Kit vs. buyning components

Hi,

after working with a 3D printer in the FabLab in my town, I want to buy one myself. One problem I stumbled upon is long list of parts and where to get them. There is an abundance of shops as well, which makes it hard to compare and I dont want to drown in shipping costs.

Question: What are you´re experiences with kits for selfassembly? Are the cheaper than buying every parts single?

For example. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1874396831/eventorbot-open-source-3d-printer?ref=search but also the standard Medel-Prusa, the parts are all listed and a guy already told me that he would buy the standart parts on his own, but is that really worth comparing 20+ shops? Considering also that he gets discount because he buys bigger quantities and shipping.

I'm in the same boat at the moment, I live in the UK and kits over here run in at around £499 ($805)(€618)for a basic set.

I've been doing my homework for the last few weeks and noticed that a lot of eBay traders (also members on here) will happily combine shipping and knock a little off their top line if you ask nicely.

Currently my build list is running in at around £300 and I don't think that the stuff i'm buying is poor quality. Thats including a Arcol extruder to fit on a greg's wade's extruder, heated bed, steppers and plastic printed parts.

Good luck with your search and I hope you enjoy your future with a 3d printer. I'm looking forward to mine!

Tom

Ok,

[mixshop.com] this I found is rather a good price add shipping and plastic parts and your almost at the same price as the eventorbot.

One datapoint doesnt make a statistic but Im goona research some more^^

For something like the eventorbot I would wait until his initial batch ships, and see what the feedback is like.
The reason I would be careful, is it uses a welded steel frame, and if the QC on that is bad there is no way most end users can fix it.

You can probably source all of the parts cheaper than a kit, but I honestly don't think you'll end up saving enough to make it worthwhile.

RepRapPro Huxley is 411£, and Mendel 511£, so you can do better than 499£ from Adrian Bowyer himself. Being a figurehead, probably he gives good support? I am a bit surprised his repraps are cheap relative to many other sellers.(given the cost of said support)

Prusa Mendel seems to have most user support and it is easier to source parts for. eBay typically has the plastic parts for around 60$

Thats cool, i'm just waiting to order my last few(hopefully) parts for my build and it sits at £317.23

Thats printed parts from America Reprap.org forums, straight bar from eBay seller 1, hobbed bolt steppers and chains eBay seller 2, electronics eBay seller 3 and nuts, bolts etc Tool station and Screw fix.
Also gone for Arcol's V4 hot end and thats £66.36 after a € to £ conversion and a .5 and .35 nozzle.

Followed the BOM from reprap.org so hopefully got it all!

Only thing left to buy is PLA and i am going to buy that from faberdashery.co.uk as they seem to have really good reviews.

Tom

Problem with buying at different vendors is the individual shipping can really add up. If you are in the US, check out Makerfarm. I designed my own based on extrusions, but ordered the balance from him: electronics, J-head, filament, extruder, etc and thought it was very reasonable.

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Thingiverse ID Alan1279

Makerfarm and SeeMeCNC both are excellent sites in the states for kits. Extremely reasonable to down right cost effective machines.

I would wait until [smoothieware.org] comes out as it is faster, more memory, has every form of connection to a computer you could ask for (I am going to go ethernet) and has all of the controllers on one board.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

That's cool. My shipping for all items is included in that end price as I purchased as much per vendor as I could.
That smoothie ware sounds cool!

Ditto the comments on Makerfarm, very reasonable shipping considering it is from the US who have to be the most expensive country to ship from generally. He must be buying a lot of stuff to sell it for what he does and it's all good stuff.
Printrboard electronics is the cheapest way to go and now that the SD support is working reliably is the best noob option IMHO. I haven't blown one up (yet) and they promote it as being one of the fastest printing boards.

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