Q&A W/ Printrbot, Sharebot Kiwi, Creator and Up! Mini

[gabriela3d]

Today’s Q&A series is looking at the Printrbot, Sharebot Kiwi, Creator and Up! Mini 3D printer models you voted as finalists in the Budget category. Basically these are the printers that are perceived to bring the most value for money for their users.

Do you have any questions for these guys? Any particular thing you always wanted to know? Then this is your chance to find out.

Let’s Talk!

[gabriela3d]

hey @RADANDRE @deicidenero @Nikk @fontanadamiano @MatteoVittorio @benson_pauwels @Bramsky @stormychel what are your experiences with Sharebot or the Up! Mini?

@ItsJustMidnight @ThomasCor @IndianaTux @3dPrintFresno @robby_roboter @BrentNewhall @Ken_8 @Natty_1 any questions for Printrbot or Creator?

[RADANDRE]

Sorry but no experience with Upmini.

Great experience with sharebot!

[deicidenero]

So , kiwi is the best compromise to access in a 3d print world, easy ti use and best italian quality.

[BrentNewhall]

Great question!

For Printrbot: What advantages specifically does the all-metal Printrbot Simple have over the wood kit? And do you have specific numbers on that? I ask because I evangelize the Printrbot a lot, and newbies see the price tag difference and can’t fully appreciate phrases like “It’s sturdier.”

[Nikk]

Sharebot Kiwi is the best way to discover 3D printing! If you want to save money, you can also buy the KIT version and learn how it’s made a 3D printer assembling your own one.

[Andreas_CH]

If i may chime in, i had an UP! Mini for a few weeks before i had to replace it about a year ago. Basically not a bad printer, at least the printed quality was a nice step forward for me from my old Cupcake CNC. Unfortunately the UP! Mini has some major engineering design flaws. The extruder heater sits directly under the extruder motor and is not really thermally isolated. This leads to the motor heating up to extreme temperatures (magnetic and mechanical failure waiting to happen) and in the end heats up the (badly constructed) filament drive so much that the plastic melts already at the drive gear, wrapping itself around…

Apart from that, i had 2 extruder motors completely failing after a few days of printing time. That was the main reason i gave up on the UP! and got back into a bit more expensive and better designed open source printers. The UP! Mini does need some modifications to actually work as intended, and get reliable. Thats not what i expected from a plug&print machine…

Another problem i had at the time was the very locked down closed source software (don’t know if they improved that part, i don’t follow PP3DP anymore). At the time you could not manually set temperatures, use other slicers or change anything really except choose ABS or PLA as material and set a resolution preference (layer thickness). Shure, the idea was to keep it very basic and simple, but some “expert” mode with some access to basic settings would have helped a lot once you know your printer a bit better.

By the way, there was more that i was not happy with, but these were “details” i don’t need to write down, the bad impression i had of the printer is already clear enough i think.

[IndianaTux]

Hi, I have the Printrbot Simple (Late 2013 wood maker model).

What make me buy this printer over other was the upgrade possibiliy. Just doing a quick search on Thingiverse and youcan see there are tons of mods.

My original Printrbot Simple was using the sandpaper drump with stick. My first mod was the GT2 belt. For that my Simple basically printed the parts to upgrade itself.

Next I augmented the print surface (X and Y) from the original 100mm x 100mm to 330mm x 160mm, added an aluminium plate for that size and the latest is the induction probe.

I love that printer and it gives good results. Some prints are shown on my at hub http://www.3dhubs.com/montreal/hubs/andre and I’m attaching the latest photo of the printer to this post.

The Simple Metal looks like a great printer also, but for me the Maker wood version was the best choice since I wanted to be able to mod it.

Support from Printrbot is also amazing. I had many replied directly from Brook (Owner and founder od Printrbot) on G+.

And for any printer, if your somewhat handy, buy the unassempled kit. It will help you understand the build and how the printer really works and thus help you troubleshoot it.

[Pot8oSH3D]

Oh dear! Really sounds like you got a bad 'un there, @Andreas_CH. I’ve had my Up! Mini for nearly 2 years and while it has its foibles, I think your criticisms are somewhat overstated. The only replacements I’ve needed to make are one hot end when I broke off the nozzle through my own laziness, two nozzles and the USB cable. The print results have been really exceptional and the support removal is easier than any other FDM printer I’ve encountered. Don’t misunderstand me. I wouldn’t buy another Up!. I just feel I’ve outgrown it but it’s a little workhorse and has served me well. I expect it’ll keep chugging out great prints for years to come and I’d recommend it for anyone getting started in the wonderful world of 3D printing.

Call me contrary

[k5o52]

Aside from being “studier” my personal finding with the PrintrBot Simple Metal is that the machine is more of a plug and play approach by PrintrBot. It works and aside from 1 clogged extruder, the printer has been operating flawless for the past couple of months. The Metal just works and is already “upgraded” with parts such as the bed sensor, gt2 belts, etc. I was in the same predicament of choosing a wood kit over it since I have the knowhow and experience in modifying and building a personalized printer.

I presume PrintrBot positions their printers based on these expectations… customers who just want to start printing (Simple Metal) and a cheaper kit with options to upgrade and collect both knowledge and experience in printing. (educational purposes, tinkerers, makers)