I am looking to buy a 3D printer for rapid prototyping in India. I am sort of overwhelmed by the choices available and thought of using help from the community in making an informed decision. I have a few models in mind: Flashforge Creator Pro, Wanhao Duplicator 4S, an assembled OrdBot Hadron. I have also seen the Prusa i3 which is available as a DIY kit, but I am not too sure how much time I would require to get the thing up and running with successful prints. The Duplicator 4S seems to have good reviews, except some people complaining about bad customer service. The creator Pro costs a few hundred dollars more than the duplicator, and has really good reviews too so I am wondering whether its worth the extra money? An assembled Ordbot Hadron also looks like a sturdy model printing out really amazing stuff. I have also heard the printrbot metal plus giving good performance, but again is available as a kit.
I would really like to hear views of the community on these models, so I could make a right choice.
Imho the best price/performance printers nowadays are the Ultimaker and the Prusa i3. I’ve been working on a prusa i3 variation since last summer that will be more portable but that won’t be released until this summer most likely. Whatever model you choose, be aware that 3D printing always requires some fiddling and a lot of reading and tuning to get it right. A small deviation in filament diameter requires you to tune your e-steps or extrusion multiplier. It’s a fine balance between strength of your parts and maximum detail that you have to tune.
The Printrbot Metal Plus is also available pre-assembled, but based on my experience of building a Printrbot Simple Metal (which only took about 3 hours to build with me taking pictures to document the process) it should an easy build. I can really recommend Printrbot Simple Metal based on the build quality and the quality of the output. I find it a bit slow compared to my Makerbot Replicator 2, but that’s down to my profile and the print speed I choose to get the quality I need. Will you be prototyping for yourself or as a service for others? If you’re offering this as a service you really need a reliable machine and to be able to easily and quickly source parts when you need them. My Makerbot Replicator 2 is my main printer and is very reliable although I have heavily customized it and have accumulated a box of spares for when things go wrong. Sorry I can’t offer more help on your exact options.
I also meant to add that I built a RepRap Prusa i3 last year and compared to my other machines it required a lot more fiddling with to get it calibrated and producing half decent prints. I’ve seen other people getting really good prints from RepRaps, but I don’t have the patience (and time) to dedicate to dedicate to that so ended up giving a way my Prusa i3 to a friend.
Thank you for your feedback, Marc. I am planning to use to build prototypes for my own use, and will think of offering it to customers once I am satisfied of the build quality. The creator Pro and duplicator are clones of the Makerbot replicator, and seem to have good performance. I dont really want to get into fiddling too much with the machine, which is why I am looking for a sturdy model. I guess I’m left to choose between the clones and metal plus!
Thank you for your feedback Walter. I don’t think I can afford an Ultimaker at this point. The original+ model looks decent, but the machine design is still one from many years ago, isn’t it? I have heard the Prusa requires a lot of fiddling around to be able to get succesfull prints. I 'm looking to work with ABS filaments, which would require an enclosure for optimum temperature and performance, as I have come to know. I am aware that any machine would need some tuning to get up and running, and I should be prepared for that!
If you want a printer which can print quit a large volume for its price , you should think of the dutch Leapfrog Creatr. good design and good support/garanty
Even though it’s not on your list, I’d highly recommend Ultimaker Original+ (version with heated bed). If you’re looking for high print quality for reasonable money, that’s a really good choice. Their customer support is terrible, I needed to wait for response to my emails for weeks, but the printer itself is great. It comes as a kit and putting it together took me around 16h. But I’d say it’s worth the hassle. I’ve seen a lot of different prints from range of printers and I still feel that my UO+ is one of the best in terms of print resolution and overall print quality. Huge user base is also a big plus. Loads of tutorials are available online, a lot of discussions on printing using particular materials. I actually never needed to ask a question yet, as all my questions were already answered. So if you want to kick start with 3d printing I’d say it’s a good way to go. For me, as a newbe, big user base was an important thing and I don’t regret my choice.
Sorry, just read the comments below so now I know UM is outside your budget. Still, I’d say it’s worth to wait a little and save a bit more to get a good printer.
Not sure what you mean about old design, but even if, is it bad if design is good?
Also, about having print area covered - with UM it’s very easy to install additional sides as you already have a cage you can mount the sides to. I don’t think that’s the case with Prusa.
Anyway, if it’s outside your budget, just ignore my comments.
Greetings,
Thank you for your comments, Mick. I had looked up the UO+, but it went over budget considering shipping and duties required to get it to India and I eventually dropped the idea. I do not mean to say the UO+ is a bad design, but just that there are other printers that have improved their designs over the years I’m not very sure if the heated bed addition to the old model(original) would be at par with the latest machines. I agree the Ultimakers are some of the best available in the market - I am new to the world of 3D printing, please pardon my unfair comparisons/remarks, if any.
It’s in your list, the flashforge creator pro is an excellent machine! I have one myself sat beside me working away. It does need a little love to be great - the addition of a glass bed, bearing filament holders and a widget to hold the wires up with the filament guide tubes. If you don’t need to be printing in two materials, I would also recommend removing one of the nozzles (the right one) …
Great! Thanks Andy. I eventually went for the Creator Pro, hope it doesn’t disappoint Anything else I need to keep in mind, or have to prepare ? I am expecting it to arrive in another 4-5 days. I hope to get started right away. I look forward to using both extruders, hope it performs well.
A lot of times I hear people being afraid of bad customer service from foreign (mostly Asia) 3d printer manufacturers. We are an online 3d printer shop in Europe and have sold quite some Wanhao Duplicator 4S and Mankati Fullscale XT 3d printers. Whenever a customer has a problem with they call me and I feel the responsibility to resolve those issues since I sold and adviced them the product. We can resolve those issues later with the manufacturer. So if you buy your 3d printer at a shop with good customer service you won’t have to deal with crappy Chinese customer service I figure.
Furthermore if you really want to spend time in 3d printing as a hobby you can choose to buy a DIY kit. The problem is most people don’t have the technical skills required to assemble the kits. Yes, their cheap and offer more possibilities, but it takes lot’s of effort to, first of all, assemble the printer, and second of all, get a quality print out of it. Most assembled printers are plug and play nowadays and it just requires the 3d printing skill.
All and all, if you’re technical and want to understand how the printer works, want to tweak and mod and are willing to spend a lot of time in it buy a DIY kit. If you just want to 3d print buy an assembled printer. And in both cases buy it at a store with the best customer service.
hi, even I’m from india. I’m thinking of getting a ‘flash forge dreamer dual extruder’. can u comment on the same. and how is your printer working yet? could u suggest me some more good ones please. and where did u buy it from ? directly from the company’s website or a dealer in india? awaiting your reply.
I got the Creator Pro. Working like a charm now, though didn’t right out of the box. Don’t use RepG(I’m currently using Slic3r), had to get a glass build plate, etc. Ordered from aliexpress. You should a get good deal there. As far as I know, the dreamer series are intended for beginners, based on a closed source design, and should work straight out of the box. Good luck!
