cadcoke5
I have been asked to advise a small company what 3D printer they should purchase. I have been wrestling with the idea of recommending a hobby-level machine vs. a professional level machine.
The types of hassles described in this review are the focus of my research right now. I am grateful for this review, but need to find a comparable review for a professional level machine, such as the Stratasys Mojo. At $10,000, it is not a casual purchase for a small company. Yet, I know these professional grade machines are not hassle-free. The dealer will not provide me with a percentage of failures that I can expect. I imagine it varies with the actual items being printed. So, their reluctance to provide numbers is understandable.
If someone needs to compare the $10,000 machine to the machines under $2,000, the build area and other spec. sheet data is not enough information. The "hassle factor" is a very important part of the decision.
MBadgero
cadcoke5, I used to get asked similar questions when I was a trainer for CAD/CAM software for CNC aluminum extrusion milling machines. The 'failure rate' is not a constant, and not just dependent on what you are making. It mostly depends on your skill with the machine and the software. The software and the machine does what you tell it to do. If you tell it to do something wrong, you will get a 'failure'.
Bruce Gurney
This reminds me of when the first cd rom burners came out You would get a failure rate of 30%-70% on the first few disks but it got down to 10%or so with practice the blanks cost $15-$25 each
Dougie D
A bit of input. I have been working with the Flash Forge for a while now. I have not had one problem with it. Everything sticks fine, almost too good at times ! You can print multiple parts in Replicator G ... you are incorrect. 1. GCode > Edit Slicing Profiles … 2. Select the profile you want to edit OR duplicate the profile you want to edit and then 3. In the pop-up editing window, click the Multiply radio button 4. In the mulitply pane, A. Click "Activate Multiply" B. Set the number of colums and rows for "- Number of Cells -" The product of the two is how many you will get. C. You may also want to increase the separation over perimeter width ratio (I use 15 for most things). 5. In the File menu use "Save and Close" 6. Click "Done" in the "Edit Profiles" window 7. Slice using the profile you just edited.
I bought this machine to print parts that I degined to take to a trade show last week. I sent the STL files to a company and was quoted $3,874.00 to produce 40 of the same parts. Crazy ! I went online to Amazon ...found this printer.. it arrived in less then 8 days to 60 miles north of Philadelphia over the Labor day weekend no less. Packed perfectly !! No problems with set up or start up. Follow the directions online and you can be printing in less then 1 hour. Level the plate 3 times in a row to begin with. It is very easy to do. I rarley use the raft, it is a pain to remove. If your plate is level and you take the time to position your print perfectly ... you will not have any problems at all. Do your best to postion your print so that you do not need to use to much support material. Position your print above the build plate in REP G use Rotate and always use the "lay flat" button right after ..when you are happy with the position in the move tab hit the "Put on platform" button. Then view your print to make sure it is flat on the build plate. It will be perfect every time if done right !! I have printed over 100 items so far ..the print plate looks just like it did the day I unpacked it. Prior to each print wipe the surface of the plate with a dry tissue. Be careful when you adjust settings !! Have a clear understanding of what each does before you mess with it. Trade show went pefectly and I am now having molds made for injection molding. The plan was to buy this printer ..make my own parts and sell it. Would not dream of it now !! I plan to keep this one !!
BTW if you are interested in more feedback on this awesome printer...check out all the reviews on Amazon.com. It is what sold me on the Flash Forge. I plan to give it a 5 star rating just like most. I just had to be sure and use it for a while before jumping on the bandwagon. For the price ... it gets no better then this.
tonenotvolume
Dougie D - I envy you. My Replicator 2 has had a steep learning curve, defective parts, and needs constant adjustment. I've had it for six months and have been unable to print out anything more complex than the link chain and plastic bag carrier. Granted, some of the problems have been my inexperience with the machine but for a $2700 investment, it shouldn't be this difficult. I'm hoping the latest fix offered in Youtube will help the extruder mechanism and insulation problems currently stopping me. BTW, even with updates, Makerware causes computer lockups or freezes so am stuck with ReplicatorG.
TechGnostic
Dougie D - I also envy you.
Have had a Replicator 2 since December 2012.
As with all these printers the learning curve was very steep, the reliability and consistency of printing was extremely (EXTREMELY) problematic.
The Initial failure rate was high, but decreased with practice, then went back up again as the printer began to wear out (within 5 months of purchase!!).
The -X bearing support fractured due to the constant stress of jittering as the Replicator G software 'knitted' layers of parts, so I had to crazy-glue the bearing frame back together.
Then the Temp sensing thermistor wire failed, requiring replacement of the thermistor.
The replacement failed slowly and was difficult to diagnose... eventually the print head smoked because there was no safety built into the firmware (ie. if your machine can't sense temperature or is heating far too long, wouldn't your firmware tell the machine to shut off??).
In short, at $2200, the machine was basically a ripoff, both because it was advertised as a printer that would produce "engineering quality prints right out of the box" and because it is still a tinker-toy product-in-development, unreliable and, dare I say, dangerous.
If you are electro-mechanically inclined, I would suggest building your own and developing your own firmware rather than buying someone else's GIANT mistakes.
If you make your own at least you know what to expect. I am working on my own now.
PatrikD
At $1200 (plus shipping from China, presumably), the Flashforge Creator is definitely NOT "one of the cheapest on the market"!
Not when Printrbot's entire line of printers is well below that, with assembled printers going for $399 for the Printrbot Simple ($299 as a kit!) to $999 for the Printrbot PLUS v2.1. Heck, the MakiBox A6 LT is only $200 (partially assembled), and there are several other printers in the $100-$400 range coming out.
As long as 3D printers are priced at the same level as laser printers, we'll see them where we see laser printers: in offices, design shops, etc. Once they're priced as inkjet printers (which they should be, given their relatively low complexity), everyone with a computer can afford to play with one...
Mark Lewus
I bought a kit from Maker Farm for a RepRap i3 Prusa printer with an 8" cube build area. I am ecstatically happy with it. Similar plywood construction as the Flash Forge but at $585 it's about half the price. For the money I think it's one of the better deals out there. But you do have to put it together. It took me about 3 hours, but I've been building things for 40 years so YMMV. Maker Farm provides a very useful series of web videos for assembly, so if you are at all technically inclined you should be able to assemble one of these. Doing so will help you later when you are trying to get it to print correctly.
All of these printers, regardless of price, are offshoots of the "RepRap" open source project. While some have multiple extruders (colors) and most have heated beds to allow printing of ABS plastic, they all use the SAME basic technology and software and provide similar results, regardless of what you pay for it. Best to take a look at the wiki at reprap.org to see what you are getting into before you jump in.
MOVIE
Tengo una pregunta, por favor ayúdenme, puedo usar un software diferente al que trae por defecto, por ejemplo Rhino, Inventor, SolidWorks etc?, cual es el nivel de detalle para piezas pequeñas?, la impresión genera rebabas que haya que pulir? Gracias
Dennis Mummert
Good Morning, TechGnostic.
"In short, at $2200, the machine was basically a ripoff, both because it was advertised as a printer that would produce "engineering quality prints right out of the box" and because it is still a tinker-toy product-in-development, unreliable and, dare I say, dangerous. "
Advertising fluff aside, the industry as a consumer market is still young and growing up. One can expect different variations of 'reliability', especially when that definition changes from person to person. Dangerous, however, they are not. If you walk away from dinner still cooking on the stove, chances are you're going to be calling the fire department. Same with the printers. Their manuals do, or at least should, state that you should babysit the machine. Of course, I never babysit my kilns, or any one of half a dozen other processes here that *should* be closely monitored. And I have paid the price in terms of ruined product or have had to start an experiment over. But I have no one to blame but myself. I accept the responsibility - at times somewhat less gracefully than would be publicly acceptable, but usually stoically. There is a hint of risk in everything.