I have also heard that the UP printers (http://www.pp3dp.com/)are fairly easy to use and require little maintenance.

And if you want the hot rod of open source 3d printing, you cant beat an Ultimaker 2!  My school has just chosen to go with the Ultimaker 2, and I'm very excited!

I have an SD3 and its a decent printer. Though my next printer will be an Ultimaker 2.

Snickers wrote:

No regrets whatsoever. My school has a cubex and they have had so many problems. They paid $2500 and I paid $800 for my Sd3. I think it is the best printer you could buy right now unless you are going to pay upwards of 50k for a better one. No regrets whatsoever.

I think that is what youll find all around.  None of these things are consumer ready so theres no point in spending a lot of money.  Even the industrial ones require constant maintenance.  Being for a school the one thing I would worry about is I think they are kind of slow for replacement parts.  If you have multiple people messing with the printer, chances are someones going to do something stupid and break it.

That is great to know. For the time being, I SHOULD be the only one messing with it until it is up and running to decent standards and then will be teaching others who are on the research team how to use it. Which will be few.

Right now the Printrbot Plus is slightly edging out SD3. They seem to also have great support and a good community, as well as a great value machine.

Appreciate all the responses.

No regrets whatsoever. My school has a cubex and they have had so many problems. They paid $2500 and I paid $800 for my Sd3. I think it is the best printer you could buy right now unless you are going to pay upwards of 50k for a better one. No regrets whatsoever.

I think that is what youll find all around.  None of these things are consumer ready so theres no point in spending a lot of money.  Even the industrial ones require constant maintenance.  Being for a school the one thing I would worry about is I think they are kind of slow for replacement parts.  If you have multiple people messing with the printer, chances are someones going to do something stupid and break it.

Whatever you do, save money in your budget for an E3D hot end. Upgrade to glass. Those are two things (especially the first) that are supreme for reliability and convenience.

There are plenty of things you can do to a SD3, but the E3D is not a "requirement".  In fact nothing is a "requirement", the printer will print "out-of-box.  Glass is indeed a cheap upgrade and very convenient to clean, but I'm not sure where, or when the E3D became such must have upgrade. 

You also may want to mention that in order to do that upgrade, the user will have to be able to print a E3D compatible extruder first.

I'm probably gonna get flamed for this by the E3D believers, but unless you plan on printing other materials (nylon perhaps), I personally don't see the need for it.  I have the original hot end, and it works just fine for ABS.  I have no interest in PLA so I can't speak for that, but for ABS, the original works just fine.

I can think of plenty other upgrades I would do before changing to an E3D, especially if the original is not broken.

I happen to like spending vast amounts of time fiddling with the printer, so I don't have many regrets. Probably the one thing I'd do different is get the cheaper one without the bed heater, because you'll want to replace the bed heater anyway, so might as well save the money (though I admit, I haven't gotten my replacement heater installed yet).

My question for those of you that own a Solidoodle, is do you regret your purchase? If you were to get the exact amount you paid for your Solidoodle would you make a different purchase now after having experience with the Solidoodle?

If you'd look into another printer, why and which ones?

Thank you.