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Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

• starkparker 1y ago
  > I am not very familiar with 'slicer' software yet. and > durable, temperature/chemical resistant materials such as PC/Nylon/ABS or infused materials. are a little cart-before-horse. This is like asking what ink-and-paper printer to buy for making complex, multi-format printed books to specific criteria, while admitting that you've not used any form of publishing software or understand any of the non-software processes involved in making a book. The slicer is by far your most important tool for _effective_ 3D printing with a variety of materials, moreso than CAD or 3D modeling. Get a cheaper, more plug-and-play printer that doesn't meet all of your criteria, and focus on learning how to effectively use its slicer. Print basic things, experiment, and force and make hands-on mistakes with it on relatively forgiving PLA/PETG. Do these _before_ jumping up to a pricier, fully enclosed machine _and also_ before printing harder-to-use materials, each of which will add new difficulties. You don't want your first hotend blob to happen on a decent machine that you actually like while using a material that's difficult or dangerous to deal with. A Sovol SV06 or SV08 meets most of your criteria at about 1/3 to 1/2 of your budget; I haven't had the best experiences with their reliability but they fit many of your criteria. Used Creality Enders might be even cheaper depending on where you are, and while also fussy are hackable and repairable to the point of often being used as platforms for entirely different printers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmMW6_7lrlQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmMW6_7lrlQ
  • digdugdirk 1y ago
    I agree in principle with the above comment, but for some additional context - slicer software has gotten really, really good these days. Especially (sadly) if you don't need open source software. To make a CNC machining metaphor - Slicer software is basically just your interface to the dials and knobs on the CNC settings for speeds and feeds. There's more settings, because 3d printing is more like if a CNC had a baby with a welder and an injection molding press, only it's injecting and simultaneously welding up a blob of plastic. You're balancing the toolpaths, the temps, the adhesion, and the overall speed all at the same time, all for whatever material you're using. So it's complex, but these companies have a ton of data and experience in order to make sure their preset settings are damn good out of the box. And these days, they get it right more often than they get it wrong! Long story short - you should probably just get a Bambu. You'll learn what you need to learn from it, while having good quality output the whole time. If you find out it's not suitable for what you're looking to do, then you can sell it used with decent resale and get the best printer for your specific application.
    • birdman3131 1y ago
      No its not. Slicer software is just CAM software for 3d printers. It just creates Gcode like any other CAM software. Calling it " basically just your interface to the dials and knobs on the CNC settings for speeds and feeds." shows a deep misunderstanding of operating CNC's in general. Your manual controls on pretty much all 3d printers suck. But that's because manual operation is considerable far down the priority list. I've never seen one that did jogging other than setting an increment and tapping a touchscreen button to make it move 1 increment. Every CNC machine I have ever ran did way better with the jogging. Even the ones from the 70's. You set a speed with a knob and then hold down a button. It goes till you let up. Or you use a rotary wheel for fine control. And don't even get me started on homing. The homing sequence on all the printers I have dealt with is home X and Y before homing Z. Most machinists will be aghast at this as if you are homing all 3 axis's at once you home Z first to get the tool out of the way.
      • JeffeFawkes 1y ago
        Regarding Z-homing being last - usually endstop positions are on Z-, not Z+, so they do a bit of a hop (2-10mm upwards Z) before the X and Y homing so they don't crash the head. If your Z endstop is on Z-, you can home that first since you know the head is out of the way. EDIT: to be specific, this is for "bed-slinger" printers, but the concept is the same for fixed height tool head printers (eg where the bed is what's raised and lowered).
      • panzagl 1y ago
        While you are technically correct in that DigDug used the wrong analogy, they are correct in that slicers are really good now and you won't spend hours dialing in temps, flow rates, and speeds like you once did. You do simple CAD stuff (e.g. scaling and orientation), add supports if necessary (and the auto option usually does a good job), then press slice to get a gcode file which you send to the printer (either network, serial, or through a SD card).
• daemonologist 1y ago
  There are fully open projects like Voron or RatRig, and sellers of DIY kits based on them. Potentially a lot of work unless you're interested in 3D printing itself as a hobby rather than as a tool. Prusa Core One would be a bit more complete OOTB. It is 220mm in the smallest axis (Y) though. Slicer and firmware are open source, but the hardware is not (unlike previous Prusa printers). Bambu gives you the same capability for much less, but the firmware is not open source (third party open source firmware does exist). I believe the stock firmware also has to "phone home" at least once before it can be used offline. Even cheaper are less-well known Chinese companies, like Qidi. Firmware is usually a proprietary fork of Klipper or other open source projects; some people have had success flashing the mainline version.
• brudgers 1y ago
  What do you intend to make? Is your goal to earn or learn? How much time do you have to spend on 3d printing?
  • lucideng 1y ago
    I do repair and modernizing of cars/motorcycles/dirtbike/ATVs, that kind of stuff. Fuel injection conversions are something I specialize in. That is why I would like durable/resistant materials as an option. I won't be trying to earn with it intentionally, unless I stumble upon a niche. There are already more than a couple 3d printing services around here, no need to compete there. I can do what I need to do in CAD, design my own parts, etc. Other than the above, I'll use it for gifts, stuff around the home, rasPi and ESP32 electronic projects with home assistant, misc. enclosures, etc. I have a broad set of use cases but running production 24/7/365 isn't something I see myself doing unless I stumble upon a niche as I mentioned.
    • sitzkrieg 1y ago
      if youre interested in repair and solid part design, you may also want to consider SLA design printers. 4k panels are super cheap and its easier to work with strong resins (but messy) than eg, ABS heated bed and fume enclosures
      • metal_am 1y ago
        I have both a resin and FDM printer. The FDM is hands down easier to work with than dealing with resin. FDM ABS is also a far better material than ABS-like resin. (Disclosure: I've never tried a proper industrial resin from LOCTITE or something.)
    • elcapitan 1y ago
      > Fuel injection conversions are something I specialize in. What kind of temperatures/pressures/chemical exposure are you expecting for your prints? You should probably start there, check for 3d printing materials that can actually handle those requirements, and then filter for printing technologies that fit the bill. I would imagine that would already break it down a lot.
• mikewarot 1y ago
  Whatever you do, you're going to have to dry your filament if you don't use it within a month of opening it. I used to like the tweaking, but once I got a Bambu P1S, I've gotten spoiled just being able to hit print and let it go.
  • sitzkrieg 1y ago
    this isn't always true. i live somewhere so dry PLA is fine left open for several months w no water uptake
    • delecti 1y ago
      OP specifically mentioned "PC/Nylon/ABS".
      • sitzkrieg 1y ago
        same applies for those, i was using PLA as an example as its more hygroscopic. not that it's hard to store a spool of filament in a plastic bin
• skhameneh 1y ago
  If you don't care about business practices and general privacy concerns, Bambu. If you want a large printer that's decent for tinkering, Sovol SV08. If you want relatively good support and to support a company that has a history of giving back, Prusa. If you want something cheap with a lot of features that tend to be more high end, Elegoo Centuri Carbon. If you just want something cheap that's arguably incredible value with an active community, Creality Ender 3 V3 KE.
  • skhameneh 1y ago
    Also given what you've said about privacy, that probably eliminates Bambu and possibly the Centuri Carbon (not sure). The SV08 can be ran offline, but it does try to phone home (3rd party) whenever it's online. Prusa might be your best bet of these when it comes to privacy. Prusa is by far the most "open" probably with the SV08 second because it uses so much from the open source community (it's Voron inspired). If you have a lot of time to spend, you could build a Voron, but I would not recommend that to anyone new to 3D printing.
    • miladyincontrol 1y ago
      Its not much to replace the SV08's OS and fork of klipper with more open source and standard options.
    • drnick1 1y ago
      It's incredibly frustrating that the majority of devices today report usage to the mothership without the user's consent. Does firewalling the device cause any issues? A printer (of any kind) should not reach the open Internet, period.
      • Mogzol 1y ago
        All of these printers can be run completely offline, although then you obviously lose any network-related features such as sending prints over the network. I know that at least the Bambu printers (and I assume most others) can also be run in LAN-only mode, where they only work with devices on the same network. In this mode you could definitely firewall them without causing issues. The main features you lose by being in LAN-only mode are the phone app and being able to access the printer from off your network.
• gangtao 1y ago
  Bambu Lab A1 Mini ($299-399) Excellent print quality out of the box Automatic bed leveling and calibration Very user-friendly with great software Compact size, perfect for beginners Creality K1 Max (~$599) 300x300x300mm build volume Fast printing speeds (up to 600mm/s) Auto-leveling and enclosed design Good balance of features and price Prusa MINI+ (~$429 kit, $529 assembled) Exceptional reliability and support Magnetic flexible bed Excellent community and documentation Great for learning and consistent results
  • bartvk 1y ago
    A1 Mini build volume is 180 x 180 x 180 mm³
    • mpenet 1y ago
      And not enclosed
  • lawn 1y ago
    Neither mini are enclosed and can't print all the materials OP asked for.
  • busterarm 1y ago
    The Prusa MK4S Kit is $669 right now. Best time ever to buy.
• spjt 1y ago
  I have a 5 toolhead prusa XL, meets every one of your criteria except for not being $4K.
• rutierut 1y ago
  The first part of your post sounds almost like an ad for the Bambu Lab P1S. The second part sounds more like the Prusa CORE One kit (build volume is not a perfect match). I really wouldn't bother buying anything else as a beginner. Pick between these two. It's a weird thing in 3D printing right now that if you don't have the open source stuff as a requirement you get better print quality and reliability for half the price with Bambu Lab.
  • justtocomment 1y ago
    While I can't directly compare with BambuLab print results, the prints I get out of my Prusa Core One with current Firmware and Slicer are stellar and surpass even the prints of my MK4S (that being a benchmark in Quality in my bubble of the Internet).
• thereisnospork 1y ago
  Buy a bambu P1s, a 0.4mm hardened nozzle for CF filaments, and maybe a filament dryer. You'll have a tool to spit parts out instead of a hobby in and of itself[0]. Bambu isn't the least evil company, but it's honestly just that good. Can work offline, but you'll probably need to block it at the firewall level if you care enough about privacy. [0]Unless that's what your looking for.
• sampton 1y ago
  If you want good prints and only care about the prints, get Bambu P1S. If you want to tinker with the machine and have a lot of free time on your hands then Prusa. although Prsusa starting to close up it's walls like Bambu.
  • amelius 1y ago
    What? Prusa used to be the most open company out there. I can't believe they are going to enshittify their products now. Anyway, I have a Bambu, and it is a nice printer, but it wants to phone home and it is difficult to use when you put it behind a firewall.
    • bluGill 1y ago
      Prusa is getting tired of investing R&D and then having someone else copy that. Someone else without an R&D budget can make things cheaper because they don't have that budget.
      • jhawk28 1y ago
        They are most tired of investing in R&D in the open and then having some company do a patent in their country. The company then sues them for infringement.
        • amelius 1y ago
          That's sad. But how does that affect me as a potential customer?
          • whatevaa 1y ago
            You no longer get OSS offering.
    • vitaflo 1y ago
      Put the Bambu in LAN mode, it won't phone home, everything stays local.
• dole 1y ago
  I'll second the call for checking out smaller companies with Ender clones and similar like Sovol and Qidi; you can find refurbed models like Creality K1's for $200+ off if you're not averse. Regarding slicer software, Ultimaker Cura is great for beginners, Orca Slicer has a slightly steeper learning curve but they both have their pros and cons such as different support generation algorithms, having an alternative when something doesn't seem to print right with one.
• alach11 1y ago
  I'm going to make an unpopular suggestion. Have you considered using a service that will print and ship to you, like CraftCloud? Depending on volume, your total cost would likely be lower. I know you mentioned privacy concerns so this may not be an option. But it significantly simplifies your work, letting you focus on the parts themselves.
  • noja 1y ago
    CraftCloud is good. The postage is often half my print cost but they’ll get it printed and you don’t have to deal with failures.
  • bluGill 1y ago
    Even if you buy a printer you should be aware of all the services. It might be more expensive but it opens up a lot more options too. Want a SLS print instead - they have it. Want to mill it from steel and then bend it - they can do that for you. Want to make something out of solid wood, no problem. Need a lot of parts fast - they have many printers and overnight shipping (at extra charge). Sure it costs more, but if you will only do it once that is still cheap. And some of the things they can do for you are not safe to do at home.
  • andrewmcwatters 1y ago
    I, too, once looked into this, but for anything trivial you immediately exceed the cost of just buying a Bambu Lab A1 mini. So you might as well buy that and have a lower-spec iteration, because you're going to run into all sorts of design problems before you get to finer constraints.
  • jopsen 1y ago
    A counter argument is that the short turn around time with local 3D printing is absolutely a feature. I've printed small stuff just to get the fitting right, before I finished the part with fillets, etc. Also there is lots of small fun stuff, small fixes you'd never do with a 3d printer if you had to order prints online. Example, I designed a printed a M8 nut cap with room for the 3mm sharp rod sticking out. I could probably have gotten a metal file to mill down the sharp edge, but it was hard to get at, and this gave a nice finish.
• busterarm 1y ago
  At that build volume I think you need to expand your budget slightly. The Prusa MK4S is on a deep discount right now but is just short of those numbers you listed. Even the Core One just barely misses. Prusa XL hits your target but is twice your budget. Also honestly build volume can be a little overrated unless you're printing helmets. You can make things in smaller parts. More build volume brings with it more print issues you have to deal with. But also yeah look at a Voron maybe or the SV08. If you're new to printing, start smaller anyway. If you've done machining you know there's a materials learning curve and the same thing applies here to the nth degree. Print material, volume, orientation, density, first-layer adhesion, temperature, etc all are things you will have to account for and will affect your print quality/strength. You want to learn about these things in smaller prints that waste less time and material rather than more/larger. E.g., get the MK4S Kit.
• theodric 1y ago
  The Ender 3 V2 is very solid and repeatable, but loud. I spent more money making mine quiet than I did buying it. You can literally get Enders free or for very little in classifieds. Bambu has a very good marketing department.
  • deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  • doubled112 1y ago
    I have an Ender 3 v2. I assembled it, and my first print just worked. Apparently this isn't very common. It wasn't difficult, but I can see places people would run into issues. It was about a month later the problems started. Plastic extruder broke like they all do, and the extruder gear was done. A bed leveling probe is a game changer. A PEI bed plate is great. Those tubing couplers are super fragile. Klipper is nice. Now it just works and I expect it to for a long time. The trouble is that people don't want to spend the time and effort to get there. Me? I like that any replacement part is going to be 20 bucks or less. Everything wears eventually.
• halfi 1y ago
  Ll
• lawn 1y ago
  There are cheap VORON kits that fits the budget and other needs, although they come with a bunch of tinkering. But you can't beat the open source and repairability aspect.
• RickS 1y ago
  Bambu P1S, no question. Enclosed with filter for ABS fumes etc. Personally I've only used their A1, but it's the best printer I've ever used by far, and it's the first one that you can treat like a paper printer: plop it down, ignore it til you need to print, hit print and assume it works with no supervision. An absolute joy. It's also FAST compared to last gen printers. They do have a bunch of cloud service BS and phoning home that runs afoul of the HN spirit, but there's a LAN mode that allows you to send prints from LAN without opening up to the wider internet. If that's still too restrictive, you can always do direct SD card transfers via sneakernet. Software might be too closed for you, IDK if there are jailbreaks. Repairability is possible but fiddly – akin to current gen car engines, rather than 70s types. They're very popular printers, I've only needed to open the head once, and there were plenty of YT teardown videos to help. The Bambu slicer is good. They've got niceties for basic operations like snapping to bed or scaling up/down by a few percent. I believe it's based on cura slicer, which is also excellent. P1S is at the midpoint of your budget. Their next model up is $1200, depending on your flexibility. Might have some value if you're doing more obscure materials. Didn't realize how cheap the enclosed ones had gotten. I've got half a mind to upgrade myself now....
  • Aurornis 1y ago
    > Enclosed with filter for ABS fumes etc. I agree that the Bambu printers are as good as it gets for plug-and-play printing, but I wouldn't trust the tiny carbon filter for toxic fumes in an indoor environment. The better VOC filters use a larger amount of activated carbon and they recirculate a high volume of chamber air inside the chamber. Activated carbon also needs to be replaced over time as it loses capacity to adsorb more VOCs.
    • lawn 1y ago
      Their printers are also not sealed well. See for example @CanuckCreator on YouTube where he does a teardown, revealing large holes. This is not the way to go with toxic fumes or how to get good ABS printing performance.
      • cma 1y ago
• shocks 1y ago
  > I am ok assembling the machine and learning how to dial it in. Get a Prusa Core One kit, or build a Voron. Bambulab should be off the table for their bait and switch behaviour. AMS is not particularly impressive and very wasteful. Get a Bondtech INDX down the road if you want true multi material printing.
  • jamestimmins 1y ago
    What is their bait and switch behavior? I'm not familiar with anything shady they've done but am very curious as I've had my eye on a Bambu.
    • shocks 1y ago
      They pushed a firmware update which blocked direct use of your printer without using their proprietary “Bambu Connect” application - because ‘security’.
      • jamestimmins 1y ago
        Mind clarifying how that's bad? It sounds just like a driver or something similar.
        • jopsen 1y ago
          Authorization through bambulab servers. Also probably AGPL infringement, since the slicer is a fork of priser slicer which is AGPL, and you can't build the slicer from source, because if you could, then you could use the binary plugin for communicating with the printer in other slicers -- but you can't. It's pretty blatant IMO. But it's also a printer that just works.
      • pfych 1y ago
        LAN mode still works on my A1 & I can access it from Orca Slicer just fine.
        • 1y ago
• jacobmarble 1y ago
  I bought my first 3D printer six months ago, it feels as high quality as an HP printer, couldn't be happier. Flashforge Adventurer 5M https://www.flashforge.com/products/adventurer-5m-3d-printer https://www.flashforge.com/products/adventurer-5m-3d-printer
• foobarkey 1y ago
  After having owned many 3D printers I can recommend Bambu Lab X1C with AMS. It will be a bit over budget but does not matter, you will spend time just printing and not messing with settings or bed leveling, it’s a workhorse and just prints what you tell it to reliably, no tuning or tweaking required. When using official filaments it will automatically recognize them, switch them during print etc. After maybe 10 years of printing this is what I initially imagined it would be, now its finally there for consumer - I want this part in plastic let’s go Oh and it’s also fast. Hmm, I wonder if bambu gives me a cut for the sales pitch, but if not it is also ok - i just have to give credit to good engineering when I see it PS: no prusa or clones, no creality, dont mess with that nonsense
  • OJFord 1y ago
    > I do not need to print multi material models. I would prefer something that doesn't phone home and can work offline. Opensource firmware/software and repairability are important. And your suggestion is Bambu with AMS?
    • multjoy 1y ago
      Does OP want to print, or do they want to tinker? Bambu make excellent machines. There is nothing comparable out of the box, especially at their price points.
      • OJFord 1y ago
        OP stated the requirements I quoted above, AMS definitely doesn't make sense, and I don't think Bambu makes sense either. Before Bambu, Prusa was the 'no tinker just print' brand, though I haven't used one I agree Bambu's taken the lead now, but I think given OP's desire for more openness and repairability etc. Prusa makes more sense. Fwiw: I have a Prusa Mini, and I'd buy Bambu today, I'm continually tempted by an enclosed model with AMS. But I'm not OP, and I don't think that's right for them with their description.
        • carpo 1y ago
• brovonov 1y ago
  none of the printers mentioned going to meet any of your requirements. Prusa isn't fully opensource, but has the worst enclosed chamber printer imo. Bambu isn't open source in the slightest (beside the slicer). You are never going to print PC on a bambu either way, at least not Pure PC. Blends, sure, you need at least 100c chambers for pure PC. diy kits are the way to go, but it is going take you a LONG time. a voron, ratrig, or annex k3 are your best bets with the requirements you want. each kit has their weaknesses, and most of them, are going to require upgrades from their BOM.
  • lawn 1y ago
    (The printers mentioned may fulfill some of the requirements, but not all.) And yes, I think you're absolutely right. DIY kits are the way to go with OP's requirements.
• abotsis 1y ago
  Whatever you choose, make sure you leave enough money in your budget for a second printer. Easiest way to double your print throughput :)
• thanhhaimai 1y ago
  > I would prefer something that doesn't phone home and can work offline. Opensource firmware/software and repairability are important. I built myself a Voron, and it's an amazing learning experience. I learn how things work, and the trade offs. I get to pick and replace the exact parts I want. I design my functional parts knowing exactly the printer's capability. There is something very fascinating about it. You can look at a print, and can tell different issues at a glance because you have seen (and fixed) them while you built and tuned the printer. The majority of 3D Printing quality issue are due to Hardware constructions / trade offs, and not Software (slicer settings..). Without building a printer from scratch, it's hard to tell the root cause. https://vorondesign.com/voron2.4 https://vorondesign.com/voron2.4 - Fully open sourced - Repairability and updatability. Lots of fun mods. - No phone home / privacy issue like Bambu I think before going down the rabbit hole, it's best to make sure you have a clear answer for this question: Do you care about the learning / tinkering / optimizing part, or do you care more about "it just works" printing? - Many recommendations in this thread is for the "it just works" printing case. The top candidates are Bambu, Creality, and Eiegoo. The quality is good for most cases. - If you're an engineer and into tinkering like me, you would be much happier with a Voron v2. Depending on your effort, you can match Bambu's quality, or _greatly_ exceed it. Regarding Slicer, don't worry much about it. You can learn one very fast. The top ones are Cura and Orca Slicer. I use them both, and they have pros / cons. Personally on my Voron, a well tuned Cura profile yield better result. But Cura is missing one important feature: it can't limit the speed based on Flow Rate. Another quick tip: - Take the advertised number with a grant of salt. For example, many printers advertised 600 mm/s print speed. The mechanical frame may be able to handle 600 mm/s, but the Hot End is the limit of the build (e.g. it can't melt material fast enough, friction, the ability of extruder motor to quickly change speed, etc). Hope you have a great time!
  • mietek 1y ago
    Seconding. Voron 2.4r2 350mm here.
  • dceddia 1y ago
    I love the idea of building a printer, but I know that my attention span is limited on these sorts of things. As in, I’ll be reliably obsessed until it’s done and tuned, and then I’ll forget everything until the next time I want to use it. So my big question, for someone who’s owned one a while: is the printer ever “done”? Is there a point after which it “just works”? Or is it always going to be more like “it’s great! I just need to tweak the blah blah setting every time and retighten the frobnitz every 3 prints, no big deal really!” I always see the quote about “if you like printERS, build, but if you like printING, just buy one” - but nobody talks about the timescale on the fiddling and whether it ever stops. (currently own a Prusa mk3s I built as a kit and it’s been pretty solid as a tool!)
• scanny 1y ago
  I got a Sovol Sv07+ and it’s decently fast, large build space, and can crank out miniatures that are ‘good enough’ for table top. Wish the resin printers didn’t have the toxic fumes problem though, then I’d get one of them too.
• yardie 1y ago
  Bambu X1C: I can recommend the Bambu X1C. It would be my printer of choice. In addition to bed-leveling it has flow calibration and AI detection. With the H2S release prices on the X1C are coming down quickly. Elegoo Centauri Carbon: I know lots of people will recommend the P1S but this printer has 95% of the features at half the cost. Also extruder temp goes higher (320C), for more exotic materials.
  • WillAdams 1y ago
    I bought a Centauri Carbon due to the pretty much unbeatable pricing and it has worked well for an old roll of Amazon Basics PLA, using it off-line by copying files onto it using a flash drive. Waiting for https://github.com/OpenCentauri/OpenCentauri https://github.com/OpenCentauri/OpenCentauri to pan out before I'll consider putting it on my network. Looking into GF infused PLA, or PETG for come up-coming projects, and wondering how things will work out with their "Filament Switching System" which was promised for Q3. If money hadn't been a concern, I'd've chosen a Prusa XL w/ multiple print heads.
• lawn 1y ago
  The comment section is full of people who aren't reading the requirements. Bamboo Labs shouldn't be recommended as OP doesn't want a printer that phones home and is open source. Then there's cheap printers that are either too small or aren't enclosed, again not suitable for OP. DIY kits fit OP's requirements better IMO.
• metal_am 1y ago
  I've been very happy with my Qidi Q1 Pro. I paid about $350 pre-tax off Amazon almost a year ago (Black Friday). For me, it was the most machine for the lowest cost I could find. It almost fits your desired print volume (245 x 245 x 240), but it is fully enclosed and has a dedicated chamber heater. I have almost exclusively printed ABS at a 60 deg. C chamber temp. It runs open source Klipper firmware, but I'd imagine repairability wouldn't be the best. Best of all, I have not needed any calibration. It seems pretty spot on out of the box. My Voron is hands down a better printer but also required significantly more investments in components and especially time.
  • nico 1y ago
    Qidi Q1 pro is amazing, especially for the price And the Q2 came out recently, looks even better, with multi-material feed support (similar to Bambu’s AMS)
• paulkrush 1y ago
  Great answers exist, but will be ephemeral. In other words this is a journey. Pick what your into now and ask the question. What's a good gun for sub $1000? What's a good computer for sub $1000? What's a good sewing machine for sub $1000?
• rootusrootus 1y ago
  I've had a number of different printers, and the one I like the most [by far] is the Bambu P1S. It doesn't hit your desire to avoid the cloud, but as a machine it is top notch quality, and very reliable. It requires far less babysitting and tweaking than something like a Creality. If you just want to print things and know that most of the time it Just Works, they are a great tool for that.
  • vitaflo 1y ago
    You can set up a P1S in LAN mode and everything stays local, no phoning home or cloud shenanigans. It's not the default set up but it is certainly possible and how I have mine set up.
• horsawlarway 1y ago
  Two real paths: --- Option #1: Just buy the X1C. It's the best printer at your size range and price category (I own this, a Prusa Core One, and several creality machines). Frankly - spend the extra 100 dollars and get the Combo with the AMS 2. Even if you don't want to do multi-color prints, it saves more than enough time switching filaments quickly to make it worth it if you're printing with any regularity. This will let you use a 3d printer like it's a tool, and as someone who is printing CAD designed structural parts - it excels at just popping out decent parts, in all of the materials you want for structural parts. Lock it into LAN mode. Despite claims to the contrary it's quite repairable (ex - I just replaced the hotbed on mine because a lightning strike damaged the torque sensors [side note - it fucking finished the print on resume when my power came back up - even without working torque sensors on the z axis]). Parts are available, they aren't outrageously priced, and the instructions are plenty clear. Personally - I would strongly recommend this path. Understand what "good" looks like in the space before branching out into other requirements. --- Option #2: Build a Voron Kit. It's going to take you several days of full time assembly, It'll cost more for the same quality, it's going to have some maddening "dial it in" moments. But you get a machine that you fully understand. You'll need to be very comfortable with both hardware and software for the assembly. If you want anything like the remote control & monitoring of corporate printers, you'll need to be comfortable hosting your own services and exposing things on the public internet (ex: tailscale/wireguard or just plain public). Personally - DO THIS! but don't do it first. First get an X1C and understand what good printing looks like. --- Everything not a Voron probably isn't really "open" in the sense that you want. (Sure - you can flash a lot of machines. You still own that machine - it doesn't magically become higher quality, and most things run a Marlin/Klipper variant anyways) Everything not a Bambu is a step backwards in print quality and ecosystem experience. The middle sucks on all most fronts except price, but 1k is enough to get the better machines.
• eurekin 1y ago
  Bambulab A1 user here. It's nice for simple stuff, but wouldn't recommend for anything needing precision. In the beginning it was laying out perfect layers, but after 6 months just lost it. Been doing every possible maintenance stuff and it just doesn't go back.
• cityofdelusion 1y ago
  You are sadly getting a lot of answers completely ignoring your requirements. A Voron or RatRig are right up your alley. They are highly customizable, buy a kit as a base, then upgrade components as needed to do more complex printing. They are completely open source and repairable with no phoning home or any other shenanigans, the GNU/Linux of 3d printers. If you have CAD and machining experience it should be fairly straight forward. My Vorons are both extremely reliable, I just hit print for 99% of my stuff and it just works with either auto leveling or static fixed offsets (depends on the Voron chosen). If something doesn’t work out, there is an enormous community with many swappable components and the machines are upgradable year after year, or can be kept in a specific older configuration.
  • abhorrence 1y ago
    As someone who owns both a couple Vorons and a couple of Bambu's printers, I do think for a lot of people the difference between the two can be "3d printers are my hobby" vs "3d printers are a tool". It's not that Vorons can't be reliable, in fact a lot of the reason why say the X1C is so reliable is because its design essentially started life as a Voron. But because you have to assemble them, they just aren't as "plug and play".
    • fooqux 1y ago
      Sure, but go and read the OP's requirements again and tell me if you think they care about needing to assemble them.
• chews 1y ago
  Get a bambu, dont put it online, use the SD card or lan for transfer... yes they're Chinese and have run roughshod over their contemporaries with respect to IP, yet it's the most die hard printer you'll ever buy. I own 5.
• double0jimb0 1y ago
  Printable PC/Nylon/ABS are not the same as the injection molded equivalents, you may want to research this more if that is an issue. I've printed every material under the sun trying to chase various material properties, and I usually just come back to printing in PLA due to it's excellent mechanical properties (up to a certain temp), excellent layer adhesion, and near 100% success rate. When you stray from from PLA, you will start running into warping, shrink, layer adhesion, and other issues. If you need parts in PC/Nylon/ABS, get the design dialed in in PLA (I as almost all others recommend bambulab), and then send the part to FirstCut/Protolabs to have it machined out of whatever you want.
• groby_b 1y ago
  First up: If you were a machinist and can model in CAD (especially constraint based, not mesh based), slicers are trivial. You'll spend a bit learning about materials & how to deal with their inadequacies by fiddling with support structures, but it's really not an obstacle. If OSS firmware and repairability matter to you, prepare to invest a lot of time fixing and improving your tooling. (But... if you've machined before, you likely know that drill :) The Sovol SV06 is almost there in terms of build volume - and it clocks in at $350, so it might be a good starting point. The Voron 2.4 is 350 mm^3 and almost $1000, also a decent machine. Elegoo's Neptune 4 straddles the edge of open source - it's a branded klipper build. All of them are enclosable (i.e. you can buy enclosures, or build one) From what I hear, the Voron's the most likely fit for your material requirements. (But, worth keeping in mind - an alternate path is a cheapo PLA printer for prototyping, and then shipping of files to a printing service. Depends on what you plan to do)
• bradgranath 1y ago
  I picked up an Ultimaker 2+ with 15,000 hours on it at an ewaste junk shop for $100. Really was expecting it to need some TLC, but I plugged it in, leveled the bed, and it spit out an absolutely passable benchy in a couple hours. Cura (Ultimaker's slicer) isn't open source, but it is free, fairly unobtrusive, and works fine. The printer itself isn't connected to anything but mains power, and loads gcode from an SD card.
  • mayoff 1y ago
    > Cura (Ultimaker's slicer) isn't open source Isn't it? https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura
    • bradgranath 1y ago
      Color me corrected!
  • deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
• jacquesm 1y ago
  I hate to say this. Bambu A1. I'm operating a farm of mixed plumage: 20 Prusa's, 12 Creality K1s and 24 Bambus. Of all of those the Bambus are by far the least troublesome and I would definitely recommend those to a beginner. That said, Bambu is a crap company and they can't be trusted not to do a rugpull sooner or later. We don't have them connected to wifi for that reason alone and tbh it doesn't really add anything to the experience. I like the fact that they're all stand-alone and as long as the power is up the printers are printing. In the last year we've processed about 3000 Kg total with these. In some more detail: - The Prusa's are real workhorses. They are not the fastest, but they're expensive and they break. But you can always fix them and the degree to which you can tinker with them (especially while they're running) is much higher than the others. I've made a couple of custom ones (one 1x1 meter x 25 cm build volume, five more that are the regular width and length but 60 cm height), with adopted firmware. It's an insanely flexible platform. If you can think of it, handle a hex key and do some minor firmware hacking you can probably make it. - The K1s... well. Initially we were very impressed. Got a couple to test with, decided they work and ordered 10 more. After a few days the first extruder broke. Gears just snapped their teeth right off. Turns out the extruder gears are plastic. So, ordered upgraded extruders. Next, one after the other, power supplies dying. After that print fans, Then cpu fans. They also had many screws loose right from the factory, we had a whole inspection list made just to structurally address all of the shitty stuff that would be wrong. For $10 more in parts and better QA it could have been a winner. - The Bambus. We plugged them in. They work. They still do. People in this thread are mentioning the SOVOL, if you have the money, that's probably the best printer. But I'd get a couple of Bambus instead and get that many more kilos pushed through. At 200 bucks for the mini and 350 or so for the big A1 it's insane value for money. Does that help? Feel free to ask more questions.
  • mhb 1y ago
    > Feel free to ask more questions. What are you doing with all those printers?
• jwr 1y ago
  Bambu Labs P1S, X1C or H2D if you want something that just works. For printing ABS and ASA, insulate the enclosure with XPS and heat the chamber to above 55C for good results. Printing Nylon is difficult. You have to control not just the temperature but also humidity.
• lvl155 1y ago
  I would not print PC/Nylon/ABS at home. It’s really hard to make it work especially during colder months. Work with PLA to get the shape and order it online when you’re ready for advanced materials. I would also recommend HP MJF for nylons.
  • paulkrush 1y ago
    Why? He said he was going to enclose. Is this a fumes thing?
    • lvl155 1y ago
      It’s not just safety. It’s also the costs. You have to print them in climate controlled environment which can get expensive. Print them looking “fine” is not the same as printing them to specification of these materials. And you print ABS/PC/Nylon for functional needs.
• Workaccount2 1y ago
  I have a Qidi plus 4, and have had good results with it and engineering materials. Bambu is nice for the community, it's much more popular, but the specs for the Qidi are bit better for engineering materials and so far I am very happy with it. That being said, it isn't quite open source, but I do believe it can be run offline.
• naasking 1y ago
  Depends how much tinkering you want to do. Out of the box, Prusa and Bambu are king for a higher price point. More of a closed ecosystem though, the remaining options are more open. If you want to assemble your own premium machine, Voron for which there are kits. Still a premium price though. For more budget options that still have a good out of the box experience, I've heard good things about the Qidi 4 and Creality K1 series. If you want a mostly pre-built Voron lite of sorts, Sovol SV08, but expect more tinkering.
• post_break 1y ago
  As someone who started with junk printers from the very beginning, and now sell 3D prints, please don't buy a machine you have to assemble. Don't learn how to dial it in. And spend more than $1,000. Your time and money is worth more than trying to make some open source diy kit printer do what you want. Bambu has body slammed the market with printers that work. Get a H2S or X1C, run it in lan only mode if you're paranoid, and don't look back. H2S is a better option for your material choices. My comment will probably get flamed because I'm not saying Prusa makes the best printers and only support open source, but do you want a tool that makes things, or do you want to waste time baby sitting your tool trying to get it to do something others can do out of the box. I WISH my machine was open source, but the reality is it's not. It's like asking what mill to buy, but rulling out HAAS and Bridgeport because you're ok with trying to machine around crazy slop.
  • zeroq 1y ago
    Yes, but with a caveat. Here in Elbonia H2S costs 5 times the price of Elegoo Centauri. I know that poor people save money twice, but I think it's also responsible, if you're just treading the water, to get a decent toy and see if that's really something for you. Recently my gf thought about getting a drawing tablet. Of course I immediately aimed for professional graphic tablet, at least 19". Fortunately we ended up buying cheap Huion [1] and after having a blast with Rebelle for a month it turned out it's not for us. We saved a ton of money in the process and maybe one day I'll decide that the money saved will finance a toy 3D printer. :) [1] I'm not an artist but I've worked in digital agencies for half of my life and I was blown away by the quality of Huion compared to Wacom. I think it might be similar to some of 3D printers mentioned here.
• anon73044 1y ago
  Creality K1C or K1 Max
• _Microft 1y ago
  If you've got a budget of $1000 for that, have you considered getting a used 3D printer first? Some models are sold used for like 50€ (e.g. Ender 3 V2) on classified ads which hardly makes a dent in your overall budget. This will force you to actually familiarize yourself with the processes and will allow you to make more informed decisions later?
• nerdtalker 1y ago
  Elegoo Centauri Carbon. I am blown away at the quality which rivals or exceeds my X1C and it's like $300. It was on sale $49 off earlier this week which was insane. Subsidized by CCP but keep it offline and you're good to go.
  • blacksmith_tb 1y ago
    Yeah, I have friend who recently got one and is loving it. Does seem close to the X1C (which has been really solid for me, but is hardly cheap).
• alsobrsp 1y ago
  I love my Voron Trident. It might not be under $1000. I have about $1300 in it, I start with the Voron Tap tool head which added a bit plus other stuff.
• carterschonwald 1y ago
  If you could tolerate 1/8th the build volume the sovol zero seems amazing. 120mm ^3 though .
• tibbon 1y ago
  I got a Bambu P1S two years ago for Christmas as a gift. It's been fantastic. 98% of my prints have been successful. They aren't the free open source dream machine, but it also works quite well and needs little messing with. I've played with 3d printers back to the RepRap and Makerbots - but those always required so much work to get a successful print. I haven't seen something clearly better in the price range.
• fakebizprez 1y ago
  I've been resisting the desire to go down this rabbit hole because I think it will be the final straw for my girlfriend. Good luck on your quest!
• seltzered_ 1y ago
  > Need to be able to print with more durable, temperature/chemical resistant materials such as PC/Nylon/ABS or infused materials. I would double check what kind of air filtration setup you want. In the voron/sovol space there's the StealthMax filter system kit which is going to add on a couple hundred bucks at least. As others said, you could consider a sovol sv08. Another option is a used voron 2.4 or trident to meet your budget. My regret in going down the new printer rabbit hole was not waiting a couple months and checking used listing because theres usually a used printer that comes up, sometimes saving you quite a bit of money and assembly time. The other factor to consider is you ever plan on having any expansions requiring a better MCU or additional motors. The sovol is a more 'integrated' electronics design so you'd need to possibly replace it if wanting to do certain mods later.
• jeffnappi 1y ago
  Buy a lightly used Bambu X1C.
• ungreased0675 1y ago
  Not under $1000, but I ran an Ultimaker like a rented mule for 2 years straight with minimal maintenance. Worked great. Reliability isn’t limited to just one brand. There are plenty of printers available that just work.
• kzalesak 1y ago
  I am surprised nobody mentioned the Qidi printers. They are the perfect balance between tinkerability and reliability (but see below - QA varies), and have open firmware. They are the only ones that currently compete with Bambu in high-temperature materials. These will outperform PC/Nylon and can also print advanced stuff as PPS, especially on the new Q2. Now, for their QA - it is not on par with Prusa or Bambu, however, there are a few tips to avoid the pitfalls. 1. If buying the Plus 4, buy the US version of possible. The EU models are older units with a faulty part. 2. Buy from places that offer returns. If the printer is faulty, you can always return it 3. If something breaks, document and send to support. Expect free replacement parts shipped within a week. By following the above, you will get an extremely capable printer at a fraction of a cost of a Bambu, with offline modes, open source FW a great community and hotend capabilities that are virtually unparalleled and venture into engineering grade machines. Happy printing :)
  • johnwalkr 1y ago
    I second qidi. I have a Q1 pro and have had great success with higher temperature/exotic materials. I live in EU, and I also appreciate that they stock everything in Europe and I always get delivery of consumables and materials within a few days.
  • mirchibajji 1y ago
    Another vote for Qidi from me. I have Qidi Plus4, which is amazing. I selected the UK version (where I live), and don't have any issues. I believe the faulty part issue you were referring has been resolved long since as mine doesn't have this, based on the part numbers. I was against getting a Bambu mainly for the proprietary software.
• dismalpedigree 1y ago
  I do mechatronics for a living. I have (and still have) some “hobby” 3d printers. For my job, I don’t want to screw around with settings, I just need the part to come out well. My day to day goto is the creality K1 line. I have 3x K1Cs and a K1 Max. The K1 Max is for you. It costs about $800. 300mm cubed build area. Runs every material I throw at it. PLA, PETG, TPU, Nylon, ASA, PC, etc. It has a cloud option, but I don’t use. They all run on a separate vlan so no phoning home. Doesn’t cause any issues. They run unlocked klipper firmware, so if you want to mess with it feel free. Also means most slicers work well with them. I typically use OrcaSlicer but the CrealityPrint and Cura work also. I don’t recommend the K2, it has quite a few annoying bugs. The Enders are hobby machines for sure. Go with K1C or even K1 Max for the bigger bed. You won’t regret it.
• mrheosuper 1y ago
  Boring is good. Just get Bambu. It mostly works.
• system2 1y ago
  Bambulabs P1S ($549 now), or if you can spend just a little more, get the X1C ($799). If you want the best they have, it's the H2S ($1,249). I have been using 3d printers since 2015. I've never seen anything close to Bambulabs, and the first time I used A1, I almost cried thinking about the countless wasted hours with Creality and Prusa printers I have. Don't get Creality because they have quality control issues. Prusa is currently behind and more expensive. Bambulabs is lightyears ahead of the game.
• LTL_FTC 1y ago
  PSA: large universities often sell 3D printers, of seemingly great quality, at their public auctions. Great deals can be had.
• v8xi 1y ago
  i just picked up an ultimaker s5 for $400 on ebay with tons of extra filament and it worked off the bat. Been printing for almost 2 weeks straight and my daughter loves it :D
• dan_can_code 1y ago
  Voron would be my recommendation. It ticks all the boxes of what you need it to do. The only caveat is you need to build it, screw by screw (unless you buy a pre-assembled one such as siboor). It also requires printed parts which can be ordered via Vorons PIF program (high quality, printer-verified parts). Depending on how easy you find it, it will take at least 10 hours to build. But that is part of the fun. Software and repairability are there. Spares are cheap and klipper is open source. It can work offline but it works better paired with tailscale. You can upload sliced models OTA. Slicing models will be the easiest part. I'd recommend the basic orcaSlicer set up for the printer of choice and go from there. Good luck and have fun. 3D printing has become the most addictive hobby I have ever taken up. Be careful with your time!
  • fho 1y ago
    Second this, if you have the time to assemble everything that is. On the plus side your Voron won't become obsolete as you can just upgrade it to the next version. I just upgraded my Voron 2.1 to have direct drive. Having build everything myself in the first place, the decision was easy. Meanwhile we have a Bambu X1 at work and some of the time I just have no idea why it does not work.
• qwertytyyuu 1y ago
  Look into snap maker u1 if you don’t mind kickstarter,
• Makciek 1y ago
  I bought the Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo recently, and it's really good, especially looking at the price
  • mlukaszek 1y ago
    Same. New to printing but haven't had a single failed print yet (only used PLA and PETG so far though), and the print quality is generally excellent. That said, it does not meet all the requirements of the OP.
• wanabananascene 1y ago
  Creality K1, fast, enclosed, similar print size, well priced.
  • imtringued 1y ago
    Suggesting Creality is cruel. At least suggest the Sovol equivalent.
• roschdal 1y ago
  What do you need it for? 3D printers are useless.
• trialect 1y ago
  So what exactly will you do with your printed plastic when you get bored of your printed stuff?
  • marcosscriven 1y ago
    Certainly we should be mindful of single-use plastic. For prototyping, PLA is biodegradable in the right conditions, and doesn’t come from petroleum. There’re all sorts of things 3D printing is good for. Do you think 3D printing shouldn’t be allowed?
    • trialect 1y ago
      I'm not saying it shouldn't be allowed. But people really should be thinking about plastic usage (and they don't.. they just need that stuff handy to print whatever.. ) and all the waste they generate when they don't need the said printed part anymore (for better or worse their descendant/successor will not need it anymore and will throw it away...)
      • marcosscriven 1y ago
        What I’m trying to get at is why you posted that? It’s a post asking about what 3D printer to get.
• Halan 1y ago
  Is there anything better than a bambulab A1 mini under $250 for somebody interested in the software aspect of 3D printing?
• johnboiles 1y ago
  I have a Bambu X1C and a Prusa MK3.9S (mostly upgraded MK3S). The Bambu is incredible at PLA. It is so fast and consistently perfect. The 0.2mm nozzle makes unreal detail small parts. But I struggle to do other materials with it like TPU, PETG, ABS. The Prusa takes generally whatever material I throw at it and does a great job just using the PrusaSlicer built in profiles. It's also the minimum viable printer -- it's 80% as good as the Bambu but a fraction of the complexity. I am 100% confident I could keep it running indefinitely where the Bambu is mostly proprietary parts and software.
• heywoods 1y ago
  I suppose this is as good of a place as any to piggyback off the topic. Can anyone share their experience with 3D scanner tools like the hand wands? I’ve seen a few kickstarter campaigns for these devices and they appear to be a godsend for someone looking to make a functional print (eg. Replace a broken hose handle) I imagine these lower-end devices get you ~80% of the way and higher end devices get you closer to 90-95% ignoring technique and size/intricacy of the object being scanned. How much time does it take to edit the 3D files from these scanners by the way? My only point of reference is the 3D wand my dentist put in my mouth to make impressions for Invisalign haha. The hygienist had to spend ~10 additional minutes after the initial pass scanning my mouth going back over several spots that were not up to par but overall it seemed very straightforward and easy. Tap the area of the mouth to edit —> shove the scanner back in my mouth —> review (software gave a red/green status) —> if green (ie. passing) —> save and done. lastly, any recommendations for a 3D scanner in any form factor?
  • Baeocystin 1y ago
    As someone who tried those kickstarter specials... They just aren't there unless you use a laser-based system, which are many thousands of dollars. You'll get a point cloud that is close-ish for whatever part you're scanning, but unless it's strictly decorative, you're going to find pretty quickly that it's faster to just re-create the thing from scratch if you need any kind of dimensional accuracy. The scans are somewhat useful as on-machine references, but that's it. Also, scanning is a lot more work than you'd naively think. Reflections are the enemy, the matte spray used for scan prep is messy and expensive. It was fun to play around with, and I learned a lot, but my current advice is don't bother, you'll just be disappointed.
• platevoltage 1y ago
  Just obtained a Creality K1Max and am very happy with it.
• okkdev 1y ago
  If I would be buying a 3d printer right now it'd be the Snapmaker U1 Kickstarter. 750 bucks for a large enclosed multihead printer is wild.
• eibrahim 1y ago
  I love my Prusa
• thatdogg 1y ago
  [flagged]