Hi everyone. I'm looking to buy my first 3d printer and have been drawn to the prasa i3 style printers due to their good reviews, large support community and fairly low cost. I was originally interested in getting an original prasa i3 mk2 but I've been put off due to the long wait time (currently 7 weeks for a kit or 9 weeks for an assembled unit) and their high shipping price to Australia.
Looking at alternatives I've seen people recommend p3steel as being of high quality and more rigid than other i3 clones. Unfortunately all these p3steel sellers seem to be Spanish and few have sites in English.
I was wondering if anyone has experience with either of these kits; I've tried searching but come up with nothing (just a few forum threads in Spanish that seem to be talking about specific problems)
1. 3Despana
original (
google translate)– some features: 30x20 bedsize, heated bed either mk 1 or 3 aluminium or mk2 pcb (I don't know how these differ) makerbot mk9 extruder 1.75 mm, option for trapezoidal spindles (I don't know what this is), option for Igus RJ4JP-01-08 bearings (standard lm8uu), ramps 1.4 and option for sb, Mega Arduino 2560 (seems to imply genuine but not sure), nema 17 motors, DRV8825 stepper motor drivers
Price is around 380-420 EUR depending on options with 130 EUR shipping (pricy! will double check they can't do better) -total 530 EUR
2. inven3D
original (
google translate) – some features: 30x20 bed size, aluminium heat bed, mk8 extruder option for 1.75mm or 3 mm, lm8uu linear bearings, ramps 1.4, option for genuine Mega 2560 (standard is a copy), nema 17 motors, drv8825 motor drivers
Prince is 416 EUR and 70 EUR shipping (guess not firm yet) – total 486 EUR
Other kits I've seen are Orballo (kit looks ok - I chatted with a rep but I never got his promised email), and Kitprinter3D which is more expensive than the others with many options.
I'd love to hear from anyone with experience with either of these kits or similar; or other advise on what printer I should by. In general I don't mind building a kit if it's not super hard – clear instructions would be appreciated. I don't want to source my own components or have to do too many mods to get decent prints. I want the ability to print in ABS and PETG. And the bigger the build area the better: if I could print a full storm trooper helmet without any assembly that would be ideal but I understand it might not be feasible on my budget. Thanks in advance for your help.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2017 10:33AM by arcan.
