Hi 3D-Printer Community,
I am a total newby in regards to 3D Printers but want to start this Hobby. Do you have any tips and suggestions for me about good printers? Anything you wish you knew before starting Out?
As a recent beginner, don’t buy one that requires tinkering unless you’re ok with doing a really deep dive into learning.
3d printing is a deep rabbit hole. A beginner friendly printer will save you a good deal of trial and error.
Prusa Mk4. They are amazing out of the box. Easy button compared to just a couple years ago.
If you’re a bit of a cheap ass, don’t care about hardware support long term, don’t mind the printer requiring an internet connection, and don’t mind IP theft, get a Bambu P1.
I suggest looking up videos on Youtube and getting the most popular printer. You’ll have so.many frustrating problems that it will be 1000x easier if you have a lot of resources to look. I bought a cheap chinese printer and regreted every second. Get the the one with most troubleshooting resorces
Ender creality 3(?) should be pretty cheap and is really popular
ELEGOO Neptune 4
works from the day 1, both PLA and ABS+ and it plays nice with Cura.
If you are not too paranoid about security / privacy would go Bambu. If you are, Prusa MK4.
Do you have any tips and suggestions for me about good printers?
Know what you want to print in the first place. A lot of people go for FDM, but if what you want is high details at very small scales, like miniatures for games, action figures, and overall much lower maintenance, you’ll want a resin printer instead. Anything from Elegoo or Creality should be good enough.
If you want to tinker with the printer, get a Bambu or Creality. They are cheap, and sometimes really good - but it’s often hit or miss on whether your exact unit is fine or a lemon.
If you want something that just works, spend more to buy a Prusa. On a budget? Get a Mini+. Bigger budget? Get a Mk4. Or get a Mk3 used.
I have a Monoprice Voxel (same as the Flashforge Adventurer 3) and it’s been great as my first printer. Completely enclosed so it’s quiet and protected from my children and cat. The only tinkering I did with it was to print a larger spool holder, but everything worked great out of the box.
I’ve had a total of two print fails (out of probably 70 or 80 now), and both were rectified on the second try. Be sure to read up on what the different settings mean.
Sovol SV06 is great
If you want cheap-ish, go for Prusa Mini. It has a small plate, so you won’t be able to print some of the larger design, but for me it was the sweet spot between reliability and not caring that much if it turned out 3D printing is not for me. You don’t have to tinker that much with Prusa printers in general, which IMO is great for beginners.
Decide if you want to tinker with 3d printers or you just want to print stuff. This will guide your choice. I just got a Bambu P1S and it’s great if you just want to print and not tinker. Downside is it doesn’t respect open source and privacy
Bambu a1 mini or a1. It’s simple to use and prints extremely well. You can also add on a multi filament color changer.
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Kingaroon K3PS, dip your toes in first a little.