Learning about 3D printers and looking for input

Technical Ted

Technical Ted

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I'm not ready to buy now, just on a fact finding quest to wade through all the different brands/models of 3D printers, their capabilities and the different filament material types. I'm pretty comfortable with Fusion 360 and think a 3D printer would be a nice addition to my shop capabilities. I also know there are a lot of files at various sites for free download.


I'm looking for suggestions and opinions on different printers. My use would be mostly for shop parts/items - practical/functional items. Although I'm sure I would make somethings for my grandson, I'm more focused on items used around the household and work shop, etc.. My budget would be $1000 max., but would rather go around $500 or less. I would have to weigh capabilities for the value (bang for the buck). For filament types, at a minimum PLA and ABS, although nylon, TPU, PETG, etc. would be very attractive.

Looks like the Prusa i3 mk3s+ is very popular (kind of the standard) at $800 plus shipping with a 4 week lead time (per their website). For less money, the Creality Ender 5 Pro seems popular at half the price. One that has really sparked my interest is the QIDI Tech X-Plus for $799 plus tax. Fully enclosed, large size, two print heads including a high temp one for printing nylon, carbon fiber and PC. I've read reviews from various sites and it is very well rated.


Well, I'm going to panic slowly, taking my time doing additional research and hopefully I won't get frustrated with all the different ones out there and just plain give up!

Thoughts, suggestions, ideas are welcome!

Thanks,
Ted
 
Watching along Ted as I’m also thinking about a 3D printer.

For what it’s worth, a fellow on another board bought a Creality Ender Pro 5 and had it up and printing in a matter of hours.
Looks like there’s a big Creality community too.
 
i own an Ender 3 and an Ender 5.
don't waste the time or money on the Ender 3, it works good after a lotta tweaks/upgrades
the Ender 5 has worked since i assembled it (less than 2 hours set up)- it is very stable and reliable
the Ender 3 seems to want to be tweaked now and again, especially with different materials

the Cura 4.8.1 slicer download that works very well, with both the Ender 3 and the Ender 5

i have printed in PLA, PLA+, Carbon Fiber PLA, TPU, PVB, SPLA between the 2 machines

the Prusa i hear is a great machine,
i didn't want to invest (950 at the time) to play/learn with mysterious unknown technology- hence my Ender3 choice
after owning the ender 5- the ender3 is outclassed
 
If you want to 3D print usable/useful objects buy the Prusa i3 MkIIs+. If you want to fiddle and tweak buy something lesser. Been there done that.
 
I was in the same boat as you, wanted a 3d printer. I purchased a Creality CR-6SE from Tinymachines.com. I wanted something that worked out of the box, not another project, to much to learn without fixing problems. I highly recommend these guys out of Houston. They check out every printer before shipping, do upgrades as necessary. They carry different brands and there customer service is top notch, i.e. actually called me to tell me that the printer was shipping and thanking me for the purchase. I wanted someone to support me and the machine as I knew that there was going to be learning curve.

www.tinymachines3d.com

Custom 3D Printers | Upgrades | Filament

Tiny Machines 3D - custom 3D printers and after sales support. The budget friendly Ender 3 V2+large scale Creality Ender 5 Plus to the fast Vivedino Troodon Core XY 3D Printer, we have you covered. See our full range of 3D printer upgrades : Bondtech, E3D, Micro Swiss, and Slice Engineering for...
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Hey there. I'm a newbie in the home machine shop hobby, but I've been playing with and building 3D printers for a couple of years now.

Couple of questions -
1 - Work envelope? How big of stuff do you want to print? (bigger printers exponentially increases print times)
2 - Is a 3D printer a tinkering hobby or a tool to you?
3 - Where will the machine be stored? stable temperature matters

If its more of a 'tool' to you, and you just want it to work without the fussing around, just get a Prusa MK3s (or a Prusa Mini if you want something smaller). If you want to understand them, get the kit and save a few bucks, otherwise you can pay a little more and just get an assembled machine.

I currently have two printers, and Prusa MK3s (with the MMU2s addon - that's a separate topic all together), and a Tevo Tornado (Creality CR10 clone) that I have rebuilt / modified so much its basically a large Prusa MK3s clone at this point. I probably put more money into it than I paid for it to get it the way I wanted. The Prusa MK3s on the other hand is still stock. And my "go to" printer for just getting things done.

Anyway, I hope that helps a little. Creality makes good stuff. But you'll have to work on it here and there. The Prusa more of a well oiled machine and "just works".
 
fursphere said:
Hey there. I'm a newbie in the home machine shop hobby, but I've been playing with and building 3D printers for a couple of years now.

Couple of questions -
1 - Work envelope? How big of stuff do you want to print? (bigger printers exponentially increases print times)
2 - Is a 3D printer a tinkering hobby or a tool to you?
3 - Where will the machine be stored? stable temperature matters

If its more of a 'tool' to you, and you just want it to work without the fussing around, just get a Prusa MK3s (or a Prusa Mini if you want something smaller). If you want to understand them, get the kit and save a few bucks, otherwise you can pay a little more and just get an assembled machine.

I currently have two printers, and Prusa MK3s (with the MMU2s addon - that's a separate topic all together), and a Tevo Tornado (Creality CR10 clone) that I have rebuilt / modified so much its basically a large Prusa MK3s clone at this point. I probably put more money into it than I paid for it to get it the way I wanted. The Prusa MK3s on the other hand is still stock. And my "go to" printer for just getting things done.

Anyway, I hope that helps a little. Creality makes good stuff. But you'll have to work on it here and there. The Prusa more of a well oiled machine and "just works".
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Right now, it's between the Prusa i3 mk3s+ and the QIDI Tech X-Plus. I've read a lot about both and they both seem to be good machines. The only comparisons I've seen between the two head to head the QIDI comes out on top because of the full enclosure, quiet operation, two print heads and bigger envelop. Have any experience with this one?

Further, if getting the Prusa, which plate would you (or others) suggest? Buying both increases the cost enough that I'll have to pay VAT so that doesn't seem to make sense at this point.

Edit: Forgot to add that both of the two possible places I will set this up will be on the cold side during the winter. With this, I would think the full enclosure would be best, especially if printing with nylon??? And, it will be more of a tool than toy, although I will probably end up playing with it also.

Thanks,
Ted
 
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I personally use the textured sheet. With PLA I use a little glue stick to make things stick. Washes off with warm water. PETG sticks without anything. Just clean up with iso alcohol before printing PETG.

I don't know anything about the QIDI Tech X-Plus - but it looks like another Chinese import printer. That's not bad per say, but could run into long term support issues with updates and what not. But if you're a DIY kind of person, that isn't an issue. But in the 3+ years I've owned the Tevo Tornado, they've never released a firmware update. (I have since moved it to a native Marlin build to add the features I wanted to it - which means compiling my own firmware from source) Where Prusa is constantly releasing updates with new features, and they also have their own in house slicer (CAM) software that is paired nicely with their printers. All open source. It all depends on just how involved your want to get with the thing vs. just using it as another tool in your toolbox.

You only need an enclosure if you're printing ABS due to warping issues. With PLA enclosures need to be left open, or you'll have print issues. PETG is somewhere in the middle. I leave my enclosure open. And I built an enclosure for my Prusa out of Ikea LACK tables. Cheap and easy.
 

I have had a Creality CR-10S (not the pro version) for about 18 months now. I have only printed PLA so far. The only modification I have made to the machine is to add an adapter so I can use full size SD cards (those micro-SD are finebut too small to be swapping in and out all the time). The adapter was about $7 from Amazon. I have printed a bunch of stuff and have zero problems with it except those that were self induced (bad design, learning slicer settings etc.) I use the free Cura slicer, mostly version 4.8 but there was a bug introduced after 4.4 that screws up import of jpg and png image files that hasn't been fixed correctly yet so I do sometimes use 4.4. When I first got the machine I went through setting up the machine based on a video I found on Youtube that had lots of good hints on things to set and adjust. I use glue stick on the original glass, no tape, no fancy mats. Maybe I got lucky but I don't have any problems leveling the bed, in fact I have only done it twice, once when I got the machine and a second time after I moved it. ​

 
OK, a confession.... I couldn't take it anymore! I just pulled the trigger on the Prusa i3 Mk3S+ kit with textured plate for just under $800 shipped. 4 week lead time.

I was back and forth between this and the QIDI. I decided to go with the "rock". Fully open source, huge community, what appears to be great support, great reputation, etc..

Now, I'm interested in input on the different filament types and what brands of each users are having good luck with. But, I'll soon start a dedicated thread for that since it's a big topic change. I'm also interested in any suggested forum groups and internet sites for the Prusa printers and 3D printers in general. I've got a lot to learn! But, that's what makes things fun!

Thanks to all that replied!
Ted
 
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