"How long has your printer lasted so far" Topic

OK so I just liiked up my Bot Statistics for my Replicator 2. Otsliftime print hours is 1338. I am on mu 4th ptonter bed which is a lexan plat. These I make instead of buying. Spares wise I have replaced the plastic upgrade for the feed but that was a small cost and replaced 1 board under guarantee not bas so far. Where are you in the lifecycle?

So far prints you could say cost about 1.50 p an hour for machine costs but as it lives on this gets less.

Not at home to see the hours but I am just under a year with mine and haven't had to replace any part yet.

My Replicator 2 I ended up swapping the original really bad feed mechanism and put a glass platter on it. I've considered rebuilding it to create a heated bed (there's instructions on how to do so on line).

However, I really stopped using my Replicator 2 and got a Robox Cel and put over 2000 printing hours on it so far. I used it so much I had to buy a new print head for it (though that was really only about $90 USD).

A year back I got a Form 2, though, and SLA printing is so much better than FDM printing that I rarely use either of my FDM printers any more. My SLA has about 500 hours on it thus far and is both fun to use and spits out amazing quality stuff. No step levels, resin-like quality. Easier cleanup than FDM. It's more money, but really amazing quality (though more expensive than FDM). I use FDM to spit out bases and simple stuff, and anything complex I use my SLA for.

I suspect that the fiRST thing I did was get the print head upgrade FOR MY rEPLICATOR 2. getting rid of the O ring and getting the Sprung tentioner.

Getting simplify 3D has given the printer a new lease of lIfe. Better prints and the support system means you can support structures down to 1mm diameter and possibly less and the cleanup time is massively reduced.

I had BOTH my Monoprice Prusa I3 clones die within a week of each other, the factory completely replaced both, I have had the new ones for 9 months now with no problems. The motherboards died on the previous ones. I also have a CR 10 that the heating element on the extruder died. That was replaced for free and no problems since. The CR 10 is vastly superior to the Monoprice printers, I am thinking about installing a Z brace on both as I have seen video that show a marked improvement in print quality with the machines stabilized that way.

My CR10 has only required nickle and dime expenses (knock wood) in a year of near constant use.

DREMEL 3D printer died after a week of use. The feed completely fell apart. Sad. But managed to return. Would not buy another one.

Had my Wanhao DI3 for 3 years now, close to 1500 hours on it. Mainly running pla, but have run 3 or 4 spools of ABS and a bit of TPU.

Most of the issues I've had have been screws backing out, the screws holding the bed to the x,y carriage twice and the screws holding in the z axis lead screw nuts loosened once(those were a pain to put back in and I really should do a full teardown and lock tight them in).

The only maintenance costs so far have been a few screws, the mk9 extruder ptfe tube after 1000 hours, and the pulley for the y axis belt needed replaced due to bearing failure. All in all negligible cost there.

I did break down and and upgrade the extruder drive gear to the Di4 type and installed a micro swiss all metal hot end back in January which ran me around $100. USD Those 2 upgrades made major improvements in print quality.

My biggest expense by far, discounting filament or the printer itself, has been investing in simplify3d in December. It made more of a difference in my printing than all the upgrades i've done. Hindsight is 20/20, and I should of gotten it back when it was cheaper.

I've had my FlashForge Finder for about a year and a half. Last month, I replaced the extruder motor and PTFE tube. The auto-leveling sensor is a bit wonky, but I've taken to leveling manually, so won't be replacing it.

No counter, but I'd estimate I have around 1400 hours on it.