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Davidwnuc
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Creality ender 3 pro
$210
Bought it 2022 to play around with. My son uses it to make mods for nerf guns.
$210
Bought it 2022 to play around with. My son uses it to make mods for nerf guns.
Ajzride
Well-known member
If you have the coin, Bambu P1S is hands down the best entry level printer. If you need a lower cost point, Elegoo centuri carbon.
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Lricaud81
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- #4
I'd like to start with a decent but lower cost one if I got one since I'm not sure if I'd be able to use it like I'd like. I'm not computer savvy in any fashion heck I'm scared to even do forscan on my truck so yeah you see where I'm at. Lol.
Thanks I'm gonna look into these and research things about 3d printing
Thanks I'm gonna look into these and research things about 3d printing
Porpoise Hork
Well-known member
I have been in the hobby for probably 6-7 years now and currently have a Sovol SV07 Plus. Great large format printer for the price (sub $300) but not necessarily the best choice for someone new to the hobby. It's probably the last of the tinkerers printers and most of the calibration is still done manually. I have spent countless hours tweaking it, and designing my own upgraded parts for it to improve printing performance and quality while reducing noise at the same time. Just about everything that's come out since this one released are much more user friendly not requiring manual calibration making them much easier to use for beginners or even seasoned vets by comparison.
Even with modern printers setup/calibration being almost 100% automated taking nearly all of the guess work out it's still a bit of a steep learning curve with them. Mostly down to learning how the slicers work. There's literally thousands of different settings you can fiddle with and changes even little ones can cause a print to fail. The good thing is there are literally tens of thousands of videos posted on Youtube for the different slicers and how to learn to use them. The major slicers in order of popularity and ease of use are Orca Slicer, Bambu Slicer, Prusa Slicer and Cura.
For inexpensive beginner printers that are likely the easiest to use would be the Bambu a1 Mini a sub $300 relatively small form factor printer that is easy to use, reliable, decently quick and can support multi color printing with their additional AMS system. Downsides to all the Bambu printers are that they are a closed source eco system and all but forces you to use their proprietary slicer. Despite this it's still a great printer for beginners.
If you're wanting a more open source printer then the Creality Ender 3 V3 SE for less than $200 is worth a look. While not as simple to use as sat the A1 mini out of the box, it is still very user friendly and has more a standard build volume of 220x200x250 mm allows you to use any slicer you wish and can use Orca slicer to upload your sliced models directly to it for printing. Other honorable mentions in the $300 price range are the Anycubic Kobra v3, and Sovol SV06 Ace. All of these are regarded as reliable, easy to use, and forgiving printers for beginners.
All that said the best advice I can give is don't mess with multi-color printing right from the start. It will only complicate things. You can always get a printer that supports multi-material later on if you want. Best to consider the first printer as a stepping stone to see if you like the hobby before investing literally thousands on a larger more advanced model and tons of filament down the road.
A little tip, If you do get into the hobby, get a largish storage tote with a locking lid that has an actual seal on it and desiccant. Reason being that most 3D filaments are hydroscopic and print quality can degrade over time as they absorb moisture from the humidity in the air. Most problems with poor print quality we face are due to the filament being "wet". The totes are a decent price from Target or Walmart too so you can just buy a single one to start with. You also won't need a filament dryer right from the start and can easily use the printer's heated bed and a cardboard box as a makeshift filament dryer. That's what I did for a long time until I finally broke down and bought a dedicated filament dryer.
Oh almost forgot.. This is probably the single best youtube channel for 3d printer reviews out there. She is extremely methodical in her reviews and really puts each of the units through some of the most consistent and rigorous testing I have seen. She isn't afraid to call out a printer's faults and really gives you a good idea of each device's actual capabilities.
https://www.youtube.com/@AuroraTech
Even with modern printers setup/calibration being almost 100% automated taking nearly all of the guess work out it's still a bit of a steep learning curve with them. Mostly down to learning how the slicers work. There's literally thousands of different settings you can fiddle with and changes even little ones can cause a print to fail. The good thing is there are literally tens of thousands of videos posted on Youtube for the different slicers and how to learn to use them. The major slicers in order of popularity and ease of use are Orca Slicer, Bambu Slicer, Prusa Slicer and Cura.
For inexpensive beginner printers that are likely the easiest to use would be the Bambu a1 Mini a sub $300 relatively small form factor printer that is easy to use, reliable, decently quick and can support multi color printing with their additional AMS system. Downsides to all the Bambu printers are that they are a closed source eco system and all but forces you to use their proprietary slicer. Despite this it's still a great printer for beginners.
If you're wanting a more open source printer then the Creality Ender 3 V3 SE for less than $200 is worth a look. While not as simple to use as sat the A1 mini out of the box, it is still very user friendly and has more a standard build volume of 220x200x250 mm allows you to use any slicer you wish and can use Orca slicer to upload your sliced models directly to it for printing. Other honorable mentions in the $300 price range are the Anycubic Kobra v3, and Sovol SV06 Ace. All of these are regarded as reliable, easy to use, and forgiving printers for beginners.
All that said the best advice I can give is don't mess with multi-color printing right from the start. It will only complicate things. You can always get a printer that supports multi-material later on if you want. Best to consider the first printer as a stepping stone to see if you like the hobby before investing literally thousands on a larger more advanced model and tons of filament down the road.
A little tip, If you do get into the hobby, get a largish storage tote with a locking lid that has an actual seal on it and desiccant. Reason being that most 3D filaments are hydroscopic and print quality can degrade over time as they absorb moisture from the humidity in the air. Most problems with poor print quality we face are due to the filament being "wet". The totes are a decent price from Target or Walmart too so you can just buy a single one to start with. You also won't need a filament dryer right from the start and can easily use the printer's heated bed and a cardboard box as a makeshift filament dryer. That's what I did for a long time until I finally broke down and bought a dedicated filament dryer.
Oh almost forgot.. This is probably the single best youtube channel for 3d printer reviews out there. She is extremely methodical in her reviews and really puts each of the units through some of the most consistent and rigorous testing I have seen. She isn't afraid to call out a printer's faults and really gives you a good idea of each device's actual capabilities.
https://www.youtube.com/@AuroraTech
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Moe7
Well-known member
I just went down this rabbit hole and found the Bambu P1S to be a solid recommendation, but not necessarily cheap. Basically plug and play, with options for more advanced configuration to grow into.
I went overkill and got an X1C with an AMS2. Still only using PLA+, but haven't had a print fail yet in the month I've had it. The X1C doesn't really have any substantial difference over the P1S, especially for a beginner.
I went overkill and got an X1C with an AMS2. Still only using PLA+, but haven't had a print fail yet in the month I've had it. The X1C doesn't really have any substantial difference over the P1S, especially for a beginner.
Porpoise Hork
Well-known member
From what all I have seen about them the Bambu Labs machines really are some of the best printers for beginners. Coming from RatRig, Marlin, and now Klipper firmware, I just am not much of a fan of their being closed source and how they all but force people to use their software.
As far as filaments For most things I stick with VoxelLab PLA Pro but am VERY impressed with Polymaker's new HT PLA. This stuff is amazing and holds up extremely well in high temp applications. It's almost as good as the PET-CF and polycarbonate I occasionally print with but is just a easy to use as regular PLA.
As far as filaments For most things I stick with VoxelLab PLA Pro but am VERY impressed with Polymaker's new HT PLA. This stuff is amazing and holds up extremely well in high temp applications. It's almost as good as the PET-CF and polycarbonate I occasionally print with but is just a easy to use as regular PLA.
astro_fusion
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Been using a Bambu X1E+AMS the last year for prototype and some functional parts at work. Mostly pla+ and a few other fiberon high strength filaments, pps-cf and pa-cf blends. Would recommend Bambu products to anyone beginner or advanced. Bambu's slicer is not a limiting factor, simple to figure out on day 1 but you can really go down the rabbit hole and fine tune things if needed.
TrueBlue_09
Member
I have the Bambu Labs P1S and the Elegoo Centauri Carbon and the P1S is by far the best one I have.
Boen
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I started with a Ender 3 (what a learning curve) Then bought a Bambu Lab A1 mini, nice machine but didnt like the limit and size of build plate, Bought the X1C and love it. I make a lot of tools and stuff for my Trans shop using Tinkercad ,And of course a lot of other things
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Lricaud81
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- #11
What's bad is I'm already overwhelmed with yall talking about software and slicers and closed source and filaments. Lol. That is a completely different language to me. Maybe being 44 years old is to old to be trying to jump into something like this.
Boen
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Not at all, I am 66 and its been really fun
SkiAlta39
Member
Bambu Labs A1. Don't get the A1 Mini. You will outgrow it almost immediately. The A1 just works, very little tinkering. My son is constantly printing on it. If you get the combo you can print with 4 colors.
https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/a1
https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/a1
FI300
Well-known member
I have several and currently print most of my stuff on a Prusa Core One. That being said I would also recommend the Bambu printers for a beginner. I would stay away from the cheaper printers because in the long run they will end up costing you more overall in upgrades, I know I started this route. My first ender has very few original parts left and is current dedicate to printing flex filaments.
