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I dont mind assembling btw. I have a budget of £350 ideally for maximum print volume with preferably a heated bed. I would also greatly appreciate if someone could tell me how to build one from scratch.

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There’s honestly not a ton of options. I’d recommend a few options:

  • MakerFarm i3v — About £320 for the 8" model (200 mm), and £380 for the 10" model (250 mm). DIY kit, heated bed, pretty good.
  • Da Vinci — About £320, 8" print area (200 mm), heated bed, and prebuilt. Biggest problem is that out of the box, it’s locked to manufacturer (very overpriced) filament, and has super crappy software. It’s possible to flash Repetier onto it, which greatly improves the quality of print, and allows you to use normal filament.

I would recommend the MakerFarm, as it’s much easier to upgrade, and you don’t have to hack your way around manufacturer restrictions.

For building your own, generally you just have to find an open-source design you like, then look at the BOM (bill of materials), and order the parts. You can find a nice list of open source printers at http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap\_Options

Two printers I would recommend for your price point would be the Prusa i3 and the Kossel. Both are tried-and-true printers that shouldn’t be too hard to build. Big piece of advice: don’t skimp on the hotend and electronics. If you go with a Ramps1.4 setup, you should use a genuine Arduino and probably Pololu stepper drivers. Make sure you get a decent quality Ramps board. I’ve literally had a super cheap one start smoking before. Alternatively, you could go with the RAMBo Mini at RAMBo mini | Original Prusa 3D printers directly from Josef Prusa

Also, I’d recommend getting an E3D lite6. Seems to be a good hotend.

Good luck!

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Take a look at the Duplicator i3 by Wanhao. It is £300-£330 dependant on where you get it from. It has a 20cm^3 and a heated bed. It also has a very reliable extruder and is very good value for money! It is also open source so you can use any filament and software with it. It is also fully pre-built so no need to worry about building it.

Hope this helps!

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Would that be more expensive then buying?

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Would building a printer from scratch be more expensive than buying a kit or prebuilt one? Probably not, but there wouldn’t be a ton of difference.

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