3d printing recommendations

[robrmon]

As mentioned in another thread, I love my 3D printer which I’ve often used for custom things on my Lotus Evora and now the Emira

Here is my preferred set up:
Amazon “creality ender 3” printer, they start at $170 and go up to $350 for that series. The ones at the $200 mark look value. Get one with auto leveling. And buy a glass bed $15 if it doesn’t come with it. Touchscreen makes it easier.

For designing I use tinkercad (free), just google it.

I use AstroPrint (free) to make interfacing with the printer easier, but that’s not a day one thing. I have mine setup so I can print remotely, on my house wifi.

Tons of useful YouTube videos

Let me know any Qs

 

[Rapture]

As mentioned in another thread, I love my 3D printer which I’ve often used for custom things on my Lotus Evora and now the Emira

Here is my preferred set up:
Amazon “creality ender 3” printer, they start at $170 and go up to $350 for that series. The ones at the $200 mark look value. Get one with auto leveling. And buy a glass bed $15 if it doesn’t come with it. Touchscreen makes it easier.

For designing I use tinkercad (free), just google it.

I use AstroPrint (free) to make interfacing with the printer easier, but that’s not a day one thing. I have mine setup so I can print remotely, on my house wifi.

Tons of useful YouTube videos

Let me know any Qs

The link does not take you to a product page with printers.

 

[robrmon]

This is as low as I would go. I got mine four years ago and paid about the same for far less functionality. I wouldn’t spend more than $300 for a first printer, but 100% stick to this Creality Ender 3 range.

Amazon.com

 

[Tomwa]

I'm not sure I would advocate spending less money for a first printer.

I would absolutely recommend a Bambu Labs P1-S or X1. They are more expensive, for sure. But they are incredibly fast, and turn key.

So much less time fiddling and fussing, and they are good enough printers that you see some people who run print farms converting their prusas over to Bambu. Some of the issues/concerns about open source, or non-proprietary are basically gone because the owner community is so large now, and there's a firmware side-load which has Bambu blessing which can get you new features, or allow you to not connect it to the internet.

That said. My first printer is a Qidi X-max 3. (currently only. I think I'd only consider a resin printer in addition right now)

It's bigger than what Bambu offers, also is a Core XY printer (fast) as apposed to a bed slinger. It has full enclosure, internal heating (aside from the bed), and hot end that supports more exotic filament types.

It still uses Klipper, so despite having a proprietary firmware because of the mainboard I can use it with Orca Slicer and it comes with lot of expected support/features (and new ones with other slicers).

I take back what I said about only a resin printer as an alternative or additional. The Bambu does mutli-material support with their AMS or whatever. That is an extremely attractive feature, the only way to get multi-material otherwise is like a dual extruder situation.

Multi-material is really great, not just for being able to change colors part way through a print. But you can do interesting things like, PLA and PETG may not have a great bonding when layered (i don't actually remember which filaments don't play nice). This means you can print supports in one material and your object in another and the supports just fall off. No sanding, no clipping, just supports that prop up the print without sticking to it.

 

[virtualmacho]

Hi, complete newbie here. "Creality" and "Bambu" seem to be the mainstream brands with lots of support and on-line information. I'm wondering about slightly cheaper products from "Elegoo", does anyone have experience with their 3D printers? Currently looking at their "Centauri Carbon" model.

For me;

• I hate prepping and cleaning (closed enclosure and auto leveling are must-haves, would like to stay away from the stench and rinsing steps of resin)
• printing speed is not top priority, but the option to print faster would be nice to have
• would like to use filaments with carbon fiber
• multi-material not required
• local language support not required (English is OK)
• availability of spare/repair parts are a consideration

 

[Tomwa]

Hi, complete newbie here. "Creality" and "Bambu" seem to be the mainstream brands with lots of support and on-line information. I'm wondering about slightly cheaper products from "Elegoo", does anyone have experience with their 3D printers? Currently looking at their "Centauri Carbon" model.

For me;

• I hate prepping and cleaning (closed enclosure and auto leveling are must-haves, would like to stay away from the stench and rinsing steps of resin)
• printing speed is not top priority, but the option to print faster would be nice to have
• would like to use filaments with carbon fiber
• multi-material not required
• local language support not required (English is OK)
• availability of spare/repair parts are a consideration

Elegoo has a reputation of being very cheap but not very beginner friendly as it typically requires a lot of tinkering.

It's entirely possible they are trying to change course, as much of the industry is, to chase Bambu. Which is to say, stop looking at 3D printing as a hobbyists pursuit where fussing with the printer and it's settings is "part of the fun". And treat the printer instead as an end consumer product that just needs to work.

 

[virtualmacho]

Elegoo has a reputation of being very cheap but not very beginner friendly as it typically requires a lot of tinkering.

It's entirely possible they are trying to change course, as much of the industry is, to chase Bambu. Which is to say, stop looking at 3D printing as a hobbyists pursuit where fussing with the printer and it's settings is "part of the fun". And treat the printer instead as an end consumer product that just needs to work.

Thank you. Since I am looking for an appliance to just unbox and use, I think I should stay mainstream.

 

[Tomwa]

Bambu has recently had a bit of a misstep and souring the community because of a firmware update that forced a lot of unpopular things.

I have a Qidi 3d printer which uses "Core XY" which is the sort of language around the sort of "Fast printing" like Bambu. It's not a perfect parity match, but it is good for some more exotic filaments because it has a enclosure heater.

To print CF stuff you just need to change out your nozzle as the standard brass nozzles will wear out quickly by highly abrasive filaments like Glass Fiber or Carbon Fiber infused.

I know Prusia has a printer that they wanted to promote as competing with Bambu, Creality has, it's possible the new Elegoo is supposed to.

In the end you probably want a Core XY apposed to a "Bed Slinger". Depending on size you should be able to find something compelling under 1k

 

[virtualmacho]

Bed slingers are fun to watch, but since I would like everything to be inside a box, looks like my choice is going to be core XY. My PC screen is getting tons of advertisements from Creality

 

[Jinba ittai]

I started with a replicator 2 (good machine for its day), then a replicator z18 (horribly unreliable). I’ve been running a couple makergear m2s for 10 years now. They’re workhorses, but I think there are a lot better options for less money now. I have heard good things about the bambu labs machines, but have not used them myself. I use Simplify 3D for my slicing.

 

[Tomwa]

I started with a replicator 2 (good machine for its day), then a replicator z18 (horribly unreliable). I’ve been running a couple makergear m2s for 10 years now. They’re workhorses, but I think there are a lot better options for less money now. I have heard good things about the bambu labs machines, but have not used them myself. I use Simplify 3D for my slicing.

Bambu X1 was honestly just a huge step forward. They are INCREDIBLY fast, though i guess technically i've seen faster from something like a Delta 3D printer, but you are much more limited in printing volume with those.

If it wasn't for things like, locked down firmware, RFID/NFC chipped filament reels, no LAN port (forcing Wifi), and some "always online" functions for Bambu (it doesn't like operating without reaching back to mothership) I would happily recommend it. At this point I think it has the biggest community and it has it's own STL files sharing which makes it simple to find something someone else printed and just make it go. I wouldn't fault anyone for going that route, it's honestly a great machine.

Prusia I'd say is the next largest "highly supported" company from the community. Unfortunately most of that community is more the 'tinker' kind. Who enjoy that you can buy a Prusia and assemble it yourself and it comes with 3d printed parts as part of its assembly. Many MANY print-farms used prusia as their primary printers. Easy to repair, plentiful parts, open source community updates, lots of aftermarket for other print-plates, nozzles, modifications.

Qidi is not oft talked about, but I do honestly think they have great support, in the generation I have the initial calibration for Z-height was a struggle but it may have improved on the latest model. They use open-source software but they used a proprietary 'board' so just updating to the latest thing the community put out there is not necessarily an option.

 

[cazarch]

If you can afford a Lotus, you shouldn’t be considering anything other than a Prusa or Bambu Lab 3d printer. You can’t go wrong with any model from either of these brands.

 

[911toEmira]

I’ve thought about this in the past but wonder how much I’d use one, what sort of things have you made for the car and other things

 

[Jinba ittai]

80% of my usage has been work related - Printing customer logos for parts. 20% has been 3D printing toys for my kids, which can be downloaded for free from Thingiverse.