Yeah that is a down side however, so far (touch wood) I've not had to do any reprints. I am at an advantage where I have been professionally doing CAD work (mostly 2d but it's not that different to 3d as far as accuracy goes) for over 15 years now though (not to sound too egotistical but I must be pretty good since I charge 3 times what anyone else nationally charges and I am turning work down).

On the same token though, re-printing must get pretty expensive too. I haven't worked it out but it's something I plan on doing when time permits, that's to see the difference in cost between the material cost of the PLA/ABS/Nylon/whatever plus whatever power is required for the few hours it takes to print a part and the cost if a service prints it.

Then there is always the option to lease a printer too, smaller initial outlay, repairs and servicing taken care of but it's paying for something and not owning it after 5 years.

Anyway, I digress and don't like to hijack topics

At the place I have been using, basically it works out that whatever I (or they) can fit in a 4" cube will be £90. It's around £30 for 1Kg of PLA over here, so that's 3 x 1Kg spools of PLA... How much PLA would it take to build a 4" solid cube? Knowing that will be a huge help on me deciding if I should bite the bullet and lay down some cash on a Makerbot or if I should just carry on doing things the way I have been.

I could print a 1 " cube and then you can use some math to figure out what a 4 inch cube is. I can weight it in grams. I was surprised how far pla goes on these prints. So are they charging you by " the volume" of a 4"x4"x4" cube or any item smaller that 4"x4" ?

It's based on volume, basically they take the longest part on each side and make a cube that will totally enclose the part, then base it on that at 9p per cubic cm. I fit as much as I can in that cube (or cuboid to be precise). So I basically combine all the parts I need in to this theoretical box, they print them, separate them and boom, done. But it does take quite a lot of messing around to fit everything in the best positions to maximise the amount I get for the money.

Don't print anything just to find out though, I'm sure the answer is on the internet if I take the time to google it

Tiny update : I printed both the candle holder and the top of xlr6 this morning and wow they were really stuck to the print bed. I had to use a full size grill spatula for this one. I tried using the painters tape square makerbot gave with the machine but the print was peeling away from the bed during the first couple layers so i pulled it back off. I have regular 3m painters tape I have not tried yet.

@Rich - It will very by brand of filament but one example is a kg of PLA is 330 meters. So if my math is correct that would be 1000/330 = 3.03030303030303 grams per meter. I sliced a 4x4x4 cube in slic3r and it said it would take 283329.5 mm. 283329.5/1000 = 283.3295 meters. 283.3295 * 3.03030303030303 = 858.5742424242424 grams. So it would be a little less than a gram I'm guessing. Like I said, depending on the source, your mileage may very.

Latest print , this time for once I started using painters tape. I did a pair of legs last night that were stuck so hard to the platform I had to destroy them with a hammer to get them off. All the other prints didn't stick that well. It seems like as the platform gets more use and scratches it sticks to pla more.

I have the printers in a closet that has a vent. Unfortunately I think when the ac kicks on the closet temp drops causing the print to peel up on the edges. So as a remedy I made quick work to find a metal utility cabinet for the fair price of $10 it can hold 2 maker bots and maybe 3 stacked on shelves.

Tommorow I will pickup some brackets and shelves to mount the makerbot inside and also a overhead rod over each machine to hold a few spools of filament each. Maybe 4 or 5 each. There is a key lock so maybe I can buy a new mechanism with a key for security in case of a break in or whatever 4000 in makerbot don't walk off.

sorry about pictures being sideways , this is the first time I have had this problem.

So instead of spending a couple hundred dollars making plexiglass cubes to go over the machines I went with a different route. It serves the same purpose and also allows me to save some space by stacking the machines in one cabinet. Total cost was 74 dollars. I used closet hardware to mount it all. One adjustment able shelf and two spool mounts to store filament and also feed from overhead reducing snags and overall resistance. One of my problems was temp instability inside my downstairs closet due to a ac duct that passed through it. If temp drops even 4 degrees suddenly I notice the edges of the print peel right up. It's also a good idea to keep the machines away from vents and windows all for the same difference. Overall the machines like to operate in higher heat than room temperature. Being in a cabinet will help shield from drafts too.