Hi everyone, first time posting in this group. Im a mechanical engineering graduate looking to buy my first printer, with some experience on CAD and designing a CoreXY FDM for a uni project (though never actually used one)
My main goal is to have a side hustle, making useful stuff for local businesses and the end goal is taking larger orders with possibly more printers to come.
My first thought was building my own, as I realized (correct me if I'm wrong) that building your own may offer better qualities than a pre build with the same money, ever though it is not recommended for first time users, but given my studies, i was looking for a project. Looked at Voron firstly, but RatRig was a love at first sight. Started sourcing some parts myself, as I wanted to cut down some costs on screws, bars, etc (nothing electrical).
But in the last few days I realized that if my goal is to build a business, I should go for repeatability/longevity and not for something experimental that I may not even understand the capabilities.
What I ask of you, is some guidance on a pre build FDM that will satisfy my needs for a start. Something that is user friendly preferably and can be used for high end prints that can be sold. My budget is 500€-600€.
I should add at this point that this isn't something that I want to try. Im going all in, CAD/CAM and generally designing is what I loved most from my studies and want to make a leaving eventually from it
Some other questions:
• Is multi colored printers worth it for my purpose?
• Is it best to buy a pre build or stick to the RatRig that I started on?
• What is the sweet spot on bed dimensions if i want to be sure that I can cover larger orders or bigger parts, 300x300, 400x400, something else?
• Should I increase/decrease my budget for my first printer?
• What more questions should I have about this operation/project that I need to research on?