Cheapest 3d printer actually worth buying?

[woodepic]

Hey guys! I have some buddy's who have 3D printer, and they're actually pretty neat. The thing is, I really don't have a dire need for one, but I could see it coming in handy every once in a while.

 

This got me asking the question: Which 3d printer is cheap but doesn't suck? We've all heard of those $99 versions, but we also know those are useless. I'm not afraid to solder/assemble if that means saving some cash, since I do a bunch of that anyways. Comment your suggestions below!

 

Thanks in advance for all your help! 

[millema]

No. Cheap printers break, they have bad quality, a lot require you to use their filament. If you want a cheap printer I have a Robo 3D R1 and it's amazing. It's $800 but a refurbish is $500. so long as your fine giving it some love every once in a while since it does break down every couple weeks, but they are easy fixes you just have to sit down and do it (mine is currently not working, its jammed and havent found the time to fix it). The tech support is also amazing, its all in the factory they are made in and it's 24/7. it has a huge build space and a heated bed. but unless your buying it I haven't seen a better printer for a price under $1300 unless you're fine with sacrificing build space in which case get an ultimaker mini $1100. Ultimakers are the best but Makerbots are easier to use.

[millema]

Any other questions just ask.

[millema]

I have heard good things about the Monoprice MP Select Mini as small cheap printers though.

[millema]

I also use a Raspberry pi with Astroprint on it to run the printer. AstroPrint is amazing I can upload and monitor my prints from anywhere. It very very very rarely crashes. And its $35 all in. If you are running a 3d printer I would call it a necessity.

[woodepic]

 

6 hours ago, millema said:

I have heard good things about the Monoprice MP Select Mini as small cheap printers though.

Thanks for mentioning this! That actually has me really interested. I have a friend with an ultimaker 2 and 3, so if I ever needed anything bigger, I'd get him to print it. Are there any major flaws with the monoprice one other than print surface size?

[millema]

34 minutes ago, woodepic said:

 

Thanks for mentioning this! That actually has me really interested. I have a friend with an ultimaker 2 and 3, so if I ever needed anything bigger, I'd get him to print it. Are there any major flaws with the monoprice one other than print surface size?

so apparently the monoprices flaws are: that it is hard to calibrate, fails a lot when doing high speed prints, wireless features are "deactivated", the hotend doesn't keep a perfectly consistent temperature, and it has been known to come with a faulty power brick. all said that isn't the most important stuff, the hard calibration and keeping it at a lower speed might become annoying but they aren't necessities, also it's open source so you can upgrade the hotend, firmware, getting a glass print bed, and replacing the power brick. I found this review and it seems really good if you'd like to check it out: https://all3dp.com/monoprice-mp-select-mini-3d-printer-review/.

[woodepic]

6 hours ago, millema said:

so apparently the monoprices flaws are: that it is hard to calibrate, fails a lot when doing high speed prints, wireless features are "deactivated", the hotend doesn't keep a perfectly consistent temperature, and it has been known to come with a faulty power brick. all said that isn't the most important stuff, the hard calibration and keeping it at a lower speed might become annoying but they aren't necessities, also it's open source so you can upgrade the hotend, firmware, getting a glass print bed, and replacing the power brick. I found this review and it seems really good if you'd like to check it out: https://all3dp.com/monoprice-mp-select-mini-3d-printer-review/.

Thanks!

[Hackentosher]

The printrbot play is as cheap as I would go, but for just a couple hundred dollars more, you could have the prusa i3 mk2. That machine isn't just one of the best value and performance/$ machines on the market, it's one of the best desktop 3D printers currently on the market

[millema]

22 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

The printrbot play is as cheap as I would go, but for just a couple hundred dollars more, you could have the prusa i3 mk2. That machine isn't just one of the best value and performance/$ machines on the market, it's one of the best desktop 3D printers currently on the market

the monoprice is the same printer with a different badge and design as the prusa for less.

[Hackentosher]

29 minutes ago, millema said:

the monoprice is the same printer with a different badge and design as the prusa for less.

Um no. The i3 mk2 is a machine produced by Joseph prusa himself, the designer of the i2 and the ever successful i3 design. He and his team have done some pretty incredible work to make that machine perform better than other machines 3 times its price. 

[bob345]

7 hours ago, millema said:

the monoprice is the same printer with a different badge and design as the prusa for less.

no, the new prusa i3 mkII offers so much more than the monoprice options. The monoprice printers are based on the old reprap i3. The i3 mkII offeres so many features at its Price Point my jaw dropped at its announcement. Auto bed leveling, an option to print up to four materials at once? Its hard to beat.

[Hackentosher]

25 minutes ago, bob345 said:

no, the new prusa i3 mkII offers so much more than the monoprice options. The monoprice printers are based on the old reprap i3. The i3 mkII offeres so many features at its PowerPoint my jaw dropped at its announcement. Auto bed leveling, an option to print up to four materials at once? Its hard to beat.

The real question is why it isn't called the i4 0.o

[makersmuse]

Keep an eye out for the 'cetus' - it was a recent Kickstarter by TierTime and stands out among the ~$300 3D printers as it uses high quality linear rails not rods, has wifi and a decent build volume. You'll be printing PLA only, but honestly for most things it's good enough. Officially the pledges start shipping in a few weeks but it's open for preorder. I've got one of the review units and like using it so much I took it on holidays with me lol.

[Alaa]

On ‎13‎-‎12‎-‎2016 at 6:45 PM, millema said:

No. Cheap printers break, they have bad quality, a lot require you to use their filament. If you want a cheap printer I have a Robo 3D R1 and it's amazing. It's $800 but a refurbish is $500. so long as your fine giving it some love every once in a while since it does break down every couple weeks, but they are easy fixes you just have to sit down and do it (mine is currently not working, its jammed and havent found the time to fix it). The tech support is also amazing, its all in the factory they are made in and it's 24/7. it has a huge build space and a heated bed. but unless your buying it I haven't seen a better printer for a price under $1300 unless you're fine with sacrificing build space in which case get an ultimaker mini $1100. Ultimakers are the best but Makerbots are easier to use.

The Prusa i3 is a decent 3D printer priced at 700$

[Alaa]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M07MOIG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AL8JWG3P9NUTE

My friend has this version priced at 250$, decent but not good looking and gets the job done

[Hackentosher]

4 hours ago, Alaa said:

The Prusa i3 is a decent 3D printer priced at 700$

prusa i3 is a design. Do you mean the i3 mk 2 by joseph prusa?