DUPLICATOR 6 vs DUPLICATOR i3 PLUS vs ORIGINAL PRUSA i3 MK2 kit

3D Printing 3D Printers
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HI ALL,
Sorry if this is not the place to do comparisons of 3D Printer. If that’s the case, please let me know where I should post this kind of topic in the forum.

First of all thank you for your time reading and giving feedback/recommendation.

I am a newbie in 3D Printing and research alot about it, but still needs a lot to learn. I am looking to buy my first 3D Printer and have filter down to THREE 3D Printers. All within my budget.

1 ) ORIGINAL PRUSA i3 MK2 KIT by Josef Prusa
2 ) WANHAO DUPLICATOR i3 PLUS
3 ) WANHAO DUPLICATOR 6

For what I hope for is a 3D Printer where I can learn a lot from. I know there is no perfect one when it comes to tech. So, I am hoping that the 1st 3D Printer I Choose is able to
-help me learn more about 3D Printer.
-able to customize, upgrade and mods etc.
-maybe able to extend but not compulsory

And after 1-3 years. Will build DIY own 3D printer with desire spec.

PRUSA i3 MK2 KIT - It seems to be a good 3D Printer and lets me learn more about 3D Printing. With the recent upgrade with MK2 Kit. It seems to improve a lot and those seems pretty interesting knowledge to learn about.

WANHAO Duplicator i3 PLUS - I have seen a lot of reviews and it has improve a lot a lot since the first one. And with the PLUS edition, they had corrected a lot of problems from user feedback. I know is a good 1st 3D printer with basically plug and print (almost).

WANHAO Duplicator 6 - I am very interested in this as I have being attracted to its form like Ultimaker and Zortrax M200. However, hard to find a decent review about it yet. Only know that the print is pretty good and maybe on-par with Ultimaker 2. Plus, it has optional enclosure kit for better printing ABS.

----------So I would like to hear some feedback and recommendations from USER who have experience with 3d Printer and maybe lucky enough that some of you might hv own these 3d printers.

Hope For :
-Learn about 3D printer (from Hardware to Software)
-Able to upgrade components and mods the Printer (like changing extruder etc)
-Able to print most materials PLA / ABS and others that I love to try - Like PRUSA I3 MK2 has stated that it could print almost all materials. (I know that I can change and upgrade extruder to print other materials)

Also I have a few question that is :

1) Does all printer suppose to hv Auto Filament Feeder like Ultimaker 2 has on the side?

2) Whats the difference with E3D V6 Full (Prusa i3) , Mk10 and Mk11 extruder ? Which one is better and more user friendly like changing thermistor and installing thermocouple etc ?

Thank you all

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Hi Bryan.

First off, take your time and visit Reprap.org to get a good understanding how a printer works and a feeling for what it takes to build one yourself. There’s also a great community behind this all and you will always find someone willing to help you :slight_smile:

If you want to learn how a printer works, you will have to go with a kit. The Prusa seems to fit perfect for this! But be aware that assembling a printer and then get it running will take a lot of time and patience. But with the help of tons of instructions, tutorials and a lovely community (Forums.reprap.org) even someone with less skills should be able to assemble a kit. It will take time, can be pretty frustrating for the most part but you will learn everything about those machines.

After assembling you then can learn about the second part in 3D printing: the printing itself. And once again there is this great community, tons of troubleshooting, tips, tricks and guidelines out there.

If you are more interested in the second part, go with one of the wanhao. Those are closed, convenience printers ready to start with little of knowledge about the printer itself needed. Most components are hidden and you will not be able to upgrade except for some changes with the printhead. If it should be a wanhao I would suggest to buy the i3 Plus. Great choice for a starter and intermediate and less then half the price of the i6.

I for myself started off a year ago with building my own Printer (P3Steel) which I bought part by part and then assembled it myself. Yesterday I ordered myself the wanhao i3 plus because I need a second one and do not want to invest so much time in another self built printer + at the moment his is probably best price for value (of course depending what your looking for).

Have fun :slight_smile:

Ander

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Hi there @Bryan_U_Vin.

I work for a Wanhao dealer at beautiful3dprinters.com. I can help shed some light on the D6 & i3 PLUS.

I’d actually suggest the PLUS is better for what you want. The reason being, is that it’s got customisation potential and alot of community groups. The i3 facebook page has 3000+ users, there’s also a wiki @ Wanhao Duplicator i3 « 3d Printer Tips and Mods Wiki. Both of these sites go into mods etc. Benefit is, obviously, that you can see what others are doing, which helps you learn in the process.

We boldly call it the best beginners option as you can startup easily, without too much tech knowledge. You then have the opportunity to customise, modify and educate yourself about the 3D printing process over the time you have the device…

In terms of the recent PLUS upgrade… Essentially it’s an electrics upgrade and solving some mechnical wearing issues, with a touch screen, larger SD slot and a few miscellaneous parts upgrades. The benefits of all this is printer lifetime is increased, electronics are consolidated underneath the printer & known problems with mechanical wearing have been resolved. Additionally there’s a lot of parts which are just better quality and the touch screen makes menu navigation a hell of a lot easier.

And on the D6, briefly… We really love this printer. There’s a reason it’s more expensive because it’s fantastic quality. Would be comfortable in an architectual design studio producing commercial prototypes but has a price-point available to a beginner. If it’s in your budget and you want production quality then go for the D6 (out of all the options you listed), but if you want to have a tinker, play with the electronics and customise your kit, then a PLUS would be perfect.

Hope this helps. Give me a shout at mason@beautiful3dprinters.com if you want to know anything more about the Wanhao products, I can help you there.

Here are links to the PLUS and the D6 on our site too :wink:

All the very best,
Mason
Beautiful3DPrinters.com

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Hi Mason,

Thank you very much for your comments and letting me know about Beautiful3DPrinters.com :slight_smile: and surprised that with that price, you guys are offering free international shipping too.

I end up deciding on the Prusa i3 MK2 as my first kit 3d printer instead. However, if I do decide to get a WANHAO D6 later, I sure will get it from Beautiful3DPrinters.com for the good price and free shipping :slight_smile:

Thanks

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Hi Andercrust :slight_smile:

Thank you for your comment. I decided to get the PRUSA i3 MK2 Kit as I would like to undergo the process of building a 3d printer to printing great quality 3d prints. I believe a kit would give me more learning space than buying a Plug and Print printer.

Thank you :slight_smile:

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This sounds like a good decision for what you are trying to achieve! I wish you a good Time, a steep learning curve and a lot of patience :wink: if you have any questions, I will be glad to help (if I can) :slight_smile: all the best, Ander