What upgrades do you have apart from the E3D?
In order of installation:
1. E3D v6 - this was by far the best upgrade i have made.
2. Lawsy Carriages (this requires new hardened smooth rods as well - the bearings will eat the stock rods in a short time)
The bearings allow smoother movement of the carriages versus the stock bushings. (not a necessity, but nice)
3. New controller board (due to a failure of the stock Printrboard) (not a necessity if yours is working)
4. Fan mounted to X motor (prevents overheating of the motor, which can result in skipped steps)
5. New power supply (more readily available power to the printer)
6. upgraded build plate (stock plate was severely warped)
7. Hale bed heater (shorter heat up times, more even heating) (again, not a necessity, but very nice)
Here are the problems I have with the printer:
1) Filament strips (can't print large objects, because after a while the filament strips, needs cleaning of extruder gear)
this is most likely caused by a) not enough tension on the filament gear, and/or b) improper temps of the hotend
2) Need new nozzle/extruder--broke recently
the best option to fix this has already been suggested
3) Y alignment (probably x-alignment)
Belt tension and carriage alignment are what is needed here. There is a video on how to properly align the carriages and the Y belts/pulleys. Belt tension needs to be pretty snug to keep things aligned. Looseness will allow it to get out of alignment. Also of note - both sides need to have close to equal tension - you can not have one tight & the other loose. they need to be as close as possible.
4) Gaps between infill and permiter
fix the belt tension and carriage alignment and this will be fixed
5) Extra material (pimple like) on surface
Proper filament calibration and better slicing profiles would fix this.
...
If the upgrades cost more than $225, I might as well buy the better printer, no?
Absolutely NOT. Put your money into upgrading what you already have.
you have in your possession a machine that CAN be a good machine with a little effort put into calibration/adjustments and a few dollars to upgrade what needs upgrading. The thing is, YOU must be willing to do it.
As wardjr has already said - any other printer you buy is going to need to be properly calibrated as well.
There is NO such thing as a "Plug & Play" 3d printer.
Even the high end machines that cost thousands of dollars need to be properly calibrated out of the box.
Anything less than $500 is most definitely going to need help, and would be a source of continued constant frustrations. Most "cheap" printers (the range you are suggesting) are not anywhere near rigid enough for quality printing, nor do they have quality parts in them.
In short - fix what you have. Put in the time and effort to properly calibrate it, then enjoy it.
and just to prove that I did not always turn out quality stuff... and it is possible to fix what you have...
the progression from bad calibration to good...
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SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1
