Hi guys. I am trying to buy a 3d printer for someone willing to create stuff anywhere from small PC enclosure for a radpberry PI to say awesome stands for monitors or appliances. I dont want to build outrageously big stuff but i need something beginner friendly in a cheaper side of budget (maybe 500€/$?) what would you recommend?
Edit: i am looking for the biggest dimension possible so say 300x300 dimension… i am not sure if its the biggest possible even. I read about sovol (i also like generally open source / ageless, i dont mind tinkering or learning) —
Wanted features:
300x300 dimension Open source? Maybe? Multi coloring but without much hassle
Im a noob in all this so i dont know about the latest and best features.
A 3d printer is a tool, and in my opinion you should get a cheap tool before dropping good money on a proper one. That way you’ll know if you need the 300mm bed, or direct drive extruder and silent stepper drivers, with an enclosure.
However when you are looking for a cheap printer, I’d try to get one with auto bed leveling, since all the good printers have one, and manual bed leveling suck with no reward at the end.
Ender3v2/3 is a good starting point. Lots of parts online, and YouTube tutorials and guides for how to get it to work. FlashForge is another.
When you wanna throw it out a window, Prusa is my goto, though BambuLabs is getting some clout from their marketing push. I have personal gripes about them, but so far they seem legit.
I feel the opposite. Cheap tools often are missing many of the QOL features that make learning a new tool enjoyable. Pick up an old 80s style hollow tip soldering iron to learn and you’re just going to think soldering is difficult. Pick up a modern self contained heating element iron, and you’ll spend a lot less time wondering, “am I doing this wrong, why isn’t it melting?”
Similarly, if you intend to use a 3d printer as a tool, you’re not going to want to spend the requisite dozens of hours of tuning and part swapping to get a solid running Ender 3. Buy a decent tool and spend your time learning how to use it, buy a cheap tool and spend your time learning to work around it.
I agree if we were talking about an Ender3 V1 or V2
However with the Ender-3 S1 which had auto bed levelling and has a direct drive extruder. All for well under the price of a Prusa and Bambu Labs. It’s a good first step.
Could not have said it better myself.
I learned so much with my first printer (CR-10). It was fiddly though and took a bit of tweaking each time to get a good first layer. Now I have a Prusa and it is so reliable that I almost miss the tinkering sometimes. I’ll regularly start prints while I’m out of the house and can come home to perfect prints with no hassle. They are an expensive way to enter the hobby if you aren’t sure what you want or how much you’ll use it.
One of these days I’ll splurge on a Prusa XL. That thing is cool as hell.