Printrbot+ vs Robo 3D

Hi Lucas,
Those are some good questions.

Experimentation - I want to be able to tinker with my machine; i.e add an LCD or change the hot end
I'm glad you want to experiment. At this price point, both machines are probably going to require some tinkering to get reliable great prints. printrbot is committed to being open source and makes all of their plans available. They have a pretty dedicated community of modders and openly support that community. Robo is highly moddable, but not quite as supportive. I believe they prefer their machine be used as close to stock as possible. They have made some parts available online.

Surface Finish - bare surface finish
Not sure what this mean?

Tech Support - How bad is it if it breaks?
I haven't dealt with this for either company so can't comment.

Reliability - Can I depend on this?
You're going to have to tinker with either machine quite frequently to keep it in good working order. I think that's just the way it is at this price point.

Dual Extruders - In the future?\
A few of us are working on offering an upgrade kit, but I don't know if the robo team is developing one. I know printrbot is working on one. FYI, dual is not for the weak. Most people I know with dual have played with it for a little and then taken off the second nozzle because it is an annoyance.

Build Volume Expansion - On either?
no build volume expansion on robo. It's already pretty big! Printrbot has released build volume kits.

Different Plastics - Laywood, PC, Taulman Nylon
Both machines have a similar stock hot end. This is primarily what limits your plastic use.
I'm not sure why people think laywood (and I suggest you check out colorfabb woodfill for a wood filament ) needs anything special. It can be printed on any PLA machine.
PC and Taulman 618 and 645 require a hot end upgrade.
T-Glase, colorfabb xt, and other PET based materials can be printed on either machine without a hot end upgrade.

 

Most of that depends on what you are printing and what your expectations are.

I think that either printer can be dialed in to print at great quality at high resolutions with some tweaking.

 

I would say they're comparable. You'd really need to find someone who has both to get a full opinion on which is better.