[Closed] Aldi 3D Printer - £299

Hmmm!

That's just a prusa I think(I'm no expert), no doubt get them cheaper than that, these days.

ALDI warranty should be OK

Could someone print a gun with that? Asking for a friend 😆

Could someone print [s]a gun[/s] sex toys with that? Asking for [s]a friend[/s] me 😆

Tempted, but I still reckon it'd not get sufficient use to be worth having.

You can get similar for much less, but it looks like a great package for something you can actually get in a shop.

Google Tevo Tarantula.

£155 delivered.

Okay you have to build it yourself but that is quite good fun.

I will try to post pictures of what I have printed since getting one.

Loads available for less than that....

As above, the Tevo Tarantula or Creality Ender can be had for around £160.
£300 gets you something with a much bigger print area

Bangles
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4482/37833344871_cc2c7c414a_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4482/37833344871_cc2c7c414a_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/ZDcMkv ]20171021_154616[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/89686376@N04/ ]WCA![/url], on Flickr

Darts holders
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4506/37659029422_deb5bd3c93_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4506/37659029422_deb5bd3c93_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/ZnNnqJ ]20171014_151419[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/89686376@N04/ ]WCA![/url], on Flickr

Bottle Opener (don't bother, it breaks rreally easily)
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4477/37020676073_2c9f0d6e62_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4477/37020676073_2c9f0d6e62_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/YpoDdv ]20171014_151410[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/89686376@N04/ ]WCA![/url], on Flickr

Drill guide for 15mm copper tubes
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4480/37020674683_72293ba3df_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4480/37020674683_72293ba3df_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/YpoCNx ]20171014_151323[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/89686376@N04/ ]WCA![/url], on Flickr

Phone holder and beer pint holder on bike
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4490/37020673693_11d364e15b_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4490/37020673693_11d364e15b_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/YpoCvt ]20171014_151356[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/89686376@N04/ ]WCA![/url], on Flickr

Picture frame corner jig
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4458/23838087838_1fa4d3361f_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4458/23838087838_1fa4d3361f_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/Cjur1s ]20171014_151231[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/89686376@N04/ ]WCA![/url], on Flickr

I get the impression the Aldi is a kit too? It doesn't say as far as I can see but the box looks like it's flatpacked

There's some ready-to-run printers coming on the market now at sensible prices... I really like the build and upgrade approach (even if it is currently buggered and I can't be arsed to fix it) but there's a lot to be said for just buying a thing and plugging it in

I think you should be able to see the photos here : https://www.flickr.com/photos/89686376@N04/albums/72157686524618286

This was my go at building the Tevo Tarantula

First print of a 20mm X 20mm X 20mm cube was....

...20.06mm X 19.96mm X 20.03mm

Which I was bloody impressed with

That Tevo Tarantula looks good!

You guys get them from Gearbest?

I did

Loving your work WCA

I've always thought the first thing to make with a 3d printer is ..........a 3d printer 🙂

Is this possible??

Is this possible??

In my Culture, yes.

I've always thought the first thing to make with a 3d printer is ..........a 3d printer

A guy from work has one and all he has printed is bits for his 3D printer. It was the same when he got a mill, all he made were tools for the mill. He also bought a vinyl cutter thing and made a sticker for his wheelie bin.

Seems a bit pricey for a basic kit. Check out the Monoprice range online. Saw them in action at this years TCT exhibition & they looked great. Start at about £180 I believe

The thought of where these could go genuinely blows my mind!
So with the beer holder thing, that must have a hinged clamp, right?
So in theory, you could print a big 'd' shape, to go around the front of the bars, a la Jones bars?

The cup holder would be better with a hinge. It actually relies on the flex in the plastic.

You can add bolts and encased nuts etc for a variety of fixing options. The picture frame clamp uses jig saw like design to hold the bits together. This allows you to reconfigure it as required by simply sliding the parts apart.

So far everything I have printed is from the free designs on Thingiverse. This is because I don't have a computer that can run CAD software properly and also I haven't thought of the 'thing' that I desperately need to design.

Printed some Christmas design cookie cutters yesterday. 6 hours to print 3 but they look pretty good.

Review of last year's Aldi one here.
(I don't think it's changed from the Australian model sold last year, apart from the touch-screen (which is of dubious value)).

Maker's Muse is a reliable reviewer (and a great channel to subscribe to)

As others have mentioned, there are cheaper options just as good, but the warranty is useless with those. Thankfully individual 3D printer components are very cheap.
Not all chinese 3D printers are kits - my Creality CR-10 was mostly assembled as is the similar Tevo Tornado.

Actually, I think the Aldi one is a rebranded Wanhao Duplicator i3 Plus
So there are loads of reviews online.

(last years was a rebrand of the Wanhao 2.1)

Anyone get one yesterday then?

AlexSimon - I think it's available from tomorrow...

Despite my Wife being very anti-me getting a 3D printer (you don't need one, blah blah blah).....she went to do the food shopping earlier & must have picked up a specialbuys catalogue, because she whatsapped me a pic of the printer from the catalogue......I replied asking if she's reserved me one. No answer yet!

There are some very favourable reviews of it online.

Ah - it was available to order from yesterday.

Yes, I think contrary to what people said above, it's about right for the money, with the added bonus of Aldi warranty.
But I didn't realise it was online-only.

I guess the problem with Aldi warranty is that if anything goes wrong it will be the whole thing that has to go back and who knows if thy would have more stock or not, let alone spares.
However at least you'll be in touch with a native English-speaker!

So far everything I have printed is from the free designs on Thingiverse. This is because I don't have a computer that can run CAD software properly and also I haven't thought of the 'thing' that I desperately need to design.

FreeCAD is fairly lightweight, the limiting factor is more how complicated the object is than then software, once it get's past 20 or so pads/pockets my laptop starts to slow down, but it's only a middle of the range i5 laptop.

Current 'thing' I'm trying to make is a combined garmin/go-pro mount, which will actually just have an old magicshine P7 on it, also on a 3D printed light/go-pro bracket.

Struggling because I can only find .stl files of garmin mounts, and can't see to get freeCAD to turn them into solids that I can do boolean operations on.

I know nothing about these, but I love something to pay with. Are they like normal printers, in that they're a reasonable price to buy but they get their money back on the running costs? When you print something, what is it made out of?

^oops, something to play with.

There's another thread here for general 3D printer kit experiences.
Might be best taken there.
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/cheap-3d-printer-kits-experiences/page/5#post-8789192

But with regards to how 'like a normal printer' the Aldi one is...
Well - it's definitely more technical.

There is a lot more to know and a lot more that can go wrong. Slicing is a skill that you will need to hone as is understanding the limitations of fused deposit printing.
But there are some great introductory articles out there. I'll find one and report back.

Running costs:
- If you use the heated bed, electricity costs are similar to a desktop PC - 100-200W
- If you want lots of colours, you will spend a lot on filament. I just checked and I've got 11 rolls at approx £15-20 a roll. I shouldn't have checked! I still haven't got an orange I really like 🙁
- I use it for prototypes for product design and actually should have just got a good matt bluish grey and used that for most things.

A roll of PLA is usually 1kg, which as you can imagine gets quite a lot of gopro mounts, fidget spinners, etc out of it. You don't have to make things solid - they can be hollow or have a crosshatch infill.

Too much to go into off the top of my head, but it's very hard to say it's anything like owning a printer. Too bleeding-edge for that.

For software, I use Cura for slicing (free) and Fusion 360 for modelling (which is free to hobbyists and companies with less than $100,000 turnover).

Fusion 360 runs ok on a normal laptop as long as you [url= https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/fusion-360/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-optimize-settings-in-Fusion-360-for-performance.html ]turn off effects[/url]

What are people's thoughts of which to get now (that they may have had more of a play with the Aldi or Tevo Tarantula)?

I've got the unenviable task of buying one for my FIL even though I have no experience or knowledge of them.

Is the Aldi worth the extra £'s?

Thanks

The Aldi customer warranty helps the decision

Would like one of these but knowing me I'll print a few things then lose interest. 🙁

I know it's early days of these things and potential is huge especially when it gets to the Von Neumann Probe stage. In the mean time though it appears they are only usefully for printing loads of plastic tat you don't really need. 🙄

singletracksurfer - Member

I've got the unenviable task of buying one for my FIL even though I have no experience or knowledge of them.

Is the Aldi worth the extra £'s?

Personally I don't think so. If it's to be a sort of DIYer toy then there's not much disadvantage to going with a Tevo- he'll be playing with either. And if it's to be a simpler toy and he's not going to want to spend time fannying about with it then a ready-to-run printer like the colido delta amazon have will probably make more sense

Thanks I'll look into the colido delta - there is one on amazon down to £200, supposedly from £600.

Yeah, I have no hands on experience of it (and it's PLA only- no heated bed and no very simple upgrade route) but it's a real domestic printer, no assembly makes a massive difference

(kits aren't that hard to do... But frankly most issues people have come from bad assembly. I think there's a lot of clever coders and designers out there that can't work a screwdriver. Me, I have a damn solid chassis, but I can't code for shit and I've got pissed off at it)

My dad is desperate for a 3d printer, quite why I'm not sure.

May get him one for Christmas.. What's the difference between the kits. I've found them ranging for 120 quid to 240.

Lots of differences... Metal frame is generally better than acrylic for one. Unfortunately it's pretty difficult to judge the quality of other parts like extruders and hotends so you kind of have to rely on 3rd party reviews for that.

The other thing is support- the kits mostly use fairly universal parts for steppers etc and they're incredibly tweakable so the community support is really important. That's the main reason the Tarantula took off so much, it got a really good modder/fixer scene almost immediately

I know it's early days of these things and potential is huge

No different to any other form of CNC manufacturing. Home use is limited. The media have just gotten too excited.

Sorry.. I missed out a fairly important part of my question! I'm looking specifically at the tera tarantula which seems to range from anywhere between 120 and 240 quid. So I was referring specifically to diffences in that regard

Oh right! Well, it's the same kit from everywhere but there's a load of spec differences- dual extruders, e3d hotends, bigger print areas, auto levelling... Mine is the big print area but tbh I've never actually used the extra room! Auto levelling is just a convenience thing and can be added later, I've never bothered- takes about 2 minutes to manually level. Hotend upgrade is worth it, the stock one can be a little dribbly with PLA. Extruder upgrade I'm not sure.

Dual extruder is interesting because it can be used to print 2 colours... But equally you can have it loaded with 2 different filaments and just not have to go through the hassle of reloading.

But it's all just upgrades, none of it's critical. I reckon I'd go for an e3d hotend and leave everything else standard tbh but that's just me.