3D printers: Test: Printrbot LC vs. Makerbot Replicator 2 vs. Up! Plus

Recently I bought my 3D printer. (I know this is crazy.) I was unhappy with the Printrbot LC and the Makerbot Replicator 2, which I thought would be an awesome printer and would overcome everything, that the Printrbot failed to deliver. But it has it’s downsides as well.

Thats why I ordered a third printer: the Up! Plus, which is now my new favorite.

Here are the pro and cons of each printer.

Printrbot LC

pro:

• quite cheap ~600$ plus delivery and customs
• open source

cons:

• awefull documentation, no real manual, just a small quick start guide exists and some youtube build instruction videos, that will drive you crazy
• loads of parts were missing in my Kickstartet kit, so there was a high level of frustration (they never heard of a scale?)
• heavy problems with the extruder motor: it overheats after 20min of printing. Again - high frustration level

Makerbot Replicator 2

pro:

• very fast
• high quality
• high resolution (0.1mm)
• good manual

cons:

• prints only PLA, if you have never worked with this material, don’t belive it is so durable as ABS. It really breaks very easily. I was about to remove a part from the printing plate and it broke into 5 different pieces in that moment
• very costly, 2200$ plus delivery and customs
• warping, that freaking me out, you pay a premium price and prints still warp
• the software MakerWare is still in beta state, there are some thingiverse 3D models that will not be printed out correctly and the software is made for idiots, since you can adjust very little and it does not tell you, how long the print will gonna take.

UP! Plus

• medium cost: 1500$ plus delivery and customs

pro:

• little warping (see my anti-warping guide over here)
• high quality metal frame
• high resolution (0.1mm)
• they included pretty much everything in the kit: leather gloves, tools, …
• good manual
• software that also adds support structures and tells you how long the print will take

cons:

• quite slow, medium frustration level
• annoying alarm sound (it beeps when you initialize it, when you start the print and when it stops, medium frustration level