There was recently a "vid" thread where a kit was on sale cheap. There were several others discussed in the thread also.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/3d-desktop-printer-139-free-shipping

Check out the Monoprice Maker Select v2. It's what I have, and it definitely falls between the $139 and $599 options in terms of features as well as price. I'd love to have a Prusa, but I'd have a hard time paying twice as much for it.
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=13860&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsZHPBRClARIsAC-VMPDfRwW6sct_d2ariZVEMe6enleMz7Pe1tJW5guWe2OPg3ZYq2ghOf0aAgieEALw_wcB

If metal parts are breaking, you may have problems getting printed plastic that's strong enough.

Maybe get the software, draw up the part and have shapeways or someone print in different materials to see what works before investing in a printer.

https://m.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_628789.html

These are cheap. Takes some tweaking to get it printing nice though.

Yes I do. Not alot. It took a little bit of time to put together. Had to print a spool holder. Also, you can print brackets that will help stiffen everything. Just leveling the bed took a few tries and figuring out the temperatures to print at too. Also, had to print a fan bracket to help with cooling. It's fun but more work than spending 500 dollars on a completed printer.

Yes lots of premade parts for the printer are easily downloadable. I use Cura as a slicer. (I'm a noob at this so take my advice with a grain of salt)

are these cheapies worth it? I'm thinking of getting one for my son to make little crappy figues and learn about 3D modeling in the process. Wouls also be cool to print some old models i made in Blender years ago. In other words, justification to buy one for myself via "learning" with my son.

Learning with your son is priceless. Imagine if he became an engineer because he enjoyed makeing things in cad? It's worth the 200 dollars.

The cheap DIY printers are decent but more work. If he like building it should be fun. Lots of little nuts and bolts so it can be a little tedious to build but satisfying when you get your first print.

My son was the only one using the 3D printer at high school and he really showed an interest in the whole design process. He asked me to get this Monoprice Maker Select 3D Printer v2 printer for him last year:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=13860

Best thing I have ever purchased! The nice thing about thid printer is that it requires very little assembly unlike some others. He did add some extra bracing by printing parts from 3D models already available.

He has recently done some work for a friend who is doing a custom pinball, I'll see if I can post some pics.

Be prepared to do a lot of tweaking with the print files and setup of the printer. Temperature, humidity and level will effect the final print outcome.

Having said that this is a great printer one of the connectors on the main board melted (common problem amongst low cost printers apparently) so be aware of that.

He is now in his 2nd year at Uni studying mech eng ... he even told me recently that he was glad I got that printer for him and encouraged him ( and he rarely gives me credit for anything lol).

I suggested he should get a portfolio of his creations and advertise custom pinball parts for Pinsiders in order to to pay for his tuition fees

That maker select looks nice. Is it as clean looking in real life as the picture? My tevo tarantula looks like a mess of wires right now lol

He's only 5. He has great spacial perception though, he's been playing Minecraft with me since he was 3. I think it took him like 2 days to learn how to use a xbox 360 controller and play the game, so it is second nature to manipulate 3d objects now. We do far less video games these days, and more hands-on stuff together like legos and whatnot, so I thought this would be a cool way to integrate computer graphics with the physical world.

Yes, it is as good as it looks...a nicely assembled unit.

I have a 3D printer I bought as a kit from a local maker group, nova-labs. I use tinkercad, which is an online free cad that is really easy to work with, and slic3r, also freeware, for converting the stl file from tinkercad to the gcode file for the printer. Works pretty seamlessly.

3D parts will eventually break. Your best bet is to print the part, make a mold, then cast a new one out of more durable materials. You could even cast a new one out of aluminum if you're feeling ambitious.

I have an Anet A8, DIY Kit. Usually onsale for 150 bucks. I purchased an upgraded PSU and a MOSFET to handle the higher current of the heated bed. (recommended safety upgrades from the community)

I eventually built a stand for it out of ikea lack tables, upgraded to a glass/PEI bed, and hooked it to a raspberry pi for wireless printing.

I've been very impressed with the quality of the prints ive been printing. However it does require frequent tweaking and dialing in to get the prints right. By no means a professional printer, but it has a very large community for help and troubleshooting, and most of the mods to improve it are able to be printed by the printer itself.

There are some safety concerns about the cheap circuit board connectors melting, and thermal runaway of the extruder nozzle most of which can be googled and fixed with MOSFETs and firmware upgrades. Ive pretty much been printing non-stop with it since I got it 4 months ago with no issues. I would not leave it printing if I was not home though. YMMV

20171017_211219 (resized).jpg

The Monoprice select v2 is currently on sale for $255 with the code 3DSELECT if you are thinking about one. It would be nice to have one at home for initial trials and just have the final part printed in metal online.

https://slickdeals.net/f/10670792-monoprice-maker-select-3d-v2-printer-254-99

This is typical tweaking and the need to print parts to make the printer better that exists sub $1500. If you want turn key you have to go into that range. I like my printer ($350 one) but using it and keeping it printing high quality parts is it's own hobby. Totally agree that before having shapeways print you a metal one (which will probably be a $100+ print job) you want to iterate some.

Other options:
- maybe there's a maker space / fab lab in your community?
- our public library here now has 3d printers.

You will love the Prusa—just a solid printer.

No, but a number of my friends do and they're all very happy with it. I have a few parts they printed for me and they came out great. If I were to buy one, I would get the Prusa.

you will have fun with it and great for proofing a idea / design.

since the original part was possibly pot metal (die cast zinc) it doesn't have a great tensile strength so depending on the density of a plastic print it might do but you can always take your design (proof of concept) and upload to Shapeways and print in stainless steel though there are some size limits.

https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace?q=pinball&sort=newest

out of interest how big the actual part.

PSA: do some research into preventing your printer from catching fire... seriously!

I don't know if there are issues with the Prusa but my son's Monoprice had a meltdown and it took out a few connectors. Problem is due to high currents, cheap connectors, poor PCB layout and inadequate protection built into the firmware.

https://hackaday.com/2016/12/07/dont-leave-3d-printers-unattended-they-can-catch-fire/

The printer is out of warranty but I will still contact Monoprice and see what they say.

Simplify 3D is the best 3d printer software hands down. Love it! Matched with a Flashforge Pro dual printing carbon fiber works like magic. Love this technology.

My first printer was a Monoprice i3 clone (select V2). I eventually had an electric burning smell and shutdown issue with the printer. I opened it up and did some direct soldering to replace bad connections and adjusted the voltage (plenty of people online with this issue to help troubleshoot). Been running flawless since, but there is absolutely a problem with these machines that could lead to a fire (my reading on this would lend me to believe that if there isn't a problem with it, there will be... [if you don't want to open one up and do some soldering, then avoid Monoprice]). As many prints can fail, it's often necessary to monitor a 3D printer regardless.

I'm currently using a CR-10 as my main printer, and after some modding to the print bed, I'm very happy with how much better it performs over the Monoprice (and size advantage). The Monoprice can do great prints, but it has been way more finicky with certain detailed prints and not as great a range for printing temperatures (have to get the temp just right to succeed and seems to have greater issue switching filament brands/colors compared to CR-10). For example, the fence portion on my JD tower prototypes wouldn't come out right on the Monoprice (despite every other detail coming out great), but the CR-10 did it all as desired.

My next printer will be the CR-10... Creality makes a great reasonably priced printer and my Ender-2 is working perfect right now. Did a ton of mods for it but from what I have read the connecters are alway the big question mark.