I am surprise to know nobody owns a 3D Printer. I own a Makerbot TOM and have been printing prototypes for my personal projects. I am also building new machines.

I personally own a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic. Advice on buying.
1. Be sure its open source.
2. IMPORTANT - Firmware support group for the firmware- this is where your printer performance depends on.(My personal favourite Jetty Sailfish)
3. Software features avail.(ReplicatorG- Sailfish Edition)
4. Build size your require.
5. The motherboard that support the firmware.(Gen4)
6. Print quality. Current common nozzle size 0.4mm(there are also untested sizes available in the market 0.1,0.2,0.3)
7. Plastic Filament 1.75mm. This is your consumables. Comes in 1kg spool.
PS: I personally build these Printers. Current experimental 400mmx320mm build size.

Have a look At Jetty Sailfish GoogleGroup for solution on your Replicator2X. I personally don't like Replicator 2X as its not open source.

I disagree. MY Makerbot TOM has been with me more than a year. It has no cracks. Still performing perfectly. LOL it still look good on wood.

I bought my makerbot TOM from US. But our idiot Kastam have to tax it. It not much anyways. less than RM100. Assemble or un-assemble its still taxable because its declare as electronic equipment. Unless the merchant declare it some other things.

I personally buy my filaments from ebays or Mbot3d(Currently cheapest in the market US200 for 10kg = 10 spool). I also build my own filament recycler still in progress. (RecycleBot)

Yes. The latest board available for arduino base is GEN 4. If you need advice I can be of help

For your INFO. Today market 3D printer no longer uses 3mm filament. We are using 1.75mm filaments.

Those wood based printer are all good grades plywood(Not our hardware shop plywood) which can be bought locally also at wood product supplier for Interior designer companies.

Those plastic body are acrylic which tend to crack if over tighten. (Haha I have a small crack on my TOM acrylic base when i over tighten the stepper motor).

Pros about PRUSA is it has bigger platform than my TOM.
Pros : Makerbot has Jetty Sailfish firmware.

Ohh GEN 7 if for Mendel, RepRap, Prusa I forgot to mention.
GEN 4 and Mightyboard is for makerbot.

These boards are available online and reasonable priced. Unless you are building a custom 3D Printer then its ok to DIY. Else better get a clone china 3D Printer and modify from there onwards.

Storm88: dont print these illegal stuff please. Who knows what people can do wit it.

You don't need to know autocad in 3D Printing. All you have to know is Sketchup (Free by google) the easiest of 3D drawing and you can start printing with some guidance on the 3D printer's terminology.

Before you get a 3D printer preassembled or unassembled kit, there are a few things you should be clear about before selecting which to buy as there are so many open source 3D printer in the market.

1. Be sure its open source.( Reprap based like Mendel, Prusa...goggle rewrap)(makerbot replicator 1 and 2, TOM (no longer in production but still available by other vendor)
2. IMPORTANT - Firmware support group for the firmware- this is where your printer performance depends on.(My personal favourite Jetty Sailfish)or (the Reprap community)
3. Software features avail.(ReplicatorG- Sailfish Edition) or other from RepRap
4. Build size you require.
5. The motherboard that support the firmware.(Gen4) or (Reprap -Gen 7)
6. Print quality. Current common nozzle size 0.4mm(there are also untested sizes available in the market 0.1,0.2,0.3)
7. Plastic Filament 1.75mm. This is your consumables. Comes in 1kg spool.
PS: I personally build these Printers. Current experimental 400mmx320mm build size.(You don't want to know how much $$$).

Gen 3 and 4 are Makerbots electronics.
Gen 6 and 7 are RepRap electronics.
Both are from different group but all are open source. There is no Gen5.

This is very subjective.
Each has its own advantages.
Repraps has lots of other electronics besides gen 6 or 7. some comes with SD card support. Some better stepper controller. Add on for display for PCless printing.
Makerbots has others electronics besides gen3 and 4. their latest is mightyboard. all comes with sd card. Its also comes with display control for PCless printing.

Lots more. Just google it to learn more.

Read my previous messages for guide.

I am already building one. Recyclebot a very simple contraption.

You can get the hardware from local hardware shops.
Electronics depends on what you want. It can just be a simple motor and temp control circuit OR complex electronics using development boards like Arduino Uno for a start.
All this can be bought locally. Arduino can be bought from Rocket Scream or Myduino website.

Just build your structure with extrusion profile. Its cheaper than laser cutting parts. Those nuts & bolts can be easily source from nut & bold supplier and super cheap. The linear bearings, metal rods.. etc are easily source locally.

these parts are better bought from ebay as it cheaper than local.
PG35L Geared stepper
Mini hyena
GT2 timing belt 2mm
GT2 pulleys
Heatbed
J-Head (found some online.. looking for local shops)
NEMA17 steppers (found some online.. also looking for local shops if possible)

PM me if you have difficulty.

I believe you mean filament extruder.

I just found it few days ago in meet up.com

I will PM you the flow chart later.

Thats a good price even with shipping. wait till USD rates drops back.