3D printers - The jungle out there

Ok, I've been ogling 3D printers lately. They're just way too cool, so I want one.

The last couple of days I've been searching the net to see what the options are. After about half an hour googling I was ready to give up. There are so many options out there, it's mind bogging.

We need some criteria to narrow this down

• I want to print ABS, so I'll need a heated bed
• Price should be about 500$
• Self-replicating printers sound way to cool not to have one
• I want to tinker, so a ready-to-print is out of the question
• Build volume should be at least 200x200

This pretty much narrows it down to a RepRap. So we have the "brand" now the model. 

Given the fact that the Mendel is known to a colleague of mine, who's willing to help out and print parts, that's the model sorted as well. 

So now we have brand and model, you'd think you're there. But hell no, there's still half a dozen variations of the model and most of these have a couple of iterations. I'm getting the feeling of being sent to square one. 

After some more googleing I found the one that I want. Combining the above criteria with a pinch of "but it's preeeeetyyyy" I came to the conclusion that I want a RepRap Mendel Prusa i3 with a laser-cut Melamime frame i.e. this one

Now that's the model down, next hunt is about learning about hotends and electronics to find out which one i want / need. But that's for a future post.