seen a broken 2nd hand ultimaker original, is it worth it?

Hi there,

I'm in the market for my first 3d printer. I am thinking about getting a mendel90 (from nophead), as they seem pretty cool (other recommendations in the same ballpark are welcome btw), however I saw an ultimaker original for sale second hand in my area, for £270 (around $425). they are selling it as broken, because as they note:

Quote
Selling as parts/broken because 3d printer suffering from continuous filament jamming. It might also need new heating block because plastic is coming out of the top of heating block while printing.

is the ultimaker original good/better than the mendel90, and would it be foolish to buy this in hope of repairing it?

cheers

This issue can be fixed easily. If it is a 1.75mm hotend....
-Olaf

according to the ad i saw it was converted to a 1.75mm hotend. do you think it would be foolish to buy it with the expectation that it could be mended. it seems pretty cheap compared to the cost of an ultimaker 1.

I`m not in your shoes. Adding the cost for fixing the problem and not knowing, if the wooden frame is warped...
You can spend your money easier and have more fun at the same time.
An experienced reprapper would be able to tell more about the known issues with the ultimaker 1...
-Olaf

I would recommend you browse the mendel90 sub forum. I think the dialogue and support between the customers and the creator is worth the extra money alone. If it was my first printer I'd know where I would prefer to get help from.

yeah i'm erring on the side of sticking with getting a mendel90. more of a known quantity than a printer i may or may not be able to fix.

cheers all.