tenaja
Posts: 157
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:16 pm

looking for high quality small printer suggestions

I am looking for a very small 3d printer, maybe 4x6x4" tall capacity, of high enough quality that a non-techy person can use it easily. This would be for making the same 4-5 parts over and over. Aside from being low maintenance after properly setup, small physical size is important. I am hoping for one that is not much larger than a standard sheet of paper, and under 1' tall. Speed is not critical, but good looking prints are.

If anybody has a recommendation, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks.
arhi
Posts: 483
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 5:13 pm

Re: looking for high quality small printer suggestions

those miniature ones are usually limited to PLA only and usually don't have low quality extruder (so you can't expect very good print output quality).. high quality extruders are usually tad bigger and lot more expensive so ppl usually don't put them on low volume printers..

the only high quality printers that are small are the kind with resin and laser (SLA printers) but they are kinda expensive (you can see list of 20 best ones here https://all3dp.com/1/best-resin-dlp-sla ... thography/ )

you might want to check out https://all3dp.com/1/best-resin-dlp-sla ... plicator-7
4.7 x 2.7 x 7.9 in³

from the miniature FDM printers UP MINI 2 COMPACT https://hobbyking.com/en_us/up-mini-2-3 ... -plug.html is the only small one that have great print output quality. The problem is it's not open in any way .. closed firmware, you are limited to teartime slicer (that's really really great) etc.. anyhow their line of printer (teartime, UP this and that) are made for non professionals / regular folks, so they "just work" and produce great output.. they are tad on the expensive side but this mini2 is cheap 'cause of the very small build volume...

the other "mini" ones I tried
fabrikator mini v1.5
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/fabrikator- ... -v1-5.html

fabrikator mini v2
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/mini-fabrik ... -plug.html

v2 is tad bigger and lot better (v1 is acrylic and I personally hate acrylic builds 'cause they crack over time, v2 is sheet metal), price is more/less same

v1 is ~15x15cm (so less then A4 paper) footpritn but is bit heigher then a foot (22cm height)
v2 is ~17x18cm (again less then A4) footprint but even more height (27cm)

they are cheap as dirt
you can see a few reviews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oohJIaQDic0
https://youtu.be/syoDDbcTnSA
gcodestat integrates with Simplify3D and allow you to
Calculate print time accurately (acceleration, max speed, junction deviation all taken into consideration)
Embed M117 codes into G-Code
Upload your G-Code directly to Octoprint
open source and unlicence
shocksofmighty
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 11:36 am

Re: looking for high quality small printer suggestions

I think the Cetus printer would probably fit right in the range of something you are looking for. Linear rails, small, etc.

https://www.cetus3d.com/shop/
tenaja
Posts: 157
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:16 pm

Re: looking for high quality small printer suggestions

arhi, thanks, that Fabrikator mini 2 seems to be just what I am looking for.

I already have a form 1+, but the parts are too fragile for what I need.
tenaja
Posts: 157
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:16 pm

Re: looking for high quality small printer suggestions

shocksofmighty wrote:I think the Cetus printer would probably fit right in the range of something you are looking for. Linear rails, small, etc.

https://www.cetus3d.com/shop/
That does look like the rails are probably higher quality, and a good size; if it had a frame for protection, it would be perfect.
arhi
Posts: 483
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 5:13 pm

Re: looking for high quality small printer suggestions

tenaja wrote: That does look like the rails are probably higher quality, and a good size; if it had a frame for protection, it would be perfect.
they are far from "higher quality", it's standard PRC made rails.. (good enough for FDM and low speeds/accelerations)
gcodestat integrates with Simplify3D and allow you to
Calculate print time accurately (acceleration, max speed, junction deviation all taken into consideration)
Embed M117 codes into G-Code
Upload your G-Code directly to Octoprint
open source and unlicence
implement
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 7:35 am

Re: looking for high quality small printer suggestions

The printer I would absolutely recommend for you is the Creality Ender 2.

Total cost 175$ USD.

I use it as a benchmark for my larger printers. Zero ghosting. beautiful layer lines, rigid construction for each axis, and plenty of thingiverse upgrade's. For the cost it offers very good value. The community is great and numerous because of the success of the Creality CR-10.

Everyone should have a printer like it in their collection. These small printers can really put out some top notch FDM print quality.

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