Geeetech Prusa I3 X

My printer is a Copy/Clone .. from Amazon sold by Wintern ( UK delivery), for £139 .

Not really for a beginner who wants to open the the box and start successful printing , but if you are  a capable Fiddler with some mechanical expetise its a good start in the steep learning curve. and at  well under 150 pounds a  good deal from Amazon.

Not exactly the same as a Prusa or a Geetech but a lot of common parts and a few improvement over  the original .

The cons are :

The PSU is a bit weedy @ 15 amp , but enough for  the Hot end and you don't really need a hot bed for PLA 

Non adjustable extruder that works enough to make a decent  new extruder.

And the software seems a slightly cut down version of Marlin, not sure yet whether the Controller a GT2560 

Rev A  can be reflashed .

Few other areas you can improve on, like the overall rigidity with a few 10mm washers . other than that you can get usefull prints out of it . and then move on to making  more printer Mods and extra bits to help it along.

really enjoying  the fiddling  .

This is a great value printer. I have the Geeetech i3 Pro B clear acrylic model (not the one pictured). For less than $200, you can get a fully functioning 3D printer. But that value comes at a price. You must spend more time assembling the printer from the kit parts and a lot of time tuning the printer to get those first prints working right. It took me about 5-6 hours to assemble the printer. However, I had it printing within the first two hours of turning it on. After learning how to level the bed and finding the right temperature for the filament/printer combo, I was up and running. The main part that needs to be added is a part cooling fan. Without it, the bridging is poor and prints don't always look their best.

The community around this printer is active on Facebook and online forums. Geeetech is a good company that provides decent documentation (they have a good series of YouTube videos showing exactly how to assemble parts of the printer). The PDF document gives step-by-step instructions on how to assemble the printer in plain English that is easy to understand with little translation required.

Some of the parts needed to be adjusted before they could be used, but I expected things to be a little out of sorts because of the cost of this kit.

It's a sturdy printer and works well plugged directly into my computer's USB port. I haven't used the SD card reader at all, so I can't comment on the print experience using that.

I've managed to print a few good prints, but my main issues have been severe z-axis banding. I ordered lead screws to replace the threaded rods that come with the printer. Unfortunately, the couplings that came with the printer did not work with the lead screws that I ordered, so I had to order some couplings. As soon as they come in, I will upgrade to the lead screws and hopefully get rid of the z-axis issues.

I was able to drastically reduce the z-wobble/banding by printing some z-axis fixer parts that I found on thingiverse.com, though. They allowed me to see details I didn't think were possible in a 3D print.

This is a good hobbyists printer, because it can be upgraded with lots of expansion parts. It's easy to print improved X axis carriages, z-wobble brackets, anti-vibration feet, z-axis assemblies, and on and on.

Overall, this is an excellent printer and I would highly recommend it for someone who isn't afraid to dive in and assemble a kit from a pile of parts and a few tools. However, if you're looking for a printer that you can take out of the box and have printing in an hour, keep looking elsewhere, because this isn't it. 

My Geeetech prusa like (I3 proB - acrilic) is a delight. It came as a kit and after several hours of assembly (spanned over 2 days) I was intrigued that the axis did not moved - only X was homing and that was all. The geek kicked in and I switching connectors for motors and finally I have got X and Z homing but not Y so checking the stepper driver I was surprised to found that one pin was bent and after that - Eurika. My first print was a part for a spring operated car and despite everything it turned to be a functional, beautiful piece. The printer requires slow printing speed - 40mm/s for 0.4 up to 0.2 mm layers. 0.1 mm layers need 20 to 30mm/s and a fine nozzle (0.2max). The original printer head leaked during first print so I tried to fix this but I have broke it and ordered additional parts. After 2 weeks the extruder skipped steps during extrusion process so I had to add some reinforcements to the tension spring (2 washers). Now I can say it is OK - so as I do said you need to take the matter in your own hand, search the net and the Geeetech support forum and the printer is a joy (plus - it has metal parts on X axis and you can always print plastic ones with additional features ....)

Very simple printer!

Its my first 3D printer.  I was frustrated at the beginning of my choice. However, I found a lot of tips and information for this printer.  Now I've come up with my printer, and that's awesome :)

The price point for these printer kits are nice. We also don't mind building our own printers but some may find it a difficult job. The parts included with the printer were not correct and it required replacement parts to be shipped from China. Kind of a pain due to shipping times. We have a small print farm and this printer sits stationary while all the other makes and brands of printers run 24/7.  The printer also had Z banding issues that could not be cleared up. The fix was after market parts, a few printed parts and some custom firmware changes for the new Z rod thread pitch.

I was given this printer for free by someone who bought it first hand. It was originally assembled incorrectly so I had to spend time putting things right. The community for this and similar printers is good and help is readily available. So far I have had mixed results with printing, Some things come out well and some things don't make it to the end of the print. I think this is a good printer to get into 3D printing with to learn how everything works if you don't mind adjusting things.

I had one when I was a child.  A small, meths-burning Steam Engine that needed constant tweaking and knob-twiddling. It would sometimes run perfectly for a whole session but the next time , although unchanged, the settings just wouldn't quite cut it. 

My Geetech Prusa I3 Pro B is a bit like that.  It needs to be warmed up before the settings are correct, and it seems like even a change in the weather can affect it.  When it is dialled in though, it is actually a really good little printer. 

Mine is screwed directly to a heavy wooden table to stiffen the frame as much as I can, and I have replaced the threaded bars with lead screws. I also printed the usual replacement motor mounts and frame braces and added those. 

What I have now, I believe, is a match for some of the much more expensive models around. This altogether brilliant little kit has inspired me, and I'm sure many others, to  embrace the concept of 3D-Printing.

I would give it a solid 9.5 out of 10, with the half-point taken away for the time I spend with it instead of walking the dogs. 

Great printer for the price of that moment (Though if i had to go for a new printer now, I´d rather go for a Creality). With time pass, it needed a bit of maintenance and improvement.

Original bearings are pretty bad, should change those before 200 hs of use or so, ay least for X and Y axis. 

Original heatbed connectors also tend to fail, i've changed that for common "plug-in" screw terminal block connectors.

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As for improvements/upgrades to achieve much more printing quality:

I have completely fixed the printer to the flat shelf where it lays with big cable ties (Highly recommend this, great ridgidity and estabilty improvement for this printer!)

 i`ve also changed the common M8 threaded rods of Z axis for  T Type Lead Screws and better quality Shaft Couplings for that threaded rods (Common Shaft couplings tend to bend with time and produce "wobbling" on outer shells of the printed object).

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Other:

I never could make the PWM fan output work, I don´t know if it came broken or I broke it trying to connect a fan...

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By now it already has 800 hours of printing (With the maintenance and Improvements mentioned above)

The z axis bars and the extruder need improvement. It would be nice to add a fan cooling down the filament just extruded.