.

[Sebastian Finke]

Does the Printrbot have an option to turn raft or supports off? With some 3D printers, there isn't an option to print without supports and it could ruin a print if you are making something that is hollow, like a bottle.

This is controlled by the slicer, not the printer. And yes, you have the option to print with or without supports.