If you’re printing with PLA normally you don’t really need a hot plate. I have an inexpensive printer from MicroCenter and it works just fine. The old trick of lining the bed with blue painter’s tape works. Some folks use a glue stick to coat the tape or bed, but I never found that necessary. It’s when you get into plastics that melt with higher temps, that a hot plate helps, because if those cool off too fast they’ll warp and peel off the bed. Machines with a heated bed and enclosed build chamber are good because they keep a more even climate around the part - but again, only really necessary if you’re printing in the higher temp materials.
The newest Prusa printers are nice because they use a newer controller board with Trinamic stepper drivers - they have some great features like sensorless stall detection, and a super quiet “whisper” mode. The Prusa printers also detect when you’re out of filament and stop the machine for you to reload. They come at a steep price however, but the extrusions are far better than the flimsy lasered plywood stuff of yore.
If you want super high resolution and surface quality, and are not printing large things, an SLA printer maybe the way to go. But it requires expensive UV curing resins, a UV “oven” and an ultrasonic cleaner and isopropyl alcohol to clean excess resin. But the parts look almost as good as injection-molded parts.
I recently bought an Anet A8, but after all the safety mods I’d have been better going for an Ender-3. Although the A8 does a good job.
Not done much printing yet. I’m still learning the software to make my own stuff. I also have the CT data from a scan of my sternum and would like to print my rib cage at some point.
I’ve used an Ultimaker 2 a lot, a few monoprice printers, a prusa and had some parts printed on $$$$$$ Stratasys machines.
Honestly, they all seem to require tinkering, kicking, swearing at and loads of frustration. Though, I suspect some of the really cheap ones are just REALLY bad.
IMHO, a heated build plate is a required “feature”. I don’t really have a preference on 2.85mm or 1.75mm filament. I’ve heard that the larger is better for really big and fast printing but then again, I don’t think the Ultimaker can really handle that type of use.
A friend of mine designed and built his own that has hardware with more in common to a cnc router than a 3d printer and honestly, it shows but most people aren’t willing to plunk down $6k for a 12x12x12 print volume machine. He also had two print heads which enables the machine to use dissolvable support interface material which can be a pain as it basically requires a heated ultrasonic cleaner and NaOH to remove but it does result in some really nice parts.
I forgot that I used to deal with parts that came off SLA machines and while the parts did look pretty good, even those weren’t dimensionally perfect. They typically came out smaller than drawn in the vertical axis.
My local Fab Lab has a collection of Ultimaker 2+ and one 3.
A bunch of the hard core users bought Ender3 kits for 175€. They are very satisfied with the results from the cheap printer. They say Ender3 prints on par and better as the Ultis.
Built time of a kit is 1 hour and easy.
I have been working with a Ender 3 for the last 8 months. It is super affordable and if you are a little handy or feel the need to upgrade in the future there are a lot things you can do with it. Mine was $220 and I have been super happy with it. I did have adheason issues until I went to plane glass.
(Order on Amazon to get a good price and so if something is messed up from the factory you can return.)
I am still making basic things. One thing that you have to learn to do is calibrate your build surface each time. If you don’t want to calibrate look in to getting a BLTouch, I don’t have one as I am still learning all about my printer. Think about what you are printing and don’t be afraid to just go for it.
Most printers from the factory will need to have some things printed out so the printer can / will function better after you are up and running. Filament guides, tool trays, spool holders, shrouds, ect…
i bought Anycubic kossel plus few months ago. it’s a great machine, large print volume, great linear movement, wire management is good
but there is some drawback, the biggest one is the fan, there are 2 fan, 1 fan for cooling the print, and it’s too underpower, and 1 fan to cool the e3d extruder, and it’s way over power and noisy, but after few mods, i’m please now
another drawback is it uses a4988 as stock driver, so it’s very noisy when printing, but after changing it to TMC2208, i can finally sleep in peace
I have a Kossel Plus too. Apart from minor adjustment, printing with it is a charm. It provides a great price/performance ratio. It isn’t my first printer, that’s why I decided to buy this kit. However, it easy assembly process makes it ideal even for rookies.
I mainly use it to 3D print figures and car models with PLA, wood filaments and even HIPS. It comes with an automatic leveling system that grants optimum results at any time, a killer-feature considering its price.
I agree with mrheosuper, the Kossel Plus is a little bit noisy. I suggest installing it in a workshop rather than in living areas. However, moving to TMC2208 stock driver is a valuable solution, considering the price of the printer.
cr10s, at first it was PITA, but as i got a hang of it, i like it, it is pretty simple, thou has some limitations, but so far prints pretty good, as many know, i build my contest light with this printer. i did not modify it much, just build enclosure, and added some minor things.
since i had to post i might as well tell my recent experience with cr10, which is not good, i started having an issue with one axis not moving to one side, as if the 0 was where the hot end was right after turning the printer on, i blamed my extensions at first, removed them, issue went away, than after putting everything together with no extensions, same thing happened again, at this point it looks like cable issues, there is a break somewhere, for now it sits in a closet, i’ll fix it one day, will have to replace all wires, but 1 thing i see now as a downside, lose cables like in cr10. if they were special braided cables made to be bent and twisted it would be one thing, but regular wires, and small plugs do not take bending and twisting well, in a few years they will cause issues, fortunately not many printers today have those noodles all around them like cr10, so if you picking one today, look for ones with no noodles. also i’m pretty sure my next 3d printer will not be the type that uses filament, it will be resin SLA printer, my buddy got one and and it is pretty good, resolution is like 10x better,. and printing is done a lot simpler, no worries about temp, feed rate, speed, and many other thing that you need to adjust and balance with filament type printer, however it is slower, and massier process,
Since 3d printing is still in the developmental stages and not in everyone’s home, They do take a bit of tweaking. I am now up to 3 ender 3’s and I am looking at a possible resin printer. the bigest issue I have is single print volume. I always want to print it full size and not in pieces. No one wants to have a 89% life sized Darth Vader helm…
I’m just a beginner in this area, so so far I have only had one printer - Anycubic 4Max Pro. First of all, I chose this model because of its closed case. Its working area is not very large, but the heating temperature allows you to work with high-temperature plastic. He also has a very high printing accuracy (I don’t remember the exact figure). A friend of mine bought himself a TEVO Tornado. I can’t say much about this printer, but overall my friend is happy with it. If you asked about conventional laser printers, then I could tell you a lot more information. For example, I even know where is the best place to buy cartridges, since I tried a lot of different services and ended up settling on https://www.mrdepot.ca/collections/canon-toner-cartridges. I can also easily find a repair service in your city. We have a large network of offices throughout the country, so we have to constantly solve various problems related to equipment and printers is one of the most popular problems.
I’ve gone through a few different printers. A couple discount/cheapo ones that aren’t worth mentioning, then later a “Monoprice Maker Select V2” which actually worked quite well. Sometimes it’s on sale but it’s normal price is about $300 so it’s not bad.
Later I decided to get a printer that performed a little better, had auto-bed levelling, was easily upgradable/moddable, etc. Since all the open-source printers like that seemed to be based off a prusa variant, I went straight to the source and got a Prusa I3 that I’m very happy with.
I’ve also participated in a few Kickstarter campaigns for stuff, and because of that I have 2 other printers:
One is a Promega Quad M3D that can print 4 different colors/spools in any ratios. This beast has a steep learning curve that I have not yet mastered. RL keeps getting in the way.
The Second is a Snapmaker 2, which I got more for the CNC and Laser etching than the 3D Printing. I literally just received it and havent even unboxed it.
Well i think i came up with an “original idea” for a product i can sell to other ‘pour painters’ that can easily be made out of cheap plastic.
Of course i’m over that initial rush of ‘omg what a great idea’ and into the ‘will anyone really want these’ phase but i still went ahead and ordered my first 3d printer… a ender 3 v2
Started looking at all the things people are making and thought “do i need a larger bed so i can print helmets?”
Printing in pieces seems fine for now when you consider how much more of a pain it would be if your full size print fails vs 1/4 of the project that would need to be printed again.
Excited to play with this. I will probably build a small quadcopter design i really wanted that i saw 4 years ago. Also need to build that 3d led cube kit that been sitting for years.
I always think about making money with my hobbies but haven’t really pushed to see anything through.
Wait! You can make money from your hobbies? I am doing something way wrong… LOL
While piecing things together is ok, When printing helms I would like to have it in a single piece.
Also the ender3 /5 series is a great set of printers.
The resin printer I have been looking at is the Peopoly Phenom. Still trying to figure out how to justify to myself about spending $2000.00 on a printer.
I don’t have experience but gathered it was easier to assemble pieces than to try and fix a failed full helm print 3 days into a 5 day print?
Resin looks like you get better detail but has some saftey issues, handling and the print size is a lot smaller for the money.
I think many hobbies can be utilized for some additional income. Some of mine wood/metal/computer working/painting/fish&plants. For me easiest is with computer work. websites/graphics/fixing/remote help.
Some people don’t get into anything other than watching sports, good luck marketing that
I have an ender 2 here.
Although it’s a great little printer, I haven’t used it for a while.
My latest print (it was flashlight related) came out being not squared.
I did mod the printer, it has a 3d touch, a E3D V6 hot end clone and a new mainboard. Both where great improvements. Not really necessary as it was printing fine at first.
However I do recommend to put some sort of automatic bed leveling system on any printer.
I really need to start to fix the issues I have now with it. there aren’t many but it does require for the printer to be taken apart.
Well i’ve had this ender 3 v2 for 2 weeks now and i’m pretty impressed. Good quality, easy setup. It just ‘works’
Not sure if i’m lucky or what but no issues that i see so many of on reddit.
It even printed fine with my bed slightly unlevel and nozzle high, bed rollers were a little too tight as well.
I’ve been doing most of the tinkering experimenting with cura print settings and now i feel more confident in being able to print things i’m on to tinkercad.
Here’s some ‘junk’ i printed, new hotend cooler/mount, mr.pool, print in place articulating toys, the engine turns over nicely by hand or with a drill.
