Taz 5 and upgrades from Aliexpress?

Hello to all,
Recently I joined to the 3D printing world and I already tried a couple of printer before ordering the TAZ 5.

I started with a Anycubic i3 Mega, then I switched to a Flashforge Creator Pro (2016 model) but recently I’ve found a pretty good deal (I think) for a Lulzbot Taz 5 on amazon.uk that was going for around 743£ brand new and I decided to buy it immediately since I saw a lot of positive feedback for this printer and a lot of good reviews for the newer model TAZ 6.
After that I started to get as much as info as possible before receiving my printer (it should arrive in a couple of days).
Unfortunately I saw a lot of unsatisfied TAZ 5 owners around the web and I started to think that maybe I won’t get an improvement from the creator pro (other than the print volume) in terms of print quality.

For that reason I started looking for what upgrades I can do to get the best results possible with this printer.

While I was looking for some X axis and Z axis upgrades (Here) I found that some aluminuim replacement can be bought from aliexpress:

Z Axis
X Axis

Unfortunately I did not find any review for those item, does anyone know if they worth buying or it’s better to stick with ABS printed upgrades?

Thank you in advance

You want an upgaded Taz? here’s the projects I recommend:


https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:866604 Openbuilds X axis
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:949082 Openbuilds Y axis rail
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1089626 The anti wobble
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1038673 Openbuilds Z axis rail
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1656341 Y axis belt tensioner
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2588359 - Y axis bearing hat
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2611115 - backbrace mod
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1538341 an Extruder

There are plenty of others. I wouldn’t bother with those aliexpress parts.

before buying the TAZ 5 but there was only 1 avaiable printer at that price…
Thank you for the answer, I was looking at your great improvements, and they are very well explained, you made a great work!
Unfortuntely I find very difficult to find the right parts over a lot of different websites and some are discontinued. I really would like to find everything in the same place or someone that sell complete upgrades. (is there someone?)
I find quite hard to believe that such range of printers need all those upgrades to get some properly printed pieces. I haven’t tried the printer yet but at the moment I’m quite undecided whether to hold or return the printer as soon as I receive it.
I really hope I’m WRONG but reading some posts here and some other articles on the web seems that I spent more to get less quality from what I had before :neutral_face:
Of course I have to blame me for not looking for that infos… :cry:

Most upper end printers print well out of the box. Upgrading them is useful to reach exceptional levels of quality, but not necessary. It’s kind of like adding performance kits to a sports car. It’s still a fast car if you don’t.

You are right, the fact that some upgrades are available it doen’t mean that the printer is bad. I think I’ll test the stock TAZ 5 and in the meanwhile I’ll try to find all the not printed parts to perform the upgrades (I’m still struggling to find some of them)