Learning about 3D printers and looking for input

The company is located in Prague. I'm sure they source some parts, but everything is of very high quality. The assembly instructions are totally awesome! They give you a nice glossy book, but the on-line version is even better because you can zoom in on the pictures and also read comments from other members.

It looks like Prusa might do something for Black Friday, but that's all I've read about sale wise. They have a great following and are totally open source. I bit the bullet and went this route over the Creality line and other Chinese units and am very happy I did. I know that there are also a lot of happy Creality users out there as well.

Ted
 
Here's one of the true tests for a 3D printer; the Benchy. I really don't see how it could have turned out much better...

Ted

PXL_20210324_225413684.jpg
 
Another thing to note about the Prusa printers is the availability and fair prices on spare parts. Check out their website. Looks like there's a pretty complete listing. And, most plastic parts are 3D printed in their farm and you can download the files for free and print your own replacements if needed.

I know we don't buy these thinking about needing spare/replacement parts down the road, but the only way we can assure that is to just look at them and never use them!

Ted
 
Prusa very rarely does sales. They are usually backed up anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks so the incentive for a sale is minimal. As Technical Ted mentioned, they do occasional specials but it is only a couple of times a year. I bought my Prusa 2.5 series a few years ago and got free shipping.
The new Prusa Mk3 is incredible with their 24 volt system, including the stepper motors, which makes it very quiet.
Buying the Prusa kit will give you insight into its operation and as mentioned before, their instructions and online support are second to none. I seriously looked at the Creality SLA printer but have since gotten access to a Formlabs SLA so no need to buy one of those at the moment. :)
Buying a Prusa is like buying a Kurt vise. You can buy cheaper vises, but do you want to?
 
Ha! I am not sure how small they are any more! But, Josef Prusa does a great job with his company. He is always innovating. Now, one printer that I would not buy from him is the SLA printer. There are many other printers that have the same technology and much bigger print volume for less money.
 
r-mm said:
I was reading more on Prusa and saw this from Matterhackers which uses the Prusa architecture but substantially changes a few things. For the same price as the assembled Prusa, I like what I see. Matterhackers themselves are great, I've bough and liked their US Made filament in the past. https://www.matterhackers.com/store/l/pulse-xe-nylonx-advanced-materials-3d-printer/sk/MFG0HF92
Click to expand...

Three thoughts.
1.) It has a Bondtech extruder. I know that there are millions in use out there, but I have never been a fan of them. I prefer having the extruder motor right above the nozzle.
2.) The build plate is a little confusing to me. So it comes with a Garolite bed, but does it come with a magnetic flex bed? Having a removable flex bed is really nice when printing larger prints, otherwise they can be a bear sometimes to remove.
3.) The nozzle looks like it has a plastic cover over it. I would assume they are doing that for cooling, but to change nozzles you would need to remove that. Not a big deal probably.

Their Nylon-X would probably need a hardened nozzle to print with it long term.
 
I called Matterhackers and was quite pleased to have a RealPerson answer the phone and talk to me for some time. Yes the Garolite bed is 'stock'. Of all the upgrades they offer the guy I spoke to advised the mag base is the most useful for my profile, you can pair that with any other material base they offer such as PEI steel. It comes with a hardened steel nozzle, the Ruby is an upgrade. The silicone cover on the nozzle looks familiar from the all metal hot end I installed on my Ender. I did a good deal of reading on direct drive vs bowden extruders when I upgraded the Ender and the trade off mentioned - and made obvious when I installed it - was more weight on the gantry vs more direct drive path. I am not particularly interested in flexible filaments TPU etc but the precision of retraction is a concern.

I'm just now reading about even higher temp higher strength filaments such as PEEK and their variants but I believe those are truly out of reach without a substantially heated enclosure or machine at many mnultiples the price. I am continuing to look for the best way to get strength from ABS/Polycarb/Nylon at or below $1,000
 
A lot of users build inexpensive enclosures for their Prusa Mk3 units.

blog.prusaprinters.org

How to build a simple, cheap enclosure for your 3D printer - Original Prusa 3D Printers

Maybe you have already seen some of those fancy enclosures people build for their printers. How do they work? And do they work? Today, we will shed some light on this matter! Plus, we are going to dive into patent wars...
blog.prusaprinters.org blog.prusaprinters.org

I will most likely make an enclosure, but might do my own design; not sure right now. But I know it would help with those higher heat materials.

Ted
 
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