Posted: 3/11/2026 5:28:58 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Blob][Edited]
| Looking at getting another printer at work. Primary material will be ABS, but the ability to print delrin or PEEK could open some doors for us although that is not a requirement. Ideally the build volume would be in the 500mm range in X/Y. Heated chamber of course. Accuracy is important, speed is not. I don't even know where to start looking so I'd love to hear some brand names to investigate. Thanks in advance |
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Originally Posted By boomfab: I have been 3D printing prototype stuff for my business for over a decade. We have had several high end brands. There is a intergalactic leap in cost going from a really good desktop Bambu X1C to something like a Stratasys. Yes I'm aware. We already have tons of prusa machines, Formlabs SLAs, a polyjet of some type, and two other laser printers with some crazy ass mirror thing. Ten grand for a new printer is less money than we spent on the last service call for one of the large format SLA machines. The SLA machines get used a lot for fit checks and mockups but they require tons of post processing and the strength doesn't hold up so we are looking to replace them with FDM so we can print actual ABS. My company's revenue ends in "b" so it won't be a problem getting a high end machine. I'd love to hear about your experiences with some of the industrial brands. |
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Raise3D and Modix probably the next step up. MarkedForge, Stratasys, Creatbot are others. Heck I think HP makes industrial models now but haven't read too much up in them. I'd be looking at Raise3D and Modix first, personally. My employer uses Raise3D models for rapid prototyping of custom production line parts and will even run them while we wait on the "real" pieces to be produced for us. I worked at one of our plants for a few years in the offices and got to see it run quite a bit. They did some crazy stuff with it. They were printing delrin with it at one time. Pretty neat, though in fairness I think Bambu could manage delrin. I just thought it was cool. 
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Originally Posted By -Obsessed-: Raise3D and Modix probably the next step up. MarkedForge, Stratasys, Creatbot are others. Heck I think HP makes industrial models now but haven't read too much up in them. I'd be looking at Raise3D and Modix first, personally. Thanks for the suggestions. I will check them out. |
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Do not buy anything from Stratasys. My company has close to $1M worth of Stratasys machines that are constantly broken and they won’t even pick up the phone without a maintenance contract that is five figures annually. Their filament comes in proprietary cartridges that have a one-use EEPROM chip so you have to buy their $500 filament instead of $150 from anywhere else. And even when they work the print quality makes a 2008 lulzbot look good. We’re waiting on cyber security to let us have the first of what is hopefully many Factor4s so we can rid ourselves of Stratasys. |
The hardest part about a zombie apocalypse will be pretending I'm not excited.
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Originally Posted By thezentree: Do not buy anything from Stratasys. My company has close to $1M worth of Stratasys machines that are constantly broken and they won’t even pick up the phone without a maintenance contract that is five figures annually. Their filament comes in proprietary cartridges that have a one-use EEPROM chip so you have to buy their $500 filament instead of $150 from anywhere else. And even when they work the print quality makes a 2008 lulzbot look good. We’re waiting on cyber security to let us have the first of what is hopefully many Factor4s so we can rid ourselves of Stratasys. Yikes. I figured most companies would lock you in to their filament. Looks like Raise3D can use any brand though which is nice, but there is a gigantic price delta between their 300mm machines to the 500mm machine. Talking from $5k to $70K. |
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We are looking for a large format printer too but dont have budgets like some of you. However I have been looking for giggles. I like the Raise3d and Ulitimaker but for some of you if security is a big deal, like it should, then Mark Forged is the way to go. Their entire system is built for security. Not sure if your stuck with proprietary rolls or not with that company though. If I had a big budget and not worried too much about unit cost, those 3 are my leaders-so far. The fanciest stuff we print is PET-GF so even in large format there are a couple other options now. |
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Originally Posted By RhinelandArms: We are looking for a large format printer too but dont have budgets like some of you. However I have been looking for giggles. I like the Raise3d and Ulitimaker but for some of you if security is a big deal, like it should, then Mark Forged is the way to go. Their entire system is built for security. Not sure if your stuck with proprietary rolls or not with that company though. If I had a big budget and not worried too much about unit cost, those 3 are my leaders-so far. The fanciest stuff we print is PET-GF so even in large format there are a couple other options now. The Mark forged FX20 looks like it will do what I need, except it doesn't list ABS as a compatible material and they don't even have ABS available in their store.  Of course if they allow you to use unbranded material then it wouldn't be a problem...unless their software is locked down and they won't let you add customer materials.All the big companies are stingy with the details too. Barely anybody lists max nozzle or chamber temps. I'm sure they want you to use the contact form so they can have the sales team put the pressure on. Ultimaker doesn't seem to have any machines bigger than around 300mm. |
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Originally Posted By Blob: The Mark forged FX20 looks like it will do what I need, except it doesn't list ABS as a compatible material and they don't even have ABS available in their store. Of course if they allow you to use unbranded material then it wouldn't be a problem...unless their software is locked down and they won't let you add customer materials.All the big companies are stingy with the details too. Barely anybody lists max nozzle or chamber temps. I'm sure they want you to use the contact form so they can have the sales team put the pressure on. 100%. Industrial sales are a racket. They want to "manage the message" so you can understand the benefits. Features tell, benefits sell. And it's hard to convey benefit to unique customers whose features are the same but derived benefit is likely different. Sales 101. |
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CreateBot D600 Pro is the only printer I've found so far that will do what I want. 420 on the nozzle, dual extruder, 70C active chamber heat, 600mm cubed, uses any filament, and even compatible with Slic3r based slicers which I take to mean Orca. Only $11K too. Eta: Reddit reviews are entirely negative
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Originally Posted By Blob: You have one? I've read mixed reviews. We have one at work, it is a little finicky but I don't know if it's my getting used to the slicer settings or the printer itself. This is my first go round with Prusa printers. What we did like about it is the offline capability, it doesn't need to reach out to some cloud to get running. |
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Here is another one, they appear to be out of the Netherlands, which I would trust over Creatbot and Modix. It says they run ABS and seems to be just about anything else. https://builder3dprinters.com/product/builder-extreme-3000-pro/#1481550534187-d3f694f8-6a7a |
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I had a small array of four identical Raise3D printers around 2020-2024. They were pretty good for the time. Eventually we had a lot of parts breakages and we went Bambu X1C's after we go sick of the problems. The Bambu's are awesome and make 3D printing fun again. |
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Originally Posted By Blob: Vision Miner 22 IDEX V4 looks pretty sick. Build volume is a little smaller than what I'd like but everything else is perfect. I've heard of a lot of issues of almost every truly IDEX machine. Just a watch out. I know RatRig has an IDEX that makes wild claims too and isn't cheap either and it just doesn't perform as advertised so I'd recommend a good dose of due diligence. A lot of reviews at the surface seem great but then when you start googling issues that you make up to see what kind of hits you get the problems bubble to the surface pretty quick. |
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Originally Posted By -Obsessed-: I've heard of a lot of issues of almost every truly IDEX machine. Just a watch out. I know RatRig has an IDEX that makes wild claims too and isn't cheap either and it just doesn't perform as advertised so I'd recommend a good dose of due diligence. A lot of reviews at the surface seem great but then when you start googling issues that you make up to see what kind of hits you get the problems bubble to the surface pretty quick. Seems like all the big players are using idex. The more I read about the vision miner the more I like. Linear rails, triple Z motor bed leveling, 500C on both nozzles, 200C build plate, 100C+ triple wall insulated chamber, recirculating filtration, fume extraction option, slice engineering hotend, V6 nozzles, bond tech extruder, compatible with any brand filament, reprap firmware, and pre-configured prusa slicer profile. |
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Originally Posted By Blob: Seems like all the big players are using idex. The more I read about the vision miner the more I like. Linear rails, triple Z motor bed leveling, 500C on both nozzles, 200C build plate, 100C+ triple wall insulated chamber, recirculating filtration, fume extraction option, slice engineering hotend, V6 nozzles, bond tech extruder, compatible with any brand filament, reprap firmware, and pre-configured prusa slicer profile. Wow. That's impressive. Is it the Mosquito hotend? I had those on my two MK3S+ and they are EXTREMELY impressive. I had a Mosquito (not the magnum) with Bondtech CHT hardened nozzles and the 50w Slice heater cartridge and was printing PETG flawlessly at 43mm³/s. My Bambu X1C with an ObXidian HF 0.6mm nozzle can't even do that, it maxes out at around 30mm³/s on PETG. Also the design is 1000x better than the stock E3D V6 as you have a fixed heat block and heat break that won't unscrew when you swap nozzles. What bed leveling technique does it use? Nozzle probing? |
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Originally Posted By -Obsessed-: Wow. That's impressive. Is it the Mosquito hotend? I had those on my two MK3S+ and they are EXTREMELY impressive. Also the design is 1000x better than the stock E3D V6 as you have a fixed heat block and heat break that won't unscrew when you swap nozzles. What bed leveling technique does it use? Nozzle probing? It's the copperhead hot end. I have mosquitos on my mk3s as well with PT1000 thermistors. Can't find information on how it levels the bed. Attached File |
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Originally Posted By Blob: It's the copperhead hot end. I have mosquitos on my mk3s as well with PT1000 thermistors. Can't find information on how it levels the bed. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/160722/1000017650_jpg-3728898.JPG Bummer. Time to mod it for Mosquitos. Using the mid grade Copperheads seems like an odd choice. Wonder if there is some other dimensional limitation requiring the Copperhead. |
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Did you ever decide on a machine? Here is a kind of funky one, I know not to expect much out of this one but if it could at least do PLA CF it might work for what I want. I am zeroing in on 600mm cube but a 500mm cube might work too. FLsun v400 max |
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Originally Posted By RhinelandArms: Did you ever decide on a machine? Here is a kind of funky one, I know not to expect much out of this one but if it could at least do PLA CF it might work for what I want. I am zeroing in on 600mm cube but a 500mm cube might work too. FLsun v400 max Talked to my boss the other day. He said in the June/July timeframe we're going to kick off another big project and they're going to give him a big budget so we'll likely buy something then. We are leaning toward the Vision Miner because we like to have as many capabilities as we can but I'm still keeping the Creatbot D600 Pro2 in the running and also looking for other models. I'm kinda nervous about buying such an expensive machine because online reviews are scarce and I don't want to get burned by something that doesn't work. At least with the Vision Miner they have US Support. The Creatbot is a Chinese machine and their support probably doesn't even exist. |
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Do you have to deal with ITAR/ECI stuff? Some of the commercial 3dp rapid prototyping social media accounts have those idexs and I haven’t seen them try to promote them, but they’re always walking by other machines to pull parts off the idex. Cybersecurity turned the factor4 over to engineering last week but no one has had time to get it set up. Can’t wait to see how it does. |
The hardest part about a zombie apocalypse will be pretending I'm not excited.
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Originally Posted By thezentree: Do you have to deal with ITAR/ECI stuff? Some of the commercial 3dp rapid prototyping social media accounts have those idexs and I haven’t seen them try to promote them, but they’re always walking by other machines to pull parts off the idex. Cybersecurity turned the factor4 over to engineering last week but no one has had time to get it set up. Can’t wait to see how it does. No but we are an international trade zone. |
