How to pick a suitable 3D printer

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laoadam
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How to pick a suitable 3D printer

Post by laoadam »

Hi,
I am new here, a new buyer of 3D printer, I gonna buy one for home use, can I get some advice? there is a huge marketing and such many brands and models, and also a large price range.
Easy to use/reliable/~$500?
Thanks
Adam
Lez0
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Re: How to pick a suitable 3D printer

Post by Lez0 »

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Yes there are lots of 3D printers out there, $500 gives you plenty to choose from.
First, what do you want to make on it.
Second, what size of prints.
Third. what type of printer, I have a resin printer for smaller parts with plenty of detail, and a filament printer for parts up to 300x300x400mm.
Mine are used of making prototypes for work and things around the house etc.

Lez
stella
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Re: How to pick a suitable 3D printer

Post by stella »

Easy to use/reliable/~$500?
this leaves you so much choice. Actually you do have some great options for ~$300. Hottest fdm 3d printer would be creality ender 3 series, and there're some competitors with similar functions but lower prices, including Voxelab Aquila, Flashforge Finder, Monoprice, etc.
Jonsonsmith
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Re: How to pick a suitable 3D printer

Post by Jonsonsmith »

3D printing technology has come a long way since then, and I've doubled down by getting into 3D scanning and even laser cutting, which lets you sculpt real-world designs from leather and wood.

3D printers, which range from affordable (under $300) to high-end (over $3,000), are awesome gifts for a creative person or the 3D printing enthusiast in your life -- or even better -- they're great for you to craft your own personalized designs. Also, 3D printing technology is getting better and better, meaning the print quality of whatever it is you're making is starting to look like it was made by a professional 3D printing service. As I said, it's a really, really cool hobby and it's getting easier to find a great 3D printer to facilitate it.

You can browse here - https://productz.com/en/3d-printers/c/80, though, that a cheap 3D printer is still going to cost at least a couple hundred bucks. If even a budget 3D printer is out of your price range, and you can still jump on the additive manufacturing trend by grabbing a 3D pen to play with until a desktop 3D printer is within reach.
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LePaul
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Re: How to pick a suitable 3D printer

Post by LePaul »

Just be aware that in the last 3 years, the "race to the bottom" in price has also meant a deep dive in quality.

(Which has opened up a huge market for upgrades and many Thingiverse options)

I've got several that have been sent to me from various vendors for review.

The most glaring issues I see once I open these guys up...

1) Unsafe wiring
2) Poor quality print head
3) Cheapest of the cheap extruders
4) Poor print surfaces
5) Bed not level
6) Some don't use eccentric nuts, so once the v slot wheels begin to wear, you can't adjust the bed/carriage
7) No support. Or if you do find a Facebook group that supports the machine/brand...most of the time the ardent fan boys will fault the user since their machine happened to work out of the box.
8) Cheap electronics that fail quickly...knob encoders, LCD screens
9) General poor quality control
10) Loud fans that fail (hot end, part cooler, power supply)

You have a few options...

1) Be prepared to do some essential upgrades you have learned to do and be prepared to "be" the support!
2) Buy from a vendor that receives, assembles, inspects the machine and offers upgrades you don't have to do (Tiny Machines)
3) Spend more for quality, support, warranty (Ultimaker, etc) You pay more but your only worry is your print, not the machine safety and reliability.

The last point is important because everyone knows their own level of comfort and frustration.

Some of us love to tweak, tinker and improve our cheap machines to print things that rival the expensive printers. Others have no interest in that. They want to slice, print and move on to the next print. They really don't want to know the magic of firmware (reprap/Marlin) and checking scary looking wires.

I see a lot of friends buy 3D printers and quickly discover it isn't for them. My local Facebook marketplace has DOZENS of Ender series printers and cheap resin printers up for sale.

Good luck! I hope this helps!
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