I’ve had access to a roommate’s 3D printer, but they’ll be moving away soon :(
Wondering if people have takes on machines that are considered entry level today but may have evolved handy features since, well, when you were an entry level user.
If this isn’t the right place for this please be nice I’m sorry
EDIT: okay I left out way too much detail for this to be answerable.
I’ve been printing for a year, so im not absolute beginner tier, and can benefit from some of the fancy gizmos like auto leveling, multi filament, etc. but i dont really venture beyond PETG and PLA. I mostly use 3D printing in other maker/diy projects; creating custom fixtures, quick tools and jigs, attachments for sewing machines, table saws, tool organization etc. You get the idea. Im not a mechanical engineer or prototyping medical equipment. I just really enjoy the power of being able to model something i need, print it, and immediate use it to complete a project. I dont do any figurines.
My budget is a maximum of 300 canadian dollars, including filaments, replacement parts, and add-ons. I am impartial to any brands or companies, i actually would perfer something that doesnt have proprietary bullshit, but the printers my roommate have are a (GEETECH) Ender 3 Clone and a TwoTree SP-5. The two tree is really awesome, but also over kill for what i need personally.
Other considerations are that It should be relatively compact, not mini/micro or anything, I would rather print twice or rearrange the models on the print bed some times and have more space than the other way around.
Posts in a forum asking for advice, doesn’t respond to a single comment asking for more info for 2 days. Nice
Fair enough. Haha.
Since you’re here now, I got a lot of use out of my Neptune 3, which you can get for like $100 from their site now that the 4 series is out. That being said, you can look at my post history and determine if that’s the printer for you. Though for a hundred bucks it’s a pretty solid grab.
I am very interested in the Neptune 3, especially for 100$, but does it actually hold up?
Geeetech Alkaid. It’s a $99 resin printer and the reviews I’ve seen say that it’s pretty good especially at that price point. Though you’d probably be spending $300 if you buy a curing and washing station and a bottle of resin as well.
Like others said, depends what is your budget. If I was buying a printer now I would consider Bambu lab P1S or Sovol SV08.
I’ve never been a fan of propertary printers but friend of mine got bambu lab p1s and that thing is a beast. Idk how good SV08 is, but its actually cheap Voron v2.4 so deffo promising
Bambu came out of nowhere that’s for sure. I sold my Prusa for an X1C with AMS. I am hoping Prusa makes a come back I will even spend a little bit more for them just to have the open source and all around good company
Yeah I hope as well, but I don’t think that will happen honestly. The thing is about low price of bambu (and other chinese brands)…it’s just too cheap IMO. Self sourcing parts would cost much more and on top of that bambu comes assembled and tuned. I know many people nowdays think 1k printer is expensive, but it just makes no sense having smartphone prices in the same range as 3D printers (with touch screen, wifi, camera,…). Just my 2c
As opposed to buying a cheap printer, screwing around with it for weeks and buying $500 in parts, calibrating constantly with annoying tricks and hacks, and getting frustrated because a new hobby is more effort than it’s worth?
OP asked for an entry level printer. There’s good entry level options besides absolute bottom of the barrel creality ones, although those are also good enough to see if it’s a hobby you want to spend more money on. “Hey anyone have recommendations for a cheap car I can get? I just learned to drive.” “Buy a corvette!”
You know, I’m sure it is great. But looking around at the absolute bullshit I see with 2D printers, I’m never buying a closed source machine for 3D. People are even complaining about Brother these days, seems like only a matter of time that proprietary machines go to shit.
Very fair, I’m concerned about it as well but got one anyways. One of the reasons I got p1s instead of the carbon was none of it’s real functionality is cloud based, I can leave it offline and print via sd card and not worry. To me, the convenience has been worth it, one of the biggest things holding me back from getting stuff done is having to fiddle with stuff multiplies the effort in my head and puts me off. Having it be so plug and play makes me so much happier because I can just do stuff. Not a fan of all the proprietary cloud stuff but here, for me, it’s worth it.
Definitely no cloud is a strict requirement here, too. I see where you are coming from. A couple of times I wanted to print something but instead had to replace bearings and recalibrate. That takes days or longer because I am low motivation about it. I guess that’s the price I have to pay to ensure I’ll always be able to replace parts with standard components and recalibrate.
Hey I’m not OP but I was wondering too, budget is 1K and would mostly want it to make tabletop figures.
For minis and other things where you want lots of small details you want a resin/SLA printer.
- Keep in mind that as well as the printer itself, you also need equipment to wash and cure the resin after it comes out of the printer
- Resin is extremely toxic, accumulates in the body (ie, lots of small exposures over time is just as bad as one big exposure), and you can develop immune sensitivities to it where your body freaks out with even small amounts leading blisters, burns and breathing difficulties. Do not screw around with resin. Use proper PPE. Dispose of waste resin properly
thanks! Haven’t looked into it at all just a passing fancy and toxic things sound less fun. Is there anything that would do this with wood, some CNC machine? Much more experience carving stuff but I’m still curious.
Didn’t mean to put you off if it’s something you are interested in, just be aware with what you are dealing with going into it.
Small desktop CNCs are relatively affordable, but only cut in 2 dimensions. Laser cutters fill a similar niche, are a bit more limited in the types of materials they can cut and how thick the material can be, are a bit more forgiving than a CNC (no risk of breaking milling bits if you screw up), but have safety issues to be aware of. I’m not aware of any hobby-grade muli-axis CNC machines, but there might be ones out there
What is your roommate’s printer Also, what is your budget Going to need to include filament if you don’t have any of your own
If in the US, are you nearish to a Microcenter
I am not in the US but near-by to something that is equivalent to a microcenter! My budget is 200 for the printer, and 300$ is my max for including filament and extras. My roomate has two printers, a ender 3 clone and a TwoTree SP-5. I’ve been really liking the SP-5, but 400-500$ is a little much for what im doing.
Ideally it could be something that is brand locked little as possible
