Buying a first 3D printer for a Middle School Makerspace...THOUGHTS?

[Downtowndisney]

Hi,

I am a library media specialist in Pittsburgh, PA. We are just putting the finishing touches on our new makerspace, and one of our final pieces for purchase is a 3D printer; this was left for last, as technology changes so much.

While we do have a budget for the printer, I don’t want to spend much over 3k when all is said and done (PLA, support, warranty, etc.). I will be working with 6th-8th graders on the machine; however, I do not have much experience (I’ve watched people use 3D printers, but never gone at it myself).

So, here are my requirements:

1) Ease of use; plug and play is not necessary, but it would be excellent.

2) ABS vs. PLA; we currently have a uPrint SE in the building, so having a machine that accepts ABS would be great, but not required.

3) Simplicity. I want something that kids (and I) can actually use and not have headaches with.

Where I stand…

I was all set to get the Ultimaker 2; however, the Zeus all-in-one by AIO Robitics is very intriguing, as it would get the kids engaged immediately with the scanning.

Honestly, I am not married to either of these machines; however, they both looked good for my purposes.

If you have an opinion on which of these would be better suited for our needs or have another (better?) recommendation, please let me know.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

Have a magical day.

[loganj13]

Hi, I’m lucky to be a highschool junior who has experience with a few different 3D printers. I have lots of experience with the Ultimaker 2, the Makerbot Replicator 2, and the Printrbot Simple Makers kit. I am not a fan of the Ultimaker 2 at all, I’ve probably had over 200 hours of prints in the last year, and very few were on the Ultimaker 2, because it fails so often and was unrealiable. The Makerbot Replicator 2 is a better option, however I have still had to take it apart at my school atleast half a dozen times to fix little issues. The Printrbot machines are good quality, however they are very low end. They do their job well, but the results you can expect are poorer quality. I would reccomend checking out either a Felix Printer, or my personal choice, a Rigidbot. I’m saving up for a Rigidbot right now for a few reasons. For most prints on a MB Rep2, I print at 40-50mm/s. A Rigidbot can print at 80mm/s and have just as good, if not better quality prints. It has a 10x10x10 inch heated build plate, and can be upgraded later to a dual extruder among other things. The best part: the kit to build the Rigidbot (the build is not like that of a Printrbot where there are dozens of issues and steps a frustrations along the way. It’s more of just assembling the frame and plugging it in.) is only $580 and I believe that includes CONUS shipping. So you could buy two of them, and 20-30 rolls of filaments and still come out spending less that you would on a Makerbot or Ultimaker 2. The U2 I use, as well as the 2 MB Rep2s are in my school’s makerspace. One of the biggest issues I’ve seen is when people who are cleared to use the printers don’t really know how they work and don’t remember what to do, and accidentally damage, clog, and mess up things. I think it would be a great way to start the kids off then to build the machines with them. Unlike with a Printrbot kit, from everything I’ve seen the Rigidbot build process is very straight forward, and would be easy for a few adults supervising interested kids. It helped my understanding of 3D printers immensely when I built my Printrbot Simple Makers Kit (I did custom upgrades to make it about the same build volume as an Ultimaker 2, and similar if not better quality prints, all for $700). Hope that helps!

[gr5org]

>The Makerbot Replicator 2 is a better option, however I have still had to take it apart at my school atleast half a dozen times to fix little issues.

The replicator 2 is fine but absolutely do not get the 5th gen makerbot. I would get UM2 but I’m biased. Note that even the excellent MB rep 2 needs to be taken apart dozens of times. These printers are not plug and play like 2D printers - they are more like the complexity of a lathe or CNC router. Much safer, but just as complicated with lots of constraints on getting the damn thing to work the first time and so on. Getting a DUO with support is even worse - they come in and print something leave and then you try to print something and you can’t duplicate what they just did. Plus you end up locked in with their filament. I recommend UM2 or the UM2go – my middle school just bought 3 UM2s. But there are zero printers out there that won’t take 40 hours of your time to figure the damn thing out to the point where you can just get a perfect print every time. And the Ultimaker forums are extremely helpful.

[czucker]

Hi Thomas,

I find that asking for a recommendation on a 3D printer is akin to asking a bunch of people what the best cell phone provider is. If you ask 10 different people you will often get 10 completely different answers. Sprint was sterling for one person, another had an awful and unredeemable experience with them. . . .

That being said, if I was buying a printer for middle schoolers I would want something that has been around for a bit and has an a good user base. The failure rate is fairly high for even the most reliable printers. Better to have one that is easy to troubleshoot with an active support community.

I would also look for something either open source or close to it. I think that could be really valuable for the kids. 3D printing is awesome, but so is everything that I’ve learned in the process of building, modifying and repairing my printer. Some days I think I’ve gotten more out of the latter.

And finally, my 2¢. . . . I love my Ultimaker and would not hesitate to go with any of their models. . . . Go figure.

P.S. I think PLA will be far more satisfying for kids. ABS is pretty finicky, and it kind of stinks sometimes.

[robs_3D]

Hello,

I’me a teacher in 3D programs (Vectorworks & Cinema4d) on a creative school, NIMETO in Utrecht in the Netherlands.

We 've started with 2 Ultimakers original 3D printers and we bought later 8 Ultimakers 2.

We are sattisfied with the Ultimaker 2 because they are user friendly.

Rob

[ChelseaRae]

Hey take a look at an M3D. Cheap and cheerful, great for a beginner or child alike. Uses ABS/PLA and we’re rolling them out to schools for the 9 to 12 year olds. Best of luck!

[harley573]

I’ve had my UM2 since May and I love it! It is my second printer and is light years ahead of the first one I bought. It’ll do pla and abs but you’ll want to try colorfabb xt as it is the best of both worlds. Easy to print like pla but much stronger like abs only without the warping and curling. My kids also love the glow in the dark pla.

[kvones]

I would get an Ultimaker because it’s so versatile and the quality is great. I built an UMO+ and recently got a Filastruder to make my own filament. Despite my 1st batch of home made filament being quite uneven in diameter ranging from 2.2mm-2.8mm the Ultimaker has taken it without complaint and turned out a great print. I have tried a large range of ‘exotic’ filaments too and not a single clog in eight months. I also have an M3D and while I like it, the UM is a better long term investment in my opinion as it is much larger and has a heated platform.

[Downtowndisney]

Thanks so much to all for the information. Honestly, this has been excellent! I have to decide by Monday, so I will keep listening to any final ideas until then.

Have a great day!

[bg3d]

Hi, I’m Jerry. I am the head of Customer Service and Support at Robo3D. If you have some time, please take a look at our great reviews on Amazon. We have some very wonderful curriculum written for our printer and Tinkercad 3D drawing software. We clearly list the NGSS standards that our curriculum meets. This will help you with Professional Development Credits and help your school build a very complete STEM program. Our customer service is very well respected. We will help you with any situation or question you have. We are available with 24/7 live support.

I don’t mean to post a big plug here for the company that I work for. I realize this is a location to post community opinions. I am only mentioning what we offer. I wish you a very successful experience with which ever 3D printer you decide to work with.

[NelsonWong90S]

Ultimaker all the way ==> better quality at the same speed (compare to other printers), and relatively fast, reasonably priced considering it is fully opensource and high specs.

For the 3D scanner I suggest buying a separate ones, or maybe DIY one as some tutorials on opensource hardware for the kids.

Here’s one I found: The FabScan Project - Media Computing Group - RWTH Aachen University

Hope it helps.

[designedby36]

I have two ultimakers and a printrbot plus and for me it would be printrbot. It worked straight out of the box incredibly easy to use, quality is great. I cannot imagine an easier machine to use.

[NelsonWong90S]

Yes, go for the Ultimaker. It can’t go wrong.

Makerbot is somewhat a bad option since they went close-sourced and tried to patent the brilliant ideas off its community without permission.

Not mentioning they are heavily overpriced, I have heard someone having a experience that they don’t sell consumable parts for obsolete printers, rendering the whole machine useless when the consumables ran out (i.e. some ‘ring’ to hold the extrusion head and the tube together).

Stick to UM for a better business.

[scottassoc]

Check out Afinia. Their machines have won numerous awards from Make Magazine, are bullet-proof, and they have a dedicated Education sales channel that has curriculum options. They also have phone support, which is rare.

All of of their models print with ABS and PLA.

[Arnoldas]

Did you guys check out our Best 3D printer guide for 2015 ? We collected data and remarks from people all over our platform and made a little guide for everyone. You should check it out

[AlGoreRhythm]

Awesome! As a middle-schooler and a 3D-Design/Printing aficionado myself, I have been loving my Printrbot Simple Metal. It’s essentially plug-and-play, and the few minor issues it had were easily fixed. It comes as a PLA only printer, but can be upgraded to an ABS + PLA Printer pretty easily (which would be a pretty good project for kids new to 3D Printing!) My second choice when purchasing my 3D Printer was the Ultimaker 2 Go, but I thought it was a bit too much more expensive for only slightly better printing.

I’d say either one of those is a safe bet for a new makerspace. Also, it’s really cool to see that some schools are building makerspaces like this, I’m really jealous!

[UnionNine]

@loganj13 Did you end up buying and building a Rigidbot yourself, and can you comment on how it went if you did?

It sounded like you’re comparing your experience with the other two machines with a machine you didn’t have in-hand at the time, so I wanted to know if you had in fact experienced all the machines you were evaluating/discussing.

Thanks!

[loganj13]

I actually did end up getting a rigidbot. I like the machine, however small things have had issues and to be frank there is 0 customer support. However the community on google plus is very helpful. If I were in your shoes and had the money, I would buy a Lulzbot. They are great quality and there are spare parts available in the US and they have good customer service I believe. I dont personally have one but recently convinced my school to buy one.