Does anyone have experience with the phoenix 3 d printer? The cost is right, but does it work well?
I had a chance to see it up close at the 3D print expo in CA a few months back and talk to who I think was a father/son team. It wasn’t printing at the time I stopped by their booth, but what I did notice was that the printed pieces used for the printer’s assembly looked a little rough with some ribbing.
I’d assume they used one of their printers to make the parts for the ones in their booth.
I didn’t recognize it at first. Their earlier version had about a kilogram of unnecessary plastic parts that have been significantly reduced. It still looks like it was designed by people who have no idea what they’re doing, but at least it’s shed a bunch of weight (and probably at least a solid day of printing time).
The Z axis is unique (read: unproven). The belt that drives it (belt-driven Z is usually considered to be a Bad Idea) follows a horribly over-complicated path. They did think to add a counterweight to it, but I’m disgusted by the idea of a printer that requires ballast weight to function, and baffled by what appears to be a pair of Z motors when such a system should only need one. It’s also worth mentioning that the extra mass of the axis plus its ballast will also limit the Z acceleration, and high acceleration is usually more important than high maximum speed in such cases.
And to @Whosa_whatsis 's point, I stood there for a long time following the paths of the belts and was intrigued by the weight thingy. I’m kind of new to 3D printing and and have to admit it looked complicated. I did like the idea of the filament holder on top. If I remember, it could slide back and forth to adjust for varying width. The issue though is that I’ve got only a few spools of filament and of them, there are 3 different spool diameter sizes. So the filament roller probably wouldn’t work on a couple I have.
I think browsing their kickstarter page gives a ton of information about the company and the printers.
@Whosa_whatsis The cool kids all run belt-driven Z.
It looks ok to me (for the price), I nearly ordered but for the shipping and customs charges nearly double the price 
It is a much better looking design than their first printer.
The Z axis is the least of the worries. It’s still a Mendel with no bracing in the XZ plane. That could explain some of the ribbing on printed parts, and there may also be sloppy mounting of the build platform. There are several novelty design ideas, but I didn’t see any that I thought were significant improvements.
Prusa i3 or Mendel 90 would be much better Mendels (if one is stuck on having a Mendel for some reason). Spend enough money to get something that works well. Spending less will be wasted.