For people looking for a 3d printer

[eried]

Couple of years ago I assembled a makerbot (when they still were a small company that sold the parts only). And I was very very careful when assembling every micrometer of it (like ignoring some online instructions and trusting my common sense, etc).

Probably you have seen lots of new expensive printers, here is a comparison in 2 prints, one from a recent replicator 2, and the black piece from my ancient TOM





As you can see the differences aren't very noticeable. Checking the layers is pretty much the same history (from top to bottom -> Top layer of the nut, middle part/from the side, bottom between the floating parts in the M letter):

Full image: http://f.cl.ly/items/3i3u3V0q0O3W091F0y3...arison.jpg



More images:
http://cl.ly/image/0g0A3s0w102W
http://cl.ly/image/3i3H061O063k
http://cl.ly/image/2C2S2f3K3I3k
http://cl.ly/image/3N001O1F0J2f

So... my general advice/conclusion for any calculator/science lover who wants a 3d printer are:
1) Go for the Rep2 if you need something really easy that gives standard quality. Equivalent to buying an Apple-dremel or something like that. More time in the job than in the tool, expensive and kinda limited.

2) Go for the ultimaker for maximum quality/fair challenge

3) Go for the reprap for ultimate challenge and fun! (having in account than the quality gap between generations is not THAT big as every vendor wants to make you believe)