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Looking for 3D Printer Kit

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Ranayna:
Hi,

my ANET A8 had a little accident a couple of days ago. Among other things, most major parts of the acrylic frame are busted beyond any repair, and the heatbed is bent. I suspect that the rods are now also not straight anymore.
A crash from 1.5 meters did wreck that poor thing...

Anyway, i was never really satisfied with the Anet anyway. For it's price it was a great machine, especially as an entry into 3D printing, but considering the stuff that had to be replaced in the kit from the get go, i would not buy an Anet again.
But still, a significant aspect that i loved about the Anet was, that it was a kit. I loved assembling it, and after it was finished and printing i had the feeling that i have learned a lot about the printer, and 3D printing in general.

So, i am looking for a new 3D Printer, in Kit form. The more parts, the better.  :-/O

A couple of things i would like:

- print quality at least as good, preferably better than the modded A8
- printing space comparable with the A8, but can be a bit smaller, i never fully used it anyway
- reasonably silent, at least compared with the A8. That beast was loud
- the option to add dual extruder
- I will use PLA and PETG Filament

I was already pointed towards the original Prusa i3 MK3s+
https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/180-original-prusa-i3-mk3s-kit.html#

The kit looks exactly like i would want a kit to look like: Almost everything is in parts :D
And while it does not have a multi extruder option, there is that MMU2S Upgradekit available.
But even the kit is not cheap at 770 Euro, with the MMU2S adding another 300 Euro...

Are there any good current alternatives available? I would set the 1.000 Euro of the Prusa Kit as an absolute maximum price.
I would strongly prefer to get a kit that includes any required materials. Preferably something available from the EU, i don't really want to deal with customs.
I can do electronics and electric work, but i do not have the equipment to do much metalwork beyond cutting extruded profiles to length.

PlainName:
I have, and would recommend, the Flashforge Dreamer, which is currently £500 at Amazon (€575) - well within your budget. The mods I've made to it are:

1. Filament spools moved to outside (0.5kg spools are intended to go inside, but stuff you buy probably won't fit).

2. All metal hot end. There's a kit which is reasonably easy to fit and does the biz.

3. Use a thin mirror as the build platform. It's just a normal mirror placed on the platform and held in place with elestic bands. Amazingly, the heat seems not to affect them and they allow easy removal and replacement for cleaning. UHU purple stuff applied to the mirror will hold pretty much any job.

Only other mod I want to do, which I haven't got around to yet, is fitting a SDcard socket extender so the onboard storage is physically accessible without a teardown. Reason being, once you've got a zillion jobs on there it is a real drag to either page through them all to repeat the last one, or try and delete them one at a time.

Black Phoenix:

--- Quote from: dunkemhigh on May 01, 2021, 04:28:32 pm ---Only other mod I want to do, which I haven't got around to yet, is fitting a SDcard socket extender so the onboard storage is physically accessible without a teardown. Reason being, once you've got a zillion jobs on there it is a real drag to either page through them all to repeat the last one, or try and delete them one at a time.

--- End quote ---

Stupid question (never owned or used a 3D Printer) but I remember seeing someone adapting a Raspberry Pi to a 3D Printer as a Print Server for exactly that situation. Sorry I can't provide the video in question, can't access Youtube.

With that this last line is basically out of the equation, right?

PlainName:
Depends on your workflow and kit.

The Dreamer will accept print files and print them without the assistance of anything else. Some other 3D printers don't have onboard smarts but rely on some external application on a PC to drive them (my CNC mill is like this - needs Mach3 to tell it what to do in real tiime).

You can present the file to the Dreamer either via an sdcard slot (which is accessible externally) or via a USB/WiFi connection. In the latter case the file is spooled to internal storage, which is the sdcard I originally mentioned. Since WiFi is by far the easiest way of sending it stuff, the onboard storage is chock full of one-off prints I'll never use again...

A Pi won't help in this circumstance since there is a) no need for it and b) adding it in the chain would just cause more hassle and complexity that isn't wanted or warranted. The Pi would  be aimed at kit that needs hand-holding during the entire print process, which is not an issue for the Dreamer.

Ranayna:
@dunkemhigh: Well that printer looks neat, but it is essentially the opposite of what i want to get :)
I want to get a kit, with as much assembly required as sensibly possible.  :-/O

@Black Phoenix: You are likely referring to Octo Print. That is a software for Raspberry Pi that can control a USB conected printer via the network. Sooner or later i plan to set that up myself. I had planned to do this with my Anet, but despite my significant chances to it's electrics i never was comfortable leaving it alone.

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