i3 battle! Who makes your favorite version? Geeetech, Folger, Prusa, MakerFarm, ect.
I don’t own a geeetech i3 but I do own a geeetech G2S pro delta and it’s a pos. Also is Prusa also a brand now ? I thought it was the model, Prusa i3
I think it is a brand, But a lot of companies make their flavored kits. Maybe my question is worded wrong.
The Folger one I saw was pretty horrendous. Wanhao i3 looks like pretty good construction for an i3, as does the BQ Hephestos 2, though with the effort that both of them put in, there are some things that I can’t fathom why they didn’t fix in the process…
Anything with a metal frame beats acrylic any day of the week.
@Keith_Applegarth Do you have any metal kits up your sleeve?
@Nathan_Walkner She does look finished for sure. Cheaper than I thought for a metal frame too.
@Jon_Gordon Nope. Just wish my Prusa i3 had a metal frame. Rebuilding it with a metal frame is the next one on my list.
I would make a metal frame a buying decision on a i3. Avoid any acrylic frame printer. It looks good but flexes in all the wrong why’s and is brittle. Aldi in Austrian has a folded metal i3 on sale this week…
@Josef_Prusa makes my favorite version. Because he’s the original, and I like supporting those people. Half of those listed don’t even give proper credit for their revisions.
Strangely, I don’t feel the same about electronics vendors (smoothie); I’ll buy from the cheapest, hands down. I wonder how I can change that viewpoint…
Honestly I don’t like any i3 variant, there are so many design issues that were never corrected.
@Mr_covert , thanks for that info on Aldi. Their sale price is $499, which is truly outstanding.
They are also selling 1kg spools of PLA for $35.
The printer looks good, but how do you know it’s an i3 variant? They make no mention of the design derivation, its just called the Cocoon Create…
I just call it an i3 because… Well the design looks lije an i3. My concern with the Aldi one linear bearings. Having has issues with bad bearings in printers, most recently a geeetech. In all honesty if you are in Australia jump on that aldi printer. I think they still have a 60 day return policy
@Mr_covert I agree with your call. The resemblance to the i3 steel is too close. Too many coincidences otherwise. They have covered it in folded steel plates (like a Printrbot) instead of the usual laser-cut i3 steel designs, so it does have some superficial differences.
Since my local Aldi is only 5 minutes away, I am certainly getting one next week. The Aldi warranty is good. If it has any issues out of the box they will always let you return it and just swap for a new one (while stocks last). Otherwise I can just get my money back before 60 days has passed.
It should be very fine printer for just $499, zero shipping costs, and I assume that it comes pre-assembled. I’m really glad Aldi has done this!
bq makes really well designed i3 printers. Now their newest Prusa i3 Hephestos 2 does prints, which are very good quality and it also prints damn fast.
Hephestos 2 or the original I3 from Josef himself. Both are great quality and one directly supports the designer
Thank you, everyone. There’s some excellent options out there.
If you have access to an CNC look at my build : http://reprap.org/wiki/ITopie
Except we print other materials than just PLA 
and to be honest I think my company has the best support 
^ sounds unbiased 
really wanna pick up one of the original kits one day.