Hello, I am looking to buy my first filament 3D printer. Any printer or printer brand you recommend and why? What 3D modeling software is usually used to design? Any tips are welcome! (my budget would be 200-300€) I would like to eventually get into resin printing as well.
I’ve been printing with my ender 3 for >200h now, and I’ve been happy with it. If possible get the Neo version. It has most of the features that people add to their printers later on, like auto bed leveling.
The tinkering part that people talk about in regards to the ender 3 seems to be an artifact from non Neo versions, as those are missing auto bed leveling and as such require more fiddling to get printing well. Also the non neo printers had plastic tension arms that would break over time.
So far my ender 3 neo has failed 2 prints, one when I originally configured the z-offset to be too high and the initial layer wouldn’t stick. Other time was some layer shifts due to me leaving the x axis belt too loose. In total I’ve spent maybe 3 hours fiddling with my printer and mostly it’s left alone, doing it’s thing.
If your budget allows snag yourself a Prusa. They’re very well made, and Jeff Prusa more or less invented the modern 3D Printer. Creality makes fine printers, but you’ll spend more time maintaining it than actually printing. I have an Ender 3 V2 and wish I had saved up to get a better printer. I don’t have any personal experience with other brands.
You’ll need to use a CAD program to make models. TinkerCAD is a great free option. You’ll also need to “slice” that model up for printing using a slicer. I personally use PrusaSlicer, but there are others as well.
If you’re asking these kinds of questions that tells me you’re brand new to all of this. I recommend checking out Thomas Salanderer, CNC Kitchen, and Teaching Tech on YouTube. They’re all great at explaining the minutiae of this hobby.
Edit: Do yourself a huge favour and get a model with a self-levelling bed, or at the very least a bed-level probe.
It’s a bit of hyperbole to say you’ll spend more time maintaining a Creality printer than using it (Ender3 S1 Pro here), though I agree with the sentiment that you should think twice about them unless you enjoy the tinkering and learning aspect of the hobby.
If you want high quality (and fast) prints right out of the box, the tradeoff is you will need to spend more than Creality money.
I would also second PrusaSlicer. I saw significant improvements in print quality and speed using mostly their default Ender3 settings versus what I was able to cobble together in Cura.
My Ender 3 V2 needs a complete frame check between each print. It’s the only way Ive managed to get consistent prints. At least the design is Open Source!
S1 Pro here as well, and for 3 or 4 months my hobby was 3D printer troubleshooting before I could transition it into actual 3D printing 😅 Everyone’s experience is different, which is exactly the problem with Creality - you’ll probably get a decent printer but it’s still a dice roll every time until they (hopefully) start investing in consistent quality control.
If I was starting today my budget option would be a Sovol SV06. Prusa definitely has the edge on reliable (albeit somewhat pricey) bedslingers, but my initial aversion to Bambu’s closed-ish ecosystem is quickly eroding at the prospect of owning a fast coreXY that just works and handles ASA/ABS straight out of the box.
Just to add my experience to the mix, I bought a cheap Ender 3 to see if I liked the hobby. Didn’t want to go whole hog on kit until I had a sense of it. I’ve found tinkering with the printer and making improvements and adjustments to be rewarding and a great use of my free time.
I don’t know what the conventional wisdom is in the 3d printing community on buying used gear, but I’d bet you could find something used at a pretty good discount that might need just a little bit of love. & not sure about where you live, but here, some public libraries have printers and printing courses, could be a good way to get your feet wet & see what aspects of the tech are important to you.
Sovol SV06 on sale for $219 seems to currently be the best cheap printer. It has all the features that Creality’s best designed printer (Ender 3 S1) has and it’s still $100 cheaper. In addition the SV06 has an all-metal hotend which allows you to print higher temp filaments, like PETG etc, but if you’re only going to print PLA that’s not necessary.
Don’t trust anyone who recommends a brand when it comes to cheap Chinese printers :) Most of the companies have made both some OK models and some straight garbage models.
I recently bought one of these, and agree. Have I modded some things to reduce fan noise? Did I have to manually tram the X axis because the printer isn’t built precisely enough for the built in method to work? Yes, but those are easy things to do and only really have to do them once, and it prints amazingly well and problem free considering the price.
Yea, manually adjusting the x axis and lubricating the bearings are mentioned as negatives for this printer in the buying guide that I linked, but those are very easily fixable “flaws” compared to other similarly priced printers.
I might’ve gone overboard with a few parts but I’ve spent €300 on upgrading my E3v2 to get it to a point where I’m happy with its performance
My advice is to get the best printer within your budget. Remember that printers usually have additional costs- especially the low-cost models like creality printers.
Solid choices to look at are the Prusa mk4s, uktimakers are also a solid choice.
I would suggest before getting a creality look for the number of upgrades catered to them- and then realize that’s because that’s what people generally find important to upgrade.
They’re not always necessary (angle supports, for example) but in general, crealities will need new extruded gears and hot end, if it doesn’t come with ABL, then a bl touch (and probably a new board,). This is in addition to the printable upgrades (like part cooling ducts,).
Generally anything in the price range of an ender 3 is going to need some love. Which, might have some arguments for as a learning curve… but that learning curve is not as gentle as with other printers. You might save a little, but you will out grow them quickly.
Regardless, stay with it! My dad described 3d printers as feeling like it did with very early computers and his Commodore 64. (Aka very exciting.). Of you need help reach out - this is a great group, there’s also the prusa forums (and repository for stls,)
