[haasted]

donated a 3D printer worth several hundred dollars for him to use at school.

Can a 3D printer really be acquired at this price level now? Does anyone have any model recommendations in this range?

[jianshen]

If you're really interested in buying one, there are a few kickstarter projects trying to break the sub $1000 market via RepRap designs. Here's one: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/printrbot/printrbot-your...

[ff0066mote]

> RepRap was the first of the low-cost 3D printers, and the RepRap Project started the open-source 3D printer revolution.

(from http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap)

I believe this is one, but you'll have to build it yourself after sourcing parts.