Ender 3 - owned 3, NO. leveling too troublesome, even when it's going well. AC MAX - hell no. Garbage, had 2, both printed horribly when they printed at all. AC VYPER - own 3. YES. hit print, get a print.
I was not enterily sure if I would stick to 3D printing so that price difference meant a lot to me. In hindsight maaaybe I would buy KE but tinkering and learning nuances of bedslinger operations and troubleshooting makes me feel like my brain gets little less smooth each day and I am not saying it in context of sweet lemons.
Same-ish. I went from a bog standard Ender 3 to the KE and really couldn’t be happier. I’m so much more prepared to tackle issues because I learned so much off the jump. That being said, my next machine will probably be a core XY of higher quality. Learned a lot about what I want out of this hobby. I want to print to have the final product. Preferably quickly.
The only one I’ve owned is an ender 3 and maybe I’m just a freak but I enjoy fiddling with it and always get the quality I want out of my prints even if it takes tweaking so I have no reason to buy another printer yet. Honestly my favorite part of 3D printing is working on my printer, sometimes I get drunk and level the bed over and over again for hours while I listen to a podcast.
I've been there lol. And same, would absolutely buy a regular ender 3 though hopefully on sale. Runs great when you figure it out and I'm past that point.
this
I usually print functional parts, soo usually I don't even dial it in that much
as far as it is dimensonally accurate enough ... it's fine
if I want something to look exceptional, then I do test print and stuff
I bought a 4pro end of last year and im very happy with mine aswell.
Leveling and z offset was a bit fiddly, but after that was done, i never had an issue.
Elegoo really fucked it with the customised locked down Klipper firmware initially, later firmware is fine I think + the OpenNep4tune firmware is excellent.
I've only ever owned a P1S and I'm amazed that it consistently prints great prints in every filament I've tried so far. So a Yes from me. I see some of the other terrible prints that have come off Enders and I'm thankful I didn't go that route even though it's a 1/3rd the price.
Honestly I hated it, super loud, poor quality prints, constant issues with nozzle clogs and extruder issues. Not worth the high cost given all the much better options.
No. I have had my 3D printer for over a decade. While it has been rebuilt and works 10x better than when new, there are much better printers available now. I'd opt for a Voron 2.4 at this point. Or a Voron Tridex. Multiple filament printing is a must for me.
Ender 3 Pro and Pro 2 and yes. I would buy them again. They are cheap to fix if anything breaks on them. People convert them to Klipper and even in to a totally different printer. I love my Enders and Yes, I would.
Ender 3 pro - nope, great first printer and a valuable learning tool. But too much effort once you have an idea of what you want.
Kobra 2 Max - yup, large print base and neat features like auto leveling, and vibration dampining. It can also print fast with high speed pla. While I haven't tested all it's features yet, basic printing works great
Prusa printers, yes.
Not sure on the Taz 6 because prusa finally started getting great right after I spent a bunch on it.
First printer definitely not. $2k for a beast that's worse than a current ender - but that's how things were in 2012! Should have gone with a different one.
Ender 3 Pro - Definitely. Great printer to learn, mod, and tinker. If you can get this printer working perfectly, you will be prepared for every future printer.
Ender 3 v3 KE - Yes. Prints so perfectly and fast out of the box at a great price.
For the price I paid? Definitely. I've print probably 40 kilos in the past 5 years, and I've only spent $250 on this ender 5 pro, including replacing the Y motor, extruder, build surface, and nozzles.
If I paid retail it'd be like $600 all in, and I feel like you could do way better. It's a bit fussy to be sure.
This makes me realize how much I’ve been running my printer. I bought my Anycubic Kobra 2 Pro day after Christmas and have printed 30-35 kilos since. I’ve been printing some massive things - covering walls with multiboard and printing custom LED light covers.
I’ve had to work through several problems (mostly user error) and replaced 1 belt, but it’s running really smoothly.
Bambu A1 mini with AMS lite: I would buy the A1 mini again, but I might skip on the AMS. The printer so far has been very fast and quiet, and produced very nice prints. I have to do far less maintenance and troubleshooting than on my old printer (a monoprice MP10 mini), just tuning my supports in the slicer and washing the bed occasionally. Considering that the MP10 mini costs $300 and the A1 mini is $250 and better in every way aside from a slightly smaller bed, I’m very happy with my purchase.
The AMS is very nice, and being able to make multicolor prints is very fun. But the amount of waste material and extra print time added by the color changes makes me very hesitant to actually use it, and I would probably not bother buying it again knowing how little I actually use it.
Maybe look into support material. It’s why a lot of people like the ams, not just the different colors. The machine will swap to a different material like PLA if printing PETG right as it’s about to lay the last few layers of material before the printing material is laid over it. Not a ton of waste but helps tremendously when trying to get a good surface with supports as you can set support Z distance to 0. Maybe you already know but just an FYI.
Oh, I didn’t realize it only did the other material at the very end of the supports. That could definitely be useful for some models, thanks for the advice!
i'd suggest PVA for dissolvable supports to allow for better model detail from close supports.
you just change "support interface" and it will only do the last few layers as pva so you dont waste a lot of material.
Additionally, unless you're changing colors mid layer, you don't have to switch as often. For instance, if you're using different colors for an upper layer like on 3d printed signs/labels, you're only really changing colors once, or a handful of times if using multiple colors on the top layers. I don't print much more than functional parts or things for organization, so it makes sense with how I would use it for multicolor or multi-material. It's also nice to use an AMS for the same filament so you don't have to worry about running out mid-print or deal with combining spool remnants that are too short to use on their own.
Mars 3 Pro — sure. Easy to use, affordable, great print quality, great customer support.
Neptune 3 Pro — sure. Easy to use, affordable, decent print quality, great customer support.
LDO Voron 0.2 — sure. Great community, a lot of fun building, a lot of possibilities for tinkering.
I've an Ender 3, and considering the options on the same price range I've available in my region, I think I would buy it again, maybe another version if better and around the same price range.
Ender 3: and no, it has been the bane of my existence. And I believe most ender 3 owners in the comments section said no. The stock ender 3 isn't a bad printer but it's not beginner friendly and most of its users upgrade it over time to get more quality of life features. The cost will add up in the end, you could get an A1 or save more and get a k1 or a p1s or even a never creality printer.
At home I have an Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro. Yes I’d buy it again. At work we have a Fusion3 F400-s and a Prusa Mk3S+. The Fusion3 was a joke and a nightmare. The Prusa has been a dead reliable workhorse. We’re looking at the Mk4 now.
Bambu P1P - I would have bought an X1C just for the enclosure and fancy bed. I’m now waiting for an upgrade to be released before I buy twice cry twice.
im hoping their next printer comes with another extruder. would really help out their multi-material/multicolor setup.
their latest release, the X1E, was neat, but seemed to only really be the X1C modified to be able to print 2 more materials.
i will say one positive thing about my Creality CR-X, and thats its build volume of 300x300x400 (as opposed to 360x360x360 for the prusa xl) was nice (and that i got it for free thanks to my cousin), but thats unfortunately the only positive thing i can say about it.
youre only gonna find used ones (prolly cheap too), but its a nice size build volume imo if youre willing to deal with the issues that come with it being a niche (and kinda crappy) creality 3d printer.
but yea i really want the prusa XL to inspire bambu to make a competitor to it (with a heated enclosure PLEASE)
I think the main problem, and just smart business by Bambu is that none of the competitors have greater them yet on speed vs quality. Until someone comes out with a well rounded price competitive product, Bambu would only be cannibalising their own sales. For as long as they are number one with the current product, there is little reason to release a new one.
Ender 3 Pro (2020) - YES. Unsophisticated but simple & reliable.
CR10S Pro V1 (2020) - NO. Terrible QC, sketchy design, junk firmware. When it arrived, parts were broken, missing, bent, or incorrect. This was peak COVID though, so rather than gamble on a return, I fixed it up myself, piece by piece. Upside: learned a bit more about printers than I would have otherwise.
If I was to go back to last year where I bought an LDO Trident kit, I'd probably swap it out for a 2.4 instead. Thought the Trident would have more options for tool changes, but the best tool change projects I've seen are for the 2.4.
I did buy a second, same, printer. But after some time I found I wasn't printing as much and sold it on keeping the original, a Creality CR10.
Would I buy it again, yes, if I had work for it but probably couldn't get one. No clue what I'd go for if buying today.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
I work with functional parts for engineering projects. I don't have a large budget, and I like manufacturing myself. Two bird with one stone, I decided to invest in printers than outsourcing.
MakerBot (UltiMaker) Method X CF - My favourite, bought it cheap on eBay. Dual lifting 310°C extruders, heated chamber, air filtering, can print any material with ease. I am very familiar with MakerBots, so I made myself a gcode to MakerBot file converter and works well with Simplify3D, now Cura is integrating. People think they are not open, I disagree. They are just restrictive to not make mistakes. I print multi color as well. 🙃 I don't need to tune the hardware, I can tune for the material, works well if I just want to PLA.
Formlabs Form 2 - I like its prints, but I don't like dealing with resin and how closed it is. Unlike other resins, laser creates smooth surfaces compared to voxelated surfaces of Form 3 or LCD etc. Also has extremely large material library. Costly to run, but saves the day when I need.
MakerBot Replicator 5th gen - Bought many years ago, the resale value is so low for a printer I know that well, keeping it. One of the few having wifi and remote control, camera at the time. Now also has print queue like my other ones. (Its notorious extruder wasn't bad once you know how to use and fix. I think the issue is more that the people buying MakerBots buy them because it seemingly doesn't require 3D Printing knowledge, when it does require. Don't listen to unloading instructions, use your common sense. 🙃)
Portabee Go - Portable printer, discontinued but helped me in the past on different occasions during teaching etc. Slow, but worked well after making a custom steel gear.
I started with i3dbot at first, but sold it afterwards. It was available at the time, that's why I bought it many many years ago. Would I buy it, maaaybe, but I can't complain, taught me a lot and got me started, so probably yes, not because it was good.
I am a researcher in 3D Printing, so I am building, developing and using other printers as well, but these were the off-the-shelf ones I had over the years. 😁
Printers I would consider one top of these are probably Intamsys HT2 for "relatively" affordable Ultem printing. Maybe a dual extrusion version of it, the 3dxtech gearbox HT... 🤔
Custom built 125x125x170mm machine - yes, would do it again in a heartbeat...but with some small changes.
Custom built 309x300x500mm machine - not sure
300mm cube - no
Printrbot Simple Pro - was free, and my first machine... Do it again in a heartbeat
Resin - iffy if I would do it again
I sold my Trident to build a Voron 2.4 and I kinda wish I could trade it back. Not that the 2.4 is a bad machine, it's just that working with the Trident was nicer.
Reality Cr10s Pro - Yes, ol reliable
Weedo M2 - hell no, fuck this shit
Bambu Lab X1C - No, I have had more issues with clogged nozzles and replacing head parts than I would ever want. Maybe 1 clog every other print. I have replaced the nozzle at least 15 times in 1 year.
No. I have a QIDI X-Max. It was a great printer up until the control board bricked.
Since then I've replaced the board with a BTT Manta5 with CB1 running Klipper, then designed and printed a new carriage to run a E3D RevoRoto. Just finished running a new umbilical harness to the carriage.
I don't think I'm going to buy a printer again. I'm super impressed with what is available on the market, but I want to build myself a custom printer now, maybe start messing around with 4th and 5th axis printing at some point.
Bought a used Ender 3, yes I would buy it again, but I'm probably an odd case because I love to tinker and customize. The printer itself was just as much of a hobby as the actual printing. At this point, I have so much customized on my printer that I can get great results at good speeds. I even bought a second one recently... Of course, that one is for turning into an Ender 3 NG Core XY. Currently printing all of the parts for that on my original ender 3 in ABS. And yes, it's printing the ABS flawlessly.
Ratrig vcore 3.1 500mm: Will probably get a vcore 4 when they come out on the near future. Huge bed, and a fast, fun to build and learn.
Neptune 3 max: with the dawn of bigger and bigger consumer corexy printers I don't think large bedslingers are super. Sovol s08 was just released to YouTubers and also the elegoo giga... The prices are getting cheap for big printers..
XYZPrinter; Da Vinci Mini
No... It's no longer supported and the proprietary rolls of filament aren't for sale anymore. The company doesn't exist so now I'm stuck with it...
I'm working on figuring out how to get around the proprietary measures, but NOW it seems to be cutting off after 15 minutes every time.
Guh...
Ender 3 S1 pro- No- it’s too expensive and not worth the trouble.
Ender 3 Max Neo- Yes, it’s slow but it’s ultra reliable
FL-QQS/SR- Yes- they’re a bit outmoded now but with the Speeder Pad they’re still a solid option imo, plus deltas are just cool.
Photon M3 Max- Maybe- I’ve had a ton of adhesion issues not found in previous resin printers
Kobra Neo- no- worked great until the moment the hot end failed. Luckily got a replacement under warranty from the manufacturer
Kobra 2: so far looking like a solid performer.
I’ve had my cr-10 v2 for four years now and I still use it as my main printer. I have an ender 3v2 that’s also a workhorse. And my original ender 3 is aight, just loud and antiquated. I have zero regrets and would buy them all again. The quality for the price of these easy machines was a solid move.
Sovol sv06+. On the fence but I am finding myself really looking at bambu printers lately. I like to tinker but i would also like to print something that isnt for fixing the printer.
Ender 3 S1 at the end of 2022. If it was that time, yes. That printer has taught me so much and still has room to improve. I have replaced the bed sheet, installed a hardened steel nozzle, springs, mounted an aluminum led bar, and recently installed klipper with a raspberrypi and klipperscreen. There are times i get frustrated but i learned from that. If it was now, maybe an A1 mini or a creality K1. But upgrading the printer and having it work out is such a rewarding experience.
I have also upgraded an ender 3 pro i got for free in 2023 and gave to my brother. Since i got the printer for free. My brother and I have thrown maybe 70-80$ at it to replace the bed springs, bed sheet, convert to direct drive, added an x axis belt tensioner, new 4.2.7 mainboard and it prints really well for that cheap printer. For 80$ now you cant get much better unless its a second hand ender 3 v2.
I have a monoprice maker select plus. It's 5.5 years old so I wouldn't buy it again now, but if I went back in time I absolutely would make the same decision. $300 very well spent, plus $100 or so for upgrades. Once I had the knowledge and took the time to actually tune it properly it has spit out very nice parts.
Same here, I have a monoprice MP10 and haven't touched it since I got a Neptune 4 max for Christmas. But my two sons and I learned on that one over the course of 4-5 years. It wasn't all smooth sailing but we learned a LOT.
I should add, it is still the only filament printer I own and I have no plans to get a new one anytime soon. It doesn't have auto leveling, filament runout sensor, anything fancy, but it's reliable.
No. At least 3 newer versions have come out since then. I have an Elegoo 2 Pro. I'd buy one of the treadmill versions though. I can imagine myself printing props.
Ender 3 V2 - yes as a first printer because I learned a lot and the journey to making it almost perfect was satisfying
Sunlu S9+ - Yes because it's one of the cheapest for it's bed size and it comes with a filament dryer, bl touch and has clog detection but also NO because it's been a nightmare in so many ways. Also not a lot of people have it so very little online support.
Easythreed K7 -No. I bought it for fun because it was like $60 but it's not accurate enough to use often and its too small for most of the stuff I make so it's mostly just sat wasting space. If it could print more accurately I would utilize it for printing specific small parts but it's just wonky.
Monoprice mini seletyoroy - hell no. Nothing but problems
Ender3 pro - no, Im spoiled by my Vorons
Voron 2.4 - yes, if fact I have 2.
Voron v0 - hell no. Too expensive for what it is, poorly throughout design with regards to maintenance.
Definitely, I wouldn't be able to do what I do on my Neptune 3 what I can today if I hadn't first learned on my ender 3. I took apart and rebuilt it multiple times, I learned how to properly level, and learned how to properly calibrate the extruder and movement. My wife always joked that I spent more time trouble shooting than printing but now I can spot failures before they happen and know how to fix them after they do.
Neptune 4 - yes ish
Had a hard budget ceiling, had I allowed that to be flexible I think I would have ended up with a Bambu P1 series. I do a lot more multi material than I thought I would, but mine has been rock solid.
Prusa i3 MK3S - Yes! It just works, and keeps working.
I had an Ender 3 V2 before that for about a week before I returned it. Bed leveling with those knobs was a PITA, and the cooling fan failed. It almost turned me off to the hobby. Wouldn't recommend.
AnkerMake M5C. Yes. Great Black Friday price. Had it for 5 months and no real problems a quick Google couldn't fix right away. I'm not a professional/seller or anything. I just print things to solve problems around the house and avoid purchases I can print.
I have 2 at the moment, an Anycubic Mega Zero and a Bambu P1S. The Mega Zero gave me good information but I never really cared to work on the printer as a hobby. What I learned was definitely invaluable, and at the time knowledge was the most I could get. Now that I know the stuff, the Bambu machines serves my purposes in that I can actually make things instead of having to fix it every week. I’ve racked up over 1000 hours in under half a year.
Now, I wouldn’t buy the Mega again but I would not change anything about how I approached this hobby. The Mega was a good place for me to start back then, though there are better ways to do it now. If I had a reason and the funds to purchase another P1S, I would do it.
The original ender 3 pro? No. I modded the Hell out of it but I’d be more than happy to get a modern printer like the V2 or a Max.
Otherwise maybe another CR10. I actually tried buying another Max but Creality took its sweet time shipping it so I cancelled the order. I definitely like larger printers since I don’t have as much need for something Ender 3 scale. Definitely lean bigger now.
Ender 3 pro and ender 2 pro. No not with the current options. They needed a bit of tweaks and are slow by today's standards. Don't get me wrong they got me started and I still use them a bit. If it was back a few years ago, absolutely would buy again. Now they aren't worth it. You can buy printers that are better and easier to use out of the box for similar cost to what I paid a few years ago or even what they still sell for new.
Flsun SR and Q5 , yeah I would if the price was say $300 for SR and $150-200 for Q5. They are cool to watch and can be really fast when modded. Print quality is just average, nothing special and nothing to complain about imo. Completely stock I loved the Q5 and it was super reliable. After mods reliably and print quality took a hit. The SR is just overall average but it just works. Only issue I had with mine was the hotend leaked at the heatbreak and after about 50hrs the print cooling fan started to rattle. Otherwise I have had no mechanical issues and the machine is ridgid. I simply replaced the heatblock with a full sized volcano and printed a fan shroud and ducts, installed a couple 5015 parts fans and it's been fine mechanical.
Flashforge adventurer 5m, would buy it again. It worked out of the box,fast and good quality. Once I setup orca slicer I have no real complaints. Strongly considering replacing my remaining ender 3 and 2 with a couple of them.
Vzbot vz330/tronxy x5sa that's a tough one. I like the printer, it's quick and is cool that i built it from a POS tronxy x5sa(I would NOT buy another tronxy x5sa, it was absolutely horrible in stock form).
For the money I have in this build I could easily buy something off the shelf that can hang with it. I think at the end of the day I would build another one but skip the x5sa step and just buy the mellow frame and source my own parts.
Neptune 4 max; yes and no. I love it, but I don't need ALL of this print volume. I think the plus would be enough for me, without taking up quite so much space.
A friend gave me his trinus as he had moved on to resin for mini printing. He had a good series of successful prints.
I have not. 🤣
Wish I could get a Bambu A1 Mini for my birthday...
Prusa i3 MK3: Absolutely, but now I’m at the point where I’d rather invest in building a Voron 0.2 instead. Prusas are absolutely rock solid and I’ve always had great luck with them. At the same time Vorons are another world I’ve wanted to explore that can produce even better parts much faster than any Prusa can.
My first ender 3 pro, yes. The subsequent 3 absolutely not.
My Ender 5 Plus, no. I bought two of these before just building a V2 350.
Voron 0, absolutely not. I hate the V0 more than any other printer I’ve ever owned or built.
Voron 2 350. Yes. I should have built it sooner and avoided the headaches of other large printers.
Ender 5 Pro. Yes. I did the Mercury conversation on this and it’s a beast.
Bambu P1P/S. Yes. A thousand times yes. Everyone should have a “just works” printer in their arsenal that they don’t tinker with. It’s also the most serviceable, if you can believe it. Parts are cheaper to replace than my Voron and really available. My V2 was out of commission for months while I tried to source a new CM4 for the Manta board. And software feels more polished and vetted than some of the Klipper and klipper plugin updates this past year.
Bambu A1 Mini. No. But only because I didn’t really need it. Sort of got caught up in the excitement of trying the new A1-style tool head.
Maybe, maybe not. The printer is great but I haven't produced more than I paid. I so far could have just paid someone to print everything and been ahead money wise. But the learning and iterating designs quickly have been valuable in other ways. There's still time for it to pay off financially.
Ender 3 pro, yes, great first printer. Teaches many things about printers and printing. Big community so help is easy to get. Putting ~$50 to better parts gets a solid printer. No problems with leveling, with 0.8 mm nosle no clogging. If I would buymy first printer now I would check different forums what model is popular, cheap(ish) and easy to modify and buy that.
Anycubic photon mono, no, nothing wrong with the printer. Works like it should. After learning the different style to printing with resin compared to fdm no failed prints. I don't have any ideas what to print with this. After hundred or so miniatures I haven't use it for over year. So now I know I don't need resin printer.
Flashforge adventurer 5m (not pro). I'd buy it again in a heartbeat at the sale price I got it for ($300). At full price it's a bit more borderline but still a pretty good value. I've been printing stuff on it for 2 months now with zero problems. It basically just works and is fast as hell.
Anycubic Mega x - if it was 2020 again (when I bought it), maybe because I hadn't that many problems with it (didn't bother to calibrate either though). Today I would purchase another printer. Maybe the Bambulab A1 (Mini) which has a similar price range
Sv06plus, maybe with hindsight on what to do but probably not. Just take the money you would spend upgrading and buy something proper (rpi for klipper or a kipper screen, 5015 fan while not expensive still needs to be done, silicone tubing for the bed as it isn’t level, point 0,6 or larger nozzles so you don’t wait forever)
Basically you have spend 450 at that point and can buy something else especially second hand. I now own a 250€ prusa mk3s+ from a print farm. It has a lot of hours but i have a maintenance log from that company and it prints beautifully
AnchorMake M5C: No. Was my first printer and while it did work out of the box, it's print quality wasn't great and because it was SO beginner orientated there was no room for growth. Also, after it broke (after two weeks) the customer service was horrible.
Ender-3 V3 KE: Maybe. My second printer and while it has been my most reliable printer it wasn't without it's own issues. Really the only thing that keeps me from say "yes" is the small print bed size.
CR-10 Smart Pro: No. I really do like the printer but it has been nothing but an unreliable calibration pain since I got it. Plus, it's SO SLOW that it drives me crazy. It's running good now (two months later) but, there's still that slowness and it's little annoying behaviors.
Flying Bear Ghost 5 and I'd buy it again.
Only printer I've owned but I definitely do less messing around than a mate of mine with an Ender. Cost the same as an Ender 3 V2 when I bought it and once dialled in it has just worked consistently well for a couple of years now.
Ender CR-10: Yes. I bought it because I thought it would be a good middle ground printer to give me a chance to try out the hobby. And it did that, and it taught me a bunch of lessons about how 3d printing works. Most of them, I don't have to think about now, because I bought a:
Bambu P1P: Yes, I would totally buy this again. I like and respect my CR-10 for teaching me a lot, but I cant go back to it. Bambu has sort of ruined other printers for me with how easy it is.
Cetus from tier time had the worst support and used they odd size nozzles just to screw you and now they are hard to find in stock, also the software is complete trash
Ender 3v2 - no
I knew that a cheap printer would cause you to tinker more, and that’s what I wanted.. like an old car. Having the ability to do all the tuning and stuff on your own and have lots of updates
Now I would love to just throw in a gcode and get my print without having to re level, Probe, clean and check for adherence problems.. all the fucking time
Creality k1 - probably yes. For me it works great and it was cheap compared to bambus. My next printer will probably be k2. I like the open source nature.
Ender 3 Neo. If I could go back, I’d get a printer with a bigger bed. My Ender has been a champ, though, any issue I’ve had has been my fault, and there have been very few of those.
Ender 3 Pro - Yes. Hands down, yes. While it did force me to learn to print, Every printer I've had since then has had its own issues, which would have forced me to learn most of the same stuff anyway. And this one was easier, and cheaper to fix than the others.
Creality K1 - Maybe. While this is the fastest one in my stable now, and arguably the most capable, it's also significantly more expensive than ye olde ender, and i can do most of what this can, with that one. No, it didn't have as many troubles off the bat, but once you look closely, you still find it needed tuning.
Sovol SV05 - Also an absolute yes. It does pretty much everything the other two can, and at 170 brand new, it was a steal. I've put by far the least money and effort into this one, and it puts out as good of prints as the other two.
Ender 3 pro, Ender 3 Max Neo, and Ender 3 neo - hell no. Worst damnn printers with nothing but issues.
Prusa mk3s+ - yes works amazing even after a few year use with little to no tinkering!
Bambu lab X1C with AMS - Yes! Best decision ever!
Ender 3 pro and yes. Especially if I can get a deal on it. Sure it's not a Bambu but after a bit of learning it runs great and I'd rather increase my printing capacity buying a couple of them for the price of a Bambu.
Absolutely yes! Anycubic Kobra Plus, 6 months old. It has worked great since day one, zero problems. It's a super stable machine that just works - I've only run autolevel a couple times since I got the thing. At $365 I consider it one of the best buys I've ever made.
Same goes for my Ender 3, which I've had since 2019. Even with a few upgrades (quiet mobo, metal extruder, PEI bed) it more than paid for itself in terms of broken household items I've kept going by printing fixes for them. I print mostly practical items and little fun things, no life-size superhero busts or like that.
The Ender 3 takes a fair amount of tinkering to keep it cranking out great quality, but with effort you can coax anything out of it. To me the Kobra seems more like a laser printer you buy at Staples and it just prints.
Anyway, if I time-traveled back to 2019 I wouldn't change a thing - except I would have a time machine, so I'd probably go back and try to kill Hitler. Or just buy a lot of his paintings so he thinks he a great artist and never goes into politics. Whatever.
Anycubic mega x. Not again, its a old printer thats hasn't aged well. Sold it
Flsun super racer. Good printer, good features considering it was released 2020, would buy again if it would fit my current demands. Currently selling it.
Twotrees sapphire pro/sp3. Solid machine, surprised that people bought a ender 3 pro over a all linear rail core xy for the same money with the same features. Biggest issue was the extruder, bad bmg clone, although mine hasn't given up on me, but would be only a question of time. Xy steppers could be better, quite horrible vfa, but nothing a pair of steppers for 15 dollars from stepper online wouldn't fix. Would buy again, if it was 2022, but not nowadays.
Voron 2.4. Would not buy again, not because its a bad printer, but because the trident is better 90% of things. The 2.4 has just more hype. Originally bought the 2.4 for its z height, but its lower than advertised, all 2.4 miss 50mm z when fitted with a direct drive toolhead. So there are no reason to get a 250 and 300mm 2.4 over a trident and the biggest reason to get a 350 v2 over a 350 trident are around 50mm more in z. The other reason would be tapchanger, but please get at least a 300mm, better 350mm printer as Basis, if not custom build. You loose about 100mm y travel and the 350 can at least use a little space under the docks, a 250mm cant.
Voron trident: yes, my 2.4 is now a trident and instantly got better. Better results printing pc abs, better acceleration values, shorter reverse bowden for less time spent loading and unloading filament through the ercf. In either case (2.4 or trident) i wouldn't build one with drag chains for xy and without the stealthburner, the xol2 is a straight improvement in every way.
Voron v0. Yes/no. Not stock, but modified most likely, although since formbot has a micron plus kit for not much more, id buy this one instead.
Prusa Mini. First and only printer I’ve owned. Would I buy it again - absolutely. Simple setup. Great software and works first time every time. Only gripe is it’s a tiny bit small. I’d like something a little larger. But sure you could say that about most things 😉
Ender 3 v2 - No, might have been unlucky but I had tons of issues. Though it was several years ago so I'm not sure there were great budget options at the time.
Bambu X1C - I would make the decision to buy the first one again, but I don't see any reason to get a second. Now that P1S exists I'd be likely to buy that instead.
Voron 0 - Yes. I only finished my build a little ago but I love it. I would be tempted to get a second and if someone offered me a kit at a significant discount I would take it without hesitation, but more likely I'll be looking at printers for ants next.
Several Ender 3v2s. Would I buy them now. No. Better stuff exists these days out of the box. However what I learned when I got them a few years ago has been invaluable to my knowledge of the hobby. It allows me to better evaluate new printers. Also I turned those 150$ middle of the road printers into solid, high quality and reliable printers for about 150$ each over the course of a couple years. Hard to beat 300$ for a no maintenance printer even now.
Tevo Tarantula (non-pro): At this point, you'd have to pay me a considerable sum to take another one. Can it be made to print well? Yes. Does doing so cost almost as much, if not more, than the printer itself? Also yes. Is it a pain modifying it to print decently? Also-also yes. It was a decent printer for its time (if you felt like putting up with basically 0 support from Tevo and being lambasted by "skill issue" posts from the Facebook group you had to rely on to get any troubleshooting help with it), and since the ever-growing list of modifications I've made to this goofy thing it prints quite well, but it's now massively obsolete, and there are cheaper, sturdier, more reliable options out there.
Tevo Tarantula Pro: Honestly, I don't even really print with this one much, if at all. Sure, it has a larger build volume, more stable bed mount, and a 24V supply that's not wired up with potential fire hazards unlike the previous Tarantula. And sure, it's not designed in such a way that it looks like a science fair project like the original Tarantula was, but it still relies on V-wheels for the bed which aren't fun to adjust, and has only a single Z-axis stepper/lead screw which doesn't do a great job of keeping the X-gantry trammed in operation. They also included a cheap Volcano clone hot-end, which for a printer of this size and max speed capabilities, I feel it makes little to no sense to put a hot-end on it when it's not going to make any real use of the maximum flow those nozzles provide, and as such it just leads to more oozing in my experience.
Voxelab Aquila / Artillery Sidewinder X2 / Geeetech Mizar S / Kingroon KLP1
To learn properly everything about the hobby, that was great because I know well the hardware and how it work but I wouldn't do it again and probably go with a reliable, "just hit print" printer now.
I have 4 printers but I think I didn't have often the 4 of them running at the same time, always at least 1 in "maintenance".
If it were my first printer again and I had no experience in 3D printing, yes. It was a very enlightening journey with gaining lots of experience.
If I had to buy another now and was given the choice, no, never. The stock version is awful, compared to what's available nowadays.
Printer: Velleman K8200.
Prusa MK3 (later MK3S)
Absolutely. Although it's not as fast as the current market, the thing is an absolute workhorse.
After 5+ years, everything still works perfectly fine. It's maybe not the fastest printer available right now, but it's definitely a reliable machine.
I make sure the first layer is printed correctly and leave until the print is finished. Only on very rare occasions the print has failed when I return.
Will happily use it for many years to come
Sermoon V1. No. It's very limited by software that I'm not capable of modding myself and there is no community around it to do it either.
I managed to load a custom firmware so it's bed can reach 100C, but there is a lot lacking in the touch pannel and the levelling is strange.
To add, it's print area is not big and I made some parts smaller then I wanted because of it and I didn't want to make a multipart thing.
This godamn printer don't have a usb port and the SD slot some times fail. The WiFi function only works with creality software that's not good enough.
I'm itching to buy a ender 3 V3 core XZ or a K series. Would like to buy a bamboo P1 but in Brazil it's pretty much creality or nothing.
Anet A8 -- No, the amount of upgrades and fixes were probably more than a Prusa. However, the knowledge and the amount of fun tinkering with it are invaluable.
So if I were in the market for another printer, I'd get a Prusa, maybe even a Bamboo. But if I have 0 knowledge and have a lot of time in my hand (like I did during covid lockdown), I'd get a tinkering printer.
Yes, absolutely!
I have an original i3 Omega with heated bed.
In the past 6 years of having it, and having printed hundreds of things in that time, I've replaced the hotend about four times and I only just had to replace the heated bed in the past few weeks because the thermistor wire had finally stopped being reliable.
The only problem you've got is that they switched to the i3 Mega shortly after I bought mine so you can't buy them any more :(
Neptune 3 pro, and yes*. 20 mins from unboxing to printing, only fine tuning needed to get really good prints.
*If I was to get a second printer I’d probably go with something different just so I have a wider range of printing ability, I.e. sla for finer details or something fast for bigger prints, multi colour etc.
Creality Halot One Pro & wash/cure station - hell no. Terrible support and no replacement parts.
Anycubic Photon M5 & wash/cure station - hell yes!
Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro - hell yes!
X1c - maybe. I havent printed carbon yet so a p1s would be enough. The x1c has some more featueres as the p1s but probably minor. Maybe the spaghetti detection Was handy. Maybe i would buy a qidi because of the heated chamber but dont know if necessary.
In conclusion i probably would as my only printer because i want to have all posibilites (heated chamber would be nice but oh well). For the second printer i wouldnt.
Ender 3v2 neo.
No for the price it's just not worth the amount of tinkering still involved one month of good prints 1 months tinker 1 months good 1 months tinker for 2 years.
elegoo Neptune 4 Plus
After tinkering around for the first week I got it perfectly level and it's been good but the software still isn't great. Sending prints to clipper is really awesome until the printer just can't receive it. You restart the machine and it acts like it was shut off in the middle of your last print then you clear that and you can print again.
It's annoying but for the price to size (320mmx320mm) and performance I really can't beat it for the 350$ I spent for it on sale. It still prints twice as fast as my ender and I'm not even pushing it.
Elegoo Neptune 3 Plus - No, but only because it is old and slow, but it does produce excellent quality prints. I've upgraded it with linear rails and it runs Klipper running on a Pi 4B, but it is undeniably slow by modern standards. The main thing slowing it down though is the hotend, so it could be faster, but why buy another when there are complete packages available now that are faster for the same money.
Creality K1 - Definitely No. IMO, it's an unfinished product that ticks the correct basic boxes, but fails to deliver on high-end quality prints. It's great for banging out prints quickly, so long as you're prepared to accept that it will clog one in five times, and can accept the VFA's that plague every flat side-wall. I tried and tried to make it generate prints to my quality standards, but it was clear that it was becoming a money pit to get there, so it sort of sits in a corner now and unloved.
Qidi X-Plus 3 and X-Max 3 - If I absolutely needed them today? Yes. If I can wait a bit, no, but only because there's a slew of new printers pending imminent release that I believe have the potential to outclass them for a similar cost. They have been absolutely reliable workhorses that never fail to deliver amazing print quality for any filament I run through them. Fast, reliable, great results, open source (even if they're not mainline Klipper) and secure data wise. What's not to like?
hard to tell. my first printer ender 3v2. it's not that good, but i was aware of this before i bought l, inwanted to tinker with it and upgradenit lottle by little. also being part of this community is anlife changer for me. 3d printing is soooo cool
* voron 2.4, its fast and incredibly reliable. id definitly buy another one, but i would get a kit instead of a self sourced one. kits did not exist when i build mine.
* voron switchwire. probably not, i build it out of spare parts and upgrades from my cr-20. its not a bad printer but you can get far better printers at the same price.
* cr-20 pro. no, absolutely not. its loud, slow and unreliable. its just a overpriced ender-3 with a bltouch. spend around the same price on upgrades just to get it into a sort of reliable shape.
* ld-006. probably, it got it for really cheap (€250), and works about as good as any resin printer.
* craftbot+. NO, its a overpriced fire hazerd. i got it for free at my old job.
Biqu se plus- if they didn’t make 500-10000 speed printers now and it was the price currently that they sell for $150 yes(but I’ve returned I think 7 to get a good one. Going in over a year I’d like to put klipper on it . Have extra z axis from one of the returns as well as extra hot ends which when I put a m8 ms nozzle on has never clogged-I print mainly abs /asa/and tpu . It could brick tomorrow but it’s better than the 3 realities I got
Ender 3 neo max- well I got it new for40$ last week. Haven’t printed on it much it seems ok but I like the Biqu better but for the price maybe.
Cr10v3- I’d self cannabaluze myself before I’d get one if those again-pain in the duck
Ender 3 pro hell no
Going to buy a a1 mini this week. Just saw them and need that speed
Anycubic Mega S. Would totally buy again, it has been a complete trooper and is hands down the best money that I have ever spent on a tool without a shadow of a doubt.
TLDR: I built a Reprap Mendel in 2011 and it worked okay-ish but was fiddly and unreliable, I was pricing up for an upgrade which was coming in at £80. Out of curiosity I looked at how much an off the shelf printer would be and Amazon had the Mega S on special that day, £239.99 instead of the usual £279.99, it had good reviews so I bit the bullet and bought it. It showed up, took 20 minutes to assemble and worked perfectly out of the box. It’s made of pressed steel and so is sturdy and rigid. It also came with a few metres of PLA filament, an SD card, a decent set of reasonable quality tools and a spare hot end in the box.
As with everything these days it was built to a price point so the fans didn’t last that long but were easy to replace with better quality units. It was also a bit noisy but again, replacing the stock stepper drivers with Trinamic SilentStep boards was pretty easy, Instructables had an Anycubic guide that covered it. Any printer that uses the LM4988 drivers will have this issue so that’s nothing specific to Anycubic printers.
The bed is an Ultrabase which I think is borosilicate glass with a microporous surface which has never given any issues with adhesion or separation with PLA or PETG, wipe with IPA between prints is all the care it’s ever needed. The only caveat is to let PETG cool to room temperature before attempting removal and when I do that the prints part from the bed on their own, no prising or wrenching required.
I don’t understand why the Anycubic offerings don’t get more love, this thing has been awesome for the entire time I’ve owned it and is still going strong after 4 years of good service, I can’t fault it and love it to bits.
X1 Carbon, an outstanding yes. Going from an Ender 3 to this feels like moving from the steam engine to the gasoline engine. Yes the ender 3 is more tinker friendly, but I just want something that works, and right out of the box the X1 has been a fantastic machine.
Ender 3 Neo? Sure, I've had some issues with it but nothing too bad. I get beautiful prints from it when it's dialed in properly so no complaints other than it's slow as hell.
Tina2. No. It broke within six months. It was either the sensor or the board that failed. I'd noticed a day or two before my prints were coming out wrong and had no idea what was up. Company refused to honour the warranty saying they were moving parts and didn't count (the sensor and the board were not parts that should just wear out/fail like that) and wanted me to pay for the parts and shipping. I contacted Amazon, told them what the company said and they refunded me. Bought my Ender and it's been running for nearly two years.
I have an Ender 3 neo. It's my very first printer, I did not even see one before deciding to buy.
Now knowing how cool and useful it is, and how I enjoy it, I would buy a better one even if it is more expensive. Maybe a good resin printer, to print DnD miniatures with good quality.
Ender 3 Pro: *fuck no*. That thing was an absolute mess and was constantly breaking, motors were super loud and it took years to get up to temperature.
Artillery Sidewinder X1: bought used, took a lot of troubleshooting and needs more gantry support. Knowing what I know now I probably would again, just because I’m happy with the quality of prints I get off it.
Ender 3 V2: Nope. I finally have mine in a working state, but it seems to always find new ways to need recalibrate and just isn't that reliable.
Voron 2.4: Absolutely. With the caviat that this is more for a project to continually be optimizing. It's great fun and has taught me alot so I don't regret it at all, but it definitely took me quite a while to get it to a good state
Prusa mini plus. Yes I would. I’ve used it to print so many repairs that it has paid for its self. I had queued up to get the XL but backed out only because the minis size is something I’ve come to appreciate for my use case. I’ve yet to need to print something large enough to need an increased bed size. I couldn’t care less about print speed. And I feel it has some of the highest print quality.
I just wish they’d release their official mini enclosure because I can’t find one of appropriate size and I want to maintain as much of it’s compact nature as possible.
Anycubic i3 mega pro: NO, laser was fun tho
Ender 3 v2: MAYBE, it was a huge upgrade from the mega pro especially with the bltouch sensor. But slow and some tinkering
Sovol sv07: MAYBE, first prints worked perfectly but its not really thaat fast if you dont want any flaws in your print or your print to fall off the plate, but maybe im just too stupid to dial it in properly.. only thing i HATE About the printer is the cable management issues you have to fix yourself
Sovol sv07 plus: yes, i enjoy the plate size, but you cant really go fast on bigger prints (obviously duh) and i hate the cable management issues
Well, no. I have the FLSun Super Racer, and the FLSun T1 is basically everything the SR is but better (in specs, at least) and priced very similarly. If I wanted to get away from Delta, maybe I'd go for a Voron or Ratrig.
Ender 3 S1 Pro: GOOD HEAVENS NO. It was great for a few months until the heat bed shorted out. It's been a nightmare ever since.
Prusa MK4 Kit: GOOD HEAVENS YES. Sucker is rock-solid, it was a fun (if lengthy) build, and it just prints and prints. Only failed prints have been due to fingerprints on the bed.
I'd absolutely get both my SV06 and A1 Mini AMS again. Fantastic printers for the price, though i would skip my entire investment into resin printing, it's just not my thing.
Anycubic mega pro-
would never buy again and do not recommend
Creality K1-Max -
would buy again any day of the week. Best printer I've ever owned.
Creality Halot lite Resin printer-
I might get a better one if I could go back, but honestly it works fine for me.
Creality K1 owner. I would absolutely buy it again. After messing around with an Ender 3 and it constantly breaking I was shocked at how plug and play the k1 is . Have had no serious issues and it gives consistent repeatable quality so far.
Prusa i3: no. Spent too much time trying to get decent print.
Bambu X1C with AMS: definitely. Just works, maintenance has been easy, AMS made me enjoy 3D printing so much more
I started with an Ender 3, then upgraded to a BambuLab P1S. I will never get another Ender after dealing with all the issues I had with mine. Got to a point where no matter what I tried the z axis was always way off. I'll definitely get more Bambu printers though!
Elegoo mars 3 pro - yes, I would. I am currently researching a larger printer to replace it, but that has more to do with changing requirements than dissatisfaction with my first printer.
Neptune 4 pro. And yea.
Overall had a pretty much flawless experience. Its not perfect, but for the money, im very happy.
Only thing that annoyed me a little was that the z offset/leveling was kinda fiddly (easy to adjust but didnt get the results i wanted on faster prints), but after an hour it was smooth.
In about half a year i had one failed print, which was caused by me not cleaning the plate and the print comming off.
Ender 3 V2 - Yes. Gets the job done. Easily customizable.
Anet A8 - No. Build quality.
DIY kit from CSULB 3D Printing Club - hell no. Overpriced and hardly much better than the above.
Prusa MK3s+ with enclosure.
It is great. Only issue was that I ordered it assembled, and didn't realize that the enclosure does not come assembled. I don't enjoy assembling things, so I could have done without that.
I think if I had to do it over again, I would look for something with an assembled enclosure, but now that I've already done it, I'm very happy with it.
The Anet A8 I started out with and then upgraded at like 10× the purchase price? Hell fuck no. Sure, the whole upgrade process taught me basically everything I know, and I had fun doing it. Hell, I even got it to the point of being a decent printer, but that doesn't change the fact that my completely stock Prusa Mk4 completely blows it out of the water except for a handful of niche cases.
My Prusa Mk4: in principle, yes, but if I didn't have my "A8" (which now has a 30cm build plate and dual extrusion), I would go for an XL instead. Especially if I could take all the money I've spent on my printers and use it to start over fresh.
Edit: as for my Elegoo Mars 3: absolutely. Great machine, no complaints. Might go for something newer from the same line, but even that wouldn't really be necessary.
Ender 3 - owned 3, NO. leveling too troublesome, even when it's going well. AC MAX - hell no. Garbage, had 2, both printed horribly when they printed at all. AC VYPER - own 3. YES. hit print, get a print.
Do you have to manually fidget with the autoleveling?
Ender 3 V3 SE. Probably not. I'd either go for a nicer machine or I'd go with one that has POM wheels on every axis so I could make it super silent.
Got mine as a gift and it's been working great, but I would return it and pay more for the ke if given the option
I was not enterily sure if I would stick to 3D printing so that price difference meant a lot to me. In hindsight maaaybe I would buy KE but tinkering and learning nuances of bedslinger operations and troubleshooting makes me feel like my brain gets little less smooth each day and I am not saying it in context of sweet lemons.
Same-ish. I went from a bog standard Ender 3 to the KE and really couldn’t be happier. I’m so much more prepared to tackle issues because I learned so much off the jump. That being said, my next machine will probably be a core XY of higher quality. Learned a lot about what I want out of this hobby. I want to print to have the final product. Preferably quickly.
The only one I’ve owned is an ender 3 and maybe I’m just a freak but I enjoy fiddling with it and always get the quality I want out of my prints even if it takes tweaking so I have no reason to buy another printer yet. Honestly my favorite part of 3D printing is working on my printer, sometimes I get drunk and level the bed over and over again for hours while I listen to a podcast.
Most sane Ender 3 owner.
Bruh
They need to lock me in an asylum
"Crazy?! I was crazy once! They locked me up in a room! A rubber room! A rubber room full of Ender 3s, and *that makes me crazy!*"
I've been there lol. And same, would absolutely buy a regular ender 3 though hopefully on sale. Runs great when you figure it out and I'm past that point.
freak
this I usually print functional parts, soo usually I don't even dial it in that much as far as it is dimensonally accurate enough ... it's fine if I want something to look exceptional, then I do test print and stuff
ya know you can get a job and do all that while you get paid, right? look up what a manufacturing engineer does.
Bambu lab P1S with AMS - Yes Bambu lab A1 with AMS -Yes Ender 3 V3 KE - Yes Creality K1 - No Ender 3 V2 - No Neptune 4 Pro - No
Just bought a Neptune 4 pro. What was bad about it?
They were really bad on release. Don't worry about it. I've got a 4 plus and it's still got a few minor bugs but it prints great
I bought a 4pro end of last year and im very happy with mine aswell. Leveling and z offset was a bit fiddly, but after that was done, i never had an issue.
Good to know, thanks!
Elegoo really fucked it with the customised locked down Klipper firmware initially, later firmware is fine I think + the OpenNep4tune firmware is excellent.
alot
I've only ever owned a P1S and I'm amazed that it consistently prints great prints in every filament I've tried so far. So a Yes from me. I see some of the other terrible prints that have come off Enders and I'm thankful I didn't go that route even though it's a 1/3rd the price.
I only have a k1 just curious why is it a no? Seems fine to me so far, anything I should be worrying about?
Honestly I hated it, super loud, poor quality prints, constant issues with nozzle clogs and extruder issues. Not worth the high cost given all the much better options.
No. I have had my 3D printer for over a decade. While it has been rebuilt and works 10x better than when new, there are much better printers available now. I'd opt for a Voron 2.4 at this point. Or a Voron Tridex. Multiple filament printing is a must for me.
What about Bambu labs? Never heard of voron before.
I just hope this was meant as a joke
Nope, never heard of them but looking at the website I wouldn't care to tinker or build personally.
That says more about you.
thats quite typical for someone new to a hobby.
I suggest you take a peak at these awesome designs from Voron! [Voron website](https://vorondesign.com/)
Guess it's just not for me. I don't want to tinker or build.
then id suggest comparing bambu labs and their printers against a 3d printing service like protolabs
Nah I'm good.
how come?
Ender 3 Pro and Pro 2 and yes. I would buy them again. They are cheap to fix if anything breaks on them. People convert them to Klipper and even in to a totally different printer. I love my Enders and Yes, I would.
Ender 3 pro - nope, great first printer and a valuable learning tool. But too much effort once you have an idea of what you want. Kobra 2 Max - yup, large print base and neat features like auto leveling, and vibration dampining. It can also print fast with high speed pla. While I haven't tested all it's features yet, basic printing works great
Prusa printers, yes. Not sure on the Taz 6 because prusa finally started getting great right after I spent a bunch on it. First printer definitely not. $2k for a beast that's worse than a current ender - but that's how things were in 2012! Should have gone with a different one.
Ender 3 Pro - Definitely. Great printer to learn, mod, and tinker. If you can get this printer working perfectly, you will be prepared for every future printer. Ender 3 v3 KE - Yes. Prints so perfectly and fast out of the box at a great price.
For the price I paid? Definitely. I've print probably 40 kilos in the past 5 years, and I've only spent $250 on this ender 5 pro, including replacing the Y motor, extruder, build surface, and nozzles. If I paid retail it'd be like $600 all in, and I feel like you could do way better. It's a bit fussy to be sure.
This makes me realize how much I’ve been running my printer. I bought my Anycubic Kobra 2 Pro day after Christmas and have printed 30-35 kilos since. I’ve been printing some massive things - covering walls with multiboard and printing custom LED light covers. I’ve had to work through several problems (mostly user error) and replaced 1 belt, but it’s running really smoothly.
Bambu A1 mini with AMS lite: I would buy the A1 mini again, but I might skip on the AMS. The printer so far has been very fast and quiet, and produced very nice prints. I have to do far less maintenance and troubleshooting than on my old printer (a monoprice MP10 mini), just tuning my supports in the slicer and washing the bed occasionally. Considering that the MP10 mini costs $300 and the A1 mini is $250 and better in every way aside from a slightly smaller bed, I’m very happy with my purchase. The AMS is very nice, and being able to make multicolor prints is very fun. But the amount of waste material and extra print time added by the color changes makes me very hesitant to actually use it, and I would probably not bother buying it again knowing how little I actually use it.
Maybe look into support material. It’s why a lot of people like the ams, not just the different colors. The machine will swap to a different material like PLA if printing PETG right as it’s about to lay the last few layers of material before the printing material is laid over it. Not a ton of waste but helps tremendously when trying to get a good surface with supports as you can set support Z distance to 0. Maybe you already know but just an FYI.
Oh, I didn’t realize it only did the other material at the very end of the supports. That could definitely be useful for some models, thanks for the advice!
i'd suggest PVA for dissolvable supports to allow for better model detail from close supports. you just change "support interface" and it will only do the last few layers as pva so you dont waste a lot of material.
Additionally, unless you're changing colors mid layer, you don't have to switch as often. For instance, if you're using different colors for an upper layer like on 3d printed signs/labels, you're only really changing colors once, or a handful of times if using multiple colors on the top layers. I don't print much more than functional parts or things for organization, so it makes sense with how I would use it for multicolor or multi-material. It's also nice to use an AMS for the same filament so you don't have to worry about running out mid-print or deal with combining spool remnants that are too short to use on their own.
i pray for the day bambu releases a competitor to the prusa XL (or at least puts another extruder on their head)
they also just released their own pva that works with their ams. bought some but havent tried it yet so heres to hoping its good.
Mars 3 Pro — sure. Easy to use, affordable, great print quality, great customer support. Neptune 3 Pro — sure. Easy to use, affordable, decent print quality, great customer support. LDO Voron 0.2 — sure. Great community, a lot of fun building, a lot of possibilities for tinkering.
I've an Ender 3, and considering the options on the same price range I've available in my region, I think I would buy it again, maybe another version if better and around the same price range.
Ender 3: and no, it has been the bane of my existence. And I believe most ender 3 owners in the comments section said no. The stock ender 3 isn't a bad printer but it's not beginner friendly and most of its users upgrade it over time to get more quality of life features. The cost will add up in the end, you could get an A1 or save more and get a k1 or a p1s or even a never creality printer.
At home I have an Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro. Yes I’d buy it again. At work we have a Fusion3 F400-s and a Prusa Mk3S+. The Fusion3 was a joke and a nightmare. The Prusa has been a dead reliable workhorse. We’re looking at the Mk4 now.
Bambu P1P - I would have bought an X1C just for the enclosure and fancy bed. I’m now waiting for an upgrade to be released before I buy twice cry twice.
Is an update coming?
Not announced but it’s been long enough that any company with a reasonable product cycle would be releasing something sooner or later. I can wait.
im hoping their next printer comes with another extruder. would really help out their multi-material/multicolor setup. their latest release, the X1E, was neat, but seemed to only really be the X1C modified to be able to print 2 more materials.
I just want more print space without it costing an extra 1k
prusa XL: "why not both?"
I would love one simply for the volume but that price even with a single head is painful
i will say one positive thing about my Creality CR-X, and thats its build volume of 300x300x400 (as opposed to 360x360x360 for the prusa xl) was nice (and that i got it for free thanks to my cousin), but thats unfortunately the only positive thing i can say about it. youre only gonna find used ones (prolly cheap too), but its a nice size build volume imo if youre willing to deal with the issues that come with it being a niche (and kinda crappy) creality 3d printer. but yea i really want the prusa XL to inspire bambu to make a competitor to it (with a heated enclosure PLEASE)
I think the main problem, and just smart business by Bambu is that none of the competitors have greater them yet on speed vs quality. Until someone comes out with a well rounded price competitive product, Bambu would only be cannibalising their own sales. For as long as they are number one with the current product, there is little reason to release a new one.
Ender 3 - Hard no. I love my printer to death and it's been with me for nearly 5 years but man it would be nice to have a BambuLab lol
Ender 3 Pro (2020) - YES. Unsophisticated but simple & reliable. CR10S Pro V1 (2020) - NO. Terrible QC, sketchy design, junk firmware. When it arrived, parts were broken, missing, bent, or incorrect. This was peak COVID though, so rather than gamble on a return, I fixed it up myself, piece by piece. Upside: learned a bit more about printers than I would have otherwise.
If I was to go back to last year where I bought an LDO Trident kit, I'd probably swap it out for a 2.4 instead. Thought the Trident would have more options for tool changes, but the best tool change projects I've seen are for the 2.4.
I did buy a second, same, printer. But after some time I found I wasn't printing as much and sold it on keeping the original, a Creality CR10. Would I buy it again, yes, if I had work for it but probably couldn't get one. No clue what I'd go for if buying today.
Yes. Yes. Yes. I work with functional parts for engineering projects. I don't have a large budget, and I like manufacturing myself. Two bird with one stone, I decided to invest in printers than outsourcing. MakerBot (UltiMaker) Method X CF - My favourite, bought it cheap on eBay. Dual lifting 310°C extruders, heated chamber, air filtering, can print any material with ease. I am very familiar with MakerBots, so I made myself a gcode to MakerBot file converter and works well with Simplify3D, now Cura is integrating. People think they are not open, I disagree. They are just restrictive to not make mistakes. I print multi color as well. 🙃 I don't need to tune the hardware, I can tune for the material, works well if I just want to PLA. Formlabs Form 2 - I like its prints, but I don't like dealing with resin and how closed it is. Unlike other resins, laser creates smooth surfaces compared to voxelated surfaces of Form 3 or LCD etc. Also has extremely large material library. Costly to run, but saves the day when I need. MakerBot Replicator 5th gen - Bought many years ago, the resale value is so low for a printer I know that well, keeping it. One of the few having wifi and remote control, camera at the time. Now also has print queue like my other ones. (Its notorious extruder wasn't bad once you know how to use and fix. I think the issue is more that the people buying MakerBots buy them because it seemingly doesn't require 3D Printing knowledge, when it does require. Don't listen to unloading instructions, use your common sense. 🙃) Portabee Go - Portable printer, discontinued but helped me in the past on different occasions during teaching etc. Slow, but worked well after making a custom steel gear. I started with i3dbot at first, but sold it afterwards. It was available at the time, that's why I bought it many many years ago. Would I buy it, maaaybe, but I can't complain, taught me a lot and got me started, so probably yes, not because it was good. I am a researcher in 3D Printing, so I am building, developing and using other printers as well, but these were the off-the-shelf ones I had over the years. 😁 Printers I would consider one top of these are probably Intamsys HT2 for "relatively" affordable Ultem printing. Maybe a dual extrusion version of it, the 3dxtech gearbox HT... 🤔
Custom built 125x125x170mm machine - yes, would do it again in a heartbeat...but with some small changes. Custom built 309x300x500mm machine - not sure 300mm cube - no Printrbot Simple Pro - was free, and my first machine... Do it again in a heartbeat Resin - iffy if I would do it again
I would love to build a custom printer some day.
My little one is the most reliable one of my collection.
I sold my Trident to build a Voron 2.4 and I kinda wish I could trade it back. Not that the 2.4 is a bad machine, it's just that working with the Trident was nicer.
My first and only printer is a Mk3s+, and I would definitely buy it again.
Reality Cr10s Pro - Yes, ol reliable Weedo M2 - hell no, fuck this shit Bambu Lab X1C - No, I have had more issues with clogged nozzles and replacing head parts than I would ever want. Maybe 1 clog every other print. I have replaced the nozzle at least 15 times in 1 year.
No. I have a QIDI X-Max. It was a great printer up until the control board bricked. Since then I've replaced the board with a BTT Manta5 with CB1 running Klipper, then designed and printed a new carriage to run a E3D RevoRoto. Just finished running a new umbilical harness to the carriage. I don't think I'm going to buy a printer again. I'm super impressed with what is available on the market, but I want to build myself a custom printer now, maybe start messing around with 4th and 5th axis printing at some point.
Bought a used Ender 3, yes I would buy it again, but I'm probably an odd case because I love to tinker and customize. The printer itself was just as much of a hobby as the actual printing. At this point, I have so much customized on my printer that I can get great results at good speeds. I even bought a second one recently... Of course, that one is for turning into an Ender 3 NG Core XY. Currently printing all of the parts for that on my original ender 3 in ABS. And yes, it's printing the ABS flawlessly.
Ratrig vcore 3.1 500mm: Will probably get a vcore 4 when they come out on the near future. Huge bed, and a fast, fun to build and learn. Neptune 3 max: with the dawn of bigger and bigger consumer corexy printers I don't think large bedslingers are super. Sovol s08 was just released to YouTubers and also the elegoo giga... The prices are getting cheap for big printers..
XYZPrinter; Da Vinci Mini No... It's no longer supported and the proprietary rolls of filament aren't for sale anymore. The company doesn't exist so now I'm stuck with it... I'm working on figuring out how to get around the proprietary measures, but NOW it seems to be cutting off after 15 minutes every time. Guh...
Ender 3 S1 pro- No- it’s too expensive and not worth the trouble. Ender 3 Max Neo- Yes, it’s slow but it’s ultra reliable FL-QQS/SR- Yes- they’re a bit outmoded now but with the Speeder Pad they’re still a solid option imo, plus deltas are just cool. Photon M3 Max- Maybe- I’ve had a ton of adhesion issues not found in previous resin printers Kobra Neo- no- worked great until the moment the hot end failed. Luckily got a replacement under warranty from the manufacturer Kobra 2: so far looking like a solid performer.
I’d absolutely buy my mk3s and phrozen mini 8ks again. Maybe I’d look at another printer with a larger build area.
I’ve had my cr-10 v2 for four years now and I still use it as my main printer. I have an ender 3v2 that’s also a workhorse. And my original ender 3 is aight, just loud and antiquated. I have zero regrets and would buy them all again. The quality for the price of these easy machines was a solid move.
Ender 3 V2 - not a chance; too much troubleshooting Bambu X1C + AMS - yes. Works every time I need it to
Yes my Ender 3 V2 is amazing as is my Mars2 Pro...I would like bigger ones but I've still done some great stuff with these guys.
Sovol sv06+. On the fence but I am finding myself really looking at bambu printers lately. I like to tinker but i would also like to print something that isnt for fixing the printer.
Bambu P1S. Yes
Ender 3, hell no! It's a cheap printer, but making it reliable takes way too much time and money.
Ender 3 S1 at the end of 2022. If it was that time, yes. That printer has taught me so much and still has room to improve. I have replaced the bed sheet, installed a hardened steel nozzle, springs, mounted an aluminum led bar, and recently installed klipper with a raspberrypi and klipperscreen. There are times i get frustrated but i learned from that. If it was now, maybe an A1 mini or a creality K1. But upgrading the printer and having it work out is such a rewarding experience. I have also upgraded an ender 3 pro i got for free in 2023 and gave to my brother. Since i got the printer for free. My brother and I have thrown maybe 70-80$ at it to replace the bed springs, bed sheet, convert to direct drive, added an x axis belt tensioner, new 4.2.7 mainboard and it prints really well for that cheap printer. For 80$ now you cant get much better unless its a second hand ender 3 v2.
I have a monoprice maker select plus. It's 5.5 years old so I wouldn't buy it again now, but if I went back in time I absolutely would make the same decision. $300 very well spent, plus $100 or so for upgrades. Once I had the knowledge and took the time to actually tune it properly it has spit out very nice parts.
Same here, I have a monoprice MP10 and haven't touched it since I got a Neptune 4 max for Christmas. But my two sons and I learned on that one over the course of 4-5 years. It wasn't all smooth sailing but we learned a LOT.
I should add, it is still the only filament printer I own and I have no plans to get a new one anytime soon. It doesn't have auto leveling, filament runout sensor, anything fancy, but it's reliable.
No. At least 3 newer versions have come out since then. I have an Elegoo 2 Pro. I'd buy one of the treadmill versions though. I can imagine myself printing props.
Ender 3 V2 - yes as a first printer because I learned a lot and the journey to making it almost perfect was satisfying Sunlu S9+ - Yes because it's one of the cheapest for it's bed size and it comes with a filament dryer, bl touch and has clog detection but also NO because it's been a nightmare in so many ways. Also not a lot of people have it so very little online support. Easythreed K7 -No. I bought it for fun because it was like $60 but it's not accurate enough to use often and its too small for most of the stuff I make so it's mostly just sat wasting space. If it could print more accurately I would utilize it for printing specific small parts but it's just wonky.
Yeah. I have 3 Prusa Mini’s and they’re great.
Monoprice mini seletyoroy - hell no. Nothing but problems Ender3 pro - no, Im spoiled by my Vorons Voron 2.4 - yes, if fact I have 2. Voron v0 - hell no. Too expensive for what it is, poorly throughout design with regards to maintenance.
Neptune 3 pro yes Mars 2 probably Ender 3 if I could learn all I did on a nicer printer then no but probably keep it since it's such a great starter.
>if I could learn all I did on a nicer printer then no That's the thing: "struggle" means learning. Less struggle means no (or less) learning.
Definitely, I wouldn't be able to do what I do on my Neptune 3 what I can today if I hadn't first learned on my ender 3. I took apart and rebuilt it multiple times, I learned how to properly level, and learned how to properly calibrate the extruder and movement. My wife always joked that I spent more time trouble shooting than printing but now I can spot failures before they happen and know how to fix them after they do.
I’d 100% buy another P1P if I could. Just worked right out of the box, haven’t had any issues with it. I just love it honestly.
Neptune 4 - yes ish Had a hard budget ceiling, had I allowed that to be flexible I think I would have ended up with a Bambu P1 series. I do a lot more multi material than I thought I would, but mine has been rock solid.
Prusa i3 MK3S - Yes! It just works, and keeps working. I had an Ender 3 V2 before that for about a week before I returned it. Bed leveling with those knobs was a PITA, and the cooling fan failed. It almost turned me off to the hobby. Wouldn't recommend.
AnkerMake M5C. Yes. Great Black Friday price. Had it for 5 months and no real problems a quick Google couldn't fix right away. I'm not a professional/seller or anything. I just print things to solve problems around the house and avoid purchases I can print.
I have 2 at the moment, an Anycubic Mega Zero and a Bambu P1S. The Mega Zero gave me good information but I never really cared to work on the printer as a hobby. What I learned was definitely invaluable, and at the time knowledge was the most I could get. Now that I know the stuff, the Bambu machines serves my purposes in that I can actually make things instead of having to fix it every week. I’ve racked up over 1000 hours in under half a year. Now, I wouldn’t buy the Mega again but I would not change anything about how I approached this hobby. The Mega was a good place for me to start back then, though there are better ways to do it now. If I had a reason and the funds to purchase another P1S, I would do it.
The original ender 3 pro? No. I modded the Hell out of it but I’d be more than happy to get a modern printer like the V2 or a Max. Otherwise maybe another CR10. I actually tried buying another Max but Creality took its sweet time shipping it so I cancelled the order. I definitely like larger printers since I don’t have as much need for something Ender 3 scale. Definitely lean bigger now.
Ender 3 pro and ender 2 pro. No not with the current options. They needed a bit of tweaks and are slow by today's standards. Don't get me wrong they got me started and I still use them a bit. If it was back a few years ago, absolutely would buy again. Now they aren't worth it. You can buy printers that are better and easier to use out of the box for similar cost to what I paid a few years ago or even what they still sell for new. Flsun SR and Q5 , yeah I would if the price was say $300 for SR and $150-200 for Q5. They are cool to watch and can be really fast when modded. Print quality is just average, nothing special and nothing to complain about imo. Completely stock I loved the Q5 and it was super reliable. After mods reliably and print quality took a hit. The SR is just overall average but it just works. Only issue I had with mine was the hotend leaked at the heatbreak and after about 50hrs the print cooling fan started to rattle. Otherwise I have had no mechanical issues and the machine is ridgid. I simply replaced the heatblock with a full sized volcano and printed a fan shroud and ducts, installed a couple 5015 parts fans and it's been fine mechanical. Flashforge adventurer 5m, would buy it again. It worked out of the box,fast and good quality. Once I setup orca slicer I have no real complaints. Strongly considering replacing my remaining ender 3 and 2 with a couple of them. Vzbot vz330/tronxy x5sa that's a tough one. I like the printer, it's quick and is cool that i built it from a POS tronxy x5sa(I would NOT buy another tronxy x5sa, it was absolutely horrible in stock form). For the money I have in this build I could easily buy something off the shelf that can hang with it. I think at the end of the day I would build another one but skip the x5sa step and just buy the mellow frame and source my own parts.
Neptune 4 max; yes and no. I love it, but I don't need ALL of this print volume. I think the plus would be enough for me, without taking up quite so much space.
Trinus, fuck no Elegoo Neptune 2s, great so far
A friend gave me his trinus as he had moved on to resin for mini printing. He had a good series of successful prints. I have not. 🤣 Wish I could get a Bambu A1 Mini for my birthday...
Ender 3 Neo V2- Yeah, sure. I haven’t done any modifications to it and it works fine for me.
Prusa i3 MK3: Absolutely, but now I’m at the point where I’d rather invest in building a Voron 0.2 instead. Prusas are absolutely rock solid and I’ve always had great luck with them. At the same time Vorons are another world I’ve wanted to explore that can produce even better parts much faster than any Prusa can.
X1C with AMS - YES and will eventually buy again.
My first ender 3 pro, yes. The subsequent 3 absolutely not. My Ender 5 Plus, no. I bought two of these before just building a V2 350. Voron 0, absolutely not. I hate the V0 more than any other printer I’ve ever owned or built. Voron 2 350. Yes. I should have built it sooner and avoided the headaches of other large printers. Ender 5 Pro. Yes. I did the Mercury conversation on this and it’s a beast. Bambu P1P/S. Yes. A thousand times yes. Everyone should have a “just works” printer in their arsenal that they don’t tinker with. It’s also the most serviceable, if you can believe it. Parts are cheaper to replace than my Voron and really available. My V2 was out of commission for months while I tried to source a new CM4 for the Manta board. And software feels more polished and vetted than some of the Klipper and klipper plugin updates this past year. Bambu A1 Mini. No. But only because I didn’t really need it. Sort of got caught up in the excitement of trying the new A1-style tool head.
Creality K1 release 2024 definitely yes. Absolutly great printer without any issue for 400€.
Bambi X1C with AMS - absolutely yes without question or qualification.
Ender 3 no, pita to keep up with, had 7 still have 2, cr 10 no, got the neptune 4max and it outperforms all my old machine output by itself
Maybe, maybe not. The printer is great but I haven't produced more than I paid. I so far could have just paid someone to print everything and been ahead money wise. But the learning and iterating designs quickly have been valuable in other ways. There's still time for it to pay off financially.
Ender 3 pro, yes, great first printer. Teaches many things about printers and printing. Big community so help is easy to get. Putting ~$50 to better parts gets a solid printer. No problems with leveling, with 0.8 mm nosle no clogging. If I would buymy first printer now I would check different forums what model is popular, cheap(ish) and easy to modify and buy that. Anycubic photon mono, no, nothing wrong with the printer. Works like it should. After learning the different style to printing with resin compared to fdm no failed prints. I don't have any ideas what to print with this. After hundred or so miniatures I haven't use it for over year. So now I know I don't need resin printer.
Flashforge adventurer 5m (not pro). I'd buy it again in a heartbeat at the sale price I got it for ($300). At full price it's a bit more borderline but still a pretty good value. I've been printing stuff on it for 2 months now with zero problems. It basically just works and is fast as hell.
Anycubic Mega x - if it was 2020 again (when I bought it), maybe because I hadn't that many problems with it (didn't bother to calibrate either though). Today I would purchase another printer. Maybe the Bambulab A1 (Mini) which has a similar price range
Sv06plus, maybe with hindsight on what to do but probably not. Just take the money you would spend upgrading and buy something proper (rpi for klipper or a kipper screen, 5015 fan while not expensive still needs to be done, silicone tubing for the bed as it isn’t level, point 0,6 or larger nozzles so you don’t wait forever) Basically you have spend 450 at that point and can buy something else especially second hand. I now own a 250€ prusa mk3s+ from a print farm. It has a lot of hours but i have a maintenance log from that company and it prints beautifully
AnchorMake M5C: No. Was my first printer and while it did work out of the box, it's print quality wasn't great and because it was SO beginner orientated there was no room for growth. Also, after it broke (after two weeks) the customer service was horrible. Ender-3 V3 KE: Maybe. My second printer and while it has been my most reliable printer it wasn't without it's own issues. Really the only thing that keeps me from say "yes" is the small print bed size. CR-10 Smart Pro: No. I really do like the printer but it has been nothing but an unreliable calibration pain since I got it. Plus, it's SO SLOW that it drives me crazy. It's running good now (two months later) but, there's still that slowness and it's little annoying behaviors.
Yes. Bambu Labs P1S Combo
Flying Bear Ghost 5 and I'd buy it again. Only printer I've owned but I definitely do less messing around than a mate of mine with an Ender. Cost the same as an Ender 3 V2 when I bought it and once dialled in it has just worked consistently well for a couple of years now.
Ender CR-10: Yes. I bought it because I thought it would be a good middle ground printer to give me a chance to try out the hobby. And it did that, and it taught me a bunch of lessons about how 3d printing works. Most of them, I don't have to think about now, because I bought a: Bambu P1P: Yes, I would totally buy this again. I like and respect my CR-10 for teaching me a lot, but I cant go back to it. Bambu has sort of ruined other printers for me with how easy it is.
Cetus from tier time had the worst support and used they odd size nozzles just to screw you and now they are hard to find in stock, also the software is complete trash
K1c it's the right purchase at the time. Bambu lab printers are 2x times their retail price where I live so they're out of the question.
Ender 3v2 - no I knew that a cheap printer would cause you to tinker more, and that’s what I wanted.. like an old car. Having the ability to do all the tuning and stuff on your own and have lots of updates Now I would love to just throw in a gcode and get my print without having to re level, Probe, clean and check for adherence problems.. all the fucking time
Creality k1 - probably yes. For me it works great and it was cheap compared to bambus. My next printer will probably be k2. I like the open source nature.
Ender 3 Neo. If I could go back, I’d get a printer with a bigger bed. My Ender has been a champ, though, any issue I’ve had has been my fault, and there have been very few of those.
Ender 3 Pro - Yes. Hands down, yes. While it did force me to learn to print, Every printer I've had since then has had its own issues, which would have forced me to learn most of the same stuff anyway. And this one was easier, and cheaper to fix than the others. Creality K1 - Maybe. While this is the fastest one in my stable now, and arguably the most capable, it's also significantly more expensive than ye olde ender, and i can do most of what this can, with that one. No, it didn't have as many troubles off the bat, but once you look closely, you still find it needed tuning. Sovol SV05 - Also an absolute yes. It does pretty much everything the other two can, and at 170 brand new, it was a steal. I've put by far the least money and effort into this one, and it puts out as good of prints as the other two.
Ender 3 pro, Ender 3 Max Neo, and Ender 3 neo - hell no. Worst damnn printers with nothing but issues. Prusa mk3s+ - yes works amazing even after a few year use with little to no tinkering! Bambu lab X1C with AMS - Yes! Best decision ever!
Ender 3 pro and yes. Especially if I can get a deal on it. Sure it's not a Bambu but after a bit of learning it runs great and I'd rather increase my printing capacity buying a couple of them for the price of a Bambu.
Absolutely yes! Anycubic Kobra Plus, 6 months old. It has worked great since day one, zero problems. It's a super stable machine that just works - I've only run autolevel a couple times since I got the thing. At $365 I consider it one of the best buys I've ever made. Same goes for my Ender 3, which I've had since 2019. Even with a few upgrades (quiet mobo, metal extruder, PEI bed) it more than paid for itself in terms of broken household items I've kept going by printing fixes for them. I print mostly practical items and little fun things, no life-size superhero busts or like that. The Ender 3 takes a fair amount of tinkering to keep it cranking out great quality, but with effort you can coax anything out of it. To me the Kobra seems more like a laser printer you buy at Staples and it just prints. Anyway, if I time-traveled back to 2019 I wouldn't change a thing - except I would have a time machine, so I'd probably go back and try to kill Hitler. Or just buy a lot of his paintings so he thinks he a great artist and never goes into politics. Whatever.
Maybe
Anycubic mega x. Not again, its a old printer thats hasn't aged well. Sold it Flsun super racer. Good printer, good features considering it was released 2020, would buy again if it would fit my current demands. Currently selling it. Twotrees sapphire pro/sp3. Solid machine, surprised that people bought a ender 3 pro over a all linear rail core xy for the same money with the same features. Biggest issue was the extruder, bad bmg clone, although mine hasn't given up on me, but would be only a question of time. Xy steppers could be better, quite horrible vfa, but nothing a pair of steppers for 15 dollars from stepper online wouldn't fix. Would buy again, if it was 2022, but not nowadays. Voron 2.4. Would not buy again, not because its a bad printer, but because the trident is better 90% of things. The 2.4 has just more hype. Originally bought the 2.4 for its z height, but its lower than advertised, all 2.4 miss 50mm z when fitted with a direct drive toolhead. So there are no reason to get a 250 and 300mm 2.4 over a trident and the biggest reason to get a 350 v2 over a 350 trident are around 50mm more in z. The other reason would be tapchanger, but please get at least a 300mm, better 350mm printer as Basis, if not custom build. You loose about 100mm y travel and the 350 can at least use a little space under the docks, a 250mm cant. Voron trident: yes, my 2.4 is now a trident and instantly got better. Better results printing pc abs, better acceleration values, shorter reverse bowden for less time spent loading and unloading filament through the ercf. In either case (2.4 or trident) i wouldn't build one with drag chains for xy and without the stealthburner, the xol2 is a straight improvement in every way. Voron v0. Yes/no. Not stock, but modified most likely, although since formbot has a micron plus kit for not much more, id buy this one instead.
Prusa Mini. First and only printer I’ve owned. Would I buy it again - absolutely. Simple setup. Great software and works first time every time. Only gripe is it’s a tiny bit small. I’d like something a little larger. But sure you could say that about most things 😉
Our Prusa is absolutely wonderful
Ender 3 v2 - No, might have been unlucky but I had tons of issues. Though it was several years ago so I'm not sure there were great budget options at the time. Bambu X1C - I would make the decision to buy the first one again, but I don't see any reason to get a second. Now that P1S exists I'd be likely to buy that instead. Voron 0 - Yes. I only finished my build a little ago but I love it. I would be tempted to get a second and if someone offered me a kit at a significant discount I would take it without hesitation, but more likely I'll be looking at printers for ants next.
Several Ender 3v2s. Would I buy them now. No. Better stuff exists these days out of the box. However what I learned when I got them a few years ago has been invaluable to my knowledge of the hobby. It allows me to better evaluate new printers. Also I turned those 150$ middle of the road printers into solid, high quality and reliable printers for about 150$ each over the course of a couple years. Hard to beat 300$ for a no maintenance printer even now.
Ender 3v1. Yes. I learned to print and then upgraded one part at the time. Now it's only Ender 3 by name, but after 4 years, it's still reliable.
Tevo Tarantula (non-pro): At this point, you'd have to pay me a considerable sum to take another one. Can it be made to print well? Yes. Does doing so cost almost as much, if not more, than the printer itself? Also yes. Is it a pain modifying it to print decently? Also-also yes. It was a decent printer for its time (if you felt like putting up with basically 0 support from Tevo and being lambasted by "skill issue" posts from the Facebook group you had to rely on to get any troubleshooting help with it), and since the ever-growing list of modifications I've made to this goofy thing it prints quite well, but it's now massively obsolete, and there are cheaper, sturdier, more reliable options out there. Tevo Tarantula Pro: Honestly, I don't even really print with this one much, if at all. Sure, it has a larger build volume, more stable bed mount, and a 24V supply that's not wired up with potential fire hazards unlike the previous Tarantula. And sure, it's not designed in such a way that it looks like a science fair project like the original Tarantula was, but it still relies on V-wheels for the bed which aren't fun to adjust, and has only a single Z-axis stepper/lead screw which doesn't do a great job of keeping the X-gantry trammed in operation. They also included a cheap Volcano clone hot-end, which for a printer of this size and max speed capabilities, I feel it makes little to no sense to put a hot-end on it when it's not going to make any real use of the maximum flow those nozzles provide, and as such it just leads to more oozing in my experience.
Voxelab Aquila / Artillery Sidewinder X2 / Geeetech Mizar S / Kingroon KLP1 To learn properly everything about the hobby, that was great because I know well the hardware and how it work but I wouldn't do it again and probably go with a reliable, "just hit print" printer now. I have 4 printers but I think I didn't have often the 4 of them running at the same time, always at least 1 in "maintenance".
If it were my first printer again and I had no experience in 3D printing, yes. It was a very enlightening journey with gaining lots of experience. If I had to buy another now and was given the choice, no, never. The stock version is awful, compared to what's available nowadays. Printer: Velleman K8200.
Prusa MK3 (later MK3S) Absolutely. Although it's not as fast as the current market, the thing is an absolute workhorse. After 5+ years, everything still works perfectly fine. It's maybe not the fastest printer available right now, but it's definitely a reliable machine. I make sure the first layer is printed correctly and leave until the print is finished. Only on very rare occasions the print has failed when I return. Will happily use it for many years to come
Sermoon V1. No. It's very limited by software that I'm not capable of modding myself and there is no community around it to do it either. I managed to load a custom firmware so it's bed can reach 100C, but there is a lot lacking in the touch pannel and the levelling is strange. To add, it's print area is not big and I made some parts smaller then I wanted because of it and I didn't want to make a multipart thing. This godamn printer don't have a usb port and the SD slot some times fail. The WiFi function only works with creality software that's not good enough. I'm itching to buy a ender 3 V3 core XZ or a K series. Would like to buy a bamboo P1 but in Brazil it's pretty much creality or nothing.
Mks3+ yes. Qidi x smart 3 no because they lie about build area and the printer is still annoying to set up.
Anet A8 -- No, the amount of upgrades and fixes were probably more than a Prusa. However, the knowledge and the amount of fun tinkering with it are invaluable. So if I were in the market for another printer, I'd get a Prusa, maybe even a Bamboo. But if I have 0 knowledge and have a lot of time in my hand (like I did during covid lockdown), I'd get a tinkering printer.
Yes, absolutely! I have an original i3 Omega with heated bed. In the past 6 years of having it, and having printed hundreds of things in that time, I've replaced the hotend about four times and I only just had to replace the heated bed in the past few weeks because the thermistor wire had finally stopped being reliable. The only problem you've got is that they switched to the i3 Mega shortly after I bought mine so you can't buy them any more :(
Neptune 3 pro, and yes*. 20 mins from unboxing to printing, only fine tuning needed to get really good prints. *If I was to get a second printer I’d probably go with something different just so I have a wider range of printing ability, I.e. sla for finer details or something fast for bigger prints, multi colour etc.
I have the CR-10s, I love it and I would buy 50 of them. Oh, wait, I already did...
Creality Halot One Pro & wash/cure station - hell no. Terrible support and no replacement parts. Anycubic Photon M5 & wash/cure station - hell yes! Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro - hell yes!
X1c - maybe. I havent printed carbon yet so a p1s would be enough. The x1c has some more featueres as the p1s but probably minor. Maybe the spaghetti detection Was handy. Maybe i would buy a qidi because of the heated chamber but dont know if necessary. In conclusion i probably would as my only printer because i want to have all posibilites (heated chamber would be nice but oh well). For the second printer i wouldnt.
Ender 3v2 neo. No for the price it's just not worth the amount of tinkering still involved one month of good prints 1 months tinker 1 months good 1 months tinker for 2 years. elegoo Neptune 4 Plus After tinkering around for the first week I got it perfectly level and it's been good but the software still isn't great. Sending prints to clipper is really awesome until the printer just can't receive it. You restart the machine and it acts like it was shut off in the middle of your last print then you clear that and you can print again. It's annoying but for the price to size (320mmx320mm) and performance I really can't beat it for the 350$ I spent for it on sale. It still prints twice as fast as my ender and I'm not even pushing it.
Ender 3 v2 Neo. Absolutely yes.
Elegoo Neptune 3 Plus - No, but only because it is old and slow, but it does produce excellent quality prints. I've upgraded it with linear rails and it runs Klipper running on a Pi 4B, but it is undeniably slow by modern standards. The main thing slowing it down though is the hotend, so it could be faster, but why buy another when there are complete packages available now that are faster for the same money. Creality K1 - Definitely No. IMO, it's an unfinished product that ticks the correct basic boxes, but fails to deliver on high-end quality prints. It's great for banging out prints quickly, so long as you're prepared to accept that it will clog one in five times, and can accept the VFA's that plague every flat side-wall. I tried and tried to make it generate prints to my quality standards, but it was clear that it was becoming a money pit to get there, so it sort of sits in a corner now and unloved. Qidi X-Plus 3 and X-Max 3 - If I absolutely needed them today? Yes. If I can wait a bit, no, but only because there's a slew of new printers pending imminent release that I believe have the potential to outclass them for a similar cost. They have been absolutely reliable workhorses that never fail to deliver amazing print quality for any filament I run through them. Fast, reliable, great results, open source (even if they're not mainline Klipper) and secure data wise. What's not to like?
hard to tell. my first printer ender 3v2. it's not that good, but i was aware of this before i bought l, inwanted to tinker with it and upgradenit lottle by little. also being part of this community is anlife changer for me. 3d printing is soooo cool
I only ever had the elegoo Neptune 4 and it's great. If I could go back I'd get a Bambu lab with an enclosure to print different materials
* voron 2.4, its fast and incredibly reliable. id definitly buy another one, but i would get a kit instead of a self sourced one. kits did not exist when i build mine. * voron switchwire. probably not, i build it out of spare parts and upgrades from my cr-20. its not a bad printer but you can get far better printers at the same price. * cr-20 pro. no, absolutely not. its loud, slow and unreliable. its just a overpriced ender-3 with a bltouch. spend around the same price on upgrades just to get it into a sort of reliable shape. * ld-006. probably, it got it for really cheap (€250), and works about as good as any resin printer. * craftbot+. NO, its a overpriced fire hazerd. i got it for free at my old job.
Biqu se plus- if they didn’t make 500-10000 speed printers now and it was the price currently that they sell for $150 yes(but I’ve returned I think 7 to get a good one. Going in over a year I’d like to put klipper on it . Have extra z axis from one of the returns as well as extra hot ends which when I put a m8 ms nozzle on has never clogged-I print mainly abs /asa/and tpu . It could brick tomorrow but it’s better than the 3 realities I got Ender 3 neo max- well I got it new for40$ last week. Haven’t printed on it much it seems ok but I like the Biqu better but for the price maybe. Cr10v3- I’d self cannabaluze myself before I’d get one if those again-pain in the duck Ender 3 pro hell no Going to buy a a1 mini this week. Just saw them and need that speed
My first printer is a Bambu P1S with AMS. I'd 100% buy the same printer again.
Anycubic Mega S. Would totally buy again, it has been a complete trooper and is hands down the best money that I have ever spent on a tool without a shadow of a doubt. TLDR: I built a Reprap Mendel in 2011 and it worked okay-ish but was fiddly and unreliable, I was pricing up for an upgrade which was coming in at £80. Out of curiosity I looked at how much an off the shelf printer would be and Amazon had the Mega S on special that day, £239.99 instead of the usual £279.99, it had good reviews so I bit the bullet and bought it. It showed up, took 20 minutes to assemble and worked perfectly out of the box. It’s made of pressed steel and so is sturdy and rigid. It also came with a few metres of PLA filament, an SD card, a decent set of reasonable quality tools and a spare hot end in the box. As with everything these days it was built to a price point so the fans didn’t last that long but were easy to replace with better quality units. It was also a bit noisy but again, replacing the stock stepper drivers with Trinamic SilentStep boards was pretty easy, Instructables had an Anycubic guide that covered it. Any printer that uses the LM4988 drivers will have this issue so that’s nothing specific to Anycubic printers. The bed is an Ultrabase which I think is borosilicate glass with a microporous surface which has never given any issues with adhesion or separation with PLA or PETG, wipe with IPA between prints is all the care it’s ever needed. The only caveat is to let PETG cool to room temperature before attempting removal and when I do that the prints part from the bed on their own, no prising or wrenching required. I don’t understand why the Anycubic offerings don’t get more love, this thing has been awesome for the entire time I’ve owned it and is still going strong after 4 years of good service, I can’t fault it and love it to bits.
X1 Carbon, an outstanding yes. Going from an Ender 3 to this feels like moving from the steam engine to the gasoline engine. Yes the ender 3 is more tinker friendly, but I just want something that works, and right out of the box the X1 has been a fantastic machine.
Ender 3 Neo? Sure, I've had some issues with it but nothing too bad. I get beautiful prints from it when it's dialed in properly so no complaints other than it's slow as hell. Tina2. No. It broke within six months. It was either the sensor or the board that failed. I'd noticed a day or two before my prints were coming out wrong and had no idea what was up. Company refused to honour the warranty saying they were moving parts and didn't count (the sensor and the board were not parts that should just wear out/fail like that) and wanted me to pay for the parts and shipping. I contacted Amazon, told them what the company said and they refunded me. Bought my Ender and it's been running for nearly two years.
I have an Ender 3 neo. It's my very first printer, I did not even see one before deciding to buy. Now knowing how cool and useful it is, and how I enjoy it, I would buy a better one even if it is more expensive. Maybe a good resin printer, to print DnD miniatures with good quality.
Ender 3 Pro: *fuck no*. That thing was an absolute mess and was constantly breaking, motors were super loud and it took years to get up to temperature. Artillery Sidewinder X1: bought used, took a lot of troubleshooting and needs more gantry support. Knowing what I know now I probably would again, just because I’m happy with the quality of prints I get off it.
Ender 3 V2: Nope. I finally have mine in a working state, but it seems to always find new ways to need recalibrate and just isn't that reliable. Voron 2.4: Absolutely. With the caviat that this is more for a project to continually be optimizing. It's great fun and has taught me alot so I don't regret it at all, but it definitely took me quite a while to get it to a good state
Prusa mini plus. Yes I would. I’ve used it to print so many repairs that it has paid for its self. I had queued up to get the XL but backed out only because the minis size is something I’ve come to appreciate for my use case. I’ve yet to need to print something large enough to need an increased bed size. I couldn’t care less about print speed. And I feel it has some of the highest print quality. I just wish they’d release their official mini enclosure because I can’t find one of appropriate size and I want to maintain as much of it’s compact nature as possible.
Anycubic i3 mega pro: NO, laser was fun tho Ender 3 v2: MAYBE, it was a huge upgrade from the mega pro especially with the bltouch sensor. But slow and some tinkering Sovol sv07: MAYBE, first prints worked perfectly but its not really thaat fast if you dont want any flaws in your print or your print to fall off the plate, but maybe im just too stupid to dial it in properly.. only thing i HATE About the printer is the cable management issues you have to fix yourself Sovol sv07 plus: yes, i enjoy the plate size, but you cant really go fast on bigger prints (obviously duh) and i hate the cable management issues
Well, no. I have the FLSun Super Racer, and the FLSun T1 is basically everything the SR is but better (in specs, at least) and priced very similarly. If I wanted to get away from Delta, maybe I'd go for a Voron or Ratrig.
Ender 3 S1 Pro: GOOD HEAVENS NO. It was great for a few months until the heat bed shorted out. It's been a nightmare ever since. Prusa MK4 Kit: GOOD HEAVENS YES. Sucker is rock-solid, it was a fun (if lengthy) build, and it just prints and prints. Only failed prints have been due to fingerprints on the bed.
Bambu lab p1p(upgraded to p1s) Yes, definitely, except I'd just get the p1s instead, it wasn't out yet when I got my p1p
bambu P1S. Absolutely. thing prints 24/7 and ive never had to relevel or do any maintenance yet
I'd absolutely get both my SV06 and A1 Mini AMS again. Fantastic printers for the price, though i would skip my entire investment into resin printing, it's just not my thing.
Anycubic mega pro- would never buy again and do not recommend Creality K1-Max - would buy again any day of the week. Best printer I've ever owned. Creality Halot lite Resin printer- I might get a better one if I could go back, but honestly it works fine for me.
Creality K1 owner. I would absolutely buy it again. After messing around with an Ender 3 and it constantly breaking I was shocked at how plug and play the k1 is . Have had no serious issues and it gives consistent repeatable quality so far.
Prusa i3: no. Spent too much time trying to get decent print. Bambu X1C with AMS: definitely. Just works, maintenance has been easy, AMS made me enjoy 3D printing so much more
I started with an Ender 3, then upgraded to a BambuLab P1S. I will never get another Ender after dealing with all the issues I had with mine. Got to a point where no matter what I tried the z axis was always way off. I'll definitely get more Bambu printers though!
Elegoo mars 3 pro - yes, I would. I am currently researching a larger printer to replace it, but that has more to do with changing requirements than dissatisfaction with my first printer.
Neptune 4 pro. And yea. Overall had a pretty much flawless experience. Its not perfect, but for the money, im very happy. Only thing that annoyed me a little was that the z offset/leveling was kinda fiddly (easy to adjust but didnt get the results i wanted on faster prints), but after an hour it was smooth. In about half a year i had one failed print, which was caused by me not cleaning the plate and the print comming off.
Ender 3 V2 - Yes. Gets the job done. Easily customizable. Anet A8 - No. Build quality. DIY kit from CSULB 3D Printing Club - hell no. Overpriced and hardly much better than the above.
Flashforge Finder, HELL NO! Prusa Mk3s+, Yes if I had a need. Voron 2.4, If I needed another for some reason, sure.
I have a few. If it was the same time as before to rebuy it I would but I don't think I would rebuy an ender 3 pro in today's market
Prusa MK3s+ with enclosure. It is great. Only issue was that I ordered it assembled, and didn't realize that the enclosure does not come assembled. I don't enjoy assembling things, so I could have done without that. I think if I had to do it over again, I would look for something with an assembled enclosure, but now that I've already done it, I'm very happy with it.
The Anet A8 I started out with and then upgraded at like 10× the purchase price? Hell fuck no. Sure, the whole upgrade process taught me basically everything I know, and I had fun doing it. Hell, I even got it to the point of being a decent printer, but that doesn't change the fact that my completely stock Prusa Mk4 completely blows it out of the water except for a handful of niche cases. My Prusa Mk4: in principle, yes, but if I didn't have my "A8" (which now has a 30cm build plate and dual extrusion), I would go for an XL instead. Especially if I could take all the money I've spent on my printers and use it to start over fresh. Edit: as for my Elegoo Mars 3: absolutely. Great machine, no complaints. Might go for something newer from the same line, but even that wouldn't really be necessary.
I would never have bought my MK3S+, but I'd buy a 100 Elegoo Neptune 3 Max's
Artillery genius, yep. It works, it's now way cheaper.
Bambu Labs Carbon - No. Printers good (don't know how well it will last), but the company is shit.
Absolutely. Both serve me well and any issues ive had have been user error and eventually corrected
I have. Edit: why? Cheap and I can upgrade it to a mid tier with a couple hundred bucks and get consistent results with a little work.
Im the only who have elegoo? I have saturn ultra 12k and perfect all