New printer technology recommendation

I'm out looking a for a good reliable 3d printer. I currently own an ageing prusa clone and need to get another one in a new office. I am ignorant about the various technologies that have been coming up in this field so I'm seeking the community support for this purchase.

I do not mind the DIY stuff from china. I can spend a couple of days to set it up but will be nice to have it run reliable after that without much tinkering. I was assuming that recent electronics would be using an ARM 32 bit controller but it seems that AVR is still the thing!

I'm looking out for a printer for under 500USD with a build area of at least 160mm, operating standalone and hassle free (I wish).

Delta's look cool and I'm currently sold to it but the build volume of an equal cost cartesian is luring. I do not know much technical details so I need help with the latest in this field. I'm not directly seeking recommendation of vendors but that would be helpful too. I saw some printers that come with a graphical LCD and that seemed cool too but don't know how useful it will be in the end.

I seek your guidance.

Whilst I have a delta and am very pleased with it I would not say it would be the most reliable printer you can buy for under $500, it might produce the best print quality, especially with a few chosen mods such as flying extruder, but build, calibration and maintenance will be more effort than a cartesian machine especially with an all-metal construction. You will not get an all metal delta for $500.

Have you consider Wanhao Duplicator V2 or the new Plus? Might be on the limit of your budget, but steel frame and an i3 derivative so should be familiar in the way it operates to your older printer.

Personally I am an enthusiast and tinkerer and so buying and modifying a $500 printer is a reasonable prospect. However I'd say to get a reliable, prints-out-of-the-box machine for a commercial environment this budget is a bit stretched.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Quote
kishore
I was assuming that recent electronics would be using an ARM 32 bit controller but it seems that AVR is still the thing!

Recent electronics does use ARM 32-bit electronics. Check out the Duet, Duet WiFi, and Smoothieboard. But at the price point you are looking at, you will only find kits that use the ancient AVR electronics.

Quote
kishore
I saw some printers that come with a graphical LCD and that seemed cool too but don't know how useful it will be in the end.

If you get a kit using Arduino/RAMPS electronics and a graphical LCD, you can expect to have trouble with the 5V regulator on the Arduino, because the regulator will overheat. Most weeks there are one or two posts in these forums from users having this problem.

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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].

Yeah I've had this but the cheapo ramps board I had originally failed, whereas the slightly better one I replaced it with did not. Is there a way to power a graphical smart controller directly?

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Quote
DjDemonD
Yeah I've had this but the cheapo ramps board I had originally failed, whereas the slightly better one I replaced it with did not. Is there a way to power a graphical smart controller directly?

I have described the problem and some workarounds in #1 at [reprap.org].

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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].

Interesting reading.

---

Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Quote
DjDemonD
Whilst I have a delta and am very pleased with it I would not say it would be the most reliable printer you can buy for under $500, it might produce the best print quality, especially with a few chosen mods such as flying extruder, but build, calibration and maintenance will be more effort than a cartesian machine especially with an all-metal construction. You will not get an all metal delta for $500.

Have you consider Wanhao Duplicator V2 or the new Plus? Might be on the limit of your budget, but steel frame and an i3 derivative so should be familiar in the way it operates to your older printer.

Personally I am an enthusiast and tinkerer and so buying and modifying a $500 printer is a reasonable prospect. However I'd say to get a reliable, prints-out-of-the-box machine for a commercial environment this budget is a bit stretched.

I've so far been considering the Micromake with linear guides. It seems rather easy to build and I'm quite experienced with doing stuff and i'm happy to be doing it. I only fear I may not always have the time to tinker especially when I just want to get something simple done and quickly. I wouldn't mind regular maintenance though. The budget that i have put has mainly come from what I read and see as being popular on the interweb. Seeing kits available for ~200 I thought i should be able to get something good for ~500.

Flying Extruder? Sounds interesting. Let me read it up.

Quote
dc42

Quote
kishore
I was assuming that recent electronics would be using an ARM 32 bit controller but it seems that AVR is still the thing!

Recent electronics does use ARM 32-bit electronics. Check out the Duet, Duet WiFi, and Smoothieboard. But at the price point you are looking at, you will only find kits that use the ancient AVR electronics.

Interesting I'm looking for a kit on aliexpress with any of those boards. But the more popular still appear to be AVR. Searching...

Quote
kishore

Quote
dc42

Quote
kishore
I was assuming that recent electronics would be using an ARM 32 bit controller but it seems that AVR is still the thing!

Recent electronics does use ARM 32-bit electronics. Check out the Duet, Duet WiFi, and Smoothieboard. But at the price point you are looking at, you will only find kits that use the ancient AVR electronics.

Interesting I'm looking for a kit on aliexpress with any of those boards. But the more popular still appear to be AVR. Searching...

AVR (in particular Arduino/RAMPS) is popular because it's cheap. For quality kits, you need to look at suppliers in Europe and the USA, not on aliexpress.

As you have some experience with 3D printers already, have you considered building one yourself from parts, perhaps to one of the popular mechanical designs?

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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].

Quote
dc42
As you have some experience with 3D printers already, have you considered building one yourself from parts, perhaps to one of the popular mechanical designs?

I would consider that. Which would be a popular mechanical design?

Well the Kossel springs to mind. Probably the most common design and therefore the most knowledge, upgrades and parts available of any delta. Its scalable too, so you can build a mini kossel and turn it into an XL kossel later. Metal corners and carriages are available, linear rails would be an improvement on belts and rollers, and flying extruder eliminates the one thing really holding deltas back - the bowden extruder setup. Flex3drive would suffice here too, but whilst it's very good, its a more expensive and complicated solution than the flying extruder.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2016 06:27AM by DjDemonD.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Quote
kishore

Quote
dc42
As you have some experience with 3D printers already, have you considered building one yourself from parts, perhaps to one of the popular mechanical designs?

I would consider that. Which would be a popular mechanical design?

What architecture do you want: Cartesian, CoreXY, or Delta? If you want to build a delta, then the Kossel is a good design to start from. You can either start small with a Mini Kossel, or build a larger one. See the link in my signature for how to build a Kossel with 300mm printable diameter.

If you choose the parts carefully, you should save money compared with an equivalent design built from a kit. Also, if you stared with a cheap kit, you would probably spend quite a lot extra on upgrading parts.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2016 08:21AM by dc42.

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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].

Quote
dc42
But at the price point you are looking at, you will only find kits that use the ancient AVR electronics.

You forgot the Gen7.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

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Traumflug

Quote
dc42
But at the price point you are looking at, you will only find kits that use the ancient AVR electronics.

You forgot the Gen7.

Are there any kits that use the Gen7?

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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].

Quote
dc42
Are there any kits that use the Gen7?

Gen7 is a kit! :-)

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Quote
Traumflug

Quote
dc42
Are there any kits that use the Gen7?

Gen7 is a kit! :-)

True. I was referring to complete printer kits, but I didn't make that clear.

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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].