Which 3d printer do you have? I've started looking into purchasing my own. Thx
I have a
Lulzbot TAZ 5. I owned 2 other printers before (Airwolf 3D and Prusa Mendel), and played with a Makerbot for a bit.
Of course there are better printers, but in the ~$2000 range the Lulzbot is far better than the others I've seen.
I've just printed out 36 of these in a row on my Lulzbot - they're relatively big, heavy objects that take about 5 hours to print each. It did so flawlessly and is a real workhorse:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1132706
The Lulzbot bed is simply amazing. No acetone preparation required, you just start printing. And when the objects are done printing and the bed cool off, they're loose on the bed. I don't mean they're easy to pry off - I mean they're literally loose. You pick it up as if its lying on a desk. And yet, during the print it sticks enough that there are no warped corners.
I don't regret at all having started with a DIY printer where I assembled every part myself - you learn a lot that way. But when you actually want work done, the Lulzbot is in a different class.
- - - Updated - - -
Today I would probably buy an
Ultimaker 2
Also looked at the Ultimaker 2. Was a close second contender for me. To me the differences that made me go with the Lulzbot is:
a) Greater print footprint of the Lulzbot (298x275x250) vs. Ultimaker 2 (223x223x205)
b) Lulzbot is U.S. made and supported (obviously 'znib' rightfully so has the opposite argument about Ultimaker).
c) The Lulzbot hardware is open source. In fact you can build a TAZ5 yourself without paying any money to Lulzbot if you really want - but more importantly, this means you can service every part of it yourself, and upgrade it when new types of materials arrive. Given how quickly this field is developing, this gives you a tiny bit more headroom.
d) The Lulzbot has a print head option that's specifically made for printing with NinjaFlex (think rubber). Though some people have had success printing with NinjaFlex on the Ultimaker, other people complained about the bowden tube.
