I am trying to find out if there is a sub $1,000,

3D Printing
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I am trying to find out if there is a sub $1,000, 3D printer out there which I can use for making cases for my electronics projects, grip items for my photography work, and custom props for my photography work.

I would need to be able to print in ABS and possibly nylon for some grip items. The Simple Metal would not work for me since some of the items I am looking at printing are 6.5" in diameter and others are 7" in length. I also need a heated bed.

I am not averse to a kit, but I don’t want a kit that is going to take more than 20 hours to put together. I build a CNC router once from plans in wood and I spent more time re-calibrating it than I ever spent using it so that did leave a bit of a bad taste in my mouth as far as “rolling your own” goes. I have seen many kits that use fastener grade all threaded rod and I found when building a CNC device that at the very least ACME/trapezoidal was needed for fair precision.

I am in the US if location is a factor.

Thanks for any assistance.

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A Mendel90 kit should do all of those material and has a heated bed with 8" cube of a work area, and comes in under a grand delivered. I am picking mine up today, and this group is a great resource. Look them up. I can’t wait to start putting mine together.

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Mendel90, no doubts. Building it was really easy and helped me a lot understanding how 3d printers work and how to calibrate/use them. Plus print output is reaaally nice!

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Hard to go wrong with @nop_head 's Mendel90 … Been printing 1.5 years now and no issues.

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How is the Prusa i3v kit from MakerFarm?
I have heard good things about the printer and the support from MakerFarm. It is a complete kit except for a power supply and the glass for the build platform. You will have to get the the hexagon hotend, allowing printing of higher temperatures (1.75 or 3mm). Total cost of the entire setup will easily be less than $650

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Davinci 1.0 is being sold at $499 in USA. http://us.xyzprinting.com/Product

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+1 for the Mendel90 kit.
@Miguel_Sanchez isn’t the Davinci the one that is completely DRM’d to the point of unusability?

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@Ishaan_Gov I just put together the I3v 8" kit, now they have a 10" version. It took about 16 hours to get to printing, and another 5 or 6 of ironing out the minor issues - I have converted to 24 volt heated bed, hexagon heater and power supply to speed up heating up times, and after a couple weeks of constant bed adjustment it has started printing great with little or no fussing.

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@Thomas_Sanladerer http://voltivo.com/blog/da-vinci-reset-eeprom

I’ve just bought one myself, but it’s still packed. Whether it is any good or not I do not know, but what I have seen in Valencia mini Maker Fair was good enough for me (and my employer was looking for a bargain too). Filament, if bought from them, is more expensive though not as expensive as CubeX’s.

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Thanks for the responses everyone. I took a look at the Mendel90 and the Prusa I3. Both of the ones I saw were using MDF or plywood for the structural members. Have these been found to be reliable in 3D printer work? When I used these matericals for a CNC router I was pretty unhappy with the amount of constant re-calibrating I was having to do.

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If you want to make a badass supper rigid Mendel90, you could make the frame from Mic6 Aluminum tooling plate. I have the kit from Nop Head that is using the Dibond panels. Remember that a 3D printer doesn’t have the same axial forces on it as a mill. It is pretty much only a positioning CNC.

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@Darrell_Sullivan Plywood will work pretty reliably if you seal it with e.g. paint. Though it might become a problem when you’re exposing the printer to direct sunlight or using it next to a radiator.
There are some i3 kits available that use aluminum plates. Nophead’s Mendel90 kit uses dibond for the frame.