Looking to buy a couple more 3d printers for my school

[Brian Wagner]

I am trying to keep the price <1000 so we can buy 2 or more.  Not particularly happy with makerbot.  I do not want to build a kit (not enough time)  Any thoughts?  I was thinking about the metal printrbots http://printrbot.com/shop/assembled-simple-metal/

Any other suggestions?  Chinese is OK with me as long as I can get parts.

brian

[Christopher Cprek]

What about Lulzbot? They've been very kind to LVL1, have solid pre-built machines and they are all open source.

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[Aaron VerDow]

I would recommend Polar 3D.  I have one of the beta ones if you would like to see it.  I got the beta a couple years ago at the RepRap festival from the guy who started the company (also a Hive 13 member).  This year I talked to him some more and they've shifted the business to focus primarily on schools.  Because of this the software doesn't jive well with hackers (lots of cloud support, hides knobs and levers to be more user friendly) but in a school environment it works a lot better.  Underneath it's still a printrboard so I use my own slicer instead but I can confirm that the printer itself is solid. Unless you manage to bend the frame it never goes out of level.  I've had mine for over a year and have never had to do anything to it for bed leveling. 

For a personal printer I would rather have a lulzbot because I could do more with it but for a school printer I think the Polar 3D would stay running a lot longer.  

On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 12:58 PM, Brian Wagner <br...@tegrasys.com> wrote:

[Brad Luyster]

I would, without a doubt, recommend Zortrax. We've got one at work. The print quality rivals any low-end stratisys printer, their prices on filament are very reasonable, and the device is extremely easy to use.

-Brad

[Danielle B]

If you want a comment on the Printrbot Simple Metal, I really like it.  

Basically, it's a really good machine for that kind of price.  Obviously it's not MakerBot quality, but if you just need a few more printers to do the job reliably well and not break your wallet, it serves the purpose.  The auto-leveling is a particularly handy feature and makes it that much more usable.  

You just have to fine-tune the software settings, and then you'll have it running real easily. 

Again, it sort of depends on your own personal requirements for it, but I thought it was a helpful machine.  

Danielle B. 

[Brian Wagner]

How do your prints come out?

[Danielle B]

Ah, nothing terribly high-res, but decent prints are easy to obtain.   

There are a few options for software, too, which is nice.  
Like I said, it's all about the right settings.  

I'd say it's a good teaching tool for deciphering Gcode and for getting a feel for the technology. It's a very no-frills setup, encouraging modification.  

Danielle