3D Printer Options

[Trav603]

Hello,

So I've been thinking about 3D printers lately and since it really seems to be blowing up here I thought I would strike will the iron was hot..or should I say ABS? anyways..I have been looking at the Makerbot Replicator. Sounds like a great machine and with a dual extruder you're looking at $2,000 or $1,750 for single extruder and they come pre-assmebled and tested. It just seems so much more expensive than say a Prusa kit. Does anyone have any experience with Makerbot products? For 2-3x the price am I getting better resolution prints? Or are they comparable to Prusa?

I wonder if you pay a premium for it to be pre-assembled and have a fancy enclosure. If that is the case I would rather assemble my own and save a ton of money. I don't have any experience with 3D printers so I'm not exactly sure what gets you the best resolution prints. maybe servos vs steppers? nozzle size? I think the replicator uses steppers and has a .4mm nozzle. I see some Prusa kits come with a .5mm nozzle.

Any opinions/advice would be much appreciate!

[jeremy0203]

From videos and pictures i have seen while doing much 3d printer searching i havent seen any pictures of items made with a makerbot that look any better than a well calibrated prusa. makerbots supposedly come shipped calibrated, take a look on youtube and you will see people printing with them that def need better adjustments, then look at some prusa ones and there are lots of people making very nice prints.

id go with the prusa........... and that is what i am actually doing lol. if i get into it enough i will build a second one using aluminum extrusions and use the prusa to make the parts for it.

Makerbot may look nicer on the outside but i dont see any reason to spend over 2 times as much as it will cost to build a nice prusa.

[Trav603]

Thanks for the reply. I have watched some but it was hard to tell the quality of their prints. I might just go with Prusa as well. For $2,000 I would expect some really high quality prints. I can't find any reasons why the makerbot costs so much so maybe there just aren't any.