SolarPunkerRecommended 3d printer models?
Can you share more about how much you are willing to spend, what you want to do with the printer (print parts for outdoor use or fidget toys or minifigures etc.) and where you are located? That way it is possible to make a recommendation more specific to your needs and situation
I don’t have any particular needs at the moment, other than that it be a printer that I can keep in my room and that it not be noisy; I would certainly prefer to avoid closed apple-style hardware systems. I live in Europe.
If you are willing to spend the money, I would recommend getting a Prusa. They are pretty good with keeping their system open (although not everything is open source, you can read about it here), their printers print well and their support is very good, which is nice, especially as a beginner. I would recommend buying a kit and building the printer yourself if possible, it’s a lot of fun imo and also helps if you need to troubleshoot something later because you already know how the printer works. The Core One is their newest model, it’s a bit faster than the MK4S and fully enclosed, so its easier to print more technical materials on it. It has a bit of a wait time on the order tho and still needs some firmware patches to be as reliable as the MK4S and it has no support for multi material printing yet. I think it will probably be quieter than the MK4S if/when it gets a phase stepping update and you can easily put a filter on it if you want to print some of the more nasty materials.
The MK4S is also still a good option imo if you plan to mostly stick to using PLA and PETG.
I don’t think the Mini is worth it at the moment unless you can get one used, and the XL is massive overkill if you are just starting.
If you don’t want to spend as much, Sovol is one of the better Chinese manufacturers when it comes to respecting open source and not having shitty apps full of ads afaik, but I don’t have any personal experience with them. Aurora Tech is a good source for detailed printer reviews on Youtube, in addition to the channels mentioned by Derek.
The state of open-source in 3D printing in 2023 - Original Prusa 3D Printers
After several years of development, complicated by the pandemic, disrupted supply chains, and war in Europe, we announced our new Original Prusa MK4 today. We began shipping the first units of the XL two weeks ago. There is an upcoming PrusaSlicer...
Thank you!
I just got my Core One last week (also first time buyer), and my first impressions are very good.
ETA: I got a lot of helpful comments in a thread I posted last year: lemmy.ml/post/23563961
Considering the Prusa CORE One as first printer - any reason to reconsider? - Lemmy
I’ve been waiting to finish up with some major life stuff before diving into the world of 3D printers. Now that is finally behind me, and I am currently trying to find out which printer I want so that I can place an order. So far I’ve set my eyes on the new Prusa CORE One. It ticks a lot of the boxes that I think I am after, including: - As open as I can get (before going into that Voron-stuff, which I think I’m not ready for). I don’t want to be bogged down with having to run proprietary slicers through Wine and things like that. I am not sure how big of an issue that is with e.g. Bambu or Creality (if at all), but I’ve seen enough rug-pulls and enshittification processes that I don’t really want to risk that. I want to be sure that I can use FOSS tools such as Blender and FreeCAD for design, and similarly open slicers, and the whole workflow will work just fine. - As future-proof as I can possibly hope for. I think the upgrade path from the MK4 to CORE One shows that they are serious about sustainability and longevity of their devices, and as far as I can tell, I should have no troubles sourcing replacement parts. I also want to support companies with this philosophy. - Has a decent print volume (I know there are bigger, maybe I will be constrained by this at some point?) - Enclosed - a major reason I did not want the MK4S was that it was not enclosed (but maybe you can get an enclosure?). It will be placed in my study where I spend most of my computer time (which often times is a lot, so I imagine I will be in the room while it is printing). I imagine, with the additional filter, that it will be better with an enclosure. Also, it will be easier to keep good temperature control during prints, as it can get cold here during winter. - Locally produced (I’m EU based). I understand that other manufacturers provide more “bang for the buck” and that I in that sense will be overpaying feature-wise. I am fine with that given my emphasis on the above criteria. However, I am a complete newbie to 3D-printing. I am sure there are some limitations I have not thought about, and I was wondering if there are any major things I have not thought about that would actually affect me negatively and should make me reconsider this model?
Thank you too
Yeah it had some issues with the door sensor and the nozzle cleaning directly after release, but those should be fixed now, and based on Prusas track record it will get firmware improvements for a long time.