What 3d printer to get?

[TITANIUM94010]

I've been wanting to get a 3d printer for a while now, and I've been looking at a Prusa i3 MK3s, but because of the coronavirus stuff, the lead time is 5-7 weeks for the kit. I would prefer to get the Prusa because of all the features it has and the ease of printing, I don't want to spend forever tweaking the printer to get print settings just right.

One and a half months is is bit too long to wait for a 3d printer, and I can't seem to find a seller that sells the i3 MK3s that can deliver it quicker, heck even deliver one because Prusa is the only one that sells them.

The Ender 5 seems like a decent option, but I've heard people have problems printing with PETG and other filaments, and I'll be using a whole lot of other filaments.

What printers do you guys use and what printer should I get?

Thanks!

 

[HumboldtEF]

I think I waited close to a month when I ordered my MK3S and that was before all of this. They're often backed up on orders even in normal times.

I've been very pleased with the MK3S and its reliability, it really has let me focus on design instead of troubleshooting prints.

There are a lot of Ender users that are coming up with solutions and tweaks so I can write that off as an option either, you might end up having to do more fine tuning potentially.

 

[Timmahh]

Taking my first toe in the water in 3D printing and just order the New Version Ender 3 Pro from the us Creatity shop. Should be here in a few days, ordered last Monday. Said they were in Stock in US. The new 3 Pro is the same print size as the last 250x250x280mm I think it is so not too big. I almost grabbed the 5 as it was only a 140 m ore. But figured the 3D pro with a 9ish inch print size max would be a good place to get wet in.

It also has a few more upgrades out of the stock box. Says it will do Carbin Fiber and Nylon, but will likely need a better hotend. So I'll probably grab the Swiss end to ensure good heating and long life with it. The 5s are also using newer stuff. For under 400 it looks like a decent unit too. I wanted to get something that would do bigger things, but firgued I'd be better with the smaller 3 Pro to get familiar with the software, slicer, etc and just using the printer and then get a bigger unit in a few months or so...

Out of all the options I went with the Creality unit mostly out of support, both ground based, and from the company. Everyone and their brother seems to have a Creality unit so parts, info, upgrades seem to be more readily available and easier to source.

Should be fun either way.

will keep an eye out for your progress and others and this seems like something I could see my self getting deeper into.

 

[TITANIUM94010]

I've been doing a bit more research, and the Prusa just has way better specs, it's faster, has an auto-leveling bed, quieter, and supports more materials. I guess it's worth the wait and the price.

 

[svt923]

I started with a Creality CR10 because, much like the Ender series that followed it, it had a large following of users and available aftermarket parts. I did a bunch of mods to make it easier to live with (insulated the heat bed, added the bed cable support, added the Micro Swiss hot end, Capricorn PFTE tubing, aluminum extruder parts, new cooling fans, went through the incredibly involved process of updating the firmware to enable all the features of Marlin that Creality decided to factory lock for some stupid reason, etc.) and dialed it in pretty well.

About a year and a half later, I got a Prusa MK3S and it did everything as good or better than my much tuned Creality upon assembly. It prints better, is quieter, prints stick better and come off easier, the autolevel is flawless, and I spend next to no time working on it. The Prusa is easily worth the wait.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I started with a Creality CR10 because, much like the Ender series that followed it, it had a large following of users and available aftermarket parts. I did a bunch of mods to make it easier to live with (insulated the heat bed, added the bed cable support, added the Micro Swiss hot end, Capricorn PFTE tubing, aluminum extruder parts, new cooling fans, went through the incredibly involved process of updating the firmware to enable all the features of Marlin that Creality decided to factory lock for some stupid reason, etc.) and dialed it in pretty well.

About a year and a half later, I got a Prusa MK3S and it did everything as good or better than my much tuned Creality upon assembly. It prints better, is quieter, prints stick better and come off easier, the autolevel is flawless, and I spend next to no time working on it. The Prusa is easily worth the wait.

I've never used a Creality machine, but I did think about going that route before I ponied up for the i3 MK3S. It's good to get a side by side comparison from somebody that owns both. Great info so thank you for that. "thumbsup" Now I'm glad I went right for the Prusa.

 

[TITANIUM94010]

They say the the CR10 or Ender is a good printer for starters, and to experiment with 3d printing, but the problem is I don't really want to spend 300-400 dollars on something that's just going to be upgraded.

The Prusa does have a kind of small bed size, though, which may be a problem.

 

[Untenable]

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[mikemcE]

I'm a cheapskate techie. I now have two different printers, totally different brands, types , and filament used.
I started two years ago with a Monoprice IIIPlus (wanhao clone) zero issues with PLA, wanted to print PETG so did the MOSFET mod, and some braces, hooked up a micro swiss and have printed sucessfully for two years.....learning curve of printers quirks, 3 months.

Wanted a PLA only machine with a Bowden setup and self leveling....Picked up a Creality CR20 Pro for 300 (also) black Friday at AMain , and will say it was 6 screws, calibration procedure, then It did a perfect 10 hour fine print....I did nothing but push buttons!

things have changed for the better. Your learning curve will vary, but Cura and Prusia have both upped their games making everything much easier today

 

[k7zpj]

3D printers are a bit like RC cars, you can't just have one.
I would get an Ender3 and discover if you like 3D printing or not.
Once you decide you really will do a lot of 3D printing, then get the MK3s.

 

[TITANIUM94010]

My friend has a 3d printer that he lets me borrow, I've been using it like crazy lately :lmao:

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be using it a lot a lot, which is part of the reason why I wanted a higher quality one.

 

[k7zpj]

My friend has a 3d printer that he lets me borrow, I've been using it like crazy lately :lmao:

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be using it a lot a lot, which is part of the reason why I wanted a higher quality one.

I would go with the MK3s then. The ones shipping now have the updated LCD and filament sensor that is supported in the V 3.9 firmware that was recently released.

I have been really happy with mine along with the MMU2 for multi-color printing. Works great.

 

[Timmahh]

I would go with the MK3s then. The ones shipping now have the updated LCD and filament sensor that is supported in the V 3.9 firmware that was recently released.

I have been really happy with mine along with the MMU2 for multi-color printing. Works great.

Whats the cost of this rig?
Any upgrades it need out of the box?

 

[k7zpj]

Whats the cost of this rig?
Any upgrades it need out of the box?

MK3S kit $749 + $50 shipping
MMU2S $299 +$50 shipping
The printer and the MMU2S is all stock and it works great that way.
I did add a E3d V6 silicon sock on the heat block

Lack V2 Enclosure :https://blog.prusaprinters.org/mmu2s-printer-enclosure_30215/http://
2 IKEA Lack Tables $ 19.98 https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/lack-side-table-black-20011408/
2 Rolls Black PETG Filament for printed parts $50
Printed Solid V2 Acrylic sheets $65 https://www.printedsolid.com/products/v2-acrylic-sheets-for-prusa-lack-enclosure

 

[big specht]

This might be a dumb question but when you are designing a part does the program say how much material you are going to need ? Or at least give you a idea ? I’m in the market too I’ve heard a lot of good about the prusa and creality cr10 printers. I’m still on the fence tho, just trying to make sure I don’t have any surprises when I get one and find out I need a lot more sh*t to make it work correctly.

 

[HumboldtEF]

This might be a dumb question but when you are designing a part does the program say how much material you are going to need ? Or at least give you a idea ? I’m in the market too I’ve heard a lot of good about the prusa and creality cr10 printers. I’m still on the fence tho, just trying to make sure I don’t have any surprises when I get one and find out I need a lot more sh*t to make it work correctly.

Yeah a slicer will usually have a filament estimate and a time frame. I judge it off of print time personally as I dont have any idea what 22 grams of filament works out to be.

Info is in the lower right corner

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

just trying to make sure I don’t have any surprises when I get one and find out I need a lot more sh*t to make it work correctly.

Every time I've helped someone through this phase of getting into printing they've ended up being shocked how little material is actually required...

But the slicing software does tell you how much it will use.

You could even just download the PrusaSlicer (free on their website) and start slicing some models from thingiverse or whatever to get a feel for it..

 

[themountain]

Yeah a slicer will usually have a filament estimate and a time frame. I judge it off of print time personally as I dont have any idea what 22 grams of filament works out to be.

Info is in the lower right corner

Question: Is that a structual part you want to print??? Then 15% of infill is not enough...I would go with at least 60% "thumbsup"

 

[HumboldtEF]

Question: Is that a structual part you want to print??? Then 15% of infill is not enough...I would go with at least 60% "thumbsup"

I just threw that up as an example, but it is just a mock up part anyway "thumbsup"

I use 100% infill on almost everything that ends up on an rig

 

[nightcrawler48]

I have had the Prusa MK3/S (kit version) for about 3 months now and, being a total 3D newbie, I have to say I think the prints I am getting are excellent. I also use the PrusaSlicer software. I went with Prusa based mostly on what I read here on RCC and was pleased that what most said about it being "plug and play" was pretty much true in my case. Only hiccup for me was getting the extruder height set correctly. I was paranoid about crashing the extruder head into the hotbed plate so took a couple of days of playing around with adjustments before I got the first layer squish set. Been a printing fiend ever since.

I was curious about how much filament on a 1 KG roll so did a little math with the "Sliced Info" shown at the bottom right of the slicing screen. Based on the amount of filament estimated to be used in M (meters) and the estimated weight in G (grams), I figure there is about 1,100 meters on a 1 KG roll (that's over 3,300 feet for the metric challenged out there). DISREGARD THIS BOGUS INFO. Check out post #22 by k7zpj for a link to a filament calculator if you want to know the true length.

I think the largest print I've done so far was about 68 meters of filament.

At the moment I'm using PLA and as suggested, most of my RC stuff is done 100% infill.

Don't want to hijack this thread so maybe should be a new thread. But I'm going to throw it out there anyway. I'm thinking there needs to be a "3D Printing" forum created for all this 3D stuff. I'm seeing threads/posts all over the place and it might be nice to have it all together under one forum. Maybe after "Tools, and Procedures" What do you think mods, is it time?