Some day her prints will come…
Posted on 04/09/2023 10:33:41 AM PDT by fireman15
The best 3D printers have become more affordable, and the 3D printer market is growing at an explosive rate, with new brands and styles of printing making an appearance each year. Where many 3D printers used to be huge, expensive machines, developments in technology and production now mean that many of the best options you can buy are increasingly affordable and can sit on a desk in your home without needing dedicated workshop space.
As more products hit the market, the choice of 3D printers that cater to all sorts of user needs and budgets expands. While having more options brings more features and lower prices, picking the best 3D printer for your specific needs can be difficult. However, this guide can help, as we pick some brilliant 3D printers for all uses and budgets, with clear buying advice to help you determine which one you should buy.
Whether you’re just starting to 3D print or are an expert, here are the best 3D printers we think you should consider. We've compared these printers across size, functionality, and use case, so there should be something for you, whatever it is you’re looking for. We also looked at their print resolution, build platform, filament type, and pricing.
(Excerpt) Read more at techradar.com ...
I don't agree completely with everything in Tech Radar's compilation but it does give a good overview.
Currently, the best deal that I am aware of on Amazon is the Creality Ender which like my printer is based on an open source project. This means that you will be able to find parts to maintain and improve it for years to come. This printer has a huge following which is extremely helpful. There are other places which sell it as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Comgrow-Creality-Ender-Aluminum-220x220x250mm/dp/B07BR3F9N6
Don't forget to check the $10 off coupon if you were to decide to purchase one.
My favorite software is called 123D Design which is now free but no longer supported by Autodesk. Autodesk was giving it away on Amazon for quite a while. You can now download it from many sites such as https://autodesk-123d-design.en.lo4d.com/windows
It is very intuitive and you just have to ignore the Autodesk sign in. There are many YouTube videos that show how to use it along with tutorials at other locations.
Printer:
https://www.amazon.com/Comgrow-Creality-Ender-Aluminum-220x220x250mm/dp/B07BR3F9N6
Free Autodesk design software:
Wouldn’t consider anything less than a Prusa I3 mk3s .
Waiting for the kit version of the new mk4 to be available.
(hopefully in the next week or so)
If there’s a 3D printing ping list, I’d like to get on it.
I have had a 3d printer for a few years. Ender 5 pro for about $400. Made some descent stuff....but mostly it’s dollar store quality junk. Lot’s of consumables. Each spool of plastic costs $20+. Needs to replace nozzles, boden tube, adhesion plate several times adding another $250 in costs. It’s mostly a toy.
Some day her prints will come…
BTTT!!!
It sounds like you have taken some form of advertising copy very seriously. There are many choices available. Judging from the price I assume that a genuine Prusa is a quality item. “Kits” are typically very time consuming and can be a troubleshooting nightmare. A friend of mine spent an incredible amount of time and money on a large format 3D printer kit. He never did get it to work well.
You are. Dead last...
I’m on the same page generally. I wasted money on a Delta type, never could print straight or get decent adhesion. I wish not I’d just binned the damn thing and gotten a Creality Ender, I’d be two years ahead. Instead I waited til a buddy raved about it and ended up going with the Elegoo Neptune 2 instead, which is close to being a clone, but with some enhancements. It’s been nearly foolproof, worst problem is bed adhesion with certain colors (black seems the worst) but increasing the temp and/or printing a brim has solved that. Under $150 and with a little care in tramming the bed (levelling is a misnomer, there’s nothing “level” about it) you can get good print after print without fuss.
I had a so-called expert poop all over these low-end Chinese made printers and give an hour-long infomercial for Prusa. If someone wants to throw $1000 at a $100 problem, be my guest but it absolutely is NOT necessary to get good prints without spending a lifetime or $$$ doing upgrades. In fact I bought a touch sensor and haven’t even installed it! I did buy a magnetic print bed which is nice for large prints, easy peasy to get them off w/o hassle.
Let me also give a plug for Tinkercad, which the expert said was very poor and limited and not worth wasting time on. I can produce just about anything in Tinkercad in short time and after comparing the detail and complexity of my designs vs his, I can easily claim victory (he uses Solidworks, which is vast overkill for most non-professionals).
As an example, I recently bought a new kayak with a gear rail and wanted a way to hang a water bottle on it. Took a look at the size, designed one in about 15 minutes, using threaded fasteners from Thingiverse. Perfect! Why buy stuff when you can print it?
Is it available in Linux?
Maybe I’m a printer snob, but I bought an I3 mk3 kit at the beginning of the covid shutdown. Never had a problem assembling it or getting it to work. I’ve used it a lot since then. Only recently have I had to make a repair. I’ve gone through several print surfaces and never even changed the nozzle (I should have, it got encapsulated in plastic and caused me to have to replace the hot end)
I have a friend who I finally persuaded to step into the water. He bought an Ender. It has a slightly bigger bed but only one Z-axis screw. He had a devil of a time getting it to work (and it wasn’t a kit). Said he boxed it up several times to send it back but always changed his mind. He made several enhancements including adding a second Z-axis screw that, unlike the Prusa, is belt coupled to the one z-axis motor. When he finally did get it going he had within a couple of hundred dollars of what the Prusa kit cost.
The mk4 looks to be a quantum step up and as soon as I can get the kit, I will.
>I wasted money on a Delta type
I have two deltabots. The first (OBKP) was a disaster. Horrible hot end, substandard controller. I have the parts needed for an upgrade but that’s a project for another day. The second (D300vsp) was much, much better with an E3D hot end and a Duo3D controller. I’d get another if they were still available.
One problem with deltabots is that the companies tend to disappear and if you need any of the specialized parts, you may be SOL. Kossels are not the best choice for a first printer unless you are very patient and willing to work through the problems.
Once operational and calibrated, they are very cool.
It depends largely on the projects that you choose and your interests. I designed a bolt on venturi attachment to use natural gas with our home generator. I have to admit that I went through quite a few prototypes before I was completely satisfied with my project, but it now works better and more efficiently than any commercially available product.
I have printed out plenty of thingiverse items many of which have not been very useful. They typically cost pennies to print out. I would remind you that a $20 1 KG roll of filament typically goes a long, long way. The nozzles for mine are very inexpensive, typically less than a dollar and last a long time. I replaced the adhesion plate with a piece of glass years ago for about $10. I understand that you have spent quite a bit on parts; I have not spent that much, but even if I had... it has definitely been one of my less expensive hobbies and has saved me quite a bit for specialty parts that I have made for drones, photography, cycling and other activities that I engage in.
All of my computers are set up to dual boot Linux. I am using the latest version of Ubuntu Studio. It has 3D Design software included, Blender... It has many more options but is much less intuitive and more difficult to learn than 3D Design. I use a lot of shortcuts in 3D Design that I do not believe are available in Blender.
If you choose to be a purist... Blender and other 3D design software is available for Linux.
>Is it available in Linux?
The slicers are. I use Slic3r, which is perl based and runs on just about everything.
3D software is another story. Blender, Openscad, and a few others run under linux. Most of the commercial packages aren’t available for linux.
Personally, I use Rhino3d for 3d editing on a windows VM accessed via rdesktop.
It is possible we are using the jargon in a different way. Technically, my printer was called a “kit”, but it required very little actual assembly, just bolting the main structural parts together. I also assembled a large format Creality which was called a “kit” as well, but again just required bolting together the big pieces. When I think of a “kit”, I am thinking of something that requires a little more than just bolting together structural parts.
Please make me dead last and bump previous one UP to almost dead last
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