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Aldi to stock 3D printer

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michael cole10/11/2017 16:13:49
166 forum posts

As the title says, Aldi to stock a 3D printer that is meant to be £600 cheaper than the same model elsewhere.

Muzzer10/11/2017 16:22:35
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2904 forum posts
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I guess you mean this. Balco(?) for £299. Order online. The corny video says you can "take your ideas to the next level". Wow.

Seems to be a rebadged Wanhao Duplicator I3. Seems like a reasonable bit of kit for £300 if you have that lying around and fancy a 3D printer....

Edited By Muzzer on 10/11/2017 16:36:25

Rik Shaw10/11/2017 18:09:31
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1494 forum posts
403 photos

Seems like a reasonable buy. I might just give myself a Christmas present subject to a bit of reading up.Thanks for bringing it to the attention of the "club".

Rik

Neil Wyatt10/11/2017 18:17:47
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19226 forum posts
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86 articles

A heated bed printer pre-assembled for £300 is very good.

Muzzer10/11/2017 18:51:32
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2904 forum posts
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To be clear, from what I can see it seems that £300 is about the normal going price for this printer. I suspect the implication is that it is "as good as other printers that cost £900" although I'm not in a position to comment on that comparison. However, I'd rather buy it from Aldi than some overseas fly-by-night on ebay for the same price.

Murray

Neil Wyatt10/11/2017 18:58:22
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19226 forum posts
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So it's basically a Prusa i3 clone with a touch interface.

Martin of Wick10/11/2017 19:20:17
258 forum posts
11 photos

As pointed out you can get the wanhao I3 from a UK supplier for less than £300 - doubt if the Aldi clone is significantly better or worse than the UK supplied version but the UK supplier is a specialist 3d printer outlet that offers support.

What I do know is the i3 is a very competent printer out of the box and without much finessing. cant say if it is as good as £900 printers but I bet there are some high cost printers that are not as good as the i3. I would suggest it is slightly stiffer than a Prusa, but not by much. Y axis can be improved though.

I used mine to produce some very serviceable MXL timing gears to drive a mini wood lathe (the picador pup no less!) and a bunch of 20 DP gears for the M7 (well not actually for the M7 but for an EW to replace the absurd DP16 set that came with the EW). Plus a whole bunch of other bits an pieces, mainly PLA. The supplied bed/print head will get hot enough for ABS, but not nylon

Not perfect by any means and all modestly priced 3d printers suffer the old engineering bugbear of a lack of rigidity, but this can be addressed if required, also in the case of the i3, the stated print height was a slight exaggeration more like 170mm than 200..

However, I was well pleased with it so far and you can use it 1/2 and hour after unpacking.

If new to this recommend you do your research etc

Clive Foster10/11/2017 21:59:55
3630 forum posts
128 photos

Looks more like a re-badged Wanhao I3 Plus than I3. If so Aldi seem to be pushing £50 cheaper than the specialist suppliers.

Maybe make a note to keep an eye on Gumtree / E-Bay / Friday Ad et al come mid-Summer or Autumn if you really want a cheap one. Much more to getting good results from these things and to finding interesting stuff to do with them than the video watchers realise. Video game it ain't.

Price / performance / expectation equation still doesn't balance for ordinary guy / gal / teen in the street. Antediluvian penguins like moi may be justly amazed by what you can buy after a few months hard pocket money saving but the modern generation seem to be more blasé.

Clive.

jimmy b11/11/2017 04:55:20
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857 forum posts
45 photos
Think I may try it. My Fisherdelta has pretty much worn out.

Jim
Neil Wyatt11/11/2017 14:35:51
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19226 forum posts
749 photos
86 articles

Just for clarity the Wanhao I3 is a Prusa i3.

The Prusa designs are open source and no-one's implementation is 100% the same as anyone else's.

Nick Hulme11/11/2017 22:11:11
750 forum posts
37 photos
Posted by Neil Wyatt on 11/11/2017 14:35:51:

Just for clarity the Wanhao I3 is a Prusa i3.

The Prusa designs are open source and no-one's implementation is 100% the same as anyone else's.

But, and it's a big one, as big as Kim Kardashian's in fact.

A new board for my Factory 3D Prusa I3 Clone is between £7.50 and £50.00 depending on your choice of Arduino flavour, the Wanahao board is £150 and you don't have a choice

Neil Wyatt11/11/2017 22:59:34
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19226 forum posts
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Posted by Nick Hulme on 11/11/2017 22:11:11:
Posted by Neil Wyatt on 11/11/2017 14:35:51:

Just for clarity the Wanhao I3 is a Prusa i3.

The Prusa designs are open source and no-one's implementation is 100% the same as anyone else's.

But, and it's a big one, as big as Kim Kardashian's in fact.

A new board for my Factory 3D Prusa I3 Clone is between £7.50 and £50.00 depending on your choice of Arduino flavour, the Wanahao board is £150 and you don't have a choice

You do have a choice... fit a bog-standard i3 board to your Wanahao!

Nick Hulme12/11/2017 11:27:33
750 forum posts
37 photos

Yes, I have that choice and so do you but lots of people that 3D print wouldn't know where to start on modifying the Marlin config, compiling and loading it onto their shiny new Arduino :D

John C27/11/2017 20:12:24
273 forum posts
95 photos

Did anyone buy one - I looked but they were sold out!

John

John C15/12/2017 12:12:23
273 forum posts
95 photos

I guess that's a 'no' then!

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