Hey there @davidepecchini. depends what you mean by an “investment”. Will you be able to sell enough 3D printed products to pay for the printer? Maybe. Really depends how creative and enterprising you are. Will you be able to get the money back when you sell it? Nope. Fraid not. Will you enjoy learning about 3D printing and join a fantastic community of people who are experiencing life at the ground floor of a world-changing revolution? I’d say that’s very likely. Is that worth the money you pay for your printer? Only you can say.
If you want to know if the Wanhao Duplicator 4X is good value for money and a good entry level printer, keep an eye out for 3DHubs’ Printer Buyers’ guide or if you can’t wait for that, Search 3DHubs for someone who has a Wanhao and ask them.
I believe this machine is a copy-cat of the popular Makerbot Replicator 2/2X. In general terms you tend to get what you pay for and you may find that the quality, support and durability of this machine may not be on par with the popular, yet more expensive machines.
As with all 3D Printers though, you will find maintenance and spare parts are eventually going to need to be tackled, so it will be better if you are experiencing this with a machine that has a good customer support, parts base and a community of users who have posted their knowledge, tips and tricks online.
We have started with a Makerbot Replicator 2 which is around £2000 but we recently invested in a PrintRbot Simple Metal as a reliable backup machine, costing around £500. The parts for this machine are good value, there is a large community of users and they are a known reliable brand. It may not be a dual extruder, it will require a bit of a learning curve and some experimentation to begin with but it can deliver great results on par with a Makerbot Replictor 2 at 1/4 of the price. Hope this helps!
@Cinter, @edddy, @Joerg_4 and @Francesco_P, what do you guys think?
