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This guide has the Reprap "Prusa Steel" printer listed, and says it is $500, with a 9.1 rating. However, I strongly recommend the acrylic version made by many C

by mappum 11y ago

This guide has the Reprap "Prusa Steel" printer listed, and says it is $500, with a 9.1 rating. However, I strongly recommend the acrylic version made by many Chinese electronics companies which sell for $220 for the same print quality. I have been using one of those for the last few weeks and I couldn't be happier with it. It all works much better than I expected for the price, and has been suitable for printing various home items and custom robotics parts. You can find them on AliExpress (the consumer-oriented version of Alibaba): http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20151129194710&SearchText=prusa http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB... If you want to get into 3d printing but don't want to drop $1k+ on a printer, try one of these.

ThatPlayer 11y ago
I had one of these until the hotend somehow died on me. Unfortunately the most of the chinese printers do not believe in open-source or GPL, so I'm planning on completely replacing the X-carriage and upgrading to an E3D-Lite6. I would still recommend the printer as it does come with everything. A few kits that do seem nice like that Makerfarm Pegasus (which does come with the Lite6) is missing power supply and glass.
TD-Linux 11y ago
>acrylic version made by many Chinese electronics companies which sell for $220 for the same print quality. Eh, have you actually done comparisons? That acrylic printer looks pretty iffy - the vertical acrylic supports are in the wrong direction to brace against acceleration from the printhead. It's hard to compare exactly because they didn't specify a specific kit, but that $500 probably also gets you important items like a genuine hotend. As another comparison point, the Makerfarm i3v kit for $490, although partially wood, is still a much better design and is going to be stiffer. You also get a proper hotend, heated bed, and nice V-slot linear mechanisms.

by mappum 11y ago

ThatPlayer 11y ago

I had one of these until the hotend somehow died on me. Unfortunately the most of the chinese printers do not believe in open-source or GPL, so I'm planning on completely replacing the X-carriage and upgrading to an E3D-Lite6. I would still recommend the printer as it does come with everything. A few kits that do seem nice like that Makerfarm Pegasus (which does come with the Lite6) is missing power supply and glass.

TD-Linux 11y ago

>acrylic version made by many Chinese electronics companies which sell for $220 for the same print quality. Eh, have you actually done comparisons? That acrylic printer looks pretty iffy - the vertical acrylic supports are in the wrong direction to brace against acceleration from the printhead. It's hard to compare exactly because they didn't specify a specific kit, but that $500 probably also gets you important items like a genuine hotend. As another comparison point, the Makerfarm i3v kit for $490, although partially wood, is still a much better design and is going to be stiffer. You also get a proper hotend, heated bed, and nice V-slot linear mechanisms.