NiyaShy
Definitely better than the usual full plastic spool, but IMHO a step back from “true” masterspool refills. I’ve already printed my MS spools, switching in a new refill is easy enough, and I never bother to store an already opened refill without a spool since I store all of my filament in a drybox anyway.
Going by the first pic, the cover looks like plastic, so it’s probably LEDs. Halogen lamps would need (more) venting holes and/or more “space” inside the housing.
And if your G4s are constantly dying, it’s either “just” crappy quality with overdriven LEDs, or it could also be the housing. Halogens are a bit more heat resistant, so if you don’t have enough ventilation the LEDs just cook themselves to death.
Getting most of my filament from DasFilament because they are a local (German) company and offer masterspool refills. They “only” sell PLA, PETG and TPU, but so far I haven’t messed with other types yet, so that’s OK.
Welcome to the hobby then 😊 Hope you already have a drybox or other airtight storage, ABS and PETG don’t like being stored “outside” once they’re out of the sealed bag.
Hm, interesting that the board has a solder point for an ethernet jack, but I see none of the usual “support” components near it that are typically also required (a PHY and/or network chip). Could be that that’s supposed to be run in software on the MCU, but that would require that the firmware supports/includes it.
A pretty decent and cheap choice for containers are Ikea Samla boxes. You “just” need some weatherstrip from the hardware store to create a decent seal on the lid. Oh, and don’t bother with getting Ikeas lid clips, they’re crap compared to the printable “ultimate Samla clip”.
I have the 45l Samla box, it has space for about 10 spools of filament. Printed some infill grid as a “spacer” and just dumped 1kg of desiccant in, constantly keeps the RH below 20% and only has to be recharged 1-2 times/year.
No neutral packaging? Almost looks like they want to get their printers snatched from porches…
Anyway, congrats on your new workhorse ^^
With your budget, the typical “entry point” into the hobby would most likely be any machine from the Chinese brands like Anycubic, Creality, Sovol etc. Those machines work OK, but it’s very likely that you’ll find some quirks that annoy you which leads to tinkering and printing (or buying) replacement parts and upgrades. But it also helps to further understand how the printer works, which can help down the line.
“Tinker-free” printers that just work and will do so for many 100 hours (like the printers by Prusa) are more expensive upfront but don’t require constant “babysitting”.
Regarding software, there’s a plethora of programs that can be used. To name a few, we have the open source group (OpenSCAD, FreeCAD), the ‘free’ group (Fusion 360, SolidEdge), the web-based group (TinkerCAD, OnShape) and many more. Try them out and pick whichever suit you.
Saw that you’re already considering the Prusa Mk4, and that was pretty much what I would have recommended for your price range. Prusa machines are not cheap, but once assembled they just work. But since Prusa has an open ecosystem and open-sourced pretty much everything, you have complete control and choice on what software you want to use to accompany it, and you also can mod the printer to your liking if needed.
The Bambulabs printers some others mentioned are different in that they are a closed ecosystem. You get the printer as-is with very little playroom for modifications and the software side (slicer) is AFAIK also pretty locked down to what they ship with the printer.
For the slicer, as mentioned it depends on the printer. If you go with Prusa, pretty much any slicer will work. To name a few, PrusaSlicer, SuperSlicer, Cura…
If you go with Bambulabs, (AFAIK) you’re restricted to using their slicer.
For designing your own models, there’s also a plethora of programs available you can use for free. Be it CAD programs like Fusion 360, SolidEdge, OpenSCAD, FreeCAD, modelling software like Blender, or many many more.