Prusa are hard to get the hang of but when you do they are ok. $197 is a good price and you will soon be 3D printing although assembly is a pain. manual leveling is hard to get the hang of (I find business card works best), feeding filament is hard, they clog all the time especially with PLA and they don't have an enclosure so not very good with ABS (to cold) but some folks love them. Good luck.

@Herr Ball I have heard good things about Prusa i3, but as Nink has said, not good for ABS unless you put it in an enclosure? I known folks print parts for InMoov on it and get good results on PLC.

I brought a Flashforge Dreamer, paid about the equivalent $900 3 yrs ago, and if I had known then what I know now, I would of brought a cheaper 3D printer, haven’t been that impressed with the Dreamer, and waste of time getting a dual head unit!

Chris.

Here is an Opinion:

For $ 197.00 the machine is a way to get into 3d printing. Just be prepared to add upgrades. It will be worth it in the long run.

Be prepared to suffer thru the learning curve, but many issues would also occur with a higher priced machine.

About two years ago I posted "3d Printer Kit Review" It goes over my experience of building a printer kit.

After a few upgrades, a foam board enclosure and a lot of learning, I ended up with a decent printer. I print mostly ABS and am satisfied with the parts. I printed a complete Rafiki from Dave Cochran and will assemble it once his work schedule lets up. I have put thru about 20 rolls of ABS and 5 rolls of PLA, and with standard lubrication, checking tightness of screws and components and the replacement of 2 heaters (due to broken wires due to the flexing caused by the movement of the carriage) it continues to run fine. With about an addition of $125.00 for upgrades, I am happy with it's performance.

I bought another printer online for parts, but for an additional $125.00 I ended up with a second machine.

Real cheap filament is not a good idea, but with moderately priced filament, feed issues and clogged nozzles are reduced considerably.

Ron

Herr Ball,

I don't know if you want the InMoov head or just a table top head but, I built Antonn with craft store parts, a foam head form, mask, foam board (could also use wood) and hot glue. I also posted a project with assembly information. I will admit I also have a set of 3d printed eyes which will soon be added, but if you want to just build a head, a 3d printer isn't totally needed. The next version of Antonn will be much stronger and will be plastic. It will include a number of printed parts.

If you really want to get into 3D Printing, be prepared to learn as you go. It is a great machine once you sort out the initial "experiences". It is great to be able to design and build a part from scratch.

Ron

I purchased a Prusa i3 4 years ago from FolgerTech and I love it. I have printed my entire InMoov with it using ABS. I have it in a downstairs room where it is free of drafts, no enclosure and get little to no warping. I have done some modifications to the printer. Print bed is an Aluminum plate with 1" standoffs that mount the heated bed that I have put 1/4" insulation tape on the bottom and on that is the 1/8" window glass. I use Elmer's purple glue stick and you can not pry the part off until the bed temp gets below 35C. My brother purchased a Makerbot clone CTC for 3 times what I paid and has had nothing but problems. We are now converting it to a Rep Rap machine.

RichardZ

Thanks to everyone that replied ... I am grateful for your opinions.

Hi All,

I've just bought the Anet A6 which is almost identical like the one in your message (mine is with a rotary switch to select the options). It comes from BangGood for something like 163 EURO's.

Is it a good printer... well, not that bad, but would I buy it again ? No, I'd spent a 100 $ more and buy a Prusa. Al the Anet components feel a little weak/fragile. The bed espescially feels light weith. Also the leveling of the bed is rather painfull and time consuming. I bought it as a kit, so you have to consider about 4 hours of assembly. Conclusion: if you need a 3D printer for occasional use and price is you main motive, you will be satisfied with this model. If however you're more an advanced user with higher expectations, look for something else.

One more thing....

Printing (Repetier) from a Mac (OS High Sierra) hasn't been possible yet. After upgrading drivers etc. the printer is recognized, but the printing commands are not executed. This is still in progress. I hope to do some tests with Windows and Linux later on.

Good luck, greetings and the best wishes for a prosperate new year !

First the ANET is a clone of a Prusa and not a Prusa or made by them. My ANET 3d printer still works, but I do all of my 3d printing on my CR 10 because it is so easy to use and the prints look better. It also has a much larger print volume. I wish I had gotten the CR 10 first. The ANET does print better than my first 3d printer, but you need to make sure the print starts good or your part will come loose and then you have a mess. My CR 10 3d printer has much less trouble getting a good start on a 3d print. If you are printing with ABS then you need an enclosure. PLA is great for most 3d prints, no enclosure needed and you don't need such a hot print bed, so your prints start and finish sooner.

I didn't mention explicite that the Anet is a Prusa clone (and so are many others). To me it seems obvious that by now everybody is aware of that. The CR10 was also one of my favourites, especially for the larger print volume. However, I don't really exceed the dimensions of the Anet A6.

my 3d printer knowledge is very limited...

The original Prusa ($600): https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/59-original-prusa-i3-mk2-kit.html

1) If all the other prusa I3 are clones, are all the same quality or there is a recommended clone (cheaper but good quality) ?

2) If you have $600 to spend is the original prusa the best option ? the Robo 3d R1 (https://www.amazon.com/ROBO-3D-10x9x8-Inch-Printer-A1-0002-000/dp/B0142PHFVU) (fxrtst has one) same price interval.

Hello @ptp, Having a clone, I am unaware of the quality issue of components in a true Prusa vs clone. I do know electrical connections on clones are poor and when I built my kit the first thing I did was to re-crimp all connections and inspect all soldered wires. I found many bad connections which would have caused many issues.

Some clones use printed parts in the extruder area. If you run abs, the printed components degrade due the higher temperatures. I purchased an aluminum extruder assembly which eliminated the extruder problems.

Open frame printers allow air circulation around the part which causes warping issues when using abs material. I assume even a Prusa would have this issue. I resolved the problem by building an enclosure.

General replacement parts are hit or miss. I have had good luck buying generic parts. I perform preventative maintenance regularly which includes lubricating rods, tightening electrical connections and mechanical assembly.

I hope this helps answer some questions.

There are many clones, some of them are very good and print excellent. One very decent brand/model is the 'Black Widow':

3D-Printer Black Widow

It's up to you to decide if you want to spend 600$. I bought the Anet A6 rather cheap, from my expirience now, I would buy something different, a little more expensive. Not necessary 600$. It all depends on how much printing you're going to do, the dimensions and what kind of material you want to use.

@ PTP when it comes to 3d printers you really do get what you pay for. The Chinese knock offs are ok for wannabees and do the Job, maybe OK, but an original Prusa will do it right everytime(almost).

I went with my own design for my two, 1 large and 1 small, but went with high quality parts (I'm very fussy) so maybe about $600 in parts for each. 1 has over 1500 hours on and the other about 1200 hours with little issue.

Andy has it right about an enclosure for ABS,

Things like threaded rod vs acme screws for the z axis , undersize power supplies, cheap shaft couplings, threaded rod frames, weak construction, are things to watch out for. Check out videos of reviews on printers that interest you. I looked at many and checked reviews before I bought mine.

Buying a decent quality printer with the idea of upgrades keeps the cost reasonable. I don't know if the Prusa has a aluminum extruder, but it's a $30 upgrade I was happy to make. Adding a piece of window glass helped a lot.

Very important is the build area. 250 x 200 x 200 is a nice workable size,. Most are 200 x 200 x 180 which are tight but do most jobs.

I enjoy drawing up a part, in tinkercad, putting it in Cura, to an SD card , in the printer and in a while there is my part. I don't want to have to play with the printer settings and adjustments to get it to work. I just want my part.

I do want to be able to fix it if it breaks too. Yes I have a couple extra nozzles, heater and thermal for the extruder. Also a limit switch and some belting.

That's about it.

Quote:

First the ANET is a clone of a Prusa and not a Prusa or made by them.

Since the MK3 is out the price of the original Prusa i3 MK2 dropped significantly, go for the real deal...auto meshbed leveling, skewed axxis correction, heated bed, no abs juice or gluestick needed and all the parts are high quality, so you will not have to rip the printer apart to replace parts all the time.

I know an enclosure is best ABS, but I get good results if I print a bit of brim...

Oh and btw, Prusa mad their own slicer edition fine tuned for their printer! I like the idea to support a nice small company, rather than buying chinese stuff...

I must say Mickey, you're absolutely right. The Prusa is significantly better than cheap Chinese stuff, but quite often stinginess deceives the truth...

I like my Geeetech printer. It's a Chinese Prusa clone like most are. I would have preferred an actual Prusa but at the time I wanted to get into printing as cheap as I could. It is still my only printer. Personally I enjoyed building it from a kit. I know absolutely everything about it now. If something goes wrong I generally know exactly where to look. I am sure you will end up money ahead by spending a little more initially but that is easy to say and hard to do at times.