Picking a 3D printer - Mendel 90, Prusa i3, and Printrbot Plus V2

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LucasGelf
Comparing Mendel 90, Prusa i3, Printrbot Plus V2, and Robo 3D. I am looking for a couple of things. For background, I have a Printrbot Jr. V1 that Printrbot has sent me parts for to convert it to a simple because it broke.
[/quote=LucasGelf]Do you want to BUILD your own? Assemble a kit? Or buy a already assembled printer? The answer to that question will narrow down the field some.

What's better in terms of:

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LucasGelf
Experimentation - I want to be able to tinker with my machine; i.e add an LCD or change the hot end

Mendel90 and the i3 I think would lend itself better to the tinker/customize then the commercial printers, but any of them could be modified. But then does the modification void any warranty/support, etc...

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Surface Finish - bare surface finish of prints without tweaking

I think any of them can result in similar finish

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Tech Support - How bad is it if it breaks? Is there a phone number, etc.

With the Mendel90 and i3 parts are readily available or you can make them yourself. I don't think of those either have a phone number to call for support but nophead (creator of the Mendel90) is active here. The commercial printers have their own support.

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Reliability - Can I depend on this? Is the frame durable?

My dibond Mendel90 is solid and light (relatively speaking). Acrylic and MDF Mendel90s would be heavier, but also solid. The i3 and Printrbot are popular so I wouldn't doubt reliablity/durability too much. Can't speak about the Robo3D

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Dual Extruders - In the future? Triple?

Are you talking "out of the box"? I don't think any of those 4 are. Mendel90, i3, and the Printrbot can be modified with the latter having an official commercially available upgrade. Not soure about the Robo3D

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Assembly Difficulty - How hard is it to build? If possible, I’d like to built it myself. Keep in mind, I have had mild trouble with a printrbot simple. This would also require the documentation to be pretty clear and the kit easy to source.

The Robo3D is already assembled, so not an issue there. The others are available from various places as a kit or possibly assembled (for a price). Mendel90 has pretty detailed build instructions. I didn't have too much trouble sourcing everything for my Mendel90 build. It wasn't one-stop-shop at a local store, but it's not completely obscure parts only available from one place either. I did print all my own printable parts.

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Build Volume Expansion - Is it complicated? Or is it just a switch of rods.

Can't speak for anything but the Mendel90, but yes...to some extent. Depending on how much you expand you may need to also expand the frame, lengthen wire, etc. If you REALLY expand then stepping up to a larger diameter rods would need other changes in printed parts, modifying bearing mounts, etc. Nophead's publishes OpenSCAD files for all his parts so they can be tweaked if you needed to do so. Definitely customizable to what your needs are, but it's not just use a longer rod.

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Different Plastics - Laywood, PC, Taulman Nylon

That's going to be more a function of the hot end then the printer as a whole. Those materials will need a hotter hot end so the standard jhead of the Mendel90 design won't cut it. It's designed for a jhead style mount so other hot ends that have compatible mounts like the E3D would work.

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Compatibility - RAMPS would be nice so that I could use universal stuff.

The kit of the Mendel90 uses a Melzi. I built mine with a RAMPS. More just a personal choice but there are a few tweaks that would need to be done. For instance, mounting holes.1

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Build Volume - Bigger is usually better.

Mendel90 is approximately 200mm cubed, at least by measurable distance of travel though I'm not sure I'd want to do a print that took up that entire capacity. Going bigger would require reconfiguring things as mentioned above. You probably could go with a 200x300mm bed without too much issue if you made the 300mm in the Y axis and lengthened things as appropriate. It would require the least amount of changes.

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Minimum Resolution - Any go lower than 0.1mm?

Unknown.

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Ease of Operation - While I want some upgradability, I don’t want this to break every time I use it, or make me fix a bunch of stuff, etc.

Then why are you hear? "Fixing things" is part of the fun.

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Speed - I don’t want it to be super slow.

Not enough experience to draw a valid opinion.

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Other features - Lights, Octoprint, etc.

Out of the box? Probably none of them. But lights could be added to most/all. Octoprint will talk to most popular firmwares so souldn't be an issue with any of those as long as Robo3D uses something open and not propritary.


Honestly I'd go with the Mendel90 or i3 (in that order) over the other two. But that's just me. I don't like the look of plywood printers or the propritary design of the Robo3D.