buy a 3d printer

[addic7ed]

hi i am starting a small business like shapways!!! i intend to design some items like iphone covers and jewellery and sell them online. i need some help with selecting a series of low cost 3d printers. my total capital investment is around 50k. please help me with selecting the best printers there is with this amount of money. Thank you

[MB3D]

I would consider the leapfrog Xeed, if I were you. It is quite a pricy printer to invest in, but I think the user friendlyness and printquality will be worth it.

You could affort multiple of the Xeed printers.

There are also some very large printers, but I don’t think, that they are of any use for you. To print relatively small objects, like phone cases or jewlery, cheaper printers like the Ultimaker 2 are very good also. It all depends on what you want to do with the printer(s).

Are you planning on using filament based printers, or are you looking into full-metal printing, full color sandstone printing, high detail Nylon (PA-12) with powder based printing ?

Cheers,

Marius Breuer

[addic7ed]

Hi thank you for taking the time to answer i would like to have a printer capable of 3d printing in color! So i can also print colored status with great detail, I know there is some great printers like projet 660pro, but these printers are out of my price range. So im looking for something close enough with a lot lower price!! i am considering leapfrog xeed though. any other suggestions? Thank you

[addic7ed]

Hi thank you for taking the time to answer
i would like to have a printer capable of 3d printing in color! So i can also print colored status with great detail,
I know there is some great printers like projet 660pro, but these printers are out of my price range. So im looking for something close enough with a lot lower price!!
i am considering leapfrog xeed though.
any other suggestions?

[MB3D]

Most printers, also the Xeed, use filament that is colored before you print with it. You can print with up to two colors (other printers get up to four colors, due to another hotend), but that’s the limit.

Two colors or two materials is the most common capablility of 3d printers. If you need full-color prints, you should look towards industrial grade machines, which could easily have a six digit price tag.

I don’t know much about those printers (except for that they are expensive), so I can’t recommend a certain model, maybe hubs near you have such a printer and are willing to share their experience with you.

[Joseph_Romano]

Interesting enough, I have been doing extensive research on these very printers for my day job. Based on the quality tests, cost effectiveness, and reliability, I would look at 3D Systems’ Projet line. The 16-32-micron resolution is line-less, and is very fast.

Cost for the Projet 3510 MTL: $0.32/CM^3

Machine cost with starter kit: $~65,000

Only down side is the color. You’d have to go to the 5500 line, which was half a million dollars to get full CMYK colors. The 3500/3510 models can do one color & wax support at a time. As you can tell, I am steering in that direction myself.

Stratasys’ Objet is the same technology and issue. Their 550 can do full color, but the cost is insane. The Fortus line has only two extruders for support & main MTL.

If 100 microns is sufficient (thoigh you mentioned jewelry, which would need to be in a tumbler for better surface quality), then you could always buy a nice FDM printer. Then, I would retrofit it with the new E3D Kraken. The 4-extruder hotend would need some custom parts, reprogramming, and tuning. In the long run, the setup would be very cost effective. Let me know what you choose!

[Pot8oSH3D]

Hey there. I’ve been looking into colour printing quite extensively and, far as I’m concerned, it’s a close race but the Mcor Iris comes out in front for practicality of prints, cost and colour quality. Paper may seem strange but when you’ve played with a hammer, printed on an Iris, all of a sudden it doesn’t matter.

cheers,

AndyL

[Pot8oSH3D]

Oh! It should be in your budget too!

[gabriela3d]

Hey @addic7ed, you can start your research here: Best 3D Printer Guide 2023 | Hubs. Cheers!

[loganj13]

For go quality over quantity is all I can really say. Also, if you aren’t experienced with 3D printing, you’d better get experienced with it before starting a business! But my point is: don’t buy 8 Makerbots or something, buy 1 or 2 very nice ones. The prints will be much better, AND it will be much faster, so while you won’t be able to have jobs running on as many machines at once, they’ll finish faster.

[addic7ed]

hi thanks for taking the time to answer

but i did not quiet understand your point. are you recommending me to buy couple of makerbots. because they have good quailty or because they are fast enough to do 8 printers job?