Buying a new printer

[KADOW]

So i have been looking at the Folgertech family of printers for years now. And i am in the market for a new printer I have a Robo R1 Plus but ive never owned a kit where i had to buils it myself.
So what kit would the community recomend I have always had my eye on the FT5 for a while now and the new I3 Mega looks good as well. I also see there is no part cooling fan is that difficult to hook up? My expierience with the robo is pretty limited i have installed a E3d V6 hotend but thats about it.

Thank you
Kurt

[carefudundae]

I'd say the ft5 has great potential, but takes a lot of effort to get there. You have to really want to put the time in, otherwise you'll never finish it. It's a huge bonus that you already have a printer and know the basics already. It's certainly doable and is a very rewarding experience. I know that building from a kit and upgrading/modifying is how I learned 90% of what I know about 3d printing. I highly recommend it, if you want to learn about all the details and have lots of time and patience available to do it.
I don't have a Mega, so can't speak to that one.

[Ron]

I would second what @carefudundae said about the FT5.
It is a great printer (especially the R2 version) but it is not even remotely in your dreams "plug and play".
You will almost certainly take far longer than estimated to assemble it and you will almost certainly modify it (or want to).
That said, I would buy one again if I needed another large format printer.

You might consider the FT-i3 instead.
It looks very interesting to me and perhaps someone else who has one will chime in.

I have purchased two printers from this company and was very satisfied in both cases.
https://www.3dprintersbay.com/folgertech/ft-i3-mega-3d-printer
I would buy from them again without a doubt (and no I don't get any compensation for saying so).

[KADOW]

Ok one last question would you recomend the FT5 R2 over a CR10s my friend is trying to get me to buy the CR10 he gets really amazing prints off of it for sure better than my Robo.

But it also comes down to building and setting it up like you have said fine tuning it. Like i said i have a Robo and ive gotten decent prints and can print pla and abs fairly well and the FT5 would be so much easier to enclose.

Does the FT5 have better print quality I have heard that these types H or X type system of printers can print very detailed prints but I have googled looking for prints to compare but could not find much to look at.

Thank you
Kurt

[carefudundae]

If you only want to print pla and want to be printing soon, then the cr10 is probably a good suggestion. As mentioned above, you've got a long road ahead with an ft5, but it's a worthwhile road if you want to take it. Expect 10-15 hrs to build it, and another 20-40 to fine tune. A lot more to do printed and non printed upgrades. After all that you'll have a better printer than a cr10 imo. But it's up to you if you want to put that level of effort in (and frustrations along the way).

[KADOW]

Ya the FT5 sounds like the way I want to go after looking at some of the ones people have built I want to print in other materials besides PLA.

So any guides to look at on things that would be advisable upgrades during build or just build stock first. Maybe not upgrades but things like heat shrink tubing soldering iron volt meter tools and other bits and piecea to help me get prepared to build it I have 2 weeks off for christmas ans id like to be ready to print by then.

[carefudundae]

it's challenging enough to build it stock, so i'd say start there...
after you get that up and going, then you can start modifying/upgrading

[KADOW]

Ya just watched a great video on youtube from Ray makes on his build are the tollerances really that off on the corner braces and some of the cross braces great video to referance though while building mine up.

[csorrows]

No tolerances should be off. I have built 2 of them without issue. Take your time and make sure everything is square as you go. The latest FT-5 R2 manual is pretty detailed as to what to check during the build process.