The plastic frame will probably crack after a while, but you can glue it or buy cheap replacement i3 frames from ebay or aliexpress made out of wood, aluminium or steel and move the parts over.

The hot end (nozzle that squeezes the plastic out) will probably get clogged after some time, it happens to all hot ends especially cheap ones. But when that happens you can buy great hot ends from the fantastic British company e3d http://e3d-online.com

I've heard the cheaper electronics on these can play up after some time, but because you have a 'RepRap' style 3D printer there are loads of replacement boards available (e.g. RAMPS, Smoothieboard) on ebay or aliexpress which will be pretty much plug and play.

I recommend putting that raspberry pi you have in a drawer somewhere to use and giving your 3D printer WiFi, with the fantastic Octoprint software http://octoprint.org. This printer should plug right into the Raspberry Pi.

So you paid £19 in duty and tax.

They just printed off 5 or 6 more, I guess. :-)

Agreed. It's gonna oh so much better for us. Until they see all the prices shoot up. :disappointed:

How big things can I print with it?

The plastic frame will probably crack after a while, but you can glue it or buy cheap replacement i3 frames from ebay or aliexpress made out of wood, aluminium or steel and move the parts over.

The hot end (nozzle that squeezes the plastic out) will probably get clogged after some time, it happens to all hot ends especially cheap ones. But when that happens you can buy great hot ends from the fantastic British company e3d http://e3d-online.com

I've heard the cheaper electronics on these can play up after some time, but because you have a 'RepRap' style 3D printer there are loads of replacement boards available (e.g. RAMPS, Smoothieboard) on ebay or aliexpress which will be pretty much plug and play.

I recommend putting that raspberry pi you have in a drawer somewhere to use and giving your 3D printer WiFi, with the fantastic Octoprint software http://octoprint.org. This printer should plug right into the Raspberry Pi.

It's on flash sale, coming up at £110.24 for me ? :smiley: then with postage and insurance the total is £155.62 :smiley:

How did you arrive at that price? My total is different.

Also, if this is being shipped from China then don't you have to add import duty and taxes?

it only a flash sale for me if I choose a us plug. but eu plug, at $162.20 isn't too bad I don't think, but I am sure there would be some import duty and tax to add on top of that.

Don't trust this site.

I bought a laser etcher from banggood, similar ish price and size. Didn't pay any duty or tax. Got inspected at customs and I had to pay about £19 to Her Majesty, and about £20 to parcelforce for the 'privilege' of them 'sorting it out on my behalf'. It came really well packaged -via air freight with a tracking number- these are the most likely packages to get 'inspected'. Never had an issue with either GearBest or BangGood. So much so, checking previous orders, never received one (GearBest, ordered in September) reported it missing in Feb, they said I was a good customer and resent it!! :sunglasses:

That winds me up. The last time I ordered something from China, Fedex sent me a bill claiming there was a charge because they had paid the duty on my behalf. I told them that it sounded like they had entered me into a credit agreement without my consent therefore I would only pay the import duty and not their charges. They threatened to take it to court, told them I would see them there. A few months later a letter arrived from a debt collector who I phoned and explained the above and that I most definitely would not be paying., Never heard anything about it since.

I cant see how they can send you a bill after delivering the item. It usually works that if you want the item you have to pay them for the service of collecting the import duty but until you pay you dont get the item.

​I wasn't too happy about that charge either. But parcelforce had my item in 'storage' at their warehouse and I needed to pay all monies owed before the item could be 'released' to me. Took longer to get my item the six odd miles from depot to me than it did to make, assemble package and ship half way round the world. Good ol' UK.

Good find. Order placed & heat added.:innocent:

Interestingly, the "pieces left" went UP from 49 to 54 after I ordered!

They just printed off 5 or 6 more, I guess. :-)

So you paid £19 in duty and tax.

So you IMPORTED goods from outside the UK and EUROPE and were charged the correct duty and handling charges! Stop moaning! Here's why I wouldn't buy this from any Chinese supplier - too many parts that could get broken or lost in transit, too many parts to go wrong, absolutely ZERO consumer rights if anything goes wrong, if you have to send anything back via a trackable method it'll cost you more than the items worth.

This definitely can be the case. You can be billed for custom duty after you've received the parcel.

http://www.dutycalculator.com

Use the above site to calculate expected duty and also figure in your sums the fact that the UK courier delivering the parcel will add an additional 'admin' fee of £10-£20.

I've ordered plenty of stuff from iherb.com for example and sometimes got hit with customs and sometimes not, and I've had £10 admin fee from couriers which I wouldn't be surprised is even more now.

Duty is fine but handling charges by couriers are a rip off but if you import that's what you have to put up with. If you import a lot of goods then use a customs broker to get you a better deal.

Will break in no time, the proof is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjOGB6U_amY.

It's not a rip off - it's clearly stated in all the couriers terms and conditions so if you import you pay the money or don't import - why have we fell into this 'we're entitled to get everything for free' culture?

You should have replied, "I didn't know you paid duty on class A drugs, do I have to weigh my shipment now to make sure you didn't swindle me?"

Import stuff and pay duty, or often "get away with it".

Can we talk about 3d printers again now ?

Wait until the loonies vote us out of the EU.

Do you not think £20 is a bit excessive?

Forget about the "you should know the charges before you buy" etc, just wonder if you think it's high?

Why would they shoot up?

You do realise that they have to pay someone to do the adminstrative work don't you? How much should they charge? I take it you also know the only reason you can buy these items so cheaply from China is because they're paying some worker $20 a week to make them. I don't have a problem with that but minimum wage here is now £7.20 an hour and it's going up to £9 pretty rapidly. You can't have a decent standard of pay without somebody footing the bill at some point.

Had a feeling you wouldn't be able to give a simple answer, or answer with more questions. :laughing:

Thanks.

Really, really tempted. I have been thinking about building my own 3D printer using a Raspberry Pi for a while and this looks like a great way to get all the pieces in one go and learn how it all works and then upgrade as necessary. Just not sure I can justify the cost right now. But for £110 (which is the price it's showing at for me) how can I afford not to have a 3D printer?!

I had a feeling you'd cop out..................And you did.....................And your welcome :wink:

Duty is not an issue. When I bought my item I paid the appropriate carriage charge. This I assumed would cover the cost of transportation of said item to address supplied.
What's to stop the package going to 'Dave's dodgy couriers' from the next street over who charge me £80 for their services? I didn't ask PF to pay the fee for me, store it on my behalf then transport it at a time of their choosing to me! Im pretty sure that was thezoidbergs point. A letter turns up from another party saying - gimme £x or no package my old son.

Anarchist.

I'm sorry but that's not true imo. When I buy something I enter into a contract with the seller, not the courier. Now if the seller makes is blatantly clear what charges the courier will add to my order, that's different.

So if I bump into you in your local and buy you a drink, then ask you for an additional £20 because I paid for that drink on your behalf, where do you stand with that?

just out of curiosity, what do people print with these? is the material a really strong plastic once it's finished?

I'm part of being fair culture, you must pay import duty, tax etc, these couriers are charging a rip off fee, the reason it's a rip off is because you don't have an opt out choice, and often you don't get to choose the courier when buying goods from abroad. So I respectively say to you look at the bigger picture. This is an enforced charge by the courier.

The chavs have no idea that their favourite lidl and aldi will be charging waitrose prices once we are out. I am just waiting to see the looks on their faces when it happens- it will be priceless. They will have to blame the ...... ..erm...immigrants, again!

It's not compulsory in law for me to buy you a drink, however duty and the administration of it is compulsory. Anything else Wolfie?

There are eBay sellers shipping from the UK for similar prices with no worries about duty
i.e.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2016-Upgraded-Full-Quality-High-Precision-Reprap-Prusa-i3-DIY-3d-Printer-/221985481951

Edit: It looks like HUKD referal system breaks the link, but it should work if you copy and paste it into the address bar

If you print with ABS you're using the same material LEGO is made out of.

Are there any better/sturdier printers for <£300 ?
I was looking into a FlashForge Finder but keep seeing this kits from china and can't decide what to go for.

Not according to Professor Patrick Minford

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/7001119/Brexit-will-boost-our-economy-says-Professor-Patrick-Minford.html

In theory prices should fall as we would pay world prices rather than than EU prices (assuming Sterling keeps it's buying power compared with other countries).

Fish

Thanks for telling us that, i always wondered what the plastic would come out like, and thanks OP for the deal. I too have been skanked by TNT a month after delivery of a car radio £120 cost me £25 customs.

Neoliberal economics -> inflation, in addition to import taxes and special charges for paying them for you by Royal Mail etc.

Not a bad price - but I got lucky last week with ebay giving the 20% discount. Got a nice one sat here for just £127 delivered in a few days from the UK :smiley: Dreading building it at the weekend mind :smiley:

Don't understand how Gearbest deals are allowed to be posted on HUKD when all the Hobbyking (UK) deals aren't allowed.
Never had an issue with Hobbyking but have had plenty with Gearbest.

Probably because HUKD can't create an affiliate link.

You are completely missing the point. My argument with fedex was due to the fact that they had delivered an item and then sent me an invoice in the post with charges, when queried about those charges, one was for duty (which, I paid, as I am legally obligated to do so) and the other was a charge for "Paying the duty on your behalf" which as far as I am concerned constitutes a credit agreement, a credit agreement for which I was neither informed of or agreed to and I'm fairly sure it's pretty "compulsory in law" that you can't just sign people up for credit like that.

The first thing to do when you buy this is to simply print yourself a new 3D printer and hey presto!... you have spares before you start. Job done.

To play devil's advocate, you don't have to agree with the courier terms and conditions. You didn't enter a contract with the courier, the seller did. I'm no lawyer but I'm pretty sure that the courier paying on your behalf constitutes a separate, implied contract like thezoidberg said.

Getting stuff for free culture; that's not the issue. The handling fee should be progressive. It's not even a flat rate, it's a flat fee. You pay £9-20, depending on whether Royal Mail or a courier looks at it, if there is even a penny of VAT or other duty charged on it. Imagine if the government came out and said income tax was £2000 a year for everyone regardless of how much you earned?

To be honest I think we come at this from different points of view.I run a business and I see it from the side of paying my employees to do things.Consumers will and do see things differently and that's fine.

Since when has it been a couriers job to police the nation?
This has scam written all over it... Either by the courier themselves, or an enterprising employee.
You cannot imply a contract without the consent of the other party.
You (the receiver) are not bound by the couriers conditions unless you knew them from the start.
Well done zoidberg... More folk should think before complying with muggers.

There are definitely different perspectives and default views. Always a chance I am not understanding it correctly but the law seems quite clear on this though - if the courier wants to pay customs and then bill you later they need to enter a contract with the buyer as well which doesn't happen as the contract is with the seller who has purchased the services of the courier. Doing this practically would mean restructuring the entire way they handle international shipment contracts which is why they're just hoping no-one notices what they're doing is illegal.

Sellers could take this into their own hands - ebay (while not a seller itself) has an integrated customs service. This is what couriers would need to implement for everyone to run on the right side of the law. It's not the seller's responsibility though, the couriers need to sort their ****.

I should add that you can opt out from this "service" courier by courier but having seen the HMRC forms you have to fill in I'm happy to pay £8 at least for high value items... but that's just me.

It's not any kind of a 'scam' go read up on it before you make outrageous claims every delivery service do it including Royal Mail.Royal Mail are actually the worst as they won't handover your goods until you've paid their charges.The one thing I've learn't on various forums over many years is don't take any notice of anyone's statements (including mine) find out for yourself BEFORE you do anything. 'Buyer beware' is an old but wise addage.

http://www.thingiverse.com and https://www.youmagine.com have loads of free objects you can download and print. I use mine for creating custom boxes for my electronics projects.

The parts are strong along the X and Y axis but can split between the 'layers' along the Z axis with too much force. PLA is easier to print, smells nicer and is harder than ABS but is more brittle and softens at a lower temperature (e.g. If left in sunny window).

You can get lots of speciality filaments like ones with carbon fiber in it, flexible filaments for printing bendy objects, wood based ones that can be sanded and painted or ones with brass that you can polish shiny.

Link doesn't work but I had a search, this kit does look slightly better quality than the £160 ebay UK ones. Not seen those kits so don't know what the frame is like, looks like flimsy wood but could be wrong. But you might get hit with customs charge for this so swings and roundabouts really!


You joke but my printer (Mendlemax 1.5) is basically built of printed parts and aluminium extrusion, I have a complete set of spares printed!

Hello Mr Fish. This "professor" has only looked at it from point of view of the UK- sticking it to the French farmers while british farmers gain. Let me ask you- Do you think that british farmer cares about the british consumer?? No way: they are in it for themselves and they are well into rip-off-britain. Just look at this right now in the lambing season- New Zealand lamb can be reared, halal slaughtered, shipped from literally the opposite side of the planet and the supermarkets can still sell it cheaper than british lamb reared maybe 50 miles away. Is that the british farmer looking after the british consumer? LOL. Now Europe- I bought a watch from Laco (a German watchmaker) from their website. There is a 19% tax on the price unless you are in the EU. I was exempt, but if I bought the same watch in July (when we are out of EU), I would be made to pay the 19% tariff. It is very easy to fool the indigenous because they are dumb and racist. Many think the streets will cleared of muslims and blacks on June the 24th or something. In reality, they will be hurt the most because budget food and supermarkets won't be budget anymore.

160 on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2016-Upgraded-Full-Quality-High-Precision-Reprap-Prusa-i3-DIY-3d-Printer-/221985481951?hash=item33af5da4df:g:PQcAAOSwJkJWih0g

it doesnt work through hukd wtf, just type in 3d printer into ebay and its the 160 ones

There are metal framed Prusa i3 such as https://www.technologyoutlet.co.uk/products/3d-printer-wanhao-duplicator-i3
I've not kept up with 3D printers, last time I looked the best cheap ones where the wanhao and the printbot jr (more expensive and without a heated bed as standard)

Yes, but can it be 3D printed?

It is for everyone who uses the services of Messrs Mossack Fonseca and Co.

What might happen?

I have one of these. You need much DIY experience to build it. There are plenty YouTube clips to teach yourself to master the printer. And it does great fun.

The hot end that melts the filament at around 250 degrees C depending on filament type. If the hot end touches something it shouldn't, it doesn't take long to start a fire. There are a number of documented cases of house fires.

if they break can't you print off a new part? :confused:

You could make a SERIOUS buttplug with this bad boy :confused:

Import charges can only be paid via a Customs Deferment account, it's not a simple transaction by your usual methods of payment. As private individuals we wouldn't have deferment accounts so the only way to have the import charges paid is via the carrier's broker's deferment account (usually the carrier itself is the broker for the big firms). As with most establishments there are administration fees for the use of extra services. If you was importing in the name of a company which holds a deferment account that you could use then you have the option to provide the account number to the broker and avoid the admin fee.

Your debt most likely got written off due to a low value not worth chasing.

Accidentally released. Happens quite often actually!

If you import regularly then you're better to have your own customs deferment account to pay the charges and avoid admin fees. Need a lot of money in the bank to even have an application considered.

It's useful to print a ring around the edge of an object to prime the hot end. This takes a few mm of space each side. Also the very edges may not be heated as much so the print might curl up.
If you need to print a long and thin object, you can rotate it diagonally.


250C is a bit hot for ABS or PLA. I've not seen any fires caused by the hot end, even in a thermal runaway situation (which modern firmware should avoid) the worst I've seen is some melted metal / plastic.

The actual fires I've seen are from having cheap electronics with under-rated connectors which burn out and the worst from wooden frames catching.


The frame bits are too big to print and wouldn't be as accurate, strong or cheap as laser cut acrylic (right tool for the right job and all that!).

Don't forget filament is about £20 a kilo for the cheap stuff!

Really tempted, can anyone give me some ideas of what I can do with this (apart from a butt plug).

Will probably use a Pi with it.

It will replicate itself and take over the world.

Thanks jacksonliam, but I wasn't joking. It just makes sense to duplicate the parts and to double your investment, it would probably be the most meaningful item you could print.

What do you want out of your 3d printer? If you want a hobby that is primarily about learning and playing with 3d printers, then these are OK. You'll spend a few days building it and then a couple of weeks tuning it to get reasonable prints out of it... then you'll be printing yourself upgrades. You can get good prints out of these, but they are quite hands-on. I got a wooden Printrbot Simple (a cheap kit from a couple of years ago) and I spent the first few months just playing with the printer, making it better (and frequently worse) then setting it up again after each change.

If you want to buy a box that churns out a fun object you've just seen on Thingiverse, or you are arty and you want to design something, hit print and come back to a finished print in a few hours... you need to spend 5-10x as much.

Also, you have to appreciate that FDM 3d printing is slow. A Lego man takes 20 mins (and won't be as detailed). Make him twice as big and it takes 2 hours. The longer the print, the greater the chance of failure. So cheap printers with large print beds are pointless. Especially as larger printers tend to be less accurate and less stable, so more prone to print failures anyway.

If you don't want to learn CAD to design/make your own plastic objects or are not interested in getting into 3D printing as a hobby then it's probably not a good use of money! You'd be stuck just printing things downloaded online (e.g. From http://www.thingiverse.com and https://www.youmagine.com) and you can buy a lot of plastic crap on aliexpress for 160 quid :-D

Not voting either way - found Gearbest to be very much "at your own risk" with regards the item arriving, let alone working. Their customer service is the worst of any company I've dealt with. My advice is definitely to pay using PayPal as I was able to get a refund that way.

Just had an email from Gearbest to say mine has shipped, and will arrive in around 2 weeks.

Royal Mail aren't the worst as 1. they charge much less than couriers for handling and 2. they inform you before releasing the goods allowing you to refuse to enter into a contract with them i.e. pay or start legal proceedings if you think the charges are unreasonable.
The problem is the couriers deliver the goods with no mention of charges and then try to bill you later. I have had a few of these over the years but have yet to pay their admin/handling fees.
I think they know they are on shaky ground if charging much more than parcelforce/royal mail and don't chase you up because of this. Pay the customs fees and perhaps the royalmail equivalent.

I'd love to see you start 'legal proceedings' against them.

I was looking for a laser cutter for wood, as I want to make a few boxes and have no woodwork skills. as a complete newbie, with basic programming skills, how hard would this be to set up and get working? I fear the "hands on" messages, as I haven't got the know how to tinker with things past set up.

Check http://www.instructables.com for this as there's tons of great guides. With respect, if you have to ask here about it then you won't be making a laser cutter yourself for wood any time soon, because it will require a high-power laser tube, high tension electrical skills as well as the other mass of mechanical and electrical engineering knowledge that goes with it. Making a little laser wood etcher is a lot easier, and you could re-task your 3D printer to do that without too much effort.

My advice to you would be as follows:
1. Visit a Maker Place - Most towns have them and you can use their equipment for very little money. The people are usually knowledgable and friendly and can help with everything you need for your application, e.g. help you with the CAD and with the purchasing of materials etc. This is the cheapest way to do it.
2. Buy a cheapo Chinese laser cutter:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40W-CO2-USB-Laser-Engraving-Cutting-Machine-Engraver-Cutter-Wood-working-Crafts-/301843668580?hash=item464748de64:g:7GQAAOSwL7VWkNh-
Less than £400 gets you one. But they usually arrive with a bit of setting up required and sometimes they're just plain crap. There are sites out there that tell you how to make these work better than they do when they arrive.
3. Go to a cutting shop - They *might* help you with some of the CAD stuff but it'll be more expensive than a Maker Space. If you're lucky they'll check over your work to make sure tolerances and stuff are okay before cutting.

p.s. If you go with buying a laser cutter (which might be cheapest long-term if you want to do lots of cutting) check this out:
http://www.instructables.com/id/From-Crate-to-Cut-Installing-a-Laser-Cutter/

I got a faulty item and they need me to have a $10 refund. Crazy!!!

Gearbest Reply:
(1)We are able to refund $10 to your GB wallet.
(2)We can resend a new item for you. And you need to pay extra $30 for the resend.
My advise buy from UK not GearBest. Very bad customer service.

Dear lakshyam，
Alice here.
Could you please PM me your order number ? I will check it for you again and see whether i can apply for a special offer to you

By "apply for a special offer" do you mean "behave like a legitimate company would have to under the Distance Selling Regulations and offer a replacement at no cost to the purchaser"?

Price has gone down to £114 for a limited time

As far as billing for duty goes, it's a bit shaky. In order to get the item without a delay I've always paid any fees. However, if the courier delivers the item to you and then sends you a bill, it depends on the terms and conditions of your purchase. If those terms and conditions make no reference to you being liable for any import duty or fees payable, then that contract does not make you responsible for their fees, so the seller cannot pursue you. Meanwhile the courier only has a legal contract with the sender. They could pursue the sender for the money, but, without any form of contract, I don't know what grounds they could validly claim your responsibility for fees. As others have already said, since the tax was paid on your behalf, and you were legally responsible for it, they may be able to push for that, but again without any form of contract with yourself, their rights would more likely be with pursuing the sender, not the recipient.
If they still have the item, then they can effectively hold the item for ransom. They may only be able to pursue the seller, but they wouldn't care whether it's the sender or the receiver that pays the fees, either way they'd then release it. Technically you own the item and could attempt to secure its release in court, but the cost and time of that would so far outweigh their handling fee that any technical victory would still cost you money. At that point unless you place no value on your own time, it's probably best to cough up the fees.
As to which delivery company is worst, I'd have to vote Yodel - they managed to leave a glass table in a 'safe place' - meaning they left it propped in front of the door in full view of the road, and when my lodger got back there was the note to that effect but no parcel. The seller sent a replacement, which arrived smashed. Yodel failed to investigate adequately, and I've henceforth nick-named them Yob-del. (Then again, I tend to refer to ParcelForce as ParcelFarce given their delivery services in my area and have had Royal Mail items go missing, so I'm hardly full of praise of the alternatives.)

"Do you not think £20 is a bit excessive?"
Don't think people are complaining about the £20 directly. Think the coustomer agrees a price worth the seller, buys the product, job done. Then some undefined time in the future, a 3rd party says "giz 20 quid, or else ...!".
Think it's more likely that the purchaser is offended by the perceived blackmail of the courier or the deceit of the seller, than the 15% increase in price. Don't think it's too big a deal paying £20 on £167 but few people have time to read the small print and implications (There are surprising examples we ignore).