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Hi everyone

First time poster, love this site! I’d appreciate advice form the group in helping me buy my first 3D printer.

I’m into building small autonomous robots as a hobby and my friends are strongly encouraging me to start thinking about making and selling these. It made me think about how I could take my concepts to the next stage of prototyping. Currently, the existing robots are fairly advanced from an electronic and programming perspective but they lack the custom components for gears, joints/connections and aesthetic features. This is my main use case for a 3D printer where I can experiment with different designs.

I have noticed however that 3D printers aren’t as easily available here in the UK or that the prices are considerably higher than the USA. In any case I have attempted to do research to my best ability and came up with two options which I think are the best available to me in the UK at two price points:

  • Cheap option: £360 Hephestos-1 Prusa i3 Kit
  • Mid price option: £725 Flashforge Creator Pro 2016 model

Key points / differences I have noted between the options…

  • Supported Materials
    Prusa doesn’t do ABS while the the Flashforge does.
    Based on reading, I think I am happy to use PLA, I don’t believe the lower melting point of the material is going to be an issue for me, like that it is more environmentally friendly and PLA seems strong enough. However I’m not sure if I am missing an important point why I might need the ability to do ABS for my use case. Any advice please?
    Linked to this is that Flashforge comes with a heated bed but from my research this is less important when using PLA thru use of painters tape etc.
  • Precision, Quality and Reliability
    According to the specs, The flashforge has a min layer length of 100microns while Prusa lists 60 microns (I can’t find specs on XY precision for the Prusa so unsure how to compare this). However the notable difference is the user scores on this site for print quality, build quality and reliability where Flashforge is rates considerably higher.
    I can’t find the Hephestos edition of the Prusa listed specifically on this site but I am assuming it’s virtually the same thing?
    If so this seems to be the main point other than ABS I can see I may need to seriously consider going for the Flashforge. I’d love to hear everyone’s opinions on this?
  • Build Volume
    The Flashforge build volume is 225 × 145 × 150.
    The Prusa has a generally larger build volume at 215 x 210 x 180.
    Build volume is an important consideration within context of other factors listed above. I could make either work for me but would of course prefer the larger capability just in case.
  • Software
    This has been listed as a weakness for Flashforge. Would anyone know if it is possible to use other better software that is easily available to overcome this weakness?

Other printers considered in my research at around and between these prices which I could buy in the UK included:

Velleman K8200 £400 - Scores on this site were notably lower and many listed weaknesses.

Printrbot Simple Metal £550 - Build volume too small.

Hephestos-2 Prusa £600 - I couldn’t find many specs/details on this, brief info suggests its a more robust version of the Hephestos-1 which might suggest improvement to precision/quality/reliability? But still no heated bed / ABS.

Thoughts? Alternate suggestions? What do I do?

Thanks v much

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sidenote: if you can afford to save for it. I recommend saving for a E3D Bigbox. They are located in the UK

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this looks real good, never had heard of tem before your mention, but its out of my budget.

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OK So I have learnt something new today which has made me start considering Hephestos 2. I found out that I happen to live near a 3D print shop and popped in today to have a proper look at the printers to find that the Hephestos 2 has a much larger print bed than I first thought (approx A4 size), and the quality of prints I saw in the shop look good enough for me. I’m now comparing this to the Flashforge Creator Pro and wondering if I should pay an extra £125 for a smaller build volume but to get a a dual extruder, heated bed and ABS print capability.

At the moment for my use case 'm favoring the Hep 2.

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Dear friend， for your prototyping experience, I recommend you a normal printing size and not expensive price metal frame printer kit .

pls have a look at site : http://www.aliexpress.com/store/1759640 professional manufacturer of 3d printer with its own R&D dept.and professional after sales service team ! hope it works !

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