3D printer

[lewisoliver]

Hi friends, I'm interested in getting a 3D printer. Since it's going to be my 1st one I'm a little confused which one to get. Could you check the website below and leave feedback, thank you.

https://www.dibbsto.co.uk/3d-printer/

[Xwing]

It depends on how much you want to spend, but if you want a good 3D printer i suggest you to get a Prusa I3 MK3S original.

https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/180-original-prusa-i3-mk3-kit.html

[norkimo]

I agree, if you are just starting, the Prusa kits are great.  In fact, I would recommend building your own kit rather than buying one pre-built as it will force you to understand more about the operation of the printer and how to maintain it.

If you are pressed for time, you can get one pre-built.

[token0]

Hi friends, I'm interested in getting a 3D printer. Since it's going to be my 1st one I'm a little confused which one to get.

Oh, I'm currently trying to make choice too.

First of all, budget for prebuilt 3D printer with advanced kinematics types (like CoreXY) would be x2-x3-xN times more expensive, than an entry-line Cartesian-based Prusa-i3-like. If you want to get basic prebuilt printer with decent quality, I would recommend to look on Creality Ender 3 or 3-PRO (or 5/5-PRO if you want a bit more speed and print quality). That would cost about $230-$700. Pros: pretty big community and decent support. Cons: price and lower fun.

If you decide to build it yourself, there's a plenty of opensource designs of veeerrrry sweet printers, based on CoreXY-kinematics. It's possible to build a CoreXY printer for about $200. Just search for "diy corexy". Also search for "3D printer kinematics types".

[sohel]

3 in 1

https://shop.snapmaker.com/collections/featured-collection/products/snapmaker-2-0-modular-3-in-1-3d-printers?gclid=Cj0KCQjwm9D0BRCMARIsAIfvfIaDLL4x7itt41pCsrFjg4HMLgk5kfmD4_l5968DDoEPFZhW8ro-00EaAr_sEALw_wcB

[towlerg]

I'm probably going to get a Sovol SV01, its generally described as the printer that the Ender3 should have been. Dual Z, direct drive extruder but sadly still with a shitty creality mainboard. It grates to buy a printer and immediately throw away the main board, sadly nobody sell the SV01 with a decent mainbaord.

The other option was the Prusa Mini but the wait list is ridiculous.

[lewisoliver]

Thanks for all the suggestions and info my friends. I was interested in getting one from the website, because it seemed for people like me that need something cost-effective.

[cako]

I would get an Creality Ender 3, is a very popular and cheap model which has a great community and has a lot of things made by other users. A site to download 3D models is thingiverse.com. You will find lots of useful mods to the Ender 3

[Anifkin]

I can echo the Creality Ender 3 recommendations. It's a fantastic printer, and the value for money is really good.

Good luck with it. Let us know what your final choice is, and how you get on.

[Old_but_Alive]

which one is better, and why...

Creality3D Ender-5 DIY 3D Printer Kit  or Creality3D Upgraded Ender-3 V2 3D Printer

[cako]

which one is better, and why...

Creality3D Ender-5 DIY 3D Printer Kit  or Creality3D Upgraded Ender-3 V2 3D Printer

The ender 5 is another printer which is new to the market. The Ender 3 V2 is an upgrade over the old Ender 3. I would go with the Ender 3 V2, as the Ender 5 is not so well tested.

[pickit2]

if you want a laugh in lockdown visit https://www.technogeek3d.co.uk/post/our-review-of-the-ctc-a13

[Xwing]

if you want a laugh in lockdown visit https://www.technogeek3d.co.uk/post/our-review-of-the-ctc-a13

In this case the saying "buy cheap, buy twice" is perfect.

[Old_but_Alive]

I just ordered a Creality3D Ender-5 DIY 3D Printer Kit as it seems sturdier and larger.

I will keep you posted.

Trouble is, I have no idea how to produce the designs . I dont mean stl outputs etc.

[mhemara]

I was looking for a budget one , I got "Anycubic i3 Mega" for its good reviews, for one year usage I can say it never let me down except lifting problem for ABS material, it has a workaround solution which is easily done while printing, currently they open pre-order for the new S version if you can wait, or you can get the original one from AliExpress for less than $200, If you need larger printing volume you can try the Mega-X version.

[Anifkin]

...

Trouble is, I have no idea how to produce the designs . I dont mean stl outputs etc.

Have a look at Fusion 360 from Autodesk. It's (legally!) free for personal/non-commercial use, and there are loads of training resources online. It's pretty nice to use for 3D CAD. I have used Solidworks (incredible, but a steep learning curve), and also Alibre Design. That's ok, but so very, very, bug ridden.

Fusion 360 should keep you happy for a while.

Good luck.

[Vineyards]

I have an Anycubic 4Max Pro and it is so far so good. At least it is worth its price. There are a few quirks which need to be addressed probably not unlike many other 3D printers. The cures to those problems are all available on Youtube.

[Xwing]

Trouble is, I have no idea how to produce the designs . I dont mean stl outputs etc.

Personally i use Rhinoceros to create the stl, however it is a complex program to use and learn, on the other hand it offers excellent results such as the quality of the stl, often other cad create non-perfect stl that require adjustments using appropriate tools such as netfab.
An excellent alternative, open source, is OpenScad, simple to use and allows you to get perfect stl, also there are many models, customizable, made with this tool.
For completeness i also mention SolidWorks and Inventor, two top products for the creation of 3D models, but very complex and require a lot of time, study, before being able to master them.

[ramachandran]

This is free software and open-source software,(link attached).
3D printer slicing application.

[bigtoy]

Have a look at Fusion 360 from Autodesk. It's (legally!) free for personal/non-commercial use, and there are loads of training resources online. It's pretty nice to use for 3D CAD. I have used Solidworks (incredible, but a steep learning curve), and also Alibre Design. That's ok, but so very, very, bug ridden.

Fusion 360 should keep you happy for a while.

Good luck.

This was a good suggestion. I watched an "intro to Fusion 360" type of video on youtube and it looked pretty easy. So the next day I installed it, and was quickly designing models. For a 3D newbie I was pretty happy.

[hodahel]

Be aware that 3D printer is not a typical laser printer where you send a document to print and get a nice result on the go. With 3D printer you have a lot o tweaking both hardware and software

[comlekciler]

I can recommend Creality Ender 3 V2. What is necessary has already been said about it.

[towlerg]

Although the E3 is good value for money, at least the original version was "pot luck", some were fine and others not so much. I don't mean bad QC, but the selection of components.

Can't speak to V2. 

[Wizpic]

I have played with the idea in getting one from some time, But I see and hear so many tings, There was a guy doing a print for 72 hours and the final last 10 minutes it came lose and screwed up, This is what's putting me off in getting one.
You hear all the good and bad tings which makes it harder into choosing one and I've seen some cool stuff done with them

[pickit2]

The Ender 3 both versions are a bit and miss - the problem is You will get 99 out of 100 bought a clone.
even the original Creality Ender was so badly made.
I was given one that needed ajusting or updating as one side was not keeping level as the extruder moved up from the bed.
It was put in the back of my workshop, and forgot about.
Mind you I was going to remake it into a new printer for a project that only needs to rise 2cm at most.

[Xwing]

In fact it is possible to say that all Chinese low cost 3d printers have many mechanical problems and low quality of the components used.
The biggest problem with these printers is the non-repeatability of the results, it is also possible that a good print comes out, but if you try to do it again in the vast majority of cases the next one is bad or has problems.
I have a BQ Hephestos 2 and an original Prusa I3 MK3S, both cost over 700 Euros each, but they have excellent print quality and the results are repeatable.
Quality has a cost, you cannot be fooled to get the same results as hardware worth several hundred Euros by spending much less.

[towlerg]

The other issue is what material do you want to use. If your going to stick with PLA (generally considered to be the easiest to print) an E3 might do very nicely but if you want something mechanically stronger like ABS, Nylon or PC, then the required bed and nozzle temperatures may not be achievable (depending on blend).   

[optikon]

In fact it is possible to say that all Chinese low cost 3d printers have many mechanical problems and low quality of the components used.
The biggest problem with these printers is the non-repeatability of the results, it is also possible that a good print comes out, but if you try to do it again in the vast majority of cases the next one is bad or has problems.
I have a BQ Hephestos 2 and an original Prusa I3 MK3S, both cost over 700 Euros each, but they have excellent print quality and the results are repeatable.
Quality has a cost, you cannot be fooled to get the same results as hardware worth several hundred Euros by spending much less.

I was thinking about getting Prusa I3 MK3S.. I saw demo of results and it does a great job. Is there another similar you could recommend or is it still a top choice for the price range?

[Xwing]

In the price range below 1000 Euro I don't think there is anything better than the Prusa I3 MK3S, the results are excellent, moreover it prints all materials without problems, I normally use PLA and PETG, but I am considering the purchase of the steel nozzle for printing carbon-filled nylon that offers excellent mechanical resistance, perfect for printing gears.
Surely I will also purchase the MMU2S addon shortly, to automatically print with five different colors, even on the same layer, I am waiting for the production site to normalize which due to covid 19 has made waiting times for Prusa products long.
As filament I am using the Prusament ones, also produced by Prusa, for the M3KS and those of BQ for the Hephostos 2, both are valid and not very expensive.
A valid alternative, available on Amazon, are the Sunlu filaments, they cost little and do quite well, but they are not at the level of the Prusa and BQ ones.
Attached is a photo of how the famous 3D Benchy on the I3MK3S looks like, layer 0.15 mm printing time about 2 hours.

[towlerg]

It's still a shed load of money for a kit!

If budget is an issue (when isn't it) how about the Prusa Mini. Small bed and materials choice not so wide but half the price and it comes in two parts like E3, SV01 etc.

[Xwing]

Unfortunately, the quality of the materials has a cost, thinking of obtaining the same results as an I3 MK3S by spending much less is a utopia.
The electronics of the printer are also important, in particular the stepper drivers, I don't think it is necessary to remember that the Chinese low cost boards are made with second choice components and are assembled in an approximate way.
The Prusa Mini costs less than the M3KS, but the print area is much smaller, if sufficient it is certainly a valid choice.

[Parmin]

A few weeks ago I bought a TronXY 2-Pro for less than US$200 delivered.
So far I am very happy with what it can do, since it was one of the cheapest machine with auto leveling and heated bed.
The print size is also quite good 260 x 260 x 280mm
I have been using CURA for slicing and OpenSCAD for modeling.

Happily printing with cheap ABS filaments from ebay

[Vineyards]

I have an Anycubic 4Max Pro. It is a good, stable 3D Printer. That being said, 3D printers can hardly be considered as finished products when they leave the factory. By analogy, their current development phase is comparable to early dot matrix printers where the user would have to feed the paper, adjust line spacing, font size etc. and align the paper properly before being able to get a good looking print out. Similarly, there are lots of things a user needs to master and many things that can go wrong in the case of 3D printing. Remember, how you had to know quite a few things if you wanted to take a good picture back in the day. Some would even take courses to master photography, look what it has come to... I expect 3D printers will stay with us for a long time. However, they will probably become less appealing to tinkerers and gradually turn into more complete and reliable tools serving serious hobbyists. I assume there will be other toys for tinkerers in the future.

[comlekciler]

I recommend you to examine the products of this company.

www.snapmaker.com

[neom]

Zortrax M200 Plus. Is not cheap but worth the money.

[optikon]

Zortrax M200 Plus. Is not cheap but worth the money.

No kidding.. looks really nice. I like the idea that it just works so well. I am at a point in my career/hobbies where spending time fussing around with setups and optimizations just isn't worth the extra bucks saved. That being said, it is pricey.. Do you have one of these? If so, tell us about it from you own experience. I watched some Youtube reviews. Its amazing.

I was going for Prusa I3 MK3S but now... hmmm for a bit more I am really considering the Zortrax.

Thanks for sharing!

[pickit2]

I read a review of the Zortrax and the conclusion was it was good but was limited to what filament you could use.
I could not find any reference as to what the reviewer meant by saying that.
sorry I did not bookmark that.

[Xwing]

Zortrax printers are excellent, but in addition to costing a lot, the M200 plus costs about 2250 euros, they have the problem that the filament is equipped with chips, like the cartridges for ink jets, and you are forced to use their original filaments, sold at a high price, or the few existing compatibles, always at a high price.
In terms of print quality the Prusa I3 MK3 have nothing to envy to the Zortrax, I have a friend who has the M200 plus and prints in hand it is practically impossible to distinguish from which printer they were made.
Obviously the Zortrax printers arrive ready to use, there is nothing to assemble and there are no adjustments to be made, periodic calibration is totally automated.
But even the Prusa original printers can be already assembled, about 200 Euros more, and ready to use, these also have a practical calibration wizard that is very easy to use.
From the software point of view, Prusa provides the profiles for the main slicers, Cura and Simplify 3D, they are practically perfect and do not require special adjustments.
In addition, Prusa has created its own slicer, open source, called Prusaslicer which uses Slic3r as a core but equipped with many improvements and additional features that bring it to the same level as Simplify 3d, if not higher.
Prusaslicer is equipped with print profiles for all Prusa printers and all their filaments, including generic and other brand filaments, which allow you to print optimally without having to change anything other than the printing options such as layer thickness and the filling.

[hodahel]

I recently bought a surplus Ender 3. It cost me almost brand new. I know it was a ripped-off but that's the only way I can acquire it.

I bought and printed a lot of upgrades to be able to make a descent print.

[neom]

No kidding.. looks really nice. I like the idea that it just works so well. I am at a point in my career/hobbies where spending time fussing around with setups and optimizations just isn't worth the extra bucks saved. That being said, it is pricey.. Do you have one of these? If so, tell us about it from you own experience. I watched some Youtube reviews. Its amazing.


I was going for Prusa I3 MK3S but now... hmmm for a bit more I am really considering the Zortrax.

Thanks for sharing!

Yes I have. It’s very reliable and easy to use machine and print with very high quality. Now you can use non Zontrax materials but you have to setup many parameters (I never used it, I always use Zortrax materials). I recommend that printer.

Regards.