Ok, so I know nothing about 3d printing, but since we became empty nester, am looking for a new hobby. My wife us taking up pottery, but thats not for me, and 3d printing seems like a good bit of fun.
Started looking at videos and comparisons and all that, and the Ender 3 came up, but it seems smaller, so looked at the 5 plus. Then I started to wonder if there might be better options, while staying under $1000. Bambu, Prusa, Anycubic…what should I look at if I want larger prints but am a beginner.
I have 2 ender 3’s which I have done tons of mods on and I spend too much time tweaking and modding it and never to any actual printing.
My recommendation is to get a prusa 3 or 4, whatever the standard size is, just print stuff, and if you need a bigger volume print the parts to build a large voron, or if you want more speed a voron zero or other fast mini. The prusas will just work and should be your reliable fallback for if you break down a tinkering printer.
Also don’t fall for the scams. Don’t get Capricorn tube it’s literally just the same thing with blue dye in it. I’ve even used non Teflon regular tube and maybe had to slow down what was previously a 12 hour print to add about 20 minutes.
Do get a bimetal heatbreak if the printer you end up with doesn’t start with one. It will save you having to continually replace tubing.
Direct drive is hit and miss. If the total weight of the moving parts of the printer stays low it can potentially be faster, but generally it’s just going to add weight and vibration. You only really need it for the really soft materials and if your tube is positioned well you can do the somewhat soft ones pretty reliably. My fastest printer used a very weight reduced printhead and Bowden tube positioned to never bend more than the curvature of the filament off the reel. It is still pending repair from a bad crash though.
Rails are also hit and miss. The rods like on prusas supposedly have ‘sticktion’ but the print quality I’ve seen on them has been consistently excellent. The wheels like ender and friends are more finicky than the other two but if they aren’t over or under tightened and the beams aren’t bent or dented, then they also can put out consistent quality.
Whatever printer you get though, try not to get too caught up in tweaking and modding too early. Definitely build it as square as possible though. Use a square and a tape or ruler, match your diagonals etc. Enders and printers that use the same board also come stock with tinned wires in screw terminals. At the very least you want to snip the soldered end off and put them in bare, or crimp metal ferrules on the end. It’s a fire hazard by default.
Lastly I suggest inquiring in printing communities before committing to any upgrade. Others who have already wasted money will often be able to tell you if something is worth your time or if it will end up as unused parts in a bin.