Printer Recommendations

I don’t have hands on experience with these but this is probably what I would suggest if you want bigger, cheap, dual material.

https://www.hic3dprinter.com/collections/3d-printers

The printers that can do dual print heads are setup to use two materials or do mirror printing. Many of them have some large print volumes as well. The HICTOP 24V D3 Hero Dual also sports a 32 bit board with touch screen for $550.

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Man you have my brain spinning on this one. Maybe getting some ideals hammered out can narrow this down…or make me build one myself.

So, you say larger build volume, so that means larger bed, so probably looking at mains powered bed heater.

Larger also kinda means build plate Y axis is kinda out, so build plate Z (a box build) is more ideal.

I think I would only specify corexy if you were willing to go bowden, for maximum speed. That is not a bad word, just needs a little extra tweaking and linear advance probably clears all that up these days. If not a bowden then the hemera looks real nice and the price is right, and other geometries are open.

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I am glad I am not the only one that got my brain spinning when I heard the news about the Prusa XL. This text blurb and a video interview with Tom & Josef are the only mentions of the Prusa XL but they said it is expected to be released Q1 of 2020.

“…However, that’s not all Prusa has in store. The company is also working on “Prusa XL” 3D printer which will have a whopping 400 x 400 x 400 mm build volume and will be based on CoreXY architecture. The company says it will have “a new geared extruder and an improved heatbed — among other things,” but did not elaborate further…”

I agree it will probably be bowden like their new Prusa Mini. I had not thought about how they would power a bed that big but you are probably right about the mains power. I assume they will make the new bed with their fancy PEI Powder coated steal sheets. I love those things.

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I wonder if Q1 2020 includes mrrf… That sure would be nice, but the price will determine if that’s feasible. Maybe if I waited until spring I could convince myself $1k+ for a kit would be worth it.

Honest question, why would you need a larger build area / volume than a typical 250x250x200mm printer? Such a large print is going to take forever. Sure, you could print more parts in one job, but I can keep my i3 busy for 12 hours at a time, no problem. I tend to print one or a few small parts at a time, because in between I’m designing the next parts.

For larger stuff, a CNC could be handy. Anyone know of a DIY affordable kit? :wink:

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For most people and most print farms smaller 3D printers are better. When they announced the Prusa Mini they made a good visual of this… https://cdn.prusa3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/MK3S_vs_2xMINI.png

Two Prusa Minis for roughly the same cost of a single Prusa MK3s. They can produce more parts faster. So yes for the most part most people would be better off with one or more smaller printers.

Now to answer your question from my own personal experience. the larger 3D printers are intended for printing single piece larger items. I have printed a few helmets for costumes that required a larger print volume. Sure I could have split the model and printed in several pieces but that is more work for me to glue them together and smooth out the seams. I have also wanted to make a few other single piece items that are still just too big for the printers I had access to at the time. Costume pieces, weapons, armor, props, Art and decor etc… So I freely admit that a larger printer isn’t for everyone. And it has only been needed for less than 1% of the things I have printed.

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Someday I want to build a printer with a counterweight for the print head. I haven’t seen anyone do this before, but it seems like you could make a cantilever style frame rather wimpy (relatively speaking) and still zip around decently fast if you can reduce the net impulse by say 95% or better.

This is somewhere between 15th and 20th on my list, so maybe 2025 at the earliest. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Jeff, I picked up a FLSUN kit off Aliexpress a year or two ago and it sounds like that might be a good fit for you. It’s a cube that’s bigger than the normal i3 clone (260x260x350mm IIRC), supports dual head (but not mixing), auto bed leveling using a prox sensor and pretty much all the bells and whistles new machine are expected to have these days. I added filament out sensors and a magnetic build plate and am looking at upgrading the controller to the SKR Pro 1.1, but other than that it’s been a workhorse at a decent price. FLSUN is best known for their delta designs, but they do cubes and i3 types as well.

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Regarding SLA, that’s something else. It’s not useful at all for functional parts, as the cured resin is very brittle. Even the pro resins from Formlabs are way more brittle compared to FDM prints. I have a Form 2, a Moai, and a Prusa SL1 and print a lot on those for functional prototypes that require precision. But the final prototypes are always printed using SLS or MJF by companies like Shapeways.

My work horse is my Prusa i3 mk3s, after using the mk2s and mk1 before that. I’ve never had a failed print, or at least a failure due to the machine. Love the bed leveling, removable build plate, filament sensor and using it in combination with PrusaSlicer. Can’t recommend this printer enough.

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Talking with my daughter a bit ago… mentioned the temptation to buy another Prusa… talked about letting them have the MK2S (which has performed flawlessly for nearly three years) if I’d spring for the MK3S kit… quite the salesman I am, I talked myself right into it…

Just ordered a Prusa i3 MK3S kit!

Merry Christmas season, all!

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Merry Christmas, and congratulations on flawless persuasion!

My wife didn’t quite understand why I needed another 3d printer. She was persuaded when I told her that selling my gaming machine, and getting a proper printer instead - I wouldn’t spend so much time swearing and sweating to calibrate and troublecheck! All the extra time that I thus earn, when not gaming or repairing, I told her that I would use on chores and looking out for the kids. Time will show if my accounting is actually honest…

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I asked for permission to get a new printer for Christmas. My wife’s response was, “You’ve used the other ones much more than I thought you would”. I guess that was the argument that convinced her.

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That was my reason for replacing my old 3d prrinters. And it paid off. At home and at work. I bought the MK3s one for each. I have saved a LOT of my time.

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My signature authority is high enough that I don’t have to ask. But then my wife’s signature authority is also high so it’s unclear whether it’s a net win…

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I’d say go for a railcore, but they’re a tad(okay a lot) out of your budget. Loving mine though. I’m not a fan of bed flingers. Seems like a lot of moving mass to deal with.

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I also built a railcore to add to my collection. However, I used the miniRambo instead of the Duet.

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Here is a new 300x300x400 that zyltech now has. I don’t see many of the specs listed for it though. http://www.zyltech.com/zyltech-gear-whisper-quiet-large-volume-3d-printer/
They also have some Hypercube Frame & bundle kits, but seem to be out of some of them.
http://www.zyltech.com/store/3d-printer-cnc-kits/hypercube/
Also you can usually get between10-15% off coupons there.

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I’ve heard from a few folks that Evnovo printers are good.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QKJMJKG

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I have all the pArts to build a AM8 with a 300x400 plate.

I am waiting to assemble it to see if I can go 400 x 400

My opinion is always, if you build it, you can troubleshoot it

The MPcnc has only confirmed that

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I agree with that line of thinking but … there is also something to be said about ending up with a reliable machine. The reasons why the Prusa MK3s is more expensive is because of all the extra features they had added. I say added not invented because they are using other people’s innovations. They are just integrating those features that are helpful. Such as…

PINDA bed level sensor. With 9 or 49 point mesh bed leveling. Not their invention but it makes the first layer stick well a LOT more reliable. Solved most of my print failures. When they integrated it they removed the bed leveling adjustment screws and springs. That makes it a lot faster and easier to maintain and troubleshoot. Firmware calibration code does it for you.

Smooth PEI or Powder coated steal sheet print beds. These things are amazing! Not their inventions but they added them to their printers. They are held into place with several strong magnets. When a print is done you can pop the sheet off and give it a little flex and most printed parts just fall off. Saves time and prevents users from knocking the bed out of level when trying to remove a printed part.

Dual drive Bondtech extruder gears. Made by Bondtech but after they were added to the Prusa they enabled more reliable prints, fewer jams, easier to print with TPU, and the ability to print at higher speeds.

I won’t go on forever but they also added features from other people like: sensorless homing, silent mode, crash detection, resume from power loss, filament runout detection, and many others.

I have built my own printers and spent hundreds of hours trouble shooting them. I think that is great knowledge and experience. But now I would rather have a smart printer that does most of the troubleshooting for me. The Prusa printers have saved me a ton of time that I have spent with my family instead. But the MMU2s has cost me a lot of time. Not happy about that.

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