RepRap Prusa i3

I got my printer from Sunhokey. The printer was a great price and works great. I had little trouble building it and was able to get the print quality to be quite decent. The problem is their customer service is deplorable. I had a problem with the controller board. I emailed with them back and forth, they had me send the board back to them so I did, at an expense of $60 to me. It has been over a year and they will not respond to my emails now. On the plus side I replaced the board and Have been happy with it ever since. RepRap is the way to go. 

Easy to build and precise enough. I am happy

I was very very excited with my first printer. I start to mount my printer and I start to have some problems because I had very bad documentation from the page I bought it (3dEspana.com), also the printed parts where steel with the support. I had also almost no information about the software they gave to me (Slic3r) but I finally use Cura to print. I really recomend to use hairspray on a square glass to fix on it small parts and to fix big prints and acetone with plastic to fix big parts. When I managed to stick well the print I have succes in almost all the prints (when I fail is for external things of the printer). For new 3D printers I recoment to search for information with no hurry, there is a lot of information (too much of it normaly) so keep calm learn from tutorials and enjoy your first prints and 3D projects.

This printer is a great first 3D printer. If you're looking into building a 3D printer from a kit, I would definitely recommend this printer. The prints are however, not the best quality in comparison to printers such as makerbot, ultimaker, or form labs, but is great as a starting 3D printer to experiment and learn from!

As a Mechatronics Engineering student, I find this printer useful for bringing my projects and CAD homeworks into life. For detailed, small models, this printer is not enough; but, for regular models it offers a good quality.

Has some quirks, but for a cheap printer, my Afinibot is great for a little guy.

I thought it would be good enough to let me print some parts before sending out to someone else to print. After running through the calibration pages on reprap.org it is pretty good. I plan to do some mods to improve  accuracy and if they work it will be hard to beat .

I looked for a long time at various 3D printers, kits and buying the parts and building it myself.  I decided on purchasing the Makerfarm I3 10 in kit.  The experience buying it was a pleasure working with Colin Farrer, owner,  was the best experience of all I have ever had dealing with any business over the Internet.  

Trying to figure what options I should select, I communicated with Colin a number of times by email and he seems to never go to sleep, he always answered me almost immediately.  When I received the kit, 5 days later, it was well packed and all items easily separated and easy to find parts.  Makerfarm has created outstanding online video's and drawings that took me through the assembly, wiring, and software/firmware configuration.  When I was done, it worked perfectly.  

Since purchasing the original kit, I have updated with the latest E3D V6 hotend, which just made it even better.  I also put a PEI film down over the glass bed and this worked out great, eliminating the hair spray and ABS glue.  I now easily print PLA, ABS, PETG, and nylon with easy with the right sticking and release and no warpage from ABS anymore.  Anyone with or getting a 3D printer should use a PEI sheet to print on.

I also order my filament from Makerfarm as well.  Initially tried various suppliers but found the filament, I get from Makerfarm is quality, prices competitively, and always ships the same day or next and arrive in 2 days.  

On slicer software, I originally used Slic3r and Cura but was not satisfied with the print quality.  I went ahead and purchase Simplify 3D and have never been concern with spending the extra money.  The quality of print I get from Simplify 3D is soooo much better and Slic3r and Cura, its like I just went out and purchased a $5000 printer.

I highly recommend Makerfarm Prusa I3 printers and Simplify 3D.

I tripped over a deal on this thing and couldn't pass it up. It is a 3d printer. Not a great one, not a total waste. It prints out of the box, just not very well, or reliably. I have made major upgrades to it such as a Toranado geared extruder,  an E3D V6 hot end, and I replaced the acrylic components that made up x axis carriage the x-z gantry with printed parts (using the Toranado). These upgrades in my mind where a requirement in order to get the quality of print I desired and it worked. :)  If you are on the market, there are better printers out there for the money. Don't get any printer made of acrylic. It is a rigid material, but very brittle, and the nature of construction of the pieces doesn't lend itself to stability. 

I made the Prusa I3 from scratch.  There are plenty of versions on the net, I used the version downloaded from RepRap France.  Big applause for Joseph Prusa the designer, it's the best design to start with, simple and reliable. Later I realized that Joseph Prusa is publishing 3D printable parts in www.prusa3d.com his web site.

I build the version with aluminium frame which has supports at the back. Total cost was around 200 USD. If you don't have good results don't blame the printer :) there are many poor versions to buy or to download. If you are not expert, try to buy original Prusa as a kit or assembled. 

There are many small details to increase the quality and reliability of the printer; 

• Marlin firmware: After installing Marlin RC7 I have received better results on printing.
• Hot end: I'm using Chinese clone of E3D V6, (I bought the original but no time to replace) If you are using high temperature filaments, the Teflon tube inside hot end is melting in time and causing clogging. It works well with PLA.
• Good material cooling is essential to have a good printing (I have reached very good results with 3DBenchy)
• Auto zero with inductive proximity switch gives good results
• Electronics: I used RAMPS 1.4, try to use Pololu DRV8825, don't forget to adjust the current of the driver, otherwise it may stop in load and cause shifts in layers during printing.
• Z axis rods and seats are another issue to have better results, try to use 8mm version.