Advice on kit for first time build

I live in the UK and I’m after a relatively cheap (<£400) reprap kit. I have done a lot of research but struggling to get my head around parts etc. There seem to be 2/3 options for kits in this price range available:


[www.dx.com] or [www.dx.com]

[www.ebay.co.uk]


What I want to know is whether it is worth going for cheap kits like this. I am not too concerned with build difficulty or print area. What I am interested in is reliability, consistency and precision/accuracy (relative to other reprap builds).

Are they legit or a waste of time?
Are the parts for these cheap kits poor quality/poor spec?
What are the pitfalls when going for cheap kits like this?
Which kit would provide the best results?
Which parts would I want to upgrade from a kit like this? (e.g. heat bed being the obvious).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2015 07:15PM by lowii16.

If you increase your budget a little, you could choose a Mini Kossel kit from Think3DPrint3D. This is an excellent kit IMO.

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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].

Also have a look at eMakerShop for UK based kits. Some sellers on there offer discounts via their Facebook or Twitter pages so maybe worthwhile investigating them.

(I have no links to eMAKERshop nor any of the sellers on it)

Thanks for the replies will have a look. Any thoughts on the kits in the links? Sub £300 would be ideal.

Bear in mind that if you import a kit from outside the EU, you are liable to be charged 20% import VAT, plus a fee of about £10 from the Post Office or courier company for collecting the VAT. Although that eBay page appears to suggest that they will pay the VAT.

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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].

I hadn't come across the emaker site before, and there are quite a few UK based sellers.

It would probably be between this: [www.emakershop.com]

or this: [www.emakershop.com]

Now to go and decide..

Thanks for pointing me toward that site.

Hi, I have spent the last 3 to 4 weeks reading everything I can about the reprap printers and available kits, I also looked in to some of the cheaper ones about, but as mentioned before it's not worth it once you have been hit with the import tax.

I found emakershop very early on in my hunt and then tracked down as much as I could about the kits sold on there.

The second one in your post, the Prusa i3 from Greg is the one I now have on order (should be with me any day now). I have not managed to find anything bad said about the kit, and it seems there is plenty of support and help available, plus the fact Greg is in the UK.

Check through this thread i3 Sales Thread and you can see, anyone needing help gets a quick and helpful response, which in my book is the best thing about getting the kit from Greg, I am not expecting any problems, but it's good to know there is help should I need it.

Dave

Any suggestions out there for US kits?

For US kits I really like the Makerfarm i3v the 10 inch kit is a bargain, and they have great support. The Vslot beams make the printer more rigid than most other wood construction i3s.

[www.makerfarm.com]

if you want a delta printer I would go with

[www.ultibots.com]

Both of these kits are more expensive than the super cheap kits you find on e-bay that is because they both use quality parts and they both are backed by companies with good reputations for support.

Thanks Mike

How do you feel about the Wilson TS?

Well the Wilson TS is rather like the i3, except they are useing Tslot for the frame. The design is still using smooth rods for movement. For a first build I would recomed just sticking with a i3 because of the greater support base. I would love to see a variant of it that uses Vslot . I also haven't seen any kits from anyplace but e-bay sellers who I tend to distrust.

Thanks Mike.

Thanks Dave. Did you receive your kit ok? would love to hear about your experience with it. thanks