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€/$?) what would you recommend?
Edit: i am looking for the biggest dimension possible so say 300x300 dimension… i am not sure if its the biggest possible even. I read about sovol (i also like generally open source / ageless, i dont mind tinkering or learning) —
Wanted features:
300x300 dimension Open source? Maybe? Multi coloring but without much hassle
Im a noob in all this so i dont know about the latest and best features.
I’d suggest something with auto bed levelling at a minimum.
For a “just works” experience, you could consider the Bambulab A1 (not the Mini), although it is a proprietary design and only just exceeds the 500€/$ budget. At an additional cost, you can purchase the “AMS” which allows printing in 4 different colours.
Alternatively there’s the Creality ender 3 v3 SE and KE editions which come in at about half your budget. These use a pretty common 3D printer design and it’s fairly cheap to get spare parts or upgrades if desired. If going this route, I would personally lean towards the “KE” because it uses the open source Klipper firmware
There are a lot of Ender models available, please be cautious of the older ones and the cheap ones on Amazon as they are not the same thing - most of those have manual bed levelling and hit-or-miss quality control, which can make printing a little bit of a pain out-of-the-box for a beginner IMO…
As for me personally, I got my first 3D printer secondhand for the equivalent of €100 - it’s a Delta style printer by FLSun and works great for me, however I did binge hours of 3D printing videos to familiarize myself with things just in-case the used printer arrived broken (thankfully it didn’t, it printed fine OOTB!)
Thanks a ton for that response, that K3 seems actually pretty good, i have no idea what good features are / should be, but i trust it is modern and works. One question does it have auto calibration? I read some are manual… would it do multi color / could i upgrade towards it? I prefer being able to do that rather than order and wait again…. How does it compare to the sovol i heard a lot about?
And the software. Can i customise it / control it through my homelab?
It can be upgraded to do multi color, but it wouldn’t be as seamless as the Bambu sadly.
From some quick research, while the Sovol SV06 and Ender v3 KE have auto calibration, the Sovol requires you to set the z-offset (just once, in one location) after auto bed levelling has completed. However the Ender v3 KE is fully automatic and does not require any kind of user input after the auto levelling has completed
The printers that run open source Klipper firmware, like the Sovol SV06 and Ender v3 KE, can be customized and controlled through your homelab network out-of-the-box. I’m not too familiar if the same is possible for the Bambu - I’m aware you can control it via their mobile app and slicer software, but you won’t have the option of configuring more advanced settings that would be possible on a Klipper-based printer.
Thanks so much that was very informative! You all helped so much, i am grateful
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.
Sounds like you’ll want a bambulabs or AnkerMate
I have owned 6 different printers over several years. Nothing comes close to bambu nowadays. It’s the closest to a consumer product currently. A1 is a great workhorse and worth the slightly above 500. Id the mini has enough built volume then that one. If you want to tinker with the printer a bit then go with some of the alternatives mentioned here.
And if you value open source and transparency, as an alternative I would recommend Prusa. To be perfectly clear, that’s not a diss at bambulabs, they make a great printer. It’s just a very walled garden approach.
If you’re leaning towards the budget end of the spectrum, a Sovol SV06 isn’t a bad choice. I ran a cheap and cheerful printer for 5 years or so before upgrading and it served me well. It also printed parts for its eventual replacement.
