Hi folks !
I have been out of the loop for a while; but what is the best DIY (ie self sourced!) Reprap design nowadays (fdm) ? (not even sure if it is possible to beat the low cost machine prices these days, but who knows 
Thanks in advance !
Nowadays itās just not worth the hassle of building one yourself. Just buy a kit. Then your sure everything is straight and fitās. And the quality is probably much better.
There are lots of them out there actually! Nowadays most people are just building something based on CoreXY or H-Bot, not exactly cheap.
Whatās your budget range? Thereās plenty of cheap ebay made in China stuff available. Then thereās get a second mortgage on your house 3d printers. Prusa i3 is still hard to beat for filament printers but when you googled ābest 3d printerā what did that show you?
@Mark_Moissette_ckaos Do you have a 3D printer to make your own printer parts or are you starting from scratch? Iām guessing the former, just asking to make sure I fully understand your question.
I havenāt found one yet. I posted my requirements a while back, and so far nothing has fit the bill.
The DICE is the closest one so far, but itās limited size and lack of direct drive along with itās high costs take it off the list.
What many repraps are lacking is quality engineering. That is, understanding the forces at work, the stress on the frame, and the overall stability. Many are under-engineered in places that need the most support and reinforcement. This includes the Prusa i3 and all of itās derivatives.
Unfortunately the better designs often use custom milled parts like the DICE or eclips3d.
Nowadays with cheap china manufacturing it is not worth it to try to go cheaper than whats on the market. It worth it if you want cheaper and better printer than Ultimaker or BCN3d printer with dual/multi-extrusion with WiFi fancy display which is smart and do brilliant prints. For example CoreXY is really superior kinematics when build with high grade linear bearings and Gates belt combined with Duet or Smoothie and with tool change mechanism.
But be prepared to spend around 1000 euro or more on such a project and it will take at least few months but probably year or so.
I built mine and I have superb dual extrusion print without any towers or anti-ooze shields as I tap the hotends. My printer align separately every hotend before every print and align the bed. I use ballscrew instead of belts so so no ringing, despite I move two direct drive extrudes and etc. But This comes with a cost of 1000 + euro. And yes I print better than Ultimaker or Zortrax m200 but I spent an year building and changing every piece till I nailed everything. I started bowden and rework everything to direct drive. I bought cheap extrudes and than went for Bond-tech. I made my own extension for Duet WiFi board to suits for my motors and etc.
So if you are not up for this challenge and budget without clear result just go for Prusa or Creality and avoid cheap stuff like Anet.
You might want to check out ReliaBuild 3D printer kits. Smallest is 1000 cubic inches of build space for under $900. Takes about a day to build and with a few easy calibration steps you are printing very high quality prints.
The Tronxy X5S is around $300 at gearbest and has a 330x330x400 build area. Allthough you want to change some of the hardware (print some little things), it is a good sturdy printer. Especially for that price.
Hi everyone, thanks for all the feedback, and sorry it took me so long to answer!
so a few things
- the printers would be for a local school
- low cost kits are perhaps financially interesting (sill cannot get over the price of some of the recent printers), but the aim is to show the power of open source and DIY (which imho has way more value than just ācheapā
- I already have a few printers (UM1 & 2 , Prusa MK3, DIY deltas & HBOTS) so I would be able to print plastic parts if /when needed
- last time I did a group build (Deltas), around 6 years ago , we managed to get the price down to around 350 EUROS per machine, thanks to bulk orders (Using genuine E3D hot ends etc), so that approximately the price I am shooting for (max 400 EUros)
@MidnightVisions , I budget was not an issue, I would likely go for MK3s, best experience/ reliability I had in a loong time
@SirGeekALot yep, got a few printers to make parts if needed
@Stephanie_A I kind of agree up to a point , I started with repstraps a few years back, so while I occasionally rave & rant about issues, It has gotten so much better, but perhaps not good enough yet, even more so for schools where there is nobody knowledgable yet (I would like to avoid spending my time fixing their printers). Do you perhaps have a link to your requirements ?
@George_Novtekov that sounds like quite an impressive machine ! (honestly the āno ringing partā is the most interesting, I have developped quite a grudge against thoseā) I still think that the āprogressively upgradeableā printer aspect is the best thing about self built printers, and quite the opposite of āblack box techā .
That is what I really want to transmit to the school(s) I will be giving the printers to. So perhaps lower initial cost , and progressive enhancements by making teachers & children actually understand the forces and logic at play (as you mention @Stephanie_A )
@Jeff_Parish it does seem nice at a glance, will checkout the detailed specs.
@Mano_Biletsky_Open_M that price/size ratio is kinda mind boggling, although as you mention, the build quality is approximate it seems and requires quite a few upgrades