Absolute Beginner To Choose First Build

Howdy,

I'm trying to decide which printer kit to purchase to get me started. I hope for my first printer to be under $1,000.

The first thing I'm thinking of a is a Huxely, another option is the Printrbot. Both of these can be obtained relatively cheaply, which means I will have more left over for a more ambitious build. What are your opinions of these printers?

Additional problem: I live in Adelaide, Australia, so sourcing many different parts from different places is may be a false economy due to shipping costs.

Cheers,
STT

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2011 10:53AM by STT.

Depends on how soon you need it, your level of technical skill with electronics, and how big of a print area you want. A Huxley will be fine, but there's a fairly high learning curve if you don't have any major electronics projects under your belt already. They are pretty reliable machines, but the hot end is a weak link and can jam. Personally, I'd take a wait-and-see approach to the Printrbot because you won't get it for weeks or month and it's still relatively untested. Both machines have sort of medium-sized print areas.

For a beginner without a ton of electronics experience, I always suggest a Makergear Mosaic or Prusa kit. They're both under $1000, reliable, produce beautiful prints, and you can get the electronics pre-assembled. And Makergear is a reliable company with great support, and the extruder and hot end on these printers is rock solid. The Prusa will be a little larger and more nerdy, and the Mosaic is more compact and a bit more of an appliance. If you're a total beginner, I'd definitely recommend against self-sourcing. It can be much cheaper, but only if you really know what you're doing.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2011 02:58PM by Pointedstick.

I make Prusa kits in NZ unfortunately I won't have any more until early next year.

www.acronum.com

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Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand

Thanks for your responses.

As for electronics experience, I've been soldering since I was a little tacker, and I'm skilled at making logic circuits.

As for urgency, I plan to leave my current job on the 14th of Jan and take a 6 week break before starting my next one. So obviously, getting it in the mail then gives me plenty of time to build it and configure it.

The Printrbot looks very promising, but I may just have to sit on it for a little while to see if its any good.

I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to mount the carriage from the Huxley to a larger printer, so build area isn't really a concern (or should it be?). The Printrbot is extendible on all three axis.

Cheers,
STT

Greg Frost was selling complete (assembled, configured and calibrated) Prusas ,with all the bells and whistles you could want ,in Australia for $1400+ shipping (link).
But he sold out today .

Its worth dropping him a PM to see if he has any kits going though.

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My Reprap blog

jds-reprap.blogspot.com