beginner 3d printer and laser cutter?

[spazmoid]

hi i am in the position where i could be coming into a decent about of desposable income soon and was looking to get a small 3d printer and/or a small laser cutter and was wondering if these two would be good?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Precise- ... 4897.l4275

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/up-mini-3d-printer-a40uu

now i know they are not of the highest quality but would they be good enough as beginner's units or do you know of any better ones i should look at?
please keep in mind that space is very limited. thanks!

p.s. oh and the capacity for the 3d printer is not that important as i would just use it to print custom buttons, dpads and parts of cases.

 

[vskid3]

Heh, I was just looking at the same sort of laser cutters today. From my quick research, they look to be decent if you take the time to do a little tuning (adjusting the mirrors and stuff). Going off the other listings on ebay, I doubt you'll find any that are less than double the price. My wife shot down the idea of getting one for now, as she has access to a nice laser cutter at work. I guess I'll play around with it for now and buy one if I decide it would be worth it to sell laser cut/engraved stuff.

One thing to watch for with some of the cheaper 3D printers is that they require proprietary filament spools that force you to buy their's, which is more expensive (in order the subsidize the cheaper printer). Just something to watch out for.

 

[spazmoid]

Thanks for the reply, as someone who is not quite committed enough yet to getting both, which would you say is the most useful tool for just the hobby, modding/portabalising? As on the one hand the 3d printer could make 3 dimensional cases and components giving a more professional edge to my projects but the laser cutter can be used to create high quality and precise circuit boards using ben heck's spray paint method. i cant decide! I will likely end up getting both eventually but it's a large amount of money to drop on a hobby in one go.

 

[spazmoid]

Holy *PLAQUE* i just found something that blew my socks off so hard they put a hole in my wall.
the main allure to the up mini was the fact that it was; pre-assembled as i am certain i would mess up one of the kit ones, it's low price as compared to other pre-assembled printers and it's use of standard filament. However the main drawback was the small print volume (just over 4 inches cubed) which was a major drawback as it means i cant print entire cases. I was set on getting it until i found this beast!

http://www.imakr.com/product/view/solidoodle-4

this thing has all of the benifits of the UP mini at a similar price point with one Huge benifit. an 8 inch cubed print volume meaning that most sizes of cases can be printed.
just wondering if anyone knows of any flaws with this as it seems perfect.