Dear 3d printing entrepreneurs,
I will buy a printer for running a business specialized in providing prototyping services for students. So what is the best printer under 3000$.
Needs:
- fastest printing speed,
- biggest printing volume,
- and long useful life.
- Preferably, multiple printing colors & materials
My estimation is to operate it 8 hours a day for at least four years. Is it dedicated to work all that amount of effort? or should I buy a professional one?.
regards,
Alaa
4 Likes
Hey there @Alaa_Nassan. Welcome.
I’m afraid that $3,000 isn’t going to get you a professional printer but it’ll certainly get you a good one that should be reliable. When you say “multiple printing colours”, do you mean that you want to print multiple colours in one print, or simply that you’d like a good choice of material colours? This is quite an important factor as it’s one of the most recent developments and will narrow down your choice quite considerably.
If you just mean you’d like a good range of colours then just about any printer will be able to accept most of the ABS, PLA and some more specialist materials available. There’s a huge range to chose from but if it were me, I’d go for the new Ultimaker 2 Extended. The Ultimaker 2 has been out long enough for any vices to show up and seems to be very good and the Ultimaker brand itself has a very good reputation. The Extended version is just larger and, of course, slightly more expensive at $3,030.
So far as operating 8 hours a day, well, I hope you get enough business to do that. Think you should expect that to take a little time though. Don’t forget that your printer will be able to print while you’re not around. Some jobs can take 2 hours, some take 12 or more and it’s a great feeling to come into your workshop to find a new print on your build plate. Like Christmas every day! Or sometimes, a failed print, so maybe not! 
You’ll probably find yourself attending to your printer on an irregular basis. Maybe once, twice or three times a day for, say half an hour or so. You’ll have plenty of time to do other things but then, there will be things you didn’t expect to need to do - I’ll let you find out about them for yourself.
Hope you have a great time and I wish you success. Oh! And, if you find it’s not for you, let me know. I might buy your Ultimaker 2 Extended from you! 
Cheers!
AndyL
Pot8oSh3D
2 Likes
Jays_3D
5
www.DeltaMaker.com
It is big build platform 100 microns for 2,399.00 I have one and love it. Good for schools, as I am a educator of machining and Cad/Cam systems. It’s worth the money. Hope this helps?
