My work place is looking to upgrade one of our 3 Taz 6 printers to another Taz printer, but we are under a strict budget atm. We were looking at the Taz Workhorse as it seems to be the next step up from the Taz 6 and within the budget.
From what I’ve read of posts back from 2019, the Taz Workhorse doesn’t seem to be much different from the Taz 6 and some of the reviews gave it a pretty average rating or slightly less on some things.
Would it be beneficial to upgrade to the Workhorse? What differences can we expect from it compared to the Taz 6 and has there been any changes to the machine since it was launched back in 2019?
Just a side note, these machines are used in a Library setting and we currently don’t let the public work them (only staff). We have been getting heaps of requests for printing and our machines are getting up there in age (I believe we bought the Taz 6s in 2018 or 2019, and have already done some hardware replacements on all three of the machines).
The workhorse… well it has belts for the Z and a few other mild changes, but it’s being generous to say it’s anything more than a belted Taz 6 that comes with the universal toolhead adapter pre-installed. A cynical person would say they made it just different enough that the firmware wouldn’t work with the old model, just so they can put the invincible Taz 6s in “legacy” status and not officially support them to push people to buy the new model.
If it’s an option, Taz 6 machines hit eBay almost daily and aren’t selling for the $500-600 minimum bids, and facebook marketplace has them regularly as well, depending on your area. With them going to a library, the sellers may even donate them.
If you have the knowledge to maintain them, and that’s what the library wants, they’re fantastic deals.
As far as paying retail for a Workhorse? I love these machines, but it’s extremely hard to justify the price these days when you can get a Taz 6 and put a little work into and have something just as good (or better if you do some light upgrades).
There a lot of value in being able to make these machines your own, and they’re definitely built to last, but I still think that picking up 4-5 used Taz 6’s and spending the leftover on maintenance will go a lot longer than a single Workhorse.
I got my Dual Extruder V2.0 Taz6 from ShopGoodWill.com for about $500. It had a grand total of 36 hours on it. Good deals on great “legacy” printers ARE out there. IT Works 3D (www.itworks3d.com) rebuilds them and sells them at a deep discount.
Enjoy,
Todd.