Need help finding a printer!
Posted by ProDigit
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Need help finding a printer! December 27, 2011 12:34AM |
Registered: 12 years ago Posts: 18 |
Hi guys,
I live in S - Florida, USA, and have a small project coming up in the testing of desktop speakers.
I wanted to buy a printer that can print the housing (cabinets) for these small speakers I want to create.
They will mainly be beta/prototype models, to learn about audio engineering.
Bed of 200x200mm is good enough for me. It would allow me to create most basic blocks for speakers.
I am looking for a printer that is:
1- first and foremost cheap!
2- Pre-built (with easy access to necessary drivers; I am not much of a printer engineer, and want to spend my time printing and engineering sound, not engineering a worn/broken printer)
3- can do a good job of printing without breaking down (might need to do a lot of pieces, and more projects in the future).
I generally work with Windows XP and Google sketchup.
I also have Windows 7, and Ubuntu.
Which printer would you recommend?
The more I look online, the more confused i get (printers Like the Glider 3D, Axis 3D, Prusa Mendel, Reprap, and many others....).
I live in S - Florida, USA, and have a small project coming up in the testing of desktop speakers.
I wanted to buy a printer that can print the housing (cabinets) for these small speakers I want to create.
They will mainly be beta/prototype models, to learn about audio engineering.
Bed of 200x200mm is good enough for me. It would allow me to create most basic blocks for speakers.
I am looking for a printer that is:
1- first and foremost cheap!
2- Pre-built (with easy access to necessary drivers; I am not much of a printer engineer, and want to spend my time printing and engineering sound, not engineering a worn/broken printer)
3- can do a good job of printing without breaking down (might need to do a lot of pieces, and more projects in the future).
I generally work with Windows XP and Google sketchup.
I also have Windows 7, and Ubuntu.
Which printer would you recommend?
The more I look online, the more confused i get (printers Like the Glider 3D, Axis 3D, Prusa Mendel, Reprap, and many others....).
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Re: Need help finding a printer! December 27, 2011 02:14AM |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 862 |
Prusa is by far the simplest I think and I'm sure someone in the States must be selling pre assembled ones, heck I would but the shipping from NZ would cripple it. Search the forum thread for your specific country here and see if any are near you
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Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand
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Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand
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Re: Need help finding a printer! December 28, 2011 11:53AM |
Registered: 12 years ago Posts: 411 |
Cheap, pre-assembled, a large build area, and reliable; pick two. :p
A Solidoodle is cheap and pre-assembled, but has a small build area and its reliability is unknown. A Mosaic can be bought pre-assembled and it's reliable, but it won't be cheap and it has a small build area. An Ultimaker has a big build area and it's reliable, but you need to build it yourself and it's expensive. A RepRap is cheap and has a large build area, but it requires a lot of hands-on maintenance and you'll need to build it yourself. And getting someone to build you a RepRap will start to get expensive.
If this isn't an ongoing project, what might make more sense for you would be to hire someone with an existing printer to print you only the parts you need. Probably any one of us would be happy to do this. If you intend to use it a lot, it makes sense to invest the time to get yourself a cheap printer that you'll maintain yourself (RepRap), or the money to get a higher-reliability machine that will require less upkeep (Ultimaker).
A Solidoodle is cheap and pre-assembled, but has a small build area and its reliability is unknown. A Mosaic can be bought pre-assembled and it's reliable, but it won't be cheap and it has a small build area. An Ultimaker has a big build area and it's reliable, but you need to build it yourself and it's expensive. A RepRap is cheap and has a large build area, but it requires a lot of hands-on maintenance and you'll need to build it yourself. And getting someone to build you a RepRap will start to get expensive.
If this isn't an ongoing project, what might make more sense for you would be to hire someone with an existing printer to print you only the parts you need. Probably any one of us would be happy to do this. If you intend to use it a lot, it makes sense to invest the time to get yourself a cheap printer that you'll maintain yourself (RepRap), or the money to get a higher-reliability machine that will require less upkeep (Ultimaker).
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