Reliable 3D printer with change parts easy to find and changed

[KrYpToCiD]

Hi.

 

I've been looking to buy a 3D printer for my local FTC ( some US citizens might know it) as sponsor, but I need to find something that is easy to setup and to service. They already had one that had some issues on mobo and their warranty was voided (the shop removed the warranty stickers when they wasn't able to fix it) and now I want to buy for them something that easy to find spare parts. They tried to buy arduino and RAMPS but they weren't able to calibrate it enough for decent prints. Even if they succeed a second printer would be helpful. 

 

So some suggestions with printers that are reliable and easy to service would be appreciated. The budget would be around 1200$ including tax.

[WereCatf]

"Easy" is a very vague definition, what is easy for someone may be nigh impossible for another person. That said, when it comes to being able to reliably source replacement-parts, Prusa's printers are quite high on the top, and they provide a lot of documentation on how to do general maintenance and replace parts. All the plastic parts on the printers are available on Prusa's github, so any replacement plastic-parts can just be 3D-printed by whoever happens to have a printer available, too.

[KrYpToCiD]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

"Easy" is a very vague definition, what is easy for someone may be nigh impossible for another person. That said, when it comes to being able to reliably source replacement-parts, Prusa's printers are quite high on the top, and they provide a lot of documentation on how to do general maintenance and replace parts. All the plastic parts on the printers are available on Prusa's github, so any replacement plastic-parts can just be 3D-printed by whoever happens to have a printer available, too.

Easy meaning basic knowledge. And I had already prusa in mind but I would like something that is more robust (meaning ultimaker design with walls) because they are pretty destructive  

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, KrYpToCiD said:

(meaning ultimaker design with walls)

Well, those are actually harder to service, but sure, they do provide a little bit more protection against someone sticking fingers in a hot hotend...

[KrYpToCiD]

2 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

Well, those are actually harder to service, but sure, they do provide a little bit more protection against someone sticking fingers in a hot hotend...

And clumsiness too  so do you have any suggestion for this criteria ? 

[WereCatf]

Just now, KrYpToCiD said:

And clumsiness too  so do you have any suggestion for this criteria ? 

Nope, sorry. Might be better off asking on e.g. the 3D-printing community on Google+

[tikker]

2 hours ago, KrYpToCiD said:

Easy meaning basic knowledge. And I had already prusa in mind but I would like something that is more robust (meaning ultimaker design with walls) because they are pretty destructive  

 

2 hours ago, KrYpToCiD said:

And clumsiness too  so do you have any suggestion for this criteria ? 

Destructive in what way? I do not see how a Prusa or the likes would be more prone to clumsiness than an Ultimaker. It may require a little bit more setup and tweaking possibly, but if you ram into your printer while printing it'll probably mess up. Ultimaker or not. Also usually once you have them dialed in and you don't mess with them they shouldn't really change performance. You can always build your own enclosure.

[KrYpToCiD]

26 minutes ago, tikker said:

 

Destructive in what way? I do not see how a Prusa or the likes would be more prone to clumsiness than an Ultimaker. It may require a little bit more setup and tweaking possibly, but if you ram into your printer while printing it'll probably mess up. Ultimaker or not. Also usually once you have them dialed in and you don't mess with them they shouldn't really change performance. You can always build your own enclosure.

clumsy like hitting by mistake the printing bed or something like that   trust me, i know those kids pretty well

[tikker]

45 minutes ago, KrYpToCiD said:

clumsy like hitting by mistake the printing bed or something like that   trust me, i know those kids pretty well

Ah I see. Well with kids it'll be difficult to avoid I guess I guess the main benefit is the auto leveling on the Ultimaker then (do they all have that?), but I'd agree that overall the may be little less maintenance friendly overall.

Let them try their best to ensure the printers are safe

[KrYpToCiD]

3 minutes ago, tikker said:

Ah I see. Well with kids it'll be difficult to avoid I guess I guess the main benefit is the auto leveling on the Ultimaker then (do they all have that?), but I'd agree that overall the may be little less maintenance friendly overall.

Let them try their best to ensure the printers are safe

If you are meaning building a great wall to keep the printrer safe from kids, yeah I'll do it (joking ). I think I'll build something like a cage for the printer and everything should be just fine. 

[Hackentosher]

My FTC team got this at the end of the season (too late to be useful), but I was amazed at how easy it went together. All the printers I've had have been kits that have taken me at least a week to get going properly, this thing goes together with four bolts and is ready to print in less than an hour. Unfortunately they raised the price a few bucks since we got ours.

[KrYpToCiD]

11 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

My FTC team got this at the end of the season (too late to be useful), but I was amazed at how easy it went together. All the printers I've had have been kits that have taken me at least a week to get going properly, this thing goes together with four bolts and is ready to print in less than an hour. Unfortunately they raised the price a few bucks since we got ours.

That is nice too, but I'm thinking about getting something more opensource. I want them to be able to repair themself only with internet access and not to be forced to send it back to manufacture to get it fixed. The member who was the one that was tinkering around the printer is retired due the fact that he passed the age limit. 

[Hackentosher]

58 minutes ago, KrYpToCiD said:

That is nice too, but I'm thinking about getting something more opensource. I want them to be able to repair themself only with internet access and not to be forced to send it back to manufacture to get it fixed. The member who was the one that was tinkering around the printer is retired due the fact that he passed the age limit. 

... the maker select is based on the Prusa i3, just like half the other 3d printers on the market.

[KrYpToCiD]

4 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

... the maker select is based on the Prusa i3, just like half the other 3d printers on the market.

true. now it all depends to find it in my country ( I'm from a country in UE) because they can't use the money to bring products abroad our country.

[Hackentosher]

11 minutes ago, KrYpToCiD said:

true. now it all depends to find it in my country ( I'm from a country in UE) because they can't use the money to bring products abroad our country.

Look into the Wanhao i3 (same thing as the monoprice) and the Prusa i3 mk2s. Prusa research is pretty good at shipping world wide.

[KrYpToCiD]

6 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

Look into the Wanhao i3 (same thing as the monoprice) and the Prusa i3 mk2s. Prusa research is pretty good at shipping world wide.

My physics dep. have a Wanhao i3 but they would like to get a bigger print bed. This year rule with weight limits determined them to go with more 3D printed parts than metal ( like they used since now)

[Hackentosher]

10 hours ago, KrYpToCiD said:

My physics dep. have a Wanhao i3 but they would like to get a bigger print bed. This year rule with weight limits determined them to go with more 3D printed parts than metal ( like they used since now)

There's weight limits in FTC now? If you need a big bed, then you either need to do custom, or spend quite a bit more than the options I talked about earlier. Look into the Gmax or the CR10S.

[KrYpToCiD]

12 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

There's weight limits in FTC now? If you need a big bed, then you either need to do custom, or spend quite a bit more than the options I talked about earlier. Look into the Gmax or the CR10S.

Yeah there is,

Quote

Robots must not weigh more than 42 pounds including battery. To account for variances between scales, there will be a .5 pound (.23kg) overage allowance on top of the 42 pound weight limit. This weight constraint does not include the Alliance Flag or Team Marker. If a Team is using multiple mechanisms that will be swapped out from one match to the next, all components and the robot must be weighed together during weight inspection and must not weigh more than 42 pounds

straight from manual =))) and I think they might print the team marker too

[makersmuse]

In my experience open source rarely means easy or kid friendly. You'll often spend a lot more time tinkering than actually printing. Prusa, Lulzbot Taz6 or gMax 1.5 would be my only realistic considerations but they punch above your price point. Gmax can print huge things though.

[KrYpToCiD]

17 minutes ago, makersmuse said:

In my experience open source rarely means easy or kid friendly. You'll often spend a lot more time tinkering than actually printing. Prusa, Lulzbot Taz6 or gMax 1.5 would be my only realistic considerations but they punch above your price point. Gmax can print huge things though.

First, if you are the Maker Muse from YT, nice to meet you =)) I've been watching your videos for quite some time. If you are not, nice to meet you. again =)) 

 

Can you tell me what do you mean by Prusa punching above my price point? I just entered on the official store and the mk3 was 750$, with tax I would get it under 1000$. But gMax really is above my budget......

Anyway, I'm going to try to build a bigger 3D printer from scratch, I had it in mind for quite some time

[tikker]

7 hours ago, KrYpToCiD said:

Anyway, I'm going to try to build a bigger 3D printer from scratch, I had it in mind for quite some time

Bigger isn't always better though. I'd first consider what print volume you'd practically need. With bigger volumes you'll likely run into a few problems. First of all printing is slow. You'd also need a pretty solid construction if you go with a large volume to reduce vibrations, which will kill you if you're doing tall prints, especially if you have the bed as a moving part. I can't see myself needing something bigger than my CR-10S any time soon.

[makersmuse]

On 8/10/2018 at 9:58 PM, KrYpToCiD said:

First, if you are the Maker Muse from YT, nice to meet you =)) I've been watching your videos for quite some time. If you are not, nice to meet you. again =)) 

I am indeed lol, I like to hang out a bit here. Yeah the other 2 are above your price point but the prusa mk3 kit is a good fit. If you're interested to learn how printers work you can make one, but you won't be reliably 3D Printing for quite a while.

[KrYpToCiD]

4 hours ago, makersmuse said:

I am indeed lol, I like to hang out a bit here. Yeah the other 2 are above your price point but the prusa mk3 kit is a good fit. If you're interested to learn how printers work you can make one, but you won't be reliably 3D Printing for quite a while.

Glad to meet you  

About Prusa MK3

https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/180-original-prusa-i3-mk3-kit.html

this shop doesn't sell the original one? With tax is under 1000 and shipment is free and my budget is 1200