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Alright, great. I had two machines in mind. For reliable, there's the Printrbot Play. The build volume (meaning the biggest model you can make) is a bit small, at 4"x4"x5 it makes pretty small models, and its bed is unheated, which means there are some plastics that won't stick to it, so you're restricted from some materials, but, you cannot kill it. It's designed with education in mind, and has won awards as the best printer for kids. If you've ever worked with kids, you'll know that there's military grade hardware that won't survive a week against a classroom of fifth graders, so it's an impressively durable machine. It levels the bed with a sensor, which removes the one actual hurdle that gets in the way of getting started with a printer usually.

Second, in the "wow that thing can do a lot of stuff for the price" category, there's the Monoprice Maker Select. It's still a durable machine, with a steel frame enclosing most of its guts, and it's not unreliable, but compared to the Play, it could stand to be a bit better. The bed also needs to be leveled manually, so that takes a little while to get down pat (usually about a half hour to an hour of fiddling to get it a bit too get it just right, not a big deal, but it's worth mentioning). However, unlike the Play, its bed and build height are nearly double the size in every direction. This size (around 8" on all sides) is kind of the current de facto standard, so a lot of models you encounter will be sized with that in mind. The bed is also heated, which gives you the ability to work with more materials, because they'll stick to the bed better. It allows you to work with ABS, for one, which can be smoothed and polished to a near mirror shine with nail polish remover, escutcheon l which is definitely neat for miniatures. It has a few little shortcomings, but it also has a massive community around it, which has a number of printable mods you can make that extend the functionality.

By the way, the program used to communicate with both of these is the same. It's called Cura, and it's basically one of the standard programs you'll see with basic grade printers all the way up to machines that cost around five grand. It's easy to use, with an advanced mode you can enable when you're ready to get in deep and really perfect your machine. it's not perfect, but it's free, and rock solid.

Not issues per say, my printer has worked great, but I've had a couple things, one was a support bracket for a computer part, that was 10.7 inches long, I could fit it on the 8x8 print bed by turning it diagonal, but only barely. (Pegasus, by the way, it just Makerfarm's latest model line of printers)

Most printers have a heated bed, I highly recommend it for any plastic, but it is essential if printing with ABS, which is much more sensitive to temperature changes and likes to warp if you look at it sideways. That bed is essentially an aluminum sheet with a circuit board on the back, it may not be perfectly flat and it is easy to damage when removing parts. You put a piece of glass on top of the heated bed to give yourself a smooth, flat, replaceable surface. I got a sheet of 24x36 window glass from the hardware store, mine objected (strongly) so I only got one usable 8x8 piece out of it, but you could theoretically get 12 pieces out of a $14 sheet of glass. You can also get pre-cut borosilicate glass sheets on amazon at around $10 each, but reviews on them are... mixed at best.

Now you have a new issue: adhesion. Molten plastic doesn't like to stick to clean glass, so you need to give it a surface to stick to. There are a number of options: I use hairspray (I usually get 10-15 prints between coatings, clean the glass, and repeat, $6, I've yet to use up a can), some people use blue painters tape ($8 per roll, something like 60 coatings per roll and it doesn't need to be replaced every time), some use gluestick($2 for a 4 pack on amazon), some use a sheet of PEI (another plastic) permanently bonded to the glass ($17, "permanent" but does require refurbishing occasionally, may require replacement as well), it really boils down to personal preference and what works for you.

Tools depends on your printer, I don't know about the Maker Select up there, but mine needs a Screwdriver, set of ball end metric hex keys, needle nose pliers and some small wire snips for cutting filament. Total cost: 10-20 from places like Harbor Fright and Amazon. I would also recommend a razor blade (you can print a handle for it) to scrape bits of plastic off the bed (this is why you don't use your fingernail), you can print a handle for it later.

edit Oh I forgot to mention, most Prusa style printers do NOT include the power supply, $50 on Amazon. Please get the Mean Well brand if you go this route, they are more expensive for a reason.

Don't purchase a Delta for your first printer - they're far more hassle than worth. For 900USD, I'd recommend the Flashforge Creator Pro. A replicator 2 clone that's built great, pretty much plug and play, comes with filament. Has to be set up with something like Sli3r or Cura but it's not very difficult and there is a great tutorial here.

i've used it before (with PLA) and the enclosure / heated build plate do great things for the quality of the print, fairly good build volume and top rated on 3dprinthubs.

I've got a roll each of black and white eSun (yes, I know some people have problems with eSun, but I've had good luck with them so far). The white is very bright white, maybe just a touch warm, but I'm very pleased with it both hot off the printer and acetone vapor smoothed. The black is fairly dark black off the printer, but I wouldn't say "jet black". Once smoothed, it's an deep jet black.

If you are interested only in the Original Prusa i3 there is only handful of places where I sell them. Rest are clones :-) But even some clones are great, it is just hard to know which one is which and it is like playing a lottery :-/ http://prusa3d.com and http://www.amazon.com/Original-Prusa-Printer-kit-Josef/dp/B015GDDXJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457444236&sr=8-1&keywords=original+prusa+i3 for USA

• If you have an attached SD card reader you do not need to have the printer attached to the computer. The SD card reader for my kit printer (a Folger Tech i3) was on an LCD screen I purchased from Amazon for about $15.
  
• When connected to the computer you can monitor the print status in 3D visually (you can use the LCD as a status as well). The program to run the print does not take up much noticeable resources.
  
• As I mentioned, I put mine together from a kit. There was very little soldering, a lot of screws, and connecting some wires to the controller board. It was not hard but the directions, although good, were not perfect. All of the screws were in one bunch, so separating them out to the right size was tedious. An Allen wrench set, needle nose pliers, a caliper, and a soldering iron were needed. Since some of the printer parts were also 3D printed, some needed some minor adjustments with a Dremel tool. You could handle the soldering - it was very easy and only two wires if I recall correctly. You are not soldering a circuit board. Overall the kit build was not difficult, just time consuming.
  
• I have been using the printer in a basement workshop and not noticed any fumes. If you are concerned, you can use PLA filament which may be overall a safer choice than ABS filament. Do your own research here.

Just from my experience, sometimes the print bed can get dusty if I don't use it for a long time. Something like Acetone works well to clean the bed if you have glass. My printer doesn't have a bed height probe, so I also use a feeler gauge to set the initial height.

Something like this will do it.
https://www.amazon.com/ABN-Valve-Offset-Feeler-Gauge/dp/B01IPWOAOQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1481432332&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=feeler+gauge&psc=1

Let us know if you are able to solve it.

Gizmo Dorks PEI Sheet, 8" x 8" 3D Printing Build Surface with 3M 468MP Adhesive Tape https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KGDTPQK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_WB3qybRCVC0HD

To increase your chances, make sure you use some quality PLA. The difference is in the chemistry and the quality control. I'm getting some great results with MatterHackers PLA. Pro grade, I think it's called.

Here's the tape It's very pricey, but I love it.

http://imgur.com/a/neRxg I am asking around to see if we have a current meter. All of the parts are original to the kit except for the terminal block I replaced the first time it melted. I did some digging and the Voltage for the board is 12volts. The wire connected from the power supply to the board is 42(RVB) 300/300v 2x1.5mm. I have included the amazon links for the power supply and board for more info. I hope this is more helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/ALUNAR-Switching-Impresora-Printer-Computer/dp/B01M8M6V11/ref=sr_1_19?srs=13689668011&ie=UTF8&qid=1483456263&sr=8-19

https://www.amazon.com/ALUNAR-Control-board-Desktop-Printer/dp/B01KV3MWJW/ref=lp_13689668011_1_14?srs=13689668011&ie=UTF8&qid=1483456250&sr=8-14

I bought the hictop model which is pretty similar although more expensive. The instructions were poor and one hole was not threaded. Other then that it works well.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015IHMOSK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I went with a Sterilite gasket box and a passive dehumidifier.

https://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=sterilite+gasket+box&category=0%7CAll%7Cmatchallpartial%7Call+categories&tref=typeahead%7Cterm%7C2%7Csterilite+gasket+box%7C%7C%7Cservice&searchRawTerm=sterilite+gasket

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000H0XFCS?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image

This setup should let you store it indefinitely.

The one I got was the cheapest one off of Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00N7I1ZVU/ref=sxts1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473946830&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65)and I have yet to mess with the steps/mm they are athe what they came as which is 2565 or something like that.

Will pint a benchy tonight with stock settings and post for you to checkout.
$330 on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018GZBC3Y/ref=dra_a_rv_mr_ho_xx_P3379_100?tag=dradisplay-20&ascsubtag=b9063924b419f1820d33eeff66a4ea4c_S

Monoprice just came out with new version at $399. I haven't looked too much into differences.

• printer heated filament
  https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Select-Printer-Heated-Filament/dp/B01FL49VZE/ref=sr_1_3?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1488287932&sr=1-3&keywords=3d+printer
  
  
• Maker-select printer
  https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-13860-Maker-Select-Printer/dp/B018GZBC3Y/ref=sr_1_5?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1488287932&sr=1-5&keywords=3d+printer
  
• Rep Rap printer plastic company
  https://www.amazon.com/REPRAPGURU-RepRap-Printer-Plastic-Company/dp/B01KD6T7Z4/ref=sr_1_13?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1488287932&sr=1-13&keywords=3d+printer

I just ordered this one for mine. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BDL4NKM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1