Hi Gurcan.
I have been doing modeling as a hobby for my entire life. Building CNC mills, routers, and lathes to create whatever came to mind. 3D printing since it was just a thought, hacking hardware, writing software, having a great time. I write a game based 3D sculpting and meshing suite that allows users to customize characters and objects in virtual communities. Just a hobby still, as my career path is a professional engineer. I use these machines to not only make toys and gadgets, but as tools to give insight into real world problems. I, like many, quest for the uniqueness, not the common. If we wish to mass produce, and copy others work… We would buy it instead.
I give you this first to qualify myself. I am not a rep for any printer company. Just a life long geek with a passion for the unknown. A fabricating system is a tool that allows your mind to explore possibles. I might think of a new design for a mundane item, run thru dozens of possible models in my computer. Simulate a thousand more. Toy with genetic algorithms to help select just a handful. Then print and compare, entry my data, including emotion, art, and passion into my simulation. And let it evolve a few generations more. This is how I see these tools used. To produce that unknown. To create artistic expression. Not just copy things from the crowd.
My wife likes to quip in a loving way, that all most do is print out things they could get better from the dollar store. But there is a thriving community that does so much more. Artists and makers, thinkers and creators. Sharing ideas, debating new ways, and making things a new. So… Long path to here, but I hope you feel my passion. It is not the replication, but the creation.
Your examples are FlashForge and Ultimaker. There are so many others out there, but these two will do, because I just so happen to own a FlashForge Creator X/Pro, and a Utilimaker 2. Have a pile of toys in my shop. But these two are my workhorses. Both excellent printers, solid and build very true. I proof on the FlashForge, it runs nearly non stop. But that machine is nothing but a clone of work done by another company. Its features and functions lifted from Makerbot nearly 100%. There is no innovation, nothing is changed. The software is Makerbot as well. So, while my trusted old printer has run 24/7 for nearly 18 months. It is not innovative. It is in fact one just a clone.
My Ultimaker on the other hand. Has a quality of build that is simply outstanding. Every part and piece is crafted and tooled from the finest beginnings. That attention to quality shows in the gentle song the motors make as it quickly yet precisely lays down plastic perfectly layer after layer. So good most cannot accept it even came from a 3d FDM printer at all. This design is so rare that it is almost unique. And the website they built, has a very real difference. Everything is signed and tagged with the creator, and shared by common license.
Another went on about issues with extruders as an example. Instead of complaining about failures… folks in that community joined forces. Set up a thread, created goals, debated solutions, and shared with all better ways. And for those that embrace that culture, our printers produce the most amazing things. And those innovations work out into the world, back to the others. While others share back in a big circle. Respect for the merit of creation, not the requirements of replication.
Flashforge is a good company. They make one of the best clones on the market. They have sent me new parts 18 months after buying, and always treat me with kindness and respect. But Ultimaker has not only given me a tool that stands far far out above all the rest. They also gifted the community with the intellectual property inside it, and a forum and community to fly with it.
What the future holds will just be evolved from today. We know it will be amazing if only we keep dreaming about whats new and unknown. I believe there are a few companies with that passion and drive, Ultimaker is one. Proven it no less. The real concern for you should not be to worry about which company to buy from. But what your budget is, and then simply buy the best made machine from anyone that fits in that space. Eventually I believe, all those that get lost to the art, end up buying an Ultimaker anyhow. After all, the difference tween 20 micron and 100 is worth every penny in the end.
Cheers
James
