Hi all.
My venerable ender 3 has likely printed it’s last benchy. Plus side, the tech has advanced significantly since I bought it. Down side, I’ve not kept track of the newer options.
Can anyone give me a rundown of which are worth looking at, and which to avoid?
I’m mostly concerned with reliability, but a speed boost would definitely be welcome. A heated chamber and/or multi material would also be very nice to have.
I would like to keep the costs closer to £500 ($680) but can stretch that, if there is a machine worth it.
I also have a complete no on bamboo printers. I don’t like what they’ve done regarding abuse of the open source movement.
Thanks all!
Edit to add. I’m not against non open source printers. I just have an issue with companies trying to burn the ladder behind them and lock their customers into a bubble.
Double edit: The snapmaker U1 seems like my best option. Ticks all the boxes, while remaining well in budget.
Snapmaker U1 is amazing, Elgoo Centuri is a great option as well
Came here to recommend the Snapmaker U1 as well. Put a Panda breath in it for heating (while ASA works reasonably well without it, it is nicer with one) and your set. Support for different nozzles per print is now available, but I haven’t tried it.
And the firmware is open source enough for basically all uses.
I came from.Bambu and am very happy I made the switch.
Oh man i haven’t tried ASA yet, I bought the lid so I’ve been waiting for that, but everything else has been ridiculously easy to print- and the gradient printing thing looks awesome, m going to download the orca build with it this weekend and try it out.
You will need a top for it either way, but it worked reasonably fine with a ikea like crate. (Had this while my old Bambu printed the enclosure)
It needs proper preheating of course AND a proper ventilation concept as the enclosure is far less air tight compared to e.g. the Bambus. And while ASA it not as nasty as ABS it still anything but healthy.
Good to know, how’s the heater work, pretty ok, I am thinking on picking one up, right now (on my bambu) I just have it in a larger insulated tent enclosure and heat the plate for 20 minutes but that’s a pain
I have the Srin Top hat with 6mm panels (that helps considerably with keeping the heat in) and the Panda breath. I would rather not heat such a large enclosure as well,as it also fries the motherboard,etc. and it additionally produces very uneven heat.
Both of those have a lot of bang for their buck. I had also missed both completely. 👍
I have the Snapmaker and I love it, better than my bambu p1s and Kobra 3 max
None of the manufacturers have been great with open source, other than Prusa, to my knowledge.
You can get a heck of a lot more capable printer than an ender3 at that price point, even with multi material. If you want to keep waste down though you would need at least a dual head machine, or a toolhead switching machine which I think goes above your price range.
If you don’t need a big printer, and can pass on multilateral (unless you want to get a small INDX system for it later… for a bunch more money), at that price I’d spring for a Voron v0. Doesn’t get more open source than that.
Loving my prusa core. The indx system was just released for it, so I suggest you wait until the reviews are in, and if they are as good as I hope, then that’ll take care of your multi-filament needs.
I have a H2S, which has been incredible, but I’m eagerly awaiting INDX for either Core One+ or RatRig.
Hopefully some good news this spring!
I got into 3D printing purely because I anticipate it being locked down or outlawed so I went into this with minimal research and no use cases.
Someone on here recommended the U1 based on being open source and some other things I didn’t understand at the time like being a tool changer. I wish I could remember who gave me that recommendation because I owe them a great debt of gratitude.
I’m quickly becoming obsessed with 3D Printing and I attribute a lot of that to how easy and capable the U1 is.
I have the opposite of buyer’s remorse with the U1.
I like many here can recommend Prusa but honestly if you wanted to shop around this is the specs you are looking for:
Core XY is the new hotness thanks to Bamboo. But unless you want to print fast and loud a bed slinger still works.
What makes the biggest difference is the horned style and a direct drive printer is a game changer to print consistency. MK4s planetary gear is scary how much torque is in it but if you find any printer with a motor in its print head it’ll be worth it.
The other major improvement is auto bed levelling. Again Prusa’s nozzle solution is amazing, while magnets sensors are outdated but still works great if you printing on steel and the venerable plastic stick works but harder to recommend.
Finally magnetic sheets is a nice to have but finding a durable print bed like Garolite is better, just know that no one makes a Garolite bed so you’ll need to craft your own.
Other gimmicks you’ll find is ways to accelerate printing but I’ve honestly haven’t seen much improvement by using them and prefer the print quality when printing slower.
I share your views on company policies. After the Ender S1, I went with the Ender K1C and can honestly recommend it.
Honestly what isnt a bad approach, buying one used from a hobbyist. You get the full run down of the machine, rarely with a sales pitch and they arent afraid to tell you what theyre selling is NOT what you should be looking for. You also arent, normally, going to be buying a machine with tons and tons of miles on them. Most find craigslist because the machine’s owner upgraded or realized how long its been on a shelf for. Never bought 3d printer but have bought tons of tools like my cnc router, 2 desktop lathes, laser cutter and press brake, all small models I found not really needing them but always looking out for them… I learn more just going to look at them than i do running them loljkjk. Ive ran into this buying used cars too. There is a weird niche of things that cost so much new that most buying them are die hard hobbyists or trying to start a job shop. Either way they know so much about the machine youre buying amd love telling you everything they did with it.
I’ve been eyeing the ratrig kits for the open-sourceness, but they might be out of your target price range.