3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io
There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml
Rules
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No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
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Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
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No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
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Do not create links to reddit
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If you see an issue please flag it
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No guns
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No injury gore posts
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Do you have a budget? Or is it just about making sure you’re getting your money’s worth (so $2000 is fine if it’s 10x better than a $200 printer)?
Since I have a limited selection locally it's all within budget anyways, nothing's much higher than 1k usd.
It looks like the cheaper ones are gonna be a better option (since all the printers have similar specs), but I'm looking for any unique features I should watch out for. They all mention stuff like photoelectric filament sensor or Lidar or AI camera, its a bit overwhelming and i'm wondering if it's all just fluff or should i take it into account?
For less than 1k you can get a brand new bambu lab p1s. I dont have it but its recommended a lot (not open source tho).
Features:
Camera is fun to have, but all other AI crap is not necessary for sure. For 1k I would expect printer that prints great even without automatic bed leveling (not sure is there any without one today)
Maintanence:
Clean the printer at least once a month, relube rods with sewing oil and threaded rods with grease
It’s not necessarily fluff; features do matter, but which ones matter and how much they matter is complicated. Do you want to tinker with a printer, or do you just want a tool that works?
If you want a tool, I recommend a Prusa or maybe a Bambu. My Prusa just does what I ask it to; I’ve done zero calibration, optimization, tweaking, etc. Cheaper printers often require understanding bed leveling, figuring out how to adjust them best, etc. or vary more copy-to-copy (so one Ender 3 might work great, while another might be a source of frustration) or require upgrades to really become enjoyable.
Keep in mind that you can nearly always modify a prinyer after you purchase it. Lidar is going to be hard to add on after the fact, but IMO is unnecessary. There are tons and tons of camera monitoring systems you can use. You can also add filament runout sensors, spring steel beds, better part cooling, an enclosure, a direct dribe extruder, basically anything extruder related, etc.
For your purchase, I would look at a printer that is either set up the way you want out of the box or has the physical characteristics you want, since some of those are going to be harder to modify.