Looking for a hassle-free 3D printer

[Dale]

We're adding to our wish-list for sponsors and would like to find a hassle-free 3D printer. Basically one that you can say "print" and it prints. We had a few sub-2K units that, while they eventually work, tend to need a lot of babysitting and tuning. This might be used by our school's art department as well as engineering so that reliability is important. Is there anything under $15K with at least a 6"x6"x6" build volume that would fit the bill? Cost per print is somewhat of a concern as well. Single color is fine.

[alicen]

this website might be helpful to you:
http://www.productchart.com/3d_printers/

You can sort 3D printers based on size, whether you have to build it yourself, build volume, price, etc.

[Fusion_Clint]

We got one of these this season and are really happy with it.

http://airwolf3d.com/shop/aw3daxiom

[Sperkowsky]

From what ive seen Ultimakers have always performed well for the price.

[thinker&planner]

At the risk of sounding like a company rep (I'm not in any way), I have to say that our Lulzbot Mini is amazing. I attend a separate school from my FRC team, and there aren't many people with much technical knowledge (yet). I use our two Minis for printing robot parts, and many other people use them to print random things from thingiverse.

It uses a modified version of Ultimaker's Cura as far as software goes, and there's an "easy" mode and an "expert" mode. The easy mode is literally just select the material, quality/speed, and click print. Expert mode has basically every setting that I have ever needed. The support material generator is amazing, because you can (usually) pull it out in one long piece.

As far as PLA goes, it prints flawlessly. With it's standard PEI surface and heated bed, there's no adhesion problems for PLA.

There's a pretty darn low learning curve, but it can also print almost any material because it has a full-metal hot end. It cleans itself.

At $1250, I am trying to convince people to buy me one for college (no success yet). The other great thing is that it stores and travels amazingly well. It has made many trips to my house and on robotics trips.

Lulzbot also sells the Taz, which is basically the same, but with a 11x10.8x9.8" build volume. In my experience, it's not quite as easy to use.

Sorry for a long post, but one more thing. My only gripe with the Mini is that it has to be plugged into a computer to print things, you can't load it onto an SD card and use your computer for other things. (More of an issue when I'm at home)

[coalhot]

Originally Posted by thinker&planner

At the risk of sounding like a company rep (I'm not in any way), I have to say that our Lulzbot Mini is amazing. I attend a separate school from my FRC team, and there aren't many people with much technical knowledge (yet). I use our two Minis for printing robot parts, and many other people use them to print random things from thingiverse.

Also on team Lulzbot here, we purchased a Taz5 in November and it's been a great addition to the team. Having used Makerbot and Ultimaker products, I can say that if I were spending another ~$2,000 on another printer, it would be one of the Lulzbot line (though I might wait for the Taz6)

[Thayer McCollum]

Originally Posted by coalhot

Also on team Lulzbot here, we purchased a Taz5 in November and it's been a great addition to the team. Having used Makerbot and Ultimaker products, I can say that if I were spending another ~$2,000 on another printer, it would be one of the Lulzbot line (though I might wait for the Taz6)

I'm going team Lulzbot as well. My school has a number of 3D printers and I would say in terms of ease of use Dremel 3D printers are good for $1,000. But if you're willing to spend and extra ~$2,000 for a Lulzbot Mini or ~$4,000 for a TAZ you'll definitely get your money's worth. I have also used a Formlabs Form 1 and Form 2 and both although good have had rather high failure rates and other mechanical problems. So yes Lulzbot all the way. High print quality, variety of available filament, low failure rate, and really easy to use. Plus I've been to their factory/offices in Loveland, Colorado and they are AWESOME!

[Dale]

Thanks for all the great replies. It's good to hear such support for the Lulzbot printers. I was assuming we'd have to spend over $10K for a printer that would be hassle free.

To that end, are the Stratasys Dimension or Objet printers worth the money?

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by Dale

Thanks for all the great replies. It's good to hear such support for the Lulzbot printers. I was assuming we'd have to spend over $10K for a printer that would be hassle free.

To that end, are the Stratasys Dimension or Objet printers worth the money?

I would send a PM to Evan Hochstein (ehochstein). He works at Stratasys and has a whole bunch of knowledge about all their printers. He's also on of the FIRST Senior Mentors for Minnesota and is a FIRST alum. Hopefully some people here can give you a good idea, but I'd definitely reach out to him.

[Dale]

I PM'ed him to see if he would like to drop in on this thread.

[gurellia53]

I would also recommend the Lulzbot Mini. I bought it from amazon and 2 days later I was printing - no hassles at all. I have used it with PLA and ABS. ABS was very good for low impact FRC parts this season.

Print volume was a bit of an issue for all of the pulleys I was making this season... I would recommend the Taz 5 if you have the budget... it has 4x the print area of the mini (6x6 vs 12x12).

[Metalcrafters]

To that end, are the Stratasys Dimension or Objet printers worth the money?[/quote]

We have been using stratasys machines for over a decade. We have two uprints and now a Fortus.

The two uprints have made an enormous amount of FRC parts for our bots since 2010. Most are load bearing and we have had very little problems with the parts or the machines. We purchase an education package for materials that gives you a very good amount of materials I don't feel the prices are crazy. Yes is there cheaper alternatives, we have them and honestly they are not turn key. I do not have the time to baby sit prints. Our machines are truly lights out manufacturing.

We have also told our industry partners that we have the machines and offer to become a vendor for their prints and they pay for our material packages and my students get work experience helping prep, print and post process the parts.

If you want to know more let me know. We purchased our first Zcorp machine in the early 2000's not long after we made the switch to stratasys.

Team 207

[Gravity]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

From what ive seen Ultimakers have always performed well for the price.

I second this. Also, if you are interested in a more high-end resin printer, take a look at the Form Labs Form 2.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by Gravity

I second this. Also, if you are interested in a more high-end resin printer, take a look at the Form Labs Form 2.

I will say be careful about SLA printers in an FRC enviroment.

Small particulate can mess up prints very easily.

[troy_dietz]

Most of the more "professional" FFF/FDM printers (7K+) are far less "fiddley" than mid-high end consumer printers. However, they often use proprietary filament and the price per print skyrockets. Many companies claim that their proprietary filament is "specially formulated" and "guarantees high quality prints". A majority of these claims are either false or greatly exaggerated as to give an excuse for outrageous prices for generic filament in specially chipped cartridges.
When you get into other printing methods (SLA, SLS) both the printers themselves and the printing material become extremely expensive.

Personally, I've had some great experiences with the Mojo (produced by Stratasys) but, like most of the higher end consumer machines (and low end professional machines), the price per print is much higher than most open filament systems.

It's a bit of a Catch-22. If the machine is of high quality and relatively expensive, 99% of the time, the filament will be extremely expensive in comparison to some of the mid range consumer machines.

Ideally, you want to find a machine with automatic bed leveling, an enclosed build area, and non-proprietary filament.

As far as FDM printers go, more expensive is not always better. I would look into purchasing one (or many) of the LulzBot or Ultimaker machines. They both have an excellent community and great support.
(Makerbot may be another option, but the newer machines have had several issues and the company has some not-so-nice business practices)