Mihai wrote: Just wondering what the precision is on these two, especially the Solidoodle one since it uses molten plastic for printing.
i just browsed trough the specs, and the solidoodle looks quite interesting.
it has a fine resolution mode which allows layers of ~0.1mm but the nozzle is .35 wide so in xy the res will be lower.
it is hard to find close up shots of parts by either printer.
personally i dislike the plastic finish that comes with ABS or ABS-like printing materials, also you will always see the build layers, and you can't get rid of them easy. sanding such plastic is not easy, maybe with a small sandblast, but not by hand.
the other problem you are likely to get is lack of precision, as these thermoplastics warp when cooling.
also the scaling in xy vs. z will be anisotropic. meaning if you align a part differently in the build box it will have different dimensions each time, making it harder to build assemblies from several parts.
in our studio we use a z-corp machine but we got it used for less than half price. was a lucky deal, and it still runs well.
the big advantage with these is that they print a plaster-like material in a powder bed with HP print heads.
so very high resolution prints, very fast, overhangs of any type are no problem, no support is needed and the build box is 210 x 210 x 230mm
but thin parts are fragile so you need to dig them out of the powder archeologist-style
the finished parts have a diffuse surface and can be infiltrated with resins to make them tougher if needed.
we mainly build architectural models with it.. surface looks much better than plastic for these:
1:500 scale
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