What 3d printer to get that's similar to...

[TheGleaner]

After "demoing" a uprint se plus, I was wondering what printer do you recommend that has the same basic features(dual print heads, one for material, one for support materal, print quality, etc) would you recommend?

 

I would buy the said printer, but I dont have $ 8000 laying around, lets say under or around $1000 is the range I'm looking in, so what do you recommend?

[ZeusXI]

3 minutes ago, TheGleaner said:

After "demoing" a uprint se plus, I was wondering what printer do you recommend that has the same basic features(dual print heads, one for material, one for support materal, print quality, etc) would you recommend?

 

I would buy the said printer, but I dont have $ 8000 laying around, lets say under or around $1000 is the range I'm looking in, so what do you recommend?

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/top-10-low-cost-3d-printers-51541/

[manikyath]

53 minutes ago, ZeusXI said:

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/top-10-low-cost-3d-printers-51541/

i'm not sure i would agree to that list to be honest..

- i have a wanhao duplicator i3 plus (essentially, the "refined" version of the i3) and it is... certainly an adventure.

- i've seen a da vinci on a demo, and i'm NOT impressed with those things... they seem like a toy rather than a serious piece of equipment

- then most of them have a stupidly tiny build platform, if they say 100mm, make that 80mm actually usable for your print, you can barely print a phone case on that.

 

i honest to god tell you that the experience you've seen for $20000 cannot be reproduced below the $2000 mark, by which i'm essentially saying an ultimaker. on the cheapest end i'd tell you to buy a wanhao duplicator i3 plus, and expect to spend some fair extra change on upgrades so the damn thing doesnt clog every minute.

[Hackentosher]

Support material using the same material that you print with works pretty well. Like really well. You don't really need a dissolveable support material unless you're making prototypes for a firm. The best use if your money would be a prusa i3 mk2. 

[TheGleaner]

So... aim for an Ultimaker is the general consensus?

[bob345]

5 minutes ago, TheGleaner said:

So... aim for an Ultimaker is the general consensus?

the ultimaker is a decent choice, but the new prusa i3 mkII is a much better value imo. That and if offers up to 4 different materials that can be printed at once.

The printer http://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/59-original-prusa-i3-mk2-kit.html?gclid=CP-A75mm0tECFU5cfgodlQsDEA

and the multimaterial upgrade http://shop.prusa3d.com/en/printer-upgrades/118-original-prusa-i3-mk2-multi-material-upgrade.html

[kingkang]

I think the Ultimaker 3 is the better choice. Yes, the price is high, but so is the quality. I haven't printed yet with the Ultimaker 3, but from what I heard it's amazing.

 

Bob345 mentioned the i3 MK2. However this printer has 1 nozzle. That can be an advantage when printing in different color but the same material. But when printing with different materials, I recommend that you have a printer that has separate nozzles.

[Hackentosher]

5 hours ago, kingkang said:

I think the Ultimaker 3 is the better choice. Yes, the price is high, but so is the quality. I haven't printed yet with the Ultimaker 3, but from what I heard it's amazing.

 

Bob345 mentioned the i3 MK2. However this printer has 1 nozzle. That can be an advantage when printing in different color but the same material. But when printing with different materials, I recommend that you have a printer that has separate nozzles.

I don't think you really understand how versatile single nozzle machines are. Besides, printing with two materials is really weird and complicated. You need two different 3d models that snap together in your slicer, and even then it's often a miracle if you can get the two nozzles to print properly together without jamming. Yes the i3 mk2 has their quad feeder system, but that is still in development. Yes you can do things like waste towers on the ultimaker 3, but the ultimaker 3 is 3x what the OP can afford. I will always recommend the ultimaker original with a heated bed because it is an amazing, reliable, printer that makes beautiful parts, but the i3 mk2 does the same thing for $300-$500 less. 

[kingkang]

On 21-1-2017 at 3:23 PM, Hackentosher said:

I don't think you really understand how versatile single nozzle machines are. Besides, printing with two materials is really weird and complicated. You need two different 3d models that snap together in your slicer, and even then it's often a miracle if you can get the two nozzles to print properly together without jamming. Yes the i3 mk2 has their quad feeder system, but that is still in development. Yes you can do things like waste towers on the ultimaker 3, but the ultimaker 3 is 3x what the OP can afford. I will always recommend the ultimaker original with a heated bed because it is an amazing, reliable, printer that makes beautiful parts, but the i3 mk2 does the same thing for $300-$500 less. 

I admit that the price of the printer is high. But I disagree on your point about the nozzle. First of all printing with 2 materials is not weird. As you know FDM technology is limites when it comes to geometries. You can solve this by printing with support.

 

However printing with support has its downside, think of the finish of the part and just the additional work that it requires to remove. But when printing with different materials, you can print the support with PVA. PVA is material that dissolves in water. This means that when you print you part with support and you want to remove the support, you just put it in warm water.

 

Materials have different properties what means that when printing with 2 different materials it's desirable that you have 2 separate nozzles. Apart from the different properties, you don't want them to mix up.

 

The Ultimaker 3 has these 2 nozzles. They have designed a quite impressive way to change nozzle's which makes replacing and cleaning them easy.

 

But I want to emphasis that the printer indeed cost a lot. But the possibilities are much higher.

[bob345]

11 hours ago, kingkang said:

I admit that the price of the printer is high. But I disagree on your point about the nozzle. First of all printing with 2 materials is not weird. As you know FDM technology is limites when it comes to geometries. You can solve this by printing with support.

 

However printing with support has its downside, think of the finish of the part and just the additional work that it requires to remove. But when printing with different materials, you can print the support with PVA. PVA is material that dissolves in water. This means that when you print you part with support and you want to remove the support, you just put it in warm water.

 

Materials have different properties what means that when printing with 2 different materials it's desirable that you have 2 separate nozzles. Apart from the different properties, you don't want them to mix up.

 

The Ultimaker 3 has these 2 nozzles. They have designed a quite impressive way to change nozzle's which makes replacing and cleaning them easy.

 

But I want to emphasis that the printer indeed cost a lot. But the possibilities are much higher.

Having two nozzles is not inherently better for multi material prints. The only real benefit is a slight bump in speed over a single nozzle system. Aside from that there are a ton of issues with multi nozzle fdm machines such as difficult z calibration, stringing issues, and smaller build area for a multi material print. The end result with a single nozzle system is identical to that of a dual nozzle system, just without the headaches. When changing materials, the printer simply purges the nozzle on a "wipe" tower that is generated so you dont get any kind of mixing of materials. You can switch from abs or pla to pva for support with no issues.