About a month ago, I decided to get into 3d printing and ordered a CTC dual makerbot clone off of eBay from printchainstore (a not so great supplier I’ve heard unfortunately after I purchased) and was very satisfied with how the printer was performing for the first 3 weeks of its lifetime. I was getting solid quality prints with little fuss and even got simplify3d to go with it. This afternoon, I went back home for lunch to take a 13 hour print off the bed (which turned out good) and start a 5 hour print when all of a sudden, a flash came from the PSU and the printer died midway through the first layer. The display won’t turn on and all that was running was the PSU fan. I inspected the motherboard and everything looked ok so I’m figuring I just need a new power supply. Here is where I’m running into a dilemma. While I have enjoyed the quality prints I was getting with my CTC, I’m tempted to return the unit and get a more expensive, higher quality, more reliable printer. That being said, I still don’t want to break the bank. I’ve been looking at the flash forge creator pro and it sounds like a fantastic printer that would last me much longer than the CTC would. So what should I do? Should I just buy a new PSU and roll with my CTC that has given me some great quality prints or should I throw down some more cash and get something that will last me longer (hopefully) and will be more reliable like the creator pro? If I stick with the CTC, what would be a good power supply to buy? I kind of don’t want to deal with the hassle of getting one from the manufacturer as it would take a while and I don’t want to get another crap PSU.
It’s really all up to how much you want to spend. This is a good printer but I am not sure what the psu are going for.
We have 11 of these printers and love them to bits (in fact just ordered 4 more!). We also had trouble with printchainstore and ended up opening a paypal dispute and got refunded on a machine after they blocked us and refused to answer messages. As long as it’s less than 6 months old, the PayPal dispute process (open a Not as described case) will get your cash back. There are a number of sellers offering CTC printers and most of them are reasonable with offering spare parts etc (fun fact - every single CTC thing we have bought from multiple suppliers has all come from the same address in Melb!)
To replace the PSU, just grab the specs from it and get one from Jaycar, but I would be concerned that it may have fried something else on the way out.
Hope that helps!
!B
24v 15A replacement PSU is $25 on Amazon. I’ve used the one at the link below and it works great: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ANFJ26U
Thanks! I love how the printer performs as well and I’m leaning towards keeping it (money saved is more filament after all). I’ll get a new PSU and see what happens. If it works, then I’ll keep it.
You can get a regular CPU and rig it up if you know what you are doing. Or go to Fry’s Electronics and get the type that is in yours. They sell them there. Word to the wish get on with a little more watts then the one your unit came with. Or return it and get that Pro.
I have one and like it after all the upgrades with more in sight! but I Love My QIDI printer, basically another cheapy, but it is actually built very nice and I don’t have problems like my ctc. I bought ctc from the same supplier, and they always stalled or quoted stupid high prices for replacement parts. I just started using other companies to purchase parts from and bought a ton of endstops and motor cables, thermocouples and heater cores. The QIDI is what I thought the ctc was going to be but so much better! QIDI prints dimensionally accurate and is all metal!
Unless you bought it from some scam seller (There are a lot of unscrupulous eBay sellers out there who seem to think “Well, it’s already a knockoff of the MakerBot, so anything goes!” and try to pull shady crap.) you should have a 1-year warranty. Contact the seller and tell them the PSU blew up and you want it replaced under warranty, if that doesn’t work, contact CTC directly. (Though, honestly, the turnaround time on either of these options might not even be worth it!) If all else fails, it’s really just a standard 24V PSU you can find a billion of on eBay and Amazon. Just read the labels on it to figure out how many amps it needs to be, and get one rated for at least that, they typically cost $20-$40. (The wide price variance accounts for getting them from China versus locally.)
The CTC-3D Bizer (Their official name for that clone of the Replicator 1 Dual) is a very solid piece of kit, I’ve had mine going for over a year and a half and it’s making beautiful prints, and I certainly plan to buy a few more. Only problem I’ve had with it was the left extruder thermocouple failed, but I got a replacement part under warranty for the cost of postage.
There’s really a pretty big price gap between the Bizer and anything that’s going to offer an appreciable difference in quality. It’s really a great starting/budget printer, as well as a general-purpose workhorse.
Wow, the QIDI does look like a damn nice printer! (How have I never heard of it before?!) It basically looks like what I’d do if I completely gutted my CTC and rebuilt it in a custom metal frame… The Z-axis is the one major area where being a direct copy of the MakerBot Replicator hurts the CTC… Those plastic arms are complete garbage! 
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Dude… A decent PSU won’t cost you much… 24V camera supply’s are pretty affordable as opposed to a new printer… $100 MAX… I paid R350 for my 12V 30A supply… If all else fails, string 2 of those in parralel… R350 x2 is like… $50 Mine has been running for a year… And I bought it secondhand… The printers are pretty decent…
I made the same mistake. I bought one and within the month it stopped extruding. Returned it and got a replacement and the replacement has heating issues and bad prints. I would return it and get a different one. I even bought the eBay warranty and that was a joke in itself.
Dude there is no buying a eBay guarantee. If the listing states money back guarantee. All you do is hit return for refund. Explain the issue. The other person responds. And it is not to your satisfaction. Just plain say you want a refund anyways. Keep riding it out but and after the set time period. EBay will step in and you get your money back. So the quickest way is say it is defective. And if they offer a replacement. Either take it. Or just say no you want a refund. You will get it! Believe me I have returned 4 crap printers already and a bunch of other crap.
If you return it and get the same model back, you will most likely get the same problems all over again. What I suggest is, since the printer has been with you for a while, and you have gotten to know “here” already, why don’t you slowly upgrade the unit with original parts from Flashforge Creator Pro. I have been printing with my FFCP for more than a year now, and the worst problem it has given me is a nozzle clog, which was easy to fix with a guitar string.
