<$500 3D printer for a beginner in the USA (2021)
Arya wrote 01/15/2021 at 04:13 • 1 pointHey yall! Any 3d printers you purchased recently that you have good reviews about? Looking for a beginner-friendly 3D printer under $500, in the USA.
Hey yall! Any 3d printers you purchased recently that you have good reviews about? Looking for a beginner-friendly 3D printer under $500, in the USA.
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I highly recommend the ender 3 as a great low budget starter printer. Personally I would recommend the ender 3 + a new skr mini e3 mainboard + a bltouch auto bed leveling sensor.
ender 3 is $200: [https://amzn.to/2OXUrpd](https://amzn.to/2OXUrpd) (non-affiliate link. comgrow is an officially licensed creality seller)
skr mini e3 main board(built for ender 3, drop in replacement) $40: https://www.bigtree-tech.com/products/bigtreetech-skr-mini-e3-v2-0-32-bit-control-board-integrated-tmc2209-uart-for-ender-3.html
bltouch $45(I can say from personally experience, buy official, don't buy cheap knockoffs from aliexpress.): https://3dprinteruniverse.com/collections/best-selling/products/antclabs-bltouch-auto-bed-leveling-sensor?variant=37277233034
Total: about $285
My two ender 3s, both of which running skr mini e3 boards and bltouch. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExF0foRUUAcWUOi?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
If you want a printer that is just hands off plug in and just works, you're going to be paying a couple thousand for an ultimaker or a lulzbot. If you want affordable introductory, the ender 3 is where it's at. They also have the benefit of being so ubiquitous that there's not a problem under the sun that you could have that hundreds of others haven't already had and created a tutorial video or forum post on how to fix, so the printer comes with a great community support network as well.
and while creality has changed their open source policy on their newer printers(which is absolute bullshit to me), the ender 3 remains open source in both software and hardware which allows the community to develop and expand it in any way they see fit.
Also if/when assembling the ender 3 you follow the "Tomb of 3d printed horrors build video" https://youtu.be/me8Qrwh907Q you'll avoid 99% of the problems people have with their first fdm printer.
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I LOVE my CReality Ender 5! I had a Monoprice, and it worked well, but I didn't know what I was missing. It eventually started overheating and smoking (power board issue), so I decided to replace it.
The Ender 5 is so much faster; rarely needs re-leveling; has a removable print bed that makes it easy to remove finished prints; and really just works. It took a while to put together (nothing electrical, just mechanical assembly), this was fun and actually easier than say most furniture from Ikea lol.
They're running around $400 on Amazon right now. Seriously saved me so much time, energy and worry upgrading to this printer!
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Take a look at the Prusa mini, I have only heard good things about it so far :)
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I'm printing what appears to me to be great prints off a used Monoprice Select Mini (MPSM) V2. $100 for the printer, ~$20 for the 1kg spool of Hatchbox 1.75mm 0.03 tolerance PLA orange filament and ~$13 for a new hot end to attempt to make PET strips filament since the print head extruder isn't directly connected to the hotend. I might try to make a feed using an old cassete tape feed mechanism directly to the nozzle for feeding PET strips. For now, a PID I already have and the hotend will be the next phase. Currently, using just the PLA for my prints. $120 for awesome print quality I think. The extra investment for custom recycled DIY filament isn't a requirement. Also, there is the potential for extending the bed with what appears to be completely printed parts by the MPSM V2 also and parts from free HP Officejets other than the belt and maybe 6mm stainless steel rods if you cant salvage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPAuHSU1c0g Hackaday has an excellent write up by Michael O'Brien and details on improving the quality too worth performing. A video detailing the performance enhancement is here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fc5opbXblo&t=240s (see earlier and later also for more info since this is just the commands part of the video ref time)
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Thank you! Heard good things about Monoprice printers over the years, $100 for one is a steal!
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Your very welcome! Maybe two days back someone sold a bunch of used ones (~140) that needed the commonly known repairs for under $100's including shipping. I see there is one on eBay now that totals under $100 though will most likely need repairs and/or upgrades. Not sure where you are located, though the Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Offerup, etc. are what I usually go to first to find items I'm interested in. Amazes me to this day what can be found for free also at times if you're good at repairing or willing to learn and invest in, or have access to, some tools if you don't already own.
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I love SLA printing, and you can get Elegoo Saturn for 500 USD. BTW: It is a messy process, but the prints are really nice!
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Thank you! Looking for FDM but will keep this in mind =)
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Hi, Anycubic I3 Mega is super cheap. Im using it 2 years already for mechanical stuff and enclosures from PLA and PETG. Im very satisfied. Approx 50$ investment is recommended to change fans (noisy) and connect it to Raspberry PI with Octoprint (wireless printing form your desktop).
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Thank you, one more person off-platform recommended it, too, will be looking into it =) Also thank you for describing the mods you did!
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