Budget 3D printer

[Ichy]

A friend has asked for advice on a cheap 3d printer for his son, who is paying for it himself. He has a budget of around £250 max.

So far I've only found two that meet his budget:
Super makibox £219
HICTOP Prusa I3 3D Desktop Printer £255

I have virtually no knowledge of this technology so any advice on the suitability of these or suggestions for other options would be appreciated. This will be a first time user although I'm aware that he does build a lot of electronic projects and seems competent enough with programming.

While looking I noticed the bottom end makibox going for about £120. It only does PLA but I'm tempted to get one for playing with.
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[Pjay]

With most things like this, budget is key. If he was to spend another £150 he would get one that is more than twice as good and if he really got into it, he would be looking to replace a low end one quite soon. The good news is that the price of used 3D Printers remains high, so recouping his money will be easy and not very painful.

I would for sure also get him to look at the Da Vinci Jr, they get rave reviews at the price.

[Ichy]

He is adamant that he will pay for it himself so the budget is pretty fixed unless he waits longer. He also wants a kit version, he wants to understand it all and not buy ready built. I believe that he is mainly planning to build boxes and panels for the projects he builds.
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[lihp]

Bat signal to Nowhere.Elysium!
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[Pjay]

[Ichy]

Cheers for that. With shipping they come out to about £225 without any taxes so probably just as easy to get the ones from amazon.
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[Pjay]

Oh yeah, they seem to be a bit odd with shipping on that site.
They often offer free shipping to the UK, so it might be worth checking back every now and then.
Maybe doing a live chat to them would help too, as I have purchased quite a bit of kit from them and they will do deals on shipping.

[Pjay]

I just checked and with my account I can get it for £207 inc delivery, so the shipping certainly has some movement.

[nowhere.elysium]

That prusa deal looks to be a winner. Lasercut acrylic chassis won't have much flex, and its pretty unambiguous about assembly. Dat price point, too.
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'10 SV650SF, '83 GS650GT (it lives!), Questionable DIY dash project, 3D Printer project, Lasercutter project

[Ichy]

Thanks guys. I'll pass it on.

Looking on ebay this morning I'm surprised just how cheap some of these have gone.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SINTRON-3D-Printer-full-complete-Kit-for-Reprap-Prusa-i3-MK3-heatbed-LCD-MK8-/171643934146

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Prusa-I3-3D-Desktop-Printer-DIY-High-Accuracy-CNC-Self-Assembly-Tridimensional-/221985482817

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2016-Upgraded-3D-Printer-Quality-High-Precision-Reprap-Prusa-i3-DIY-kit-BUNDLE-/331771448230


I guess that's just a sign of the technology moving on.
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[Nexus Icon]

Below a few grand they're all much of a muchness and, in my opinion, pretty crap.

That sounds a bit flamey, but I work in the field and I've been given machines to play with, been to many trade shows and seen tons of parts produced by 3D printers.
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Greetings from Shitsville!

[Pete.]

[Ichy]

[bladerunner]

When I was looking at buying one late last year the prusa i3 seemed to get the best reviews with more consisted results and less recalibration requirements.... Beating anything in its price range and more expensive options as well
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Current bikes...cbr929, KDX200's, Rd125lc mk2, RGV250's

[Nexus Icon]

[Nexus Icon]

[chris-red]

I'm seriously considering getting that prusa thing to have a play with now
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[Ichy]

Yeah, I know...........

Before you start I've gone and bought the Hictop Prusa I3 for me. I had no real plans to purchase any of them but just looking and doing a bit of research for my mate made me do it. It was the 'high precision' version, for what it is worth selling at £260 on Ebay, It was open to offers so I stuck £230 in and 'won' it. This'll be interesting. I have three projects I want to build already.
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[Ichy]

Not a bad service. 2 days for delivery, everything you need to assemble it in the box including tools and spares. Instructions aren't great but adequate and it mostly went together fine.

It took roughly 6 hours to get it together and up and running. The only bit that isn't working is the extruder heater so it'll be a couple of days before a replacement arrives. It'll be interesting to compare it to the one my friend bought. I just need to give it a test run and then tidy up the wiring.

https://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/marki_03/P1050471%20Custom_zpsakxqsnbp.jpg
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[chris-red]

Also ordered one,
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[Ichy]

Cool. Same one? If so then I'm happy to share my limited knowledge. There were a few bits that might need explaining.

For starters.
DO NOT over tighten the fixings for the frame. It will very likely crack.
The extruder fan mounting needed tapping out to 3mm, too much paint on it.
You might want to consider not using the mains plug and lead supplied, it doesn't have an earth.
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[nowhere.elysium]

How thick are the perspex panels? I can most likely laser cut replacements for them, if needed.
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'10 SV650SF, '83 GS650GT (it lives!), Questionable DIY dash project, 3D Printer project, Lasercutter project

[Ichy]

8mm I think. The cracking was something I read. You can see from the design that if they are not sitting perfectly flat and you tighten the fixing up then it creates a stress point.
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[chris-red]

Mine was the £160 Prusa i3 kit, the chassis is plywood not acrylic.

It was very easy to put together (once I had worked out the instructions were on the SD card.

Most of the hard parts were done already the x axis and the y axis/bed where already built.


https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/12745543_10153921449448476_5390117031241968386_n.jpg?oh=f402e8f8cbe0f15df834bafb95ec8726&oe=5751F6A8

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlf1/v/t1.0-9/12744379_10153921449543476_232529959273312888_n.jpg?oh=8baa3b6e8ae1c7e42fdcccff5b9cf2fb&oe=5750958D

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpl1/v/t1.0-9/12009_10153921449613476_6949652885854319107_n.jpg?oh=eb279247ac6649e6c2f4a1591c396dd5&oe=574F6DD9


What do I do now?
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[nowhere.elysium]

You work out what slicer you want to use, run an stl file through said slicer, then send the job to the printer. Try not to be too dejected if the first print looks a bit spazzy.
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'10 SV650SF, '83 GS650GT (it lives!), Questionable DIY dash project, 3D Printer project, Lasercutter project