Printrbot jr
This is an ultimate budget 3D printer at around £300: this device will only print in PLA, which has a lower melting point than ABS. It's made of wood and is a little flimsy; the output quality may be undesirable if you go beyond the recommended top speed of 210mm/minute. The Printrbot jr has a ceramic nozzle too, which is unusual, and it’s good for tightly packed workshops as it can be folded up. There is a portable version for those really pushed for space, although it's much more expensive as it prints from batteries. One wonders what you would want to produce if you, say, took it on an aeroplane as hand-luggage. The maximum build size is 11.4 x 14 x 10.2 cm.
More info Printrbot
Stratasys Mojo 3D printer
This is beyond the reach of most hobbyists as it is an industrial-grade Fused Deposition Modelling printer. As with traditional inkjet printers, a new print head is attached to the consumables, which in this case is a filament spool available only the colour of ivory. The Mojo uses ABS with a water soluble material that acts as a support while printing, so that shapes that overhang can be printed. A separate device called WaveWash is supplied to clean out the support material. Print resolution is 0.17mm and the maximum object size is 12.7 x 12.7 x 12.7cm.
Next page: Sumpod Basic
COMMENTS
I have no need for a 3D printer but for some strange reason I want one.
No RepRap?
I guess it's a sign of how far we've come that you can fill a "10 3D printers" article with credible suggestions, and still leave out some of the biggest names.
GJC
@Lee Rowling Re: Cost
"Though there are a couple of models in the "affordable" range there, they seem to be the cheap junk that has poor quality output."
How are you judging the output ?... from the minimum feature size ? Have you seen the output from all these ? Enquiring minds want to know..
"They literally look like someone's attempt to make their own inkjet printer and though I don't doubt they work and are "good enough" for a lot of things, that's all I think of when I look at them. What are we talking about? Three stepper motors, a control board, some supporting struts, belts, chains, gears, and a heated nozzle with a box of raw plastic on top. Just what is in there to cost several thousand pounds?"
The cheap and nasty looking ones don't cost several thousand pounds.
"Honestly, I expect to pay £50-100 for a "homebrew" one of these (i.e. the price range of a half-decent commercial inkjet, or some large homebrew lego project), and £300-500 for a full commercial-quality one."
May I be the first, on behalf of the rest of the world, to apologize for things not yet being what you expect. The nerve of those manufacturers.....
"Until then, I don't see what market they serve."
Evidently not... though i'm left to wonder to whom this reflects more on.
Re: Lack of faith
So after about 10 or 20 iterations of this we will be down to the nanobot level? All hail our nanobot overlords!
Wot no Ultimaker?
Pity that the best hobbiest 3d printer isn't listed.... The Ultimaker (www.ultimaker.com). I print on mine at 0.08mm layer height and have gone down as low as 0.04.... I've compared directly with prints from most of the printers on this list and the Ultimaker blows them all away. As a plywood contraption it doesn't look as good as some of these,but it excels where it counts.
Also, I just have to toss in my 2p on the Replicator.... Makerbot are going the way of Apple... they had a great hacker community but now they've evolved into a corporate environment and have close-sourced everything and are moving towards a closed non hacker-friendly eco-system. They've taken work done by the community and have built proprietary work on it without giving anything back.
Cheers,
Troy.
