@Hayfield
Hi John,
That's not an upgrade, it's the same printer from a different supplier at a higher price.
The one I obtained was this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08CZD7ZLC
but it appears to have gone out of stock on Amazon since the last time I looked.
• There's a lot to say here now, because I have just ended up ordering my 6th FDM printer! I need a boiled egg!
1. I don't know anything about that new supplier, so I can't actually say whether I recommend them, but the printer should be exactly the same.
That's quite a high price for it though. You can order the same thing direct from Kingroon for £122 post free to UK:
(I know it's post free, because I tried entering my UK postcode on the ordering form and the shipping changed to Free.)
Here is the link for that, click the
EU box and click
GBP on the drop-down top right to see the UK price:
https://kingroon.com/products/official-kingroon-kp3s-3d-printer?variant=43091832864986
Again I can't say whether I recommend ordering that way because I got mine from Amazon (for £140 I think).
2. If you were happy to pay more, they have slightly larger/better models. For example this one looks excellent for our purposes:
Unfortunately it's only available from USA, but when I entered my UK address details it again came up Free shipping! Here's the link:
https://kingroon.com/products/official-kingroon-kp3s-pro-s1-3d-printer
I can't really believe that, so I ordered one to find out! The final charge to my PayPal account was £153. I won't be surprised to find I have to pay more shipping/vat when it arrives, but as always the only way to find out for sure is to order one.
Here's the spec which makes it just about perfect for plug track:
200mm x 200mm bed. Bigger than the smaller one by enough to be worthwhile.
Linear rails on all 3 axes, with a double rail on the Y-axis.
Direct drive extruder.
Glass bed.
Manual levelling.
Belt tensioners.
If it lives up to that, and arrives here for £153 it will go to the top of my list for a recommended FDM printer for plug track beginners. That might be a big IF of course. The only way to find out is to wait and see.
Obviously I don't need 6 FDM printers. I can see eBay waiting in the wings.
Sorry John I don't know if this reply has helped you. The 180mm one for £122 is definitely a good buy, and with the Alkaid resin printer at around £90 anyone could get started with both for not much more than £200. A lot of RTR locos cost more than that.
cheers,
Martin.