History: I teach 7th grade students in a Design class. Entered into 3D printing this year with 2 Flashforge Finders. I was awarded a grant and I really liked the tech support so I bought the Flashforge Creator Pro. They have all worked really well.

Now: I have been awarded another grant for $2,346. I want to buy a scanner and a 3D printer. I believe that the Structure Sensor Bar that hooks up to the Ipad will be a good fit. I have approximately $1,847 left. I have seen many, many 3D printers. Based on my needs of having students design and print, what would you recommend? I have seen the MakerGear M2 and that is at the top of my budget. I have seen the Prusa i3, but I am reluctant to purchase a kit build.

Thanks for the help!

1 Like

Hey @rwilson, both the Makergear M2 and Original Prusa i3 were winners in our 2017 3D Printer Guide. In our guide, you can also check out reviews from owners on our platform. I hope that helps!

1 Like

i would advice you a ultimaker2 second hand

I have a Structure SDK and love it. I believe it is the best scanner for its price. If you purchase the structure sensor make sure you get the full package including skanect software and i pad mount or you will be wasting time and money. Also no matter what scanner you get remember there is a learning curve and you may become frustrated that scans are not coming out perfect. There are many factor to scanning like lighting, object surface (glossy or not), size, etc. Also remember there is always editing that will need to be done on any scan no matter the scanner you use. For this use Meshmixer or Meshlab, they are free programs that work.

Good luck

1 Like

You could try the 3DWox. Pros: very easy to use, very reliable (few print failures), high resolution (50 microns no problem). Cons: quite slow (a 120mm print at 50 microns took 46 hours). Price is $1300, prints in ABS and PLA, with built-in carbon filter.

Is there anything you are wanting in another printer such as wanting larger build capacity, trying different filaments, etc.? Are you using both extruders on your FFCP? Is dual material/color something you are liking? I have a FFCP and a Powerspec 3d Pro 2 (FFCP knockoff) and they are working great. I have one set up to run strickly ABS and PETG while the other runs mainly PLA. When I was looking for a 2nd printer, the familiarity with the hardware on the Powerspec made me lean toward the FFCP. I had the Powerspec Ultra (FFCP/FF Dreamer knockoff) and I was tweaking the levelling process more than I was on my printers. You could always go with something with higher resolutions, but you sacrifice speed. You could always upgrade with magnetic build plates and high lubricity nozzles or play with nozzle sizes. If you aren’t wanting to try something new, you might want to stick with what you know.

I teach at TCC and sell scanning and 3D printing equipment as well. I like and sell the Afinia ES360 Scanner and UP Printers from Tiertime. Those are high quality printers. I sell Rhino CAD software and offer a complete system. Contact me for details. Texas. 817-400-1076

I have had a really hard time figuring out how exactly to create dual extrusion prints, so I have not been using both print heads on my FFCP. It is something that I am working on . I use Autodesk Inventor and, apparently, it isn’t the best platform for creating dual extrusion prints. So, for this next purchase, I think I want something with a pretty decent build plate and something that can use different materials, but the print quality and lack of print errors is where I am at right now. With the M2 I get a large build envelop and it seems as if the support is really good.

I teach 9th grade and have a Flashforge Creator Pro.

This is a good little printer, especially with mods.

I bought a Craftbot plus recently and really like it. It has a lot of nice features. You could buy 2 with your budget at educational pricing.

I highly recommend dedicating a printer to a single type of filament. Most of my problems have been a result of switching ABS, PLA, PETG. If you are not careful, you will jam your nozzle. PLA and PETG are your best bet for printing in the classroom.

I also have a structure scanner with the Ipad air 2. I highly recommend ItSeez3D for scanning people. It’s free for education.

The structure/scanect apps don’t work quite as well.

It almost depends on what arrangement of 2 colors you use. You can have 1 model and figure out where the layer is that needs to start using extruder #2. This would be like if you have a black baseplate and want something white printed on it, you can find which layer you need to start printing in white instead of black. If you have layers that you want multiple colors, you’ll need to develop two models. One model being 1 color and the other being the 2nd color. That way you can assign each model to it’s own extruder. A good tutorial, I found on:

He’s using Simplify 3d which I like to use as well.

1 Like

Hello! I’m going to share what I share with every school and teacher who ask me and my brother what 3D printer to buy. Buy a Prusa i3 Mk2 to build or buy an R2 from Robo 3D. I built all the printers I use for my 3D Hubs. It is not easy and takes a lot of time, but you learn a lot. Robo 3D has the best support and you can visit them.

I would build them though for 3 reasons.

1. 3 Printers. Machines can break down and waiting for parts is sad.

2. 3 Printers with E3D Hot Ends. E3D Hot Ends can print anything.

3. Knowledge. If you can fix your own printer you don’t have to wait if you break down.

For scanning join the Beta program at http://android3dscanning.com/. I have used Artec Eva and the results are almost the same. Except Artec Eva is very heavy.

--Calramon ‘Brother Robot’

www.twitter.com/habskibbix

2 Likes

I agree with “Brother robot”, prusa I3 is a great choice. Ultimaker 2+ is also a very, very good printer.

For the scanner it depends what you want to do, sensor is not very acurate.

@rwilson The only scanners I have ever seen produce good, workable results cost tens of thousands of dollars. Low-cost scanners come with a lot of promises, but after spending hours meticulously fixing your scans in Meshmixer in order to create your desired 3D model it begins to feel like more of a hassle than a convenient leap forward. Considering your resource constraints, I would first ask: Is the 3D scanner in any way crucial to your curricular and/or administrative goals, or is it more of a “nice to have” sort of device for your classroom/school? If the scanner isn’t a key part of your educational goals, then I would use those resources for filament or spare parts (for easy swapping of print surfaces and hot ends, for example).

My experience with the MakerGear M2 can be summarized as follows: All-in-one package, hands down. If you want your printer that just works and allows you to focus on your students and their learning experiences, choose the M2… Top reliability and performance, bed is easy to level and stays level for months, and endless customizability (dual extrusion, choose any software, interchangeable hot ends with a 0.25 - 0.75 mm nozzle range, etc)… the US-based phone/email support is friendly, prompt, and effective, and the high quality components give you that out-of-the-box performance even years later, all for $700 - 1700 less than comparable “premium” or high-performance desktop 3D printers. Although I cannot comment on the latest version of the Prusa i3 (the mk2), my experience with the original i3 can be summed up in one sentence: It works well for the price, but the reasons behind its affordability eventually make themselves apparent. They do offer auto-leveling, which is nice in the classroom environment, but why spend 30 seconds to level your bed automatically before every print when you can get a printer that stays level? My M2s print day-in and day-out, and I level them about once every 3 months. So auto-leveling is nice, but is really only necessary in the context of a weak frame. When considering what “auto leveling” actually means, it’s really more of a marketing tactic inteded to entice new users who are scared of calibrating their machine (auto-leveling = your bed remains un-level and software-driven overrides alter your extruder’s tool path, all of this unfolds in order to compensate for a non level/uniform surface yet in most cases results in an inferior print. In my opinion, anybody who takes 3D printer performance seriously will choose print on a leveled, physically uniform surface rather than opt to have software running in the background in order to compensate for non-uniformity. For this reason, I print on a solid aluminum plate with my M2, which sits atop the heated build platform in place of their standard coated-glass, which has a slight tendency to bow after prolonged use).

There are many important things to consider that I have not mentioned, so I am happy to elaborate on any of your other questions or concerns regarding your specific needs/goals. At the end of the day, they are both top-rated machines in their respective categories, so your final answer to the question “Which machine is best for me?” may relate more to your goals and aspirations than to your budget.

Best of luck in your search!