If it was me, I would buy my 1st one then once you learn what you like and dislike plus the experience you gain, then you could build your own with the features you want.

That is kind of the path I am on I thought about a scratch build decided I really din not know where to start and did not want to put all my energy into R $ D  . so I set a dollar limit and got what was closest to what I though I wanted at a price under my limit.
So just need to figure out what to do for the next printer.
Yin

how would you go about getting the size correct when making a phone cover??

added some photos so you can sort of see what I mean

If it was me, I would buy my 1st one then once you learn what you like and dislike plus the experience you gain, then you could build your own with the features you want.

+1
Also, it is VERY handy to have a running printer available as you will find it necessary to design and print various brackets, switch holders, etc. to complete the build (if you are building from scratch and not using a kit).

Good luck in your search.
Tin

If you're so confident that quality 3D printers can be made on $60 BoMs, why not go into business producing them? Obviously it stands to be quite profitable for you

You can't build them in mother's basement at that price. Therein lies the rub. The first 800 lb. gorillia to enter the market will bankrupt all the drunks building printers in their mother's basements.

10 printers a week? Com'on buddy, get real, those guys are paying full retail on every part they buy.

And, if you have a source for electronics NOT made in China, I'd love to see you post some links.

PS. The link I posted for a $32.95 RAMPS electronic kit included the board, a mega 2560, 5 stepper drivers with heatsinks, a LCD card reader with cables and a breakout board, plus a USB cable and wire ends. When a poster has gone to the trouble of documenting their post from a verifiable source, it might behoove you to check the source before insisting they're wrong.

what free software would you guys recommend? just downloaded blender and been looking up some tuts on you tube and will start playing around with that today but will download a few

I spent several weeks downloading and testing every CAD program I could find -- around 15 in all. I ended up going with Creo Elements Direct Express 4.0, which doesn't have too bad a learning curve with a little help from YouTube videos. You can find the most recent release here:

http://www.ptc.com/product/creo/element … ng/express

It's a scaled down, free version of their commercial product, which is outrageously overpriced. It doesn't seem to get much airplay in the 3D printing community, but I wasn't able to find anything I liked better at any price, including programs costing three grand after a 30 day free trial.

It's geared more toward mechanical design, which might make it less well suited for artsy type stuff, but if you're looking for something reasonably user friendly for working with geometric shapes for export to .stl, it'll get you where you need to go and it's pretty hard to beat free. Sadly, they added a pitch for their high priced stuff to the program on startup, which the older version doesn't have, but if you can tolerate the nonsense, which is only mildly annoying, you might want to give it a try.

On buying a ready made printer, in addition to ebay, I think Amazon also has a UK site with a lot of printer stuff, both ready made and components. In the current state of the art, I'd recommend sticking with places with liberal money back guarantees, as there's a lot of junk floating around. Unfortunately, you're a few years ahead of the kind of mainstream, mass market production that will take the industry out of mother's basement and into real factories. In the mean time, it's mainly a matter of luck if the machine you buy will be built during one of mother's problem child's more sober moments, while they're busy drinking up their Kickstarter funding. A money back guarantee is the most important feature to look for in a 3D printer today.

if anyone sees one could you let me know please thanks for all the advice guys at lest I know where to start on buying a printer now which is far more then I knew this morning

seen this one on ebay seems to be the only one for sale in the UK not sure where to start looking for one tbh unless I keep a search open on there

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SOLIDOODLE-3D … 4adc9ce035