I agree with Christian, the Prusa mk3 is a pretty good bargain for a machine with quality parts.
With the super cheap Amazon printers, by the time you swap in good stepper motors, drivers, and a e3d hotend, you might as well have bought a Prusa.
Even after designing my dragon forge 3d printers from scratch with the good stuff, in addition to a Baltic birch wood frame/enclosure, and hush matting, I only knocked off $50 in my cost vs getting a Prusa. My only real advantage over the Prusa is that I’m able to print larger parts in more warp prone (and nasty smelling) filaments.
I think it is smart to have a number of printers that require less maintenance. We also need to have a bunch of people help maintain the printers. First, let’s honor Christain’s working so hard to maintain the printers and try to get some that he has found easier to maintain. Then, if we can round up a number of others who want to help, we can have the bandwidth to do things like build our own printers or buy some that might be less expensive but require more maintenance.
Looking at the Strategic Investment Program we will need to match any funds requested. And the Deadline for application is November 5th. So can we set up the fund raiser with the aim of full funding but ask for matching funds, if the number can not be reached. But frankly ask and you will get the funds to many people use the machines. I don’t but I read the forums and ask questions for my own machines so I will be putting $100 in.
I’ll be sending out an email with more details in the next couple days, but the primary goal is to raise enough to get 2 more Prusa i3 MK3s+ 3D printers. This will cost a total of $1600. Depending on the amount that we raise there are some other items we are considering: an enclosure for one of the Prusas to help with printing ABS and other warp prone materials, a multi-material upgrade, upgrade parts for the Ender 5 Plus to facilitate faster printing of large objects. We are working on applying for a matching grant so we may be able to double the amount we get in donations, but that is not guaranteed.
Anyone who donates will get dibs on helping assemble the printers if they want to (there will be gummies). I’m planning on a couple other rewards for certain donation thresholds (probably $50/$100) but I haven’t worked out the details yet. That will be included int the email when it is sent.
Thanks for your support, let me know if you have any more questions/feedback.
Do they also give Haribo Gummy Bears with the Prusa Mini? If so, the Mini is half the price, smaller footprint and a similar quality workhorse printer… PLUS 2x the Gummy Bears.
I’m thinking if a bunch of folks sent a little you’d be there in no time - here’s a 4th click from the pacific northwest - good luck with the fundraising!
Patrick, I didn’t know the fundraiser had started. It was luck that I noticed Cathyb’s post in the summary this morning or else I still wouldn’t have known to donate online. Christian, is there any way you could publicize this more? I suspect many like me are very busy and don’t notice all of the posts on the forum. Could you send an email or something to the membership? Was it included in the last newsletter? I haven’t had a day off in over a month getting this new basement ready to set the house on and have lost track of nearly everything not involved in my project… Hope my $55 helps get you to the goal. Good luck!
I can do some social media post next week, to help bolster our cause. I’ve also suggested we need more options for donations, such as cash app or Venmo.
Input:
I have used several printers and while I agree the prusa is definitely a top notch printer, we might also consider the regular ender 3 pro I absolutely love this machine I tell anyone who ask that this is a well rounded machine. I’ve seen these on Amazon for 189$ and even less expensive during sales we could buy 4 machines for the price of one prusa.
Just my 2 cents.
I started with an Ender 3 Pro and the maintenance time required on it was crazy no to mention the reliability, ganted i made 16k off the 1 printer but it was stressful. Now i have 3 MK3s’s and LOVE them, things just work and there’s very little maintenance required, though when something does break it requires more time fixing, however well worth it. I’ve not touched the Ender line since however i have heard great things about the V2, but that time is long gone, Prusa’s for me and if they ever release the XL i’ll get 2 as soon as possible.
Yes, it is still going. In some respects it hasn’t fully started. I’m going to be sending out an update tomorrow once I get info on where we currently stand. I’ll be sending out an email to catch people who don’t keep up with the forum. Feel free to publicly shame me if I don’t get things sent tomorrow. I’ve been needing to do this for a while but keep putting it off.
The PayPal link is still active for those who want to use it. Cash/check in the drop box at the front desk is an option for those who prefer it, just make sure it is clearly marked as being for the 3D printer fundraiser. I also wouldn’t mind a message if you pay offline so I know what to look out for.
Thanks to everyone who has donated so far. Keep an eye out for more info tomorrow.
love this machine I tell anyone who ask that this is a well rounded machine. I’ve seen these on Amazon for 189$ and even less expensive during sales we could buy 4 machines for the price of one prusa.