I’d have to warn you that ‘same quality’ might be a bit overrated there. If you can selling something for 50% you are skipping on something and it ain’t the profit margin.
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If your looking for a customizable printer and can follow instructions to an assembly then it greats for what you pay for. You will spend more on improvements in the long run. If your looking for something ready to print then you should look for alternatives.
I would really recommend the k8400.
The manual is not so good around the alignment of the x/y carriage. The wiki is MUCH better
http://www.k8xxx-3dprinters.crimed.be/w/index.php?title=Layer\_Shift
Buy! I have also a leapfrog creatr that cost me +/- €1900. have had more problems and bad prints with this one than with the Vertex. the only thing I would consider if I were you, is changing the flex coupling for the Z-axis. the standard one is fragile.
if you want I can send you the file to print one in PLA.
another tp is only to keep the hotends heated for the minimum of time possible to avoid clogging of the filament.
Peter
I got a Vertex K8400 few months ago and with what I know today I would have bought a Kossel or Prusa I3 instead. The cost for the kits are about the same here. The print quality on the Vertex is OK, if you manage to set it up right, but it will never be great. Too cheep mechanic components and the cooling is sort of there but not much more (It looks like they set up the fans too cool one of the rods). Unlike the other two I printers it is hard to make improvements on the Vertex, as it is very tight on space. The best thing about it is that I could get it over counter, so local (fairly strong) consumer laws apply. Also the ticket system for replacement of faulty parts works well, but slow. I have tested it contentiously.
It works, I had a lot of fun with it but: No, i would not recommend it, I think you can do better for the same money.
Cheers!
2 months later
Hi Jonathon,
I bought the kit. satt it all together. plugged in cable to PC…and contact on the PCB came off !
I sent photoes, I delivered the card with the contact off…
I am still waiting for a card or two that has a contact that tolerates connection.
Sincerely ,
Larry
I bought a K8400 kit. I put it together. I connected the cable from K8400 to PC. The contact came off the PCB !
I got a new PCB and the same thing happened to that one too. I have waited and waited for Vellaman
to fix the problem with the cable contact on the Printed Curcit Board.
I bought my K8400 in November last year when it was just released, and I have been very happy with it. Two month ago I started printing ABS without a heated bed. With the right calibration (and use of a brim) the BuildTak sheet works pretty well. I’ve been printing two full spools of ABS in about 2-3 weeks time and only 1% of the prints warped or failed, and those mostly to my own doing. I realise there are better printers available but i am very much content with the K8400 right now, and do not feel the need to buy a better one.
4 months later
If you are looking for a really reliable 3D printer wait until someone actually makes one that is. The seemingly constant barrage of printing issues I’ve encountered with the K8400 is reminiscent of the reliability of early computers (the Altair 8080 comes to mind). If you want to get married to something that will provide unending hours of frustration but great prints when its working properly , the K8400 may be for you - it is not a 3D printer to be used for any kind of production though - unless you are trying to go broke.
10 months later
Dont buy - problems, problems problems all the time. Bought this 6 weeks ago, 80 percent of prints fail for different reasons. After solving problems of permanent stucking filament in nozzle (dont know why it worked suddenly), it worked for 3 days, now it looses steps in x-direction but not all the time, sometimes print outs are ok. Now z-axis does not position correctly. I’m fed and this is the reason why I’m writing here. Calibration is as loud as hell, neighbours complains.