Would be so kind as to suggest a printer for me? I have no experience at all with 3D printers or 3D modeling. But I am super interested and have electronics and coding knowledge. I would like to print things like brackets, enclosures for custom circuit boards, organizers, keyboard plates, etc. Ideally I would like to spend around $300USD, but I am open to going as high as $500USD if it would save me headaches and make the experience more enjoyable and streamlined.
Please suggest something for me and let me know if I didn’t provide enough information. One final note, I live in range of a microcenter if that is a factor.
As other people have mentioned, Prusa and Bambu make the most reliable printers on the market. The plus side to Bambu is the price. They are definitely cheaper than prusa printers.
However, I would make sure to be aware of the controversies surrounding Bambu. This is not a deal breaker for many people, but it wouldn’t be right not to at least take a glance at them. Especially considering you are on Lemmy.
This is where Prusa shines. They have not had nearly the same amount of controversies. Their hardware, firmware, and software are all open source. They also have amazing customer support. As others said, a used Prusa can be found within your price range.
This is just something to know of. I know a lot of people who are happy with both brands, and you can’t really go wrong either way. I just think this is another thing to consider.
What is the controversy? I’m probably as open source supporting as the next lemming.
I’m not fully in the loop, but I believe Bambu is pretty blatant about taking everything from the open source community and never giving back. And Josef Prusa even claims that Bambu Labs intentionally uploaded stolen models to Prusa’s site, Printables, in order to see how Prusa handles it - so Bambu can reverse engineer Prusa’s internal processes and clone them to Bambu’s new website, MakerWorld
In addition
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They have filed some controversial/anti-innovative patents.
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Their printers phone home with encrypted information. Last I checked, there were speculated security and privacy issues with it, though someone should correct me if this was resolved.
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They only open source their slicer because of the GPL licence, but they don’t open source anything else (firmware, hardware, etc).
Again, I just recommend people look into these things before they buy a printer. Do your own research and come to your own conclusions :)
Bambu firmware is closed source. I’m 100% happy with my Bambu, but that being said, Prusa makes amazing printers. However, like everything else, it comes with a price. Buying used is an option, just note you’ll ideally want to see it in person and printing before plunking down cash. As good as their printers are, you could still be buying someone else’s problem.
Do you want the printer to be a tool, or a hobby (i.e. you don’t mind fiddling with the printer itself to improve the results, you don’t mind spending more to upgrade components, etc)?
If the printer itself is a hobby you can go cheap, but if you want something reliable you don’t have to mess with or upgrade, I’d suggest getting something as nice as you can afford, maybe a Prusa mini or Bambu A1 mini if you don’t care about open source. Also consider something like a used Prusa Mk3.x.
Definitely more in the tool side. I want to print stuff that works. Thank you for the suggestions. Are used printers easy to find? How well do they hold up? I’m assuming I would be buying one from someone who is upgrading to something better.
I haven’t bought used myself, but based on my own experiences with my printer (MK4; I love it) I don’t think there’s a ton to worry about buying a used quality printer. I would not buy a used low-end printer because the odds are much higher that the seller found it frustrating.
A used Prusa MK3S is probably an excellent choice if a Prusa MK4 kit is out of your budget and a Bambu printer is out of your budget or doesn’t meet your other requirements. The seller probably either realized they don’t actually print often, or upgraded to a MK4 (or XL if they had the budget). While you can upgrade a MK3S to MK4 with Prusa’s upgrade kit, the cost of the kit is so close to just buying an MK4 that it’s not worth doing (and Prusa admits this; they only offer it because of the flak they got for not doing such a kit in the past). The MK3.5 or 3.9 upgrade kits could make sense for some people…but in many cases someone looking to upgrade would likely leave the MK3S untouched and just buy an MK4.
My vote is for Bambu printers. I started with a super cheap Ender 3 V2 in 2020 and recently we got a Bambu X1 at work and it’s so much easier, faster, and better. No more hours of troubleshooting issues, it just calibrates itself and goes.
The P1P is cheaper and might be a good option to look at. These printers are highly recommended on the reddit community too.
I like the look of the A1 and the P1P. They claim to run right out of the box, is that not common for a 3D printer?
Most will work right out of the box (after assembly) but the cheaper printers like the Ender will require periodic tinkering and upgrades to keep it working and make it perform better. I just retired my Artillery Sidewinder X2 (which is similar to the Ender CR10) for the Bambu X1C and don’t regret it one bit. Prints just work all the time now and I haven’t had to tinker with anything. My X2 has been upgraded quite a bit and yet still frequently gave me (solvable) issues that would be so frustrating when I just wanted to get something printed out.
I would also recommend the A1 mini if you’re not looking to tinker and can deal with the bed size. Bambu Labs has done a great job on their lineup, MakerWorld, and by offering filament as well. They’ve really simplified the whole process.
I second Bambu printers. My P1S was as simple as taking it out of the box, pulling out the included accessories, take out three screws that keep the bed from moving during shipping, plug in cord. During setup it will run a self-calibration routine and you’re all set. I thought I liked tinkering with my Ender 3v2, but when I needed to print, a failure would cost me time, effort and money. Stick with the better printers if you can afford it.
Not uncommon but lots of printers on the market (especially hobbyist ones) are kits that you need to assemble. Bambu printers are pretty much remove the printer from the box, remove some brackets, tape and protective packaging before installing the build plate and spool holder and turning it on.
I’d recommend going for the P1S if you can swing it over the P1P for the enclosure.
There’s a rabbit hole of things that can go wrong and things that need to be calibrated and upgraded. I had to assemble the Ender 3 and ensure that everything was perfectly straight, level, and 90 degrees. Calibrate the z-offset so it knows where the nozzle is.
I added an auto bed leveling sensor to my Ender 3, and that required custom firmware, and I replaced the bed springs because it wasn’t staying level.
I calibrated the e-steps because it wasn’t extruding consistently, then ended up replacing the extruder because it was cheap and unreliable.
Humidity was ruining my filament on the spools and making it brittle and snapping so I built a dry box that could feed the printer, similar to the clear boxes on some Bambu models.
The Bambu really was as simple as unboxing and turning it on. It comes pre-assembled and includes a lot more sensors that are able to keep it working smoothly.
The P1P, on the sales page, lists the hot end as an accessory? Is that the nozzle where the plastic comes out and is that usually sold separately?
Looking at random Facebook marketplace postings I’d say you should go with a mk3s from Prusa. In NYC I’m seeing them for $350-$500 used and they’re fantastic printers. Very much on the tool end of the tool:hobby spectrum.
Speaking as a new hobbyist (2 months), I went with an Creality Ender 3 V3 KE. The cost was in the $250-300 USD range and it had a decent range of features.
I’ve used it almost every day since unpacking it. It’s pretty easy to get to know. The Creality cloud slicing tool is good enough for me (for now), and can be run via a browser or app.
Microcenter has a variety of display models that you can check out. If I had known about it I probably would have gone prior to making my selection. I’m not sure my choice would have been different, but a little extra knowledge never hurts.
