1

Hello everyone!

I have recently asked for buying device for the company I work for. We are still deciding on that matter.

This search has awoken my personal interest in 3D-printers again (always wanted one!)

Now for my own personal use I don’t want to spend a lot of money for say a Zortrax M200 or an Ultimaker 2+. I have seen that the Prusa i3 MK2 is rated as one of the best printers for an amazing price!

Would you recommend this printer under the following circumstances?:

1. I have no prior experience with 3D printing

2. I want great quality prints, print time doesn’t matter

3. I would like to be able to print ABS without any problems (aiming for acetone vaporing)

4. It should be reliable

5. I am willing to do some tweaking to get it working just right, but I don’t want to spend half of the time fixing the printer or applying hacks just to get it to work.

6. If everything works the way I expect, I would also like to list this printer a service on 3DHubs, is this a recommended and welcomed printer for 3DHubs?

On the official website I have seen that the waiting time for the kit is currently at 7 weeks. Is there a way to get this printer elsewhere? (I live in Germany)

Also what about the warranty on the kit, will Prusa replace faulty parts or help with fixing possible issues?

I hope I didn’t ask too much and hope for some helping responses!

EDIT: I have seen the new Multicolor extension kit and it looks amazing. Has anyone tested this yet? Any thoughts?

Thanks

Michael

2

Hi @Bavilo I’d say the Prusa fits all your requirements except one - ABS. The Prusa has no enclosure so printing with ABS is tricky as it’s so prone to warp and delamination. It’s been such a pain for me, in fact, that I’ve removed ABS from my list of available materials for the Prusa. It’s not the end of the road though, it’s not hard to build an enclosure to fit over the Prusa (it’s something I may do in the future); for a simple one, all you really need is a cardboard box and some sort of viewing window and light (a light bulb inside could produce some heating to the enclosure).

As for waiting, I don’t think there’s any option. They seem to be getting busier by the day with lead times increasing (when I bought mine it was just 5 weeks). It’s an excellent printer for the money and can produce some really high quality prints, it’s really only the lack of enclosure that’s a potential problem if your heart is set on printing with ABS.

3

Hello,

I bought an Alunar Prusa i3 from amazon (link below).

It works absolutely great at least with PLA I haven’t tried it with ABS. You’ll have to assemble it yourself. I was in the same boat as you our company wanted to buy a 3D printer, but none of us knew how to use one. I bought this mainly because of the cheap price so I could use it to learn off of. I still use this at home for any hobby projects I have. I would definitely recommend this since you’re new it’s a great learning device for a cheap price!!!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018XJ3E02/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Sadly the Alunar is not available in Germany. Also I was hoping to get the MK2 and later on the Multicolor extension (if its any good).

Not sure if any of the other i3 clones are any good…I’d rather not take my chances. On top of that, pretty much all of the reviews on youtube are fake and they probably got paid by prusa…

Printing ABS would be really great, I could build an enclosure. I would just have to know how to print ABS reliably.

5

I would look at QIDI Tech-1 or the Flashforge Creator Pro.

The Original i3 MK2 is also a good choice. ABS will be a little bit more of a challenge but not a big one.

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Hmm the Flashforge also looks very nice. This is going to be a difficult decision :frowning:

7

Yes! I have both the Flashforge Creator Pro and the QIDI. I am a big fan of the QIDI but both are really equals. QIDI support however has been excellent.

8

I have also found the Anycubic Prusa i3:

https://www.amazon.de/Anycubic-3D-Drucker-Bildschirm-Printer-Schwarz/dp/B01EKTCE6O/ref=sr\_1\_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484483515&sr=8-1&keywords=Anycubic+Prusa+i3

Maybe that would be a good start as well.

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How does the Flashforge or QIDI put up with ABS? Is it a problem? Or do you have to use Kapton or glue?

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They do ok with it. I use a glass bed with either hair spray or glue stick. Also I took one glass plate and added a PEI sheet to it which is working well also.

ABS will be a pain to learn but is very doable. Do a bunch of googling on it and see what different people are saying on how they are having success.

11

What makes you think the YouTube videos are fake and paid for by Prusa? The i3 Mk2 gets excellent reviews from all over the web, including a lot of well-known and respected reviewers and, of course, it’s one of the highest rated printers here on 3DHubs. I have one, wirlybird has one, and I know a heck of a lot of the other Hubs here do, so you can be pretty certain we’re not all paid by Prusa and pretending a bad machine is a good one.

Bear in mind also there is only one Original Prusa i3 Mk2, the one sold by Prusa themselves; everything else is a clone made by another company to the same design and their performance/quality may vary considerably.

Is the acetone smoothing of ABS a must-have? ABS can be such a pain, if you need a smooth shiny finish it might be worth considering using a resin coating to finish the parts (such as XTC3D); I know I’d rather have an extra step in the process than a bucket full of failed parts…

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I’m not saying that ALL reviews are fake. But take a look at this review: Prusa i3 MK2 3D printer REVIEW - YouTube

This is 100% fake. (“Some deformation at the top, but it came out perfect”, yea sure…) And I have found several others.

It just makes it hard comparing printers if the reviews are biased.

ABS smoothing would be really great since it’s so easy. But as of now I keep reading that almost all printers have their problems with ABS. PLA and XTC3D would also be a good choice, although XTC3D is really pricey…

Right now I don’t even know which printer to get anymore…The Flashforge Creator Pro does look nice, but many people say that they can’t get the PVA to stick, not to PLA and not to ABS.

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I still don’t understand why you think this is a fake video. Right at the start he mentions the bearings, something that’s a point of contention for Prusa owners and something I’m sure Prusa would not want brought to attention if they were bribing someone to make videos for them. More importantly, this guy has reviewed a ton of printers on his channel, so are they all fake? Did he ask all the companies for money before he made the videos? What about this guy: Original Prusa i3 mk2 3D Printer Review - Fully Assembled Version - YouTube is he fake as well? Or this guy: - YouTube ? Prusa don’t need fake reviews, they’ve got a great product and anyone that’s anyone has said so.

Not sure what your point is about PVA not sticking to ABS or PLA; PVA can be difficult to print with because it’s so hydroscopic, but if you’re seeing the main problem being its adhesion to other materials that’s not really anything to do with the printer itself, it’s the nature of the material. Again, more importantly, since PVA is a support material you don’t normally want it to stick to the other material…

Yeah, XTC3D ain’t cheap, but neither is a bucket full of failed ABS (in terms of materials, time and wear). Acetone smoothing is kinda cool, but it has it’s downsides as well; too much “smoothing” and you lose detail; it’s dangerous in terms of fumes and the risk of fire, for example.

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Do not use the hair spray. It is very dangerous. I saw a news one week ago that one user is using the hair spray during the printing, unfortunately it become an accident. the hair spray is burning since the high temperature. So please take care about it.

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I think EcubMaker Fantasy Pro 2 is a good choice. I bought it from amazon and the support is excellent. Before I made this decision, I do a lot of work, the most popular one is the Flashforge, but there is also many people have bad experience about it. It is really hard to make a choice. I think may be the support is the most important thing. I see people review that the support is great. Then I decide to own one. After I receive it, I like it very much. The appearance is outstanding, the printing effect is good. That is enough for me.