RegB wrote:My "other(s)" were
a) The manual. Reading that BEFORE ordering really convinced me that all the bits would fit together and "probably" work.
b) This forum. In particular the constructive criticism given on... THE MANUAL !
and of course the spirit in which Gene received and used it.
c) Price, "under $1K" being yet another one of those weird psych barriers (-:
d) Build volume. Bigger is sometimes better, though I had some reservations that precision/accuracy might suffer with long travel & long drive path.
e) Precision of laser cut parts, the alternative being my lack of (ply)wood working "skills" )-;
f) OK, I'll admit it - polar coordinates vs Cartesian - - seemed kinda off-beat - - it APPEALED to me (-:
You nailed all of my reasons as well. Read the install guide, ordered the connectors and other stuff, now waiting for the V2 to ship! WooHoo.
Community is a big part of this stuff.
Thanks
Peter
cassetti wrote:I Selected the Rostock Max for several reasons:
1) I wanted a Delta 3D printer, SeeMeCNC had the best kit at the time
2) Rostock Max had the largest build volume of all printers in my price range ($1000 and under)
3) SeeMeCNC had a solid reputation and a large community forum (better than my previous experience building a RepRap!)
4) The Rostock design was already 8-9 months old, it appeared to be a relatively stable design (much better build design than my Prusa i2 experience!)
Most of my complaints about the Rostock Max have already been fixed apparently according to my recent review of GeneB's new assembly manual. Really wish I had waited about 6 months longer before buying the kit. Oh well, live and learn. Maybe I'll buy an Orion off you guys next year!
1) Price. At $1000 plus free shipping (at the time) it was the best value in printer for what you get stock and what you can do with it later.
2) Delta. I wanted a delta because they are faster and simply cooler looking than others. They are harder to calibrate, but I'm doing this as a hobby.
3) Upgradability. You can do a thousand different little things to make this printer PERFECT. You can print with pretty much any material you want once you upgrade the stock hotend to an E3D or something all-metal.
4) Build Volume. I liked the 280mm X ~350mm+ volume. You can't get that in a printer that has such a low desk space requirement elsewhere.
5) Community. I rarely, if ever, have to go outside the SeeMeCNC Forums to get ANY sort of support needed. Everyone here is helpful and literally every mod that can be done and every problem that can be had with these printers has been meticulously documented.
6) Kit. I wanted to assemble my own printer so I knew the ins and outs of it and had something to be proud of when showing it to friends and family later. "It makes me feel like a big man" to be able to do this myself.
7) American made. I'm not a super-pro-American patriot-type person, I'll buy stuff from China if it works, but in the 3D printer realm I have seen so much crap being peddled by companies in China, Taiwan, etc. European and American printer brands are built VERY well and the European brands such as Ultimaker were out of my price range and simply not as good of a deal as the Rostock Max v2. I guess this could be considered more of a "Quality made" heading rather than "American made", but they're both synonomous for the most part right now.
8) Not cheap wood. The parts are made from the melamine boards, whatever that is (I still don't know, I suspect some sort of plastic sandwiching dense fiberboard?), and they hold up to humidity well. I live in Hawaii, so it was either metal or something else that held up well in humidity above 65%.
9) The instruction manual for the kit. Holy shit, it's even better now than even 2 months ago when I build mine!
Some things I would improve:
*Note: These things are easy enough for a person to do themselves, but would be nice to have included stock for those who are stretching their technical abilities with simply building the kit. There are a lot of smart engineer types on here, but not everyone is that inventive.
1) A STOCK ALL-METAL HOTEND. Screw that PEEK crap. Sorry, but for the quality of the printer I would happily pay another $50-75 to get a stock E3D v6 included sans the relatively crappy resistor-laden PEEK hotend.
2) Some ABS included. I ordered some, but it would be nice to have a pound of ABS included for people who don't know they need it for the PEEK fan. Although that can be solved with #1 above.
3) Better ventilation in the base. I would think an 80mm or 92mm fan on one of the side panels or venting out the bottom right behind the RAMBO would be sufficient, but with the bed at 90-100C the inside gets what I would call dangerously hot for the electronics. Even with 2 80mm fans, one push / one pull, I get temps up to 40C+ inside the bottom case. I am scared to think how hot it got before those things were on there! Also, maybe put some vents on the plexiglass panels to allow more airflow with the aforementioned fans.
4) A better method for spool holder. The stock spool holder is really annoying in that the spool keeps getting caught on the edge. Something rounded would be nice. Maybe just a length of PVC pipe to fit around that arm would be sufficient even.
Borrowing many of the well stated reasons that redoverred gave.
redoverred wrote:For all of the reasons to follow:
1) Price.
2) Delta.
3) Upgradability.
4) Build Volume. I liked the 280mm X ~350mm+ volume. You can't get that in a printer that has such a low desk space requirement elsewhere.
5) Community.
6) Kit.
9) The instruction manual for the kit. Holy shit, it's even better now than even 2 months ago when I build mine!
Some things I would improve:
*Note: These things are easy enough for a person to do themselves, but would be nice to have included stock for those who are stretching their technical abilities with simply building the kit. There are a lot of smart engineer types on here, but not everyone is that inventive.
2) Some ABS included. I ordered some, but it would be nice to have a pound of ABS included for people who don't know they need it for the PEEK fan. Although that can be solved with #1 above.
3) Better ventilation in the base. I would think an 80mm or 92mm fan on one of the side panels or venting out the bottom right behind the RAMBO would be sufficient, but with the bed at 90-100C the inside gets what I would call dangerously hot for the electronics. Even with 2 80mm fans, one push / one pull, I get temps up to 40C+ inside the bottom case. I am scared to think how hot it got before those things were on there! Also, maybe put some vents on the plexiglass panels to allow more airflow with the aforementioned fans.
4) A better method for spool holder. The stock spool holder is really annoying in that the spool keeps getting caught on the edge. Something rounded would be nice. Maybe just a length of PVC pipe to fit around that arm would be sufficient even.
Fantastic value for capability/quality that it has. I was considering dropping $2K+ on Lulzbot but price of Rostock Max drew my attention.
While the Delta is fascinating to watch, my criteria was based on wanting a machine with a large X-Y area and preference for a non-moving build plate. I may never use the height capacity, but it's available for someday.
Kit was a plus. I like to tinker and building it from the ground up means you know the assembly tricks.
"Trust no quote from the Internet." - Abraham Lincoln
My first criteria was $/volume, but a very close second was "how reliable and easy to fix is it?"
My thoughts were basically:
- I haven't seen anyone who owns a MAX be less than enthusiastic
- It's a kit so if I built it myself then I understand every nut and bolt in the thing for if/when something goes wrong
- The community is great so if I'm really stuck, I can get help
Seemed like the MAX hit the trifecta of reasonable price, reliable, and easy to fix.
nitewatchman wrote:it was much cleaner and easier than killing a chicken on top of the printer.
This was our family's first 3D printer. We chose the Rostock Max v2 because:
1. By assembling the kit we would come to understand the inner workings, and be able to correct malfunctions or repair it in the future.
2. The impressive build volume.
3. The ability for SeeMeCNC to deliver the product in days rather than weeks or MONTHS.
4. The reputation for amazing customer service.
5. Maybe this should have been higher, but one of my work acquaintances bought one first. He seemed to really like it.
Dawwwwwww, we love all you guys and it's pretty awesome to drop in here from time to time and read some of these comments. Keep up the good work, i think we are
Not sure if I should vote or not, since I have yet to make the purchase. But here are my ideas in order...
Design - I find the movement of the Delta Style Machines to be, fascinating.
Build Volume - Ok kind of obvious
Community
Kit vs Assembled
Speed - being an old school Machinist, I have to admit looking at mmps doesn't mean that much (I always worked in Inch / Ips and I'm to/too/tutu lazy to convert )
The price was pretty damn good compared to what else i saw on the market. I've been looking for a very specific minimum build volume. The Rostock falls short by a little; a little is just as bad as a lot. The way I see it though is that i'd rather chop my projects up into 3rds because its a little small rather that 40 parts because its tiny. I build big... I need a big printer...
After a waste of time and money on the EZ3D Phoenix printer (never was able to print one thing!), I decided to look for a printer with a good track record. At first I was leaning towards the Orion so that I could begin printing out of the box. But, after giving it some thought, there were many more advantages (in my mind) from going with the Rostock Max V2, not the least of which is building it.
___________________________________________________
Proud owner and builder of the Rostock MAX V2
Corsair RM750 PSU, Stepper Motor Dampers, Stock Hotend.
Previously used a Makerbot Replicator 1 & 2. Got fed up when they sold out and the quality went down while the closed source / difficulty in working on them went up. Afraid to even touch a 5th Gen Makerbot.
Saw a SeeMeCNC RostockMAX V1 in action at a 3D printing event at the Chattanooga Public Library, and thought it was the best thing I'd seen in 3D printing. Never had seen a delta printer in action before. There were a bunch of other printers at the event, various Makerbots, RepRaps, and some homemade customs. The RostockMAX made all the rest look kind of a couples years behind it. Everyone there agreed the RostockMAX looked like a winner for the next time to purchase a printer.
Just finished building my RostockMAX, and couldn't be happier.
I had to click Other. After using the Afinia for a few years I've pretty much maxed out what I can do on it. We're going to keep it, it still does some things well. The final straw was when I had new projects come up that required "food safe" filament and also some of the more exotic mixes. Well, I could NOT get the Afinia to print PLA from other companies. Sent it in for repair, $350 later is STILL doesn't print other brands. I had put a temperature adjust on it so I could print other brands of ABS but was stuck. So, we started looking for a new printer that COULD print other materials and also had a larger build volume. I ran across all the people happy with the SeeMeCNC printers so we were going to get an Orion, but figured we might as well get the cheaper, larger printer. Building wasn't a problem, we build electronics every day.
I also remembered seeing one working at one show (don't remember the show, it was a few years ago) when a client I ran into dragged me over to talk to some Maker he was impressed with who had a booth near the printer. I wasn't impressed with the person, but I guess the printer stuck in my mind.
So, reasons:
Versatility
Build Volume
Customer reviews
Price
Saw one working.
I've since bought a copy of Simplify3D software as I don't have time to muck around trying to figure out why somethings not working. Their build visualization alone let me tweak a model until it looked like it would print...and it did...until the PEEK fan died (new one being installed today).
I've recommended SeeMeCNC to other people
Standing on the edge of reality... (me)
Quando omni flunkus moritati (Red Green)
Let no man belong to another that can belong to himself. (Paracelsus)
All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison. (Ibid.)
Well besides value, the fun of building it, quality, build volume, support, community, ......... The main reason is my buddy has one and I am very impressed with what he has accomplished with his,and the fact that I always have help a phone call away if needed!
johnoly99 wrote:
If you chose other, please explain.
I can't put one characteristic above any other - my decision was based on many things. Some of this might sound a little stupid but here goes, in no specific order of priority:
the people who make the machine - seem to be an impressive, well qualified group
the instruction manual(s) and other online help
the V2 upgrades (the first generation always has room for improvements, eh?)
the ability to use non-proprietary material (I hope this is correct)
the potential printing area is large
the resolution
I get to build it - not only do I enjoy a good build but by building it I'll really get to know the machine, very helpful when performing maintenance, adding upgrades, or fixing it if . . . when something goes wrong
the anticipation of having parts available, if/when needed
IT's A FREAKIN DELTA PRINTER! These things are off the scale when considering the "ultimate in coolness" factor
johnoly99 wrote:
Thanks guys
So, you're assuming no women partake of the forbidden fruit also known as 3D printing?
I purchased by Rostock MAX at the MakerFaire in Dearborn, MI in July 2014 when I met the SeeMeCNC crew and got to talk to them about the printer. Everyone at the booth was great and it made me feel that it was not only a great printer but had great people behind it. The price and build volume were probably the biggest two factors in purchasing the unit. After a year, it still runs great and am still finding new things to try. I did replace the head about six months back with an E3D but other than than one change it runs pretty stock.
I knew I wanted my next printer to be a delta, and I wanted to have a build vsize of around 300mm. I had considered sourcing everything myself, but that is quite an undertaking, and since a lot of things come from Chiba I think it would have taken forever.
I liked the think3dbuild3d metal frame, carbon fiber arms and electronics much better than the Rostock maxv wood frame, 16bit electronics, and plastic arms but the size volume was too small. And the Rostock was the number one rated printer on 3dhubs and has a lot of good reviews so I decided to go for it.
Because Delta!
Because Value!
Because Quality!
Because Close to Me (right down the street here in Goshen)!
Because Community!
But Primarily, Because Best Damn Crew in the Business!
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