Hello, I’m a total beginner in 3d printing and I want to get into 3d printing for the sake of building small engineering projects. Considering this I probably won’t need a printer with alot of fine detail like for example small sized textures (I think). So would it make sense for me to just go for the cheapest one that somehow prints ok (I thought of an ender 3 or something like that) or should I spend some more money on a Presa mini (+) or a somewhat similar model. What experiences do you have with low budget printers (250€-400€) for my specific although not very unique use case? I’m very thankful for every answer I get.
Gone through half a dozen of printers: The ender 3 and the like are great value but they aren’t foolproof for a beginner. At the other end of the spectrum ($1000+) printer work out of the box and the factory bed leveling is spot on. To answer your question: Buying used has it’s own risks. Comparing a used (300€) Prusa Mk3 or mini with a new Ender 3 I probably would recommend the used Prusa.
Other printers you might see on the used market:
Prusa MK3 clones (e.g. fystec): Don’t. The reason Prusa works so well is because they are tested and the QC. Those clones might look like the original but might have QC issues.
Bambulab: early units had QC issues so it’s a don’t.
Creality K1: Same issue: Bad QC.
I’m not massively experienced with 3D printing so take this with a grain of salt.
That said though, I would personally consider what you would be doing in the future: If you’re just going to use it occasionally for small projects then it probably isn’t worth spending more than about 300€, but if you’re likely to use it a lot and eventually start to print more complex / intricate things and/or more often then getting a slightly nicer one would end up being worth it in my opinion!
Personally I have an Anet A8 (about 200€), it’s very basic and needs a lot of manual fiddling. Fortunately though, with a bit of tweaking in a slicer, it can produce quite nice prints in a reasonable time which is just fine for me as I only print infrequently and mostly things that don’t need to be too precise. There might be something better for that price point but if you’re just looking for something cheap that gets the job done then it’d probably serve you well!
My Anet A8 lacked the aluminum bracket to which the extruder is mounted. Luckily I got refunded in total, got a friend to print me an E3dv6 carriage and went with bowden setup. I haven’t had but problems with that printer, I spent more time fixing it rather than using it in the past two/three years. There is always something not working, something about to break, something to be repaired. The board and the heated bed are an heat hazard, I’ve personally seen a friend’s a8 coming with an extruder which would clog every couple minutes. The frame is not stiff and vibrates a lot, the stock carriage is barely held up by the two z axis motors, weighs a ton and often unalligns itself during the print. Different extruders would randomly clog even with esteps and flow calibrated and no heat creep.
I got mine for 100€ and got refunded in total because a crucial piece was missing, but for 200€ you’re better off waiting for a nice offer on a ender 3. I wouldn’t recommended thatprinter to my worst enemy.
Also nice that my first lemmy comment is me crapping on my anet a8.
I tried a Creality Ender 3 a couple of years ago. Struggled a lot, for me, it required a lot of aftermarket replacements to make it work well. I sold it about 6 mo later.
In Mar, I bought an Anycubic Kobra. Out of the box, worked like a champ and has continued to. None of the struggles I had with the Ender. Only add on was a sensor to let me know when I’m out of filament.
You’ll probably hear from folks who bought an Ender and had great success, and folks who struggled w/a Kobra, though. It’s like an automobile… you’re going to hear good and bad stories for each model.
Honestly, I read a lot of articles and just found what fit my use case, expectations and budget. Your first one will definitely be a learning experience.
Good luck!
As an ender 3 user, I fully agree with your comment.
I bought my ender 3 in 2019. I have great success with it, but I only achieved this level of quality and reliability by fine tuning it and upgrading it. My 150€ printer is now closer to 400€, with all the upgrades.
If I where to buy a new printer today, I would definitely go for something more plug’n’play.
Ender 5 pro and I agree. I quit for a while because I was having too many problems with it. I’ve gotten back to it recently and, even though I’ve fixed most of the problems, I’m looking to upgrade to a p1s. I want to be able to hit print and just walk away or use the app from whereever.
I’ve had an Ender v2 Pro for a little over a year now. I feel like it’s the Honda Civic of 3d printers in the sense that it’s relatively cheap and reliable, and everyone has one. As a result, it’s really easy to get small upgrades for and get help in troubleshooting. You could probably spend more money right away and get something nicer, but then if you want to make a specific tweak later on, it might be harder if you have a more niche printer.
Agree 100% as a e3v2 owner. Regardless of what printer you get, it WILL break/lose calibration/dumbfound you at some point, at which point you will either be throwing time or money at it, or both. My suggestion would be to get the best reviewed and most popular printer that fits your expected maximum build volume, as there will be a larger user base to help you when something does go wrong, and despite what several people here have said, I’d avoid used at all costs until you have some experience under your belt and know what you’re looking for. As another commenter said, if you truly are o ly going to break it out occasionally, there really isn’t a need to drop a ton of money on one, you can get acceptable quality relatively cheap nowadays.
All cheap machines are thinkering machines. You have a chance to get faulty parts and bad support from manufacturer, but this community can help a lot. But even more expensive ones can be frustrating for begginers. Stick with open source products and you will get replacement parts much cheaper and also better support.
Ender 3 and prusa mini are both bed slingers where bed is moving while printing. Not best design, but its proven that they can produce high quality prints, just like any expensive fdm printer (with more tuning and lower speeds). Prusa mini got smaller build volume (good thing for cheap printers imo cuz it increases rigidity), but only 1 “Z tower” which im not a fan. I think you should compare prusa i3 with ender 3, but thats even bigger price difference. I think both are good deals, but prusa is more expensive. Its also probably better quality and prusa is well known respectable manufacturer. Ender is much younger but they are so popular, I believe they sell more printers than anyone else. Therefore great support from anywhere including this lemmy community, but dont expect much from creality. I think prusa is better especially for begginers, but its hard to beat crealitys low price.
Whatever you chose you need to dive deep in this hoby to have consistent prints. Bring a lot of patinece, do a lot of research and dont be afraid to ask when needed and have fun!
