I plopped $320, printed a few things to improve it, and added about $7 in misc ****, and print at 150. The authentic prusas are way overpriced IMO.

 

Kinda nerdy, but we should do a print comparison. All these machines, same test part, print time limits- compare quality.

 

im game

how about a benchy scaled up 200%? in ABS
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:763622

 

It depends on what you are printing. If you want to do higher temp plastics that need a heated chamber then the prussia is going to be poor platform to start with. If you are printing PLA and the occasional ABS part then no biggie.

 

My print visual quality is just ok. Where my current printer shines is that it can make a dovetail shaped piece and cover the board with it and all of them will be within +/- 2 thou of each other measured across gage pins.

 

They don't skimp on components though.

I have a re-branded WanHao i3 V2.1 clone and many of the components had to be replaced or modified in some way because they "cheaped-out".

The fact that wiring to the build plate on the motherboard connector burns out easily because the wires can't handle the amperage required is a classic example of how crap some Chinese products are (see https://3dprinterwiki.info/heatbed-t...-mosfet-board/.)

So far I've added an external MOSFET to handle the above problem, added a glass plate because the build plate is now warped, added a Swiss hot-end and re-wired the heating element because the OEM wiring was too fragile.

Haven't been able to use it for weeks now because I can no longer level the build plate because the tray that the build plate mounts to (via screws and springs to control the bed levelling) keeps bending at the corners - it's way too thin aluminium so I can't tighten the offending corners.

I've ordered a more-robust lower plate but also the new Prusa Mk3 - there's so many useful things to make with a 3D printer and mine was running continuously while I was at home and I'm sick of having to deal with the ongoing issues of the WanHao printer

 

The mk3 looks amazing. Multiple extruder, easy eject built plate, faster, etc.

 

Cheap CR10, few essential mods, pretty happy with it so far. Not great, but decent for what it is. For geeking out, here's what has been keeping me (amongst a fairly big team) busy designing, building and testing the best part of the past 3 years:

Home | Enlightening Next Generation of Materials

TLDR; blown powder, laser-based deposition, 11 degrees of freedom, 4000x1500x750 mm build chamber

 

Anyone ever use the Formlabs Form2? I need my prints to be dimensionally accurate. Is this the one to get?

 

I have a WOW Sparkmaker FHD which is similar in many respects.
As it relies upon a screen to produce layers and exposure for z height.
XY dimensions are perfectly accurate to a high degree.
Z takes some tuning of your settings but can work well.

I guess the question is how accurate do you need it? Z axis layers are 0.025mm and its a 7" 1920x1080 screen so ~0.050mm
Here is the marketing gumpf printer comparison. So I'd a form2 is perfectly adequeate

Sparkmaker vs Form2

 

How strong are the resin prints? I can legitimately use nylon prints, heck even pla prints if designed right and heat isn't a concern. There's not a lot of info about the strength of the resin printers.

Accuracy wise, a well tuned i3 style machine can hit +/-10thou accuracy and +/- 1-2 thou repeatability pretty easy on the first shot. If you need the print more accurate than that I've found you need to specifically fudge the features of the model to compensate for how different areas of the part are extruded and cool. If you need to nail it the first time with an fdm you need a printer that does live scan and compensate like the nicer markforged printers.

 

SLA parts are semi-functional. Most materials are pretty brittle, but can be assembled and used lightly. Drop and they break. Leave them in the sun and they discolor or warp. They're stronger than wax, maybe on par with balsa wood?

Of course you can get tons of various materials from water clear to flexible to semi-strong, so ymmv.

 

I've got a Malyan m150 here( which is a clone of a wanha a 3 which again is a clone and upgraded), and a recently aquired a Anycubic photon for waaay cheap nib. It was about 206 bucks including shipping
I didnt do any strength test with the resin yet, but i can tell you that it's the best thing since sliced bread for miniatures .

There's a resin called siraya blue, which is a tough resin, but really hard to get over here in Holland. Theres a guy on youtube who made pegs,pedals and even a sprocket for his bmx, and it seems to hold up pretty good
This one over here : I just added a pic here from one of my prints to see how detailed this thing can print.



it printed, but the support material wasn't placed correctly causing it to curl up in the corners

 

Hi, I just stumbled across this thread, I built my own design CoreXY printer, and I am currently fabbing my own downpipe using printed parts, as a mock-up:



Cheers,

Hugo

 

Nice! That's pretty sweet!

Although I was already sub'd to this, my girlfriend and I just split a prusa i3 mk3, we just started assembling it this weekend and will hopefully have it up and running next weekend.

 

2 years later and I am super happy with my CR-10; that being said, I think that the Prusa is a much better package and overall a better deal if you do not feel like fiddling around.

 

You might need to get a second bag of gold bears.

 

I am probably $250-$350 into modding my CR-10 S5 so far and have a bit more to go. Most of the things though are just me wanting to spend more money. I got the TH3d silent board to install, EZABL, v6 hotend, and I need to build an enclosure for my printer. Then get the octiprint setup on it and it should be good to go for a bit. Both my CR-10 and CR-10 S5 worked great out of the box, I just like to tinker a ton of them.

 

Looking for someone to print a speed wrench for my mill vise. What file type is best/easiest to use?

 

STL is the (unfortunate) standard. Just take care of your export settings, as it will affect quality of the print based on mesh/triangulation settings (the more the better, but with a file size cost).