Hey guys, Im in the market for my first 3D printer. (and i apolagize as iknow there is a bazillion of these threads). The primary use will be prototyping, creating my own parts and possibly future products to sell. I’m going to be splitting/sharing the printer with a friend which will allow us to spend a little more and get a better quality printer.
I have spent the past week obsessing over finding the “best one” and have spent endless hours reading comparisons and reviews… After all this I believe i have it narrowed down to 4 or 5 main contenders.
I love the idea of dual extruders for doing supports or creating with multiple materials in the same print. I have also read that there can be issue due to different temperatures needs of each filament. So realistically how many of you use dual extruders? Is it a “must have” or nice to have? Do you use it often?
I’m not 100% sure which filament would be my goto… i do like the idea of experimenting and using different types which helped me narrow this down a bit. I do want to ensure i get high quality prints and a reliable printer…
My main contenders:
LulzBot TAZ 5
Ultimaker 2
FlashForge USA - Creator Pro
MakerGear M2
ZYYX 3D Printer
Previously on the list but removed was the Zortrax M200… not sure how i feel about propitiatory filaments.
From what I read any of them should be a fairly solid printer… yet i still can’t 100% decide!
Hi There - We have 3 of those machines: LulzBot TAZ5, Ultimaker 2, and FF Creator Pro. They all are quite good, but have some different strengths and weaknesses.
The FF Creator Pro has been our workhorse printer for a couple years. We have 4 Flash Forge’s in our inventory. They are reliable and generally print really consistently. Pros are that their dual extruder setup is standard and works great. Cons are that the FFCP needs to run a bit slower compared to the newer machines. For the price, this is a hard machine to beat.
The Ultimaker 2 is a beautiful machine. Very smooth, and prints are high quality. You can print almost twice as fast on the UM2 as the FF. However, they messed up the extruder design and have concluded that dual extruders will never be an option on the UM2. If that ends up being an important feature for you (discussed below) then the UM2 is out.
The TAZ5 is our newest machine, and we’ve been incredibly impressed with it. The print area is huge, and the machine can print very fast without losing too much accuracy. They have infinitely configurable extruder options, and it’s a completely open platform. So far, no downside. If I was going to spend $2000+, I would go for the TAZ5.
As for dual extrusion - we use it a ton on ABS prints, but it hasn’t been overly practical for PLA prints since the support materials are a bit more limited. PVA was a bigger pain than it was worth. We have, from time to time, done hybrid prints involving Ninjaflex + PLA, which is neat. ABS really needs to be printed in a temperature-controlled box to avoid warping, so it’s a bit more involved. I like the TAZ5 for the reason that we can always upgrade later if it becomes important to use two materials.
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Thank you so much for the quick reply
The Creator pro sounds like a champ for the price having the dual extrude and proving to be a solid workhorse for you.
However the Taz 5 may be the front runner… the ability to upgrade later is a nice perk which i don’t believe you get with the rest of them. and its hard to beat the build size. If i really wanted ABS, i guess one could build an enclosure for the taz to produce more reliable ABS prints.
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Those are the same printers i contemplated when i bought mine. I was really interested in the creator pro but ended up going with the Flashforge Dreamer. Same specs pretty much as the creator pro with a couple refinements and Very good reliability. Same build volume as the FFCP with dual extruders. I can print quite fast and still get high quality prints and i use the dual extruders all the time with mostly positive results. I have even managed to get decent results printing with ABS and PLA with very minimal warping. I think dual extruders are a must if you want to experiment and tinker with various materials. I definetly recommend you take a look at the dreamer though as it has been just great for me. The touchscreen on it has also come very usefull and pausing a print midprint changing the filament (in case you run out ) has worked very well also. Worth a look.
Budget Vote: FlashForge Creator Pro
Non Budget Issue: TAZ 5
3d4you
6
Hi,
Ultimaker 2 and Zortrax M200 are great machines. We provide a Service to rent and test the machine.
www.3d4you.net
In General, Zortrax is a very solid machine (25kg), but no Parameters can be set. Not even print temperature. Its plug’n Play. Predefined Profiles for material. This is why, you should use Zortrax materials. But ist not a matter of spool form. Any 1.75mm ABS will work (however original material is for fewest failures). Very fast machine. Zortrax is ABS-only Printer.
Ultimaker 2 is a perfect Allrounder. Stable, precise and easy to maintain. But not well suited for metal particle materials and Wood. And no way to print ABS reliably. Good for experimental, because any Parameters can be changed during printing.
