I am looking to buy my first 3D printer, and I was looking to buy the Prusa i3 until I heared so many people give it bad reviews, and seen the print quality. I know there is a newer model, but is it any better?
I am now looking at the Delta Rostock g2s, which seems to have a really good print quality, but the only ones I can find for a decent price are from people pretending to be from the UK, when really they’re in China on eBay. I don’t mind buying from China, so long as I know that the company is trustworthy.
Can anyone think of any decent quality 3D printers for under £250 (~$350), or is ther new version of the Prusa any better than its predecessor?
Thanks, Aaron
PS: I would prefer a build area of 200mmx200mmx200mm or more, but I am willing to sacrifice some of that for a good print quality. I also don’t mind building them, as that seems to be the only way I can get them for somewhat cheap.
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Alex_9
2
Hi Aaron,
First time 3D printing on a small budget can be very painful before it gets awesome. One serious issue is the sheer quantity of very cheap 3D printers which are poor quality clones, especially those from China but not limited to these. They not only often deliver a very poor first time user experience, but cause a lot of confusion around the design they are based on, which doesn’t help you choose right now.
I’d unreservedly recommend the Prusa Research i3 classic, bought direct from Josef Prusa. I have never seen such a good build manual, and my local 3D printing group (Thames Valley RepRap User Group - check it out at tvrrug.org.uk) has made our own design with a very decent illustrated build guide too. Until recently I would have recommended the RepRapPro Fisher as an incredible value for money printer, but they stopped sales precisely because at the sub £300 price point, price was such a huge factor in making a sale that the potential buyer would too frequently be persuaded to go £50 lower and get a cheaper kit more directly imported from China.
I have nothing at all against Chinese products, my components come from there as do most things by some route, but by different quality control processes. A bottom-dollar 3D printer kit bought from China via eBay can be guaranteed only to be a minimum viable product, at best able to demonstrate 3D printing, not to any quality, and there may be a number of fixes and tweaks needed to make it work first time. The worst is when you find that even when you have identified what part is at fault, parts may be inexplicably off specification compared to the original open source project they are clones of. And every penny of the roughly £50 price difference between a RepRapPro Fisher and a clone i3 could be seen in the quality of parts, where they counted.
It may or may not bother you that no money is likely to go to fund the continued development of the original designers, and your budget may only stretch to a cheap clone kit. Do it anyway, it’s fun! If you are good at building, you should still be able to build a working 3D printer. Expect to have to upgrade the machine, especially around the hot end. Do join the reprap forums and you will get help, but please at all times when discussing the maxchine you have, be specific about exactly which company provided it, and when troubleshooting, search for this first - otherwise you may get a lot of confused results and put off others from buying the original machines.
Good luck!
Alex
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Hi Alex, thanks for your reply.
I have found a printer that looks less like a clone, it can be found here.
Would you day that this is still a bad clone or is it a decent version? It has made me believe that is a decent one because it is available on Amazon Prime, so I know it’s in the UK.
If it’s still a bad clone, would it be possible to configure and print upgrades for a clone to get it to a good / decent quality.
Thanks a lot for your help 
I have a Prusa i3 that i built from a kit. After a few tweaks and tuning, it can produce stunning prints and at 200 micon layers you can barely even see the lines on the finished prints. I would highly recommend it and am not sure where you have seen bad reviews about it. But the build of one of these kits does take some time, but I would highly recommend it!
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Thanks for the reply 
Also, if you don’t mind me asking, what site did you get it from? and what frame are you using (ie; Acrylic, Aluminium, Wood)?
Thanks, Aaron
Alex_9
6
Hi, it’s difficult to make a clear judgement from a photo, but there is good and bad here. On the plus side, the linear bearings are the right type and the acrylic frame looks to be 5mm+, probably 6mm. On the negative, cables are not constrained so if you buy, take some time to cable wrap the wires and secure the ends to the frame when you build it.
the extruder looks okay but take a moment to ask the seller exactly what type it is, and what spares are drop in compatible. Often these extruders are 95% okay, with inexplicable off spec tweaks inside which makes them work better for a few prints (for example adding rough PTFE liners compared to a badly made all-metal) then more likely to fail in time. I think the nozzle fan looks OK if one sided, so prints may have artefacts on one side and not the other. There are few printed parts so little room to redo those.
ask the seller where the frame parts designs can be found - is it an exact copy of a known open source variant of the Prusa i3? If you can get new parts made at your local Hackspace, you can take more ownership of it.
Can you get the seller to send a sample of the instructions?
finally, ultimately your call but see the price difference between this and a genuine Prusa i3 and compare the parts up close - you will see where the extra money goes on the Prusa, including yes, the manual, and funding a crazy Czech dude to keep improving it and releasing all the sources so you can tinker more easily on a solid platform.
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Thanks again for the reply
I’ll ask the seller about the specs of the printer and get back to you.
Thanks for the advice.
