5 ms·

What’s the current state of the art in 3d printers willing to spend 1k+. Is there an authoritative site for hardware?

t0mas88 2y ago
If you're willing to build it yourself the Voron 2.4 is fast and high quality. For an off the shelf product probably Bambu Lab.
- lawn 2y ago
  The Voron Trident is also great I think and maybe even a better entry point as it's a little easier to build than the 2.4.
- Kirby64 2y ago
  What, precisely, does a voron 2.4 offer over a Bambu X1C (or, more fairly, a P1P) that is worth the additional price (double a P1P) and the fact you have to assemble it yourself (which takes days)? I’m all for building something that offers an advantage, but it seems neither cheaper nor offering any better quality (and, if you build it poorly or use a poor quality kit, it’ll have substantially worse quality).
FL410 2y ago
Pretty much just go buy a Bambu X1C and be done with it. I've been through a bunch of 3d printers, all of which required constant tinkering and babysitting. The Bambu just works, you click print and it prints, and fast. There's some drama now around them closing up the ecosystem and locking out third party firmware, etc. but I honestly could care less so long as it stays good at being a printer.
lrvick 2y ago
[flagged]
- wongarsu 2y ago
  I don't get this take. Criticizing Bambu for being very proprietary is fair. But how are they a Prusa rip-off? Prusa has been selling various evolutions of their Mk3 bedslinger for years, while Bambu entered the market with CoreXY printers. And not only is their design different, the entire philosophy is different: Prusa is selling to enthusiasts who want to tinker with their printer, Bambu is selling an out-of-the-box experience that "just works". Basically the Apple among the printers, if Apple was cheaper than the competition and sold replacement parts.
- 0x457 2y ago
  > Bambu if you want to pay less for a proprietary rip-off of Prusa and totally trust them to always repair it for you, and with access to your network. Uhm, how could it be a ripoff if X1 cameout a year earlier than Prusa XL, the only CoreXY printer Prusa had until recently. Entirely different approach to multi-material printer (to both XL and MMU). Core One btw still has no mount solution for MMU3 that doesn't require you removing top lid. If one want to fund an actual open innovation then it should be something Voron related. You know...fully open-source printer. Right now Prusa is playing catch up: Mk4 was shipped with incomplete firmware. You get youself a Prusa if you're running a busy print farm or if you want to see what it was like to 3d printer 5 years ago and how user interfaces looked 15 years ago. BambuLab has fair share of controversies, but none of them were about printer perfomance.
- bdcravens 2y ago
  > totally trust them to always repair it for you Bambu has a very detailed wiki, and replacement parts are readily available and cheap. I've replaced numerous parts across my small batch of Bambu printers.
lawn 2y ago
Bambu Labs is usually the recommended one but if the various Youtubers are correct then there are better alternatives today. I'm hesitant to recommend any because I've only used the VORON Trident but if you search around you're bound to find alternatives.
- wongarsu 2y ago
  If we only consider what you get today, nobody is beating Bambu yet. At least not if you want a printer that doesn't focus on customization and just does the right thing out of the box. Prusa's Core One could be a better option for print farms because Prusa is great at building printers for that kind of constant abuse. But for everyone else it's just a worse version of the Bambu X1C. However Bambu has gotten a lot of flak for their recent software changes. They have promised not to do anything evil with the currently released printers and to give customers escape hatches. But they are certainly at a moment where consumer trust is justifiably low, and it will take some time to grow that trust back
bdcravens 2y ago
Despite some of the firmware drama, I'd still say the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon is the best printer in that price range.

If you're willing to build it yourself the Voron 2.4 is fast and high quality. For an off the shelf product probably Bambu Lab.

lawn 2y ago
The Voron Trident is also great I think and maybe even a better entry point as it's a little easier to build than the 2.4.
Kirby64 2y ago
What, precisely, does a voron 2.4 offer over a Bambu X1C (or, more fairly, a P1P) that is worth the additional price (double a P1P) and the fact you have to assemble it yourself (which takes days)? I’m all for building something that offers an advantage, but it seems neither cheaper nor offering any better quality (and, if you build it poorly or use a poor quality kit, it’ll have substantially worse quality).

FL410 2y ago

Pretty much just go buy a Bambu X1C and be done with it. I've been through a bunch of 3d printers, all of which required constant tinkering and babysitting. The Bambu just works, you click print and it prints, and fast. There's some drama now around them closing up the ecosystem and locking out third party firmware, etc. but I honestly could care less so long as it stays good at being a printer.

lrvick 2y ago

[flagged]

wongarsu 2y ago
I don't get this take. Criticizing Bambu for being very proprietary is fair. But how are they a Prusa rip-off? Prusa has been selling various evolutions of their Mk3 bedslinger for years, while Bambu entered the market with CoreXY printers. And not only is their design different, the entire philosophy is different: Prusa is selling to enthusiasts who want to tinker with their printer, Bambu is selling an out-of-the-box experience that "just works". Basically the Apple among the printers, if Apple was cheaper than the competition and sold replacement parts.
0x457 2y ago
> Bambu if you want to pay less for a proprietary rip-off of Prusa and totally trust them to always repair it for you, and with access to your network. Uhm, how could it be a ripoff if X1 cameout a year earlier than Prusa XL, the only CoreXY printer Prusa had until recently. Entirely different approach to multi-material printer (to both XL and MMU). Core One btw still has no mount solution for MMU3 that doesn't require you removing top lid. If one want to fund an actual open innovation then it should be something Voron related. You know...fully open-source printer. Right now Prusa is playing catch up: Mk4 was shipped with incomplete firmware. You get youself a Prusa if you're running a busy print farm or if you want to see what it was like to 3d printer 5 years ago and how user interfaces looked 15 years ago. BambuLab has fair share of controversies, but none of them were about printer perfomance.
bdcravens 2y ago
> totally trust them to always repair it for you Bambu has a very detailed wiki, and replacement parts are readily available and cheap. I've replaced numerous parts across my small batch of Bambu printers.

lawn 2y ago

Bambu Labs is usually the recommended one but if the various Youtubers are correct then there are better alternatives today. I'm hesitant to recommend any because I've only used the VORON Trident but if you search around you're bound to find alternatives.

wongarsu 2y ago
If we only consider what you get today, nobody is beating Bambu yet. At least not if you want a printer that doesn't focus on customization and just does the right thing out of the box. Prusa's Core One could be a better option for print farms because Prusa is great at building printers for that kind of constant abuse. But for everyone else it's just a worse version of the Bambu X1C. However Bambu has gotten a lot of flak for their recent software changes. They have promised not to do anything evil with the currently released printers and to give customers escape hatches. But they are certainly at a moment where consumer trust is justifiably low, and it will take some time to grow that trust back

bdcravens 2y ago

Despite some of the firmware drama, I'd still say the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon is the best printer in that price range.