whats the best value for money smallish 3d printer?

3D Printing
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whats the best value for money smallish 3d printer?

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Diy mendel90, or prusa i3

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I vote printrbot simple. Probably the simple metal. And probably assembled (options are kit and preassembled) the reasons why:

Solid proven design as he has shipped thousands of printers (last I heard was up to 300 a week)

Auto bed leveling is a nice value add.

Really good customer service.

Lots of innovation happening there often.

Down sides:
Peek based hot end, so no extreme temp materials, upgrade is possible. But peek hot ends are status quo for the industry.

Imperial lead screw. This is up for debate if it “actually matters” but mathematically it introduces rounding errors.

Edit: reasons of the metal over the makers kit is purely the build volume change, but you should get rigidity and it looks better.

As for the m90 assembly time on that is much longer and it uses screw terminals for every wire and I shun anyone using screw terminals for more than 4 connections, it increases the risk of fire as most people don’t do them properly, including engineers I work with.

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Oh and the reason for the kit is I value my time, and 4-6 hours of assembly and debug is worth the price difference.

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Printrbot all the way! Great products; great company; great support.

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I agree with the guys above, Printrbot Simple Metal for $600 is the best 3D printer for that price. I have a more expensive UP Plus (which I love) but I convinced my buddy (looking in the same price range) that the Simple Metal was what he needed and he loves it now, his prints are terrific. Plus @Brook_Drumm is an avid g+ user. I would also suggest getting it here from @Adafruit_Industries :

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What about the prusi i3? I did the kit, and learned a lot doing it. Doesn’t cost the world either.

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Thanks, guys. If you want to build your own and don’t like our design, a simple makers kit can be used to buy the essential equipment in one easy step. It’s an option.

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Printrbot Simple Metal, I have one and love it. Hard to beat that price and quality. Even the Make magazine annual 3D Printer Guide said that about the Simple Metal, great price, great prints. Brook Drumm also makes a good point, the Simple Makers kit is $349 with every thing you would need to make a printer. I have thought about buying one to just use as parts for a printer build of my own. This is good advice from the Printrbot Man himself.

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thanks guys