Favorite Cartesian Printer? 2017

Such as Laser cutters (Must use the phrase 'sharks with frickin lazors' once per thread)
Post Reply
User avatar
thingismith
Printmaster!
Posts: 68
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 7:45 pm

Favorite Cartesian Printer? 2017

Post by thingismith »

I've had so much fun with my Rostock Max v2(my 1st 3d printer), I'd like to get another 3d printer. But I am limited on space and want to carefully select my next focus. It may be blasphemous to bring it up here, but I'd like to try a cartesian printer next, I've heard that it can handle some prints with straight edges better than a delta.

What's your go-to Cartesian? It's been a while since anyone's brought it up on the forum and the 3d printer options has grown a lot in the last few years. Im looking for something that can handle nylon and has a heated bed. Since I have my Max to handle big prints, 6x6x6 should be big enough. And I love being able to build and mod the Max, so something similar would be great.
User avatar
Jimustanguitar
ULTIMATE 3D JEDI
Posts: 2631
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 1:35 am
Location: Notre Dame area
Contact:

Re: Favorite Cartesian Printer? 2017

Post by Jimustanguitar »

If I was buying one instead of building it myself, you'd have a hard time talking me out of the (real) Prusa Research i3.

If that isn't large enough, I'd look at the Folger Tech FT-5 with 713maker's aluminum upgrades. I'd also do the Z belt mod and upgrade the bearings/leadnuts.
Polygonhell
ULTIMATE 3D JEDI
Posts: 2430
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:44 pm
Location: Redmond WA

Re: Favorite Cartesian Printer? 2017

Post by Polygonhell »

Like everything else it depends what you want to do and what you want to spend.
If being able to use open source slicers isn't important, the UP Mini is a really good printer for the price, and just about hits your 6x6x6 requirement, haven't tried mine with Nylon, but the V2 allows you to set the extruder temperature, so I don't see why it wouldn't work.
If you've got >$2000 to spend I really like Ultimakers.
The Original Prusa i3 Mk2, gets rave reviews and has a good price, and some interesting options.
I just picked up a Cetus from Tiertime, to add to my collection, but it doesn't have a heated bed as it ships.

You need to decide what you're trying to do, what features are important, do you want a kit, is a none bowden extruder important, can you live with 3mm filament, do you need an enclosure, etc etc.
RichWP
Prints-a-lot
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 4:17 pm

Re: Favorite Cartesian Printer? 2017

Post by RichWP »

I agree with Jimustanguitar - The genuine Prusa I3 is hard to beat.

I typically print larger, so I was looking at the FolgerTech FT-5 (with upgrades) as well - good size and CoreXY.

I've also seen a MakerFarm Pegasus 12, and it seemed to be a really nice stable machine that produced very good prints. It's more expensive than the FT-5, but it's higher quality - and you wouldn't need the upgrades that you'd probably want on the FT-5.

A lot of the 3D printing YouTubers are going crazy over the Creality CR-10. It's Big and cheap and seems to print well - but (I'm guessing) won't last over the long haul.
User avatar
joe
Printmaster!
Posts: 275
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2016 10:05 pm

Re: Favorite Cartesian Printer? 2017

Post by joe »

Design and build your own! I had a blast building the ones I've done. Parts are easy to get and lots of free CAD programs (Fusion 360) to learn. You have the Max to make your build parts. Visit http://openbuilds.com/ to get lots of ideas.
Perfect Hobby.
User avatar
Jimustanguitar
ULTIMATE 3D JEDI
Posts: 2631
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 1:35 am
Location: Notre Dame area
Contact:

Re: Favorite Cartesian Printer? 2017

Post by Jimustanguitar »

RichWP wrote:I typically print larger, so I was looking at the FolgerTech FT-5 (with upgrades) as well - good size and CoreXY.
The FT-5 is an H bot, I believe. I think 1 motor controls X and another controls Y, instead of them collectively controlling both like a Core XY.
User avatar
thingismith
Printmaster!
Posts: 68
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2017 7:45 pm

Re: Favorite Cartesian Printer? 2017

Post by thingismith »

Well, I'm sold on the prusa i3 mk2s, but the one drawback is the 7 weeks lead time! Enough time to prepare a home for it. The ft-5 looks good too, but it was a bit too big and the i3 ships with an e3d v6.

I was wondering though, which is your favorite project on opensource, Joe? It looks like a fun site I can really lose myself in!
MiR
Noob
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 6:44 am

Re: Favorite Cartesian Printer? 2017

Post by MiR »

When interested in a do it yourself build you should also have a look at the hypercube (search youtube) or the hypercube evolution, both look very good, i am just now waiting for the last parts to arrive from china to finish my hypercube evolution build.

If you look for a workhorse the prusa i3 mk2s is a very good choice, I have two of them (the older version mk2) and prints are shoot and forget, I have close to zero issues with the printers and I use them at least twice a week for the last 6 months.
WZ9V
Printmaster!
Posts: 65
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:49 pm

Re: Favorite Cartesian Printer? 2017

Post by WZ9V »

D-Bot's are pretty popular CoreXY at 300x200 or 300x300.
Post Reply

Return to “Other Machines”