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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
Lots of different ways to get into it. I personally love my Elegoo printers (An older Neptune 2S and a Neptune 3 Pro)
I don’t have any experience with resin printers yet but have been poking around at FDM for the better part of a decade. In that price range (for FDM), I’d likely suggest a Creality K1C. It is not going to likely match the BambuLab printers but it’s a great departure from previous by Creality, requiring little to no tinkering to make it work. If you can spare around $1k, and don’t care about proprietary stuff, BambuLab X1 series is about the most turnkey that I know of. But, again, the Creality is (surprisingly) right there too with the K1C.
Note: It is probably possible to get similar results with mods to a K1 or K1Max - the nozzle brush seems to be critical to the K1C’s reliability.
Bambulab A1 mini
Used Prusa MK3s
