Number 1 on this list.
Mp select Mini
For the cost of $200 this little dude is my number one recommended 3D printer for my fellow makers who would like a cheap, reliable, quality bang for the buck 3 D printer. Recently Monoprice has released the V2 which sold out the first batch of 1000 printers in the first 2 weeks. Once again proves that this printer is worthy. But before I get into the V2. Let's talk about the classic.
Pros:
- Fist most impressive thing is that it comes with a heated bed.
- Solid metal frame
- Hassle free, non DIY printer, comes in 1 piece and literally prints out of the box
- Amazing print quality, best for $200 so far
- Reliable, delivers every time once dialed in.
- Huge community, I'm a part of it, very civic, nice helpful bunch of people.
- A lot of room for mods and improvements. One of the most impressive mod is the bed expansion from 3DM. They are specialized in modifying the mini. You can really turn this machine into a professional printer.
- I freaking love it.
Cons and possible improvements.
- Well as much as I love it there are a few issues. They can be fixed though, with a little bit of tinkering but I guess this is also a pro? I don't know I feel like it is more of a con since it kinds of irritates me.
- The bed is a little bendy due to how "T.H.I.C" is it. Also I very much disagree with the routing of the bed wires. They are routed on the bottom which carves into the ziptie. I eventually re-routed the bed. While I was doing that I also went in and replaced the idlers, pulleys with metal ones since it plastics idlers was cutting into my timing belt which caused black bits to appear everywhere around the print area.
- The second con is the design of the bowden tube where the filament is fed into the hot-end, it can be a hasle if your hot end ever gets clogged.
- There is no cooling the control board. The board is Melzi so it can be faulty sometimes.
- The control knob is very very annoying.
- Very humble build volume 120x140x120
Well but you probably won't have to worry about any of that because the V2 is released. It is currently sold out right now. The improvements MP has made on the V2 includes: side cooling fan, Bed insulation and rewiring, metal extruder, better control knob, and it comes with a build-tak like build plate so there is no need for glass bed.
To sum up. Go buy this printer please you will not regret it.
Get it here for $200 aprox:
http://amzn.to/2rgau04
My second favorite on the list is the big boy Creality CR-10.
Even though it is a kit, it comes mostly assembled and ready to go. It will probably take you half an hour to set up and you will be printing. Compare to the other DIY kits which can take up to 7 hours to set it up. (Cough.. Anet.. cough): if you really don't have a problem with setting it up in 7 hours then Anet is not a bad choice. I heard people are having a problem with Anet power's supply sparking. I simply cannot risk something like that since I'm going to hit print and leave the house. Anyway back to CR 10.
Pros:
- Fist thing you will notice right away is the build volume. The CR-10 is a giant, has a staggering 300 x 300 x 500 mm build volume.
- Second is print quality. Despite the fact that this printer still provides very decent print quality. That isn't usually the case with large printers.
Cons:
- A lot of the cons is going to GearBest. They are known for being the worst retailer. They sometime send you returned machines and their customer service is amogst the worst of the worst. Please be advice. However, they list this printer on their website for as low as $409. Killer deal.
- Bed that comes with this printer is known for being bad. People seem to have a better time printing with the mirror glass. You can find it at your local home improvement stores.
Get this printer here on GearBest for $409.
The third printer is another Monoprice,MP Select Maker V2
The third printer on this list is another re-brand from Monoprice. MP in my opinion has been and will be very skillful in term of picking the best printers from foreign country (China to be specific) and retail them. This printer is re-branded from the Wanhao Duplicator I3. Which costs way less than the Wanhao itself if you buy it from the U.S. This printer
Pros:
Even there will be some cheap upgrades and tweaks here and there. But once you dialed in, this printer is another work horse.
- The Maker Select V2 comes in a kit, but the assembly process is very easy compares to the Prusa i3 clone kits.
- Speaks G-code so has great compatibility with all the g-code slicer like Cura, Simplify 3D, and Repetier
- Full-metal body frames mean that this printer can handle a helluva beating.
- This printer can produce high quality prints (100 microns maximum resolution)
- There are a lot of room for mods.
Cons
- Needs a little tweaks before you can fully dial in
- moderate bed-size, not too large not too small.
Get the Maker Select here for $319:
