Designing from scratch. Is it worth it?

Hi All,
I've just joined the Reprap forum, I am very interested in making a Prusa on a budget(under €400/$500). Unfortunately I have very little experience, but I am motivated and willing to learn. I was just wondering whether anybody else has been in this position before.
Did you buy a cheap kit from China? Did you source all the parts yourself and assemble? Did you discover another 3d printer design which appealed to you? Did you follow instructions from a particular site?
Which upgrades are the most important for good, consistent prints?
I know I'm asking a lot, but I would really appreciate it if somebody could point me in the right direction.
Many Thanks.

Don't buy a cheap kit. They are all crap.

You can build from scratch. I did it and have a much better printer than anything I've seen available for 5X the money spent. Be prepared to spend a lot of time searching for parts and learning how to use machine tools. The time spent studying designs and components is time well spent, unlike the time you would spend trying to get one of those $300 kits to print anything.

Find your local makerspace and get help.

Details of my printer can be seen by clicking the link in my signature, below.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

i've been looking at building one my self, but, i took the buy a cheepy route, and use that to make parts.. in one sence it worth it just for the exsperience, and of course going through the teething faizes... already screwed a glass bed up and melted a teflon liner..broke a bit in a nozzle etc..ehhh yu know lol.

but all said and done, the second i opened the box and assembled (having never seen a live one before) i did think..shit! shoulda just built one.

over a two year search here there and everywhre it seems a prusa aint worth more than 200 squids....even if they put a box on top lol. for 400 or 500 your looking at a 500mm square printer..so 40 by 40 cm bed posably...all on paper of course at this point.

my apinion so far is aluminium V slot type stuff would be very easy to use/build...alas the horendous cost of T nuts etc just kills it for me.... i's rather sell my ass than pay that kinda price for a farty little flat nutt lol.


it apears the hobby, what ever it is, is 'aparently about just spending the money'.. i disagree lol!!


the cheep route for me went like this.. ooo 270 quid, i'll try that, uk based in derby...eh-hem, please wait as we have non in derby (the old sell from china scam under the false add of uk stock). 4 week later i'm waiting for missing bits, several faulty bits, and replacement screws for the ones that didnt fit..
3 weeks later (as theres non in the derby warehouse..yeah right..) i get some replacements..and uh hemmmmm then a fan pack's up..this goes on and on etc untill at the just short of 3 month i'm offered a refund of a couple quid to replace another faulty compoinent, and never get it..
to shorten the story after three month odd i'm sick of it...after 6month i still hadnt had the thing running...etc etc.

the moral of the tale here is, if it works what a bargain..if not, contact ebay immidietly lol!! if they advertise as uk stock, thats where you return faulty goods to, or non maching descriptions, and its at the sellers cost not yours. the stock was advertized as uk stock, it now falls under uk law.
even if they type it in some where else 'return to china' thats both against ebays rules and against the law.. stating other than the laws that apply contravenes the law and is worthless..e.g. i've desided the law doesnt apply because i said so. (i think we get the jist there).
ebays ruling is you return to the uk address as it was advertised, if they cant supply one.. you keep the item and get the full refund.
paypal on the other hand now have nothing to do with ebay, and their ruling is 'at your cost' you return to china, when they receive you get your refund.(even though that contraveines the uk law...uh-hummmm).
(N.B. in the uk your not to be out of pocket on the deal if its faulty or not as described, end off..its the law, abroad? tuff titties...unless they say the stock is in the uk...then its uk laws.... even if they say the law doest apply to them because they said so lol).

hik hik...contactacted me, and tried to get me to close the case and then theyed pay me a half refund, and i'd keep the printer, then forgot to refund me.. twice, then forgot to answer to pay pal too, i didnt close the case obviously, because after 6 month of BS...what du ya think? (ummmm? stinks of a dead rat to me...6 month??)


so..i'm at a printer i've fixed up a bit...unlucky maybe, had to buy other bits, eather way out the box hik hik have a proper bargain, looks good feels good etc etc, then sucks worse than yu grandma without teef in, followed by shoddy...'forgetfull' con attempts. tis a shame they dont sort it out..!


so carfull where yu buy from lol..its popper rhyled me.

BTW alliexspress, i've seen delta bots for 140 (once at 100 squid on a sale)...etc etc. for the price difference its worth a punt surely?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2015 09:05PM by munchit1.

Given that you first listed your budget in Euros, I'm guessing you are probably somewhere in Europe. I bought my Printrbot Simple Metal as a kit for $540 (USD). Not sure how much it would be in Europe. It is a great little printer and I learned a lot about it by putting it together myself. I have now gone on to build a CoreXY printer and starting a Delta printer after that.

That's very useful information folks, thank you very much. Those cheap, Chinese models were tempting me, but as mentioned, they can be dodgy. I think I'm going to head down the DIY route and make a Prusa from scratch.

Hey Cian, how far down the DIY route are you planning on going? There's a spectrum from sourcing all the parts individually including the frame and printed parts, through to designing something vaguely Prusa i3 shaped out of whatever materials you can lay your hands on. I'm in the middle of the latter approach, and I'd have to admit it turned out to be a little bit more work than I anticipated. Good fun though

My impression (from lurking around here) is that good places to focus on upgrades are the frame and the hot end. The stiffer and more dimensionally stable the frame the better - check out the steel frame if you want a ready made one. If you're going with your own thing, then substituting a cube design is a simple approach that gives stiffness and an easy path to adding an enclosure.

James i think we have to bring up the moving bed verses the stationary with that..

I've often wondered at what point a modified Prusa i3 design stops being an i3 and is really something new. I'm pretty sure that once you get rid of the y-bed, x gantry layout you're not in i3 territory any more

But yes, if you go completely clean-slate, then a stationary bed or a Z-bed look like good options. I like the idea of a 2:1 rectangular Z-bed with a core-XY head, all in an enclosed "cubic" (um, rectangular prism?) frame. Deltas are way cool too, but I'm not supposed to be collecting 3d printers, however tempting that seems!

I agree that a good sturdy frame is essential for accurate prints. I saw that a few of the guys were designing from Aluminium extrusion. It looks very nice as it will provide a very flat work area and the brackets will be easy to assemble together. The_Digital_Dentist has designed a really nice looking frame from the extrusion, the box frame looks very neat. I was thinking of MDF or a machined Plywood initially, but humidity and fire resistance would be ideal. Myself being in Ireland, there is indeed a lack of local distributors or companies who can cut the alu extrusions. I can find a supplier though, but cutting it correctly is very important. I have a jigsaw and an angle grinder, but I don't know if they'll be suited to cutting it. Maybe a circular saw could do the job?!
Budget was initially my main concern but as many have said, a decent 3d printer is an investment and will last for years!! I suppose its a good hobby to get into!!!

Thanks again guys for all your input!

Motedis ships to most EU countries and has a good reputation for aluminium profile cut to length and other CNC/3D printer parts.
I have not tried it yet but I will do it soon.

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cristian
Motedis ships to most EU countries and has a good reputation for aluminium profile cut to length and other CNC/3D printer parts.
I have not tried it yet but I will do it soon.

i've tried getting from those peeps, i got as far as it asking for a VAT number before it would process? any clues on that one?

They don't sell to private individuals?! Very bad news...

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munchit1

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cristian
Motedis ships to most EU countries and has a good reputation for aluminium profile cut to length and other CNC/3D printer parts.
I have not tried it yet but I will do it soon.

i've tried getting from those peeps, i got as far as it asking for a VAT number before it would process? any clues on that one?

Did you try leaving it empty? I thought Motedis did sell to private individuals.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Yes i tried that.. i may ring up one day.

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munchit1

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cristian
Motedis ships to most EU countries and has a good reputation for aluminium profile cut to length and other CNC/3D printer parts.
I have not tried it yet but I will do it soon.

i've tried getting from those peeps, i got as far as it asking for a VAT number before it would process? any clues on that one?

They need a VAT number for the bill.

In most EU countries we have a personal VAT number. See: [en.wikipedia.org]
Where are you from?

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VincentM

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munchit1

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cristian
Motedis ships to most EU countries and has a good reputation for aluminium profile cut to length and other CNC/3D printer parts.
I have not tried it yet but I will do it soon.

i've tried getting from those peeps, i got as far as it asking for a VAT number before it would process? any clues on that one?

They need a VAT number for the bill.

In most EU countries we have a personal VAT number. See: [en.wikipedia.org]
Where are you from?

from the UK

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munchit1

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VincentM

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munchit1

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cristian
Motedis ships to most EU countries and has a good reputation for aluminium profile cut to length and other CNC/3D printer parts.
I have not tried it yet but I will do it soon.

i've tried getting from those peeps, i got as far as it asking for a VAT number before it would process? any clues on that one?

They need a VAT number for the bill.

In most EU countries we have a personal VAT number. See: [en.wikipedia.org]
Where are you from?

from the UK

I'm not sure, but i think, in UK, you use your national insurance number as tax id. isn't it?
Put this number as a VAT id.

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cristian
They don't sell to private individuals?! Very bad news...

I don't know how it works in the UK, but in the US you can register a company name very cheaply. I still occasionally use a company name I registered in Texas years ago, when I was dealing surplus stuff.

I don't know of anywhere in the world that the economy is so strong and companies have so many customers that they can afford to turn away paying customers. I understand requiring minimum orders, but to just not sell to individuals? That's nuts!

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

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the_digital_dentist

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cristian
They don't sell to private individuals?! Very bad news...

I don't know how it works in the UK, but in the US you can register a company name very cheaply. I still occasionally use a company name I registered in Texas years ago, when I was dealing surplus stuff.

I don't know of anywhere in the world that the economy is so strong and companies have so many customers that they can afford to turn away paying customers. I understand requiring minimum orders, but to just not sell to individuals? That's nuts!

Motedis sell for private individuals. Sure.
I bought from them 4 months ago and many members of the spanish reprap group (Clone Wars) usually buy.