I need some help from people who have some good understanding of 3D printers. I want to put some of my prototype boards in case and 3D-printing it will be the easiest option. I have an access to a university's 3D printer, but you have to sign up for it 2 weeks upfront and printing quality is very low even for a prototype. So I decided to invest in my own 3D printer. I know little about them, as I was always just giving STL files and received a model day after. Can someone give me advice on the best bang for the buck 3D printer under 1k$? I will be printing on it often, so filament price is also considered (if it differs between printers). Thanks!
Think about today and tomorrow. There is nothing you can do about the past.
There are a ton of printers under $1000. The prices have really been coming down lately, and the build volumes going up. My first printer was a MakerBot replicator 2 which was $2300 at the time. You can get them refurb' for $1600 from Makerbot I think. The second printer I got was the GMAX from gCreate. It was a kit that had to be put together and it was $1400 for a dual extruder but its open design has allowed me to rebuild it from a 18x18x9 build volume to a 18x18x23 at the moment. You can really build it as big as you want. The next printer I ordered was the Cobblebot on Kickstarter. At the time of the kickstarter you could get their 15x15x15 for $299. They are still fulfilling orders but after I would imagine that same $299 from KS would be under $1000 retail.
I guess my whole point of this was to show that there are a lot of options and prices continue to drop as I type this.
there is also the printrBot on amazon if you want something to.. convert as it were into something like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYqBxEAtXZA which seems to do some sort of cement nozzle.. yeah a water hose and a nozzle and some cement and a little computer aiming and you print houses...
cement is a broad term..
so.. next
why not send people a nice phone and a 3d printer so we can have useful development kits where wanted in place of these aimed at being dainty
