Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

#181

Post by brewtide » Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 12:53 AM UTC

randomNumber7 wrote: post #134

chakintosh wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you don't care about business practices and general privacy concerns, Bambu. While I agree, I think it's heavily underselling Bambulab printers in terms of UX and print quality, they are the absolute best in the market and by a mile.

I looked at a bambu printer a friend owns and it is pretty high quality engineering. It stands on soft rubber feet so the whole machine has a low natural frequency (similar to the drum of a washing machine). This has the advantage that the high frequency movements of the motors/axes never resonate with the casing. In the beginning it does a lot of tests and seems to also shake the machine to analyse the frequency beh…

Watching the tests is fun. First run,.loud. second. Less loud. Third. At worst case 1/2 the original volume. Up through a large tonal range.

Your ears can immediately note that it is a nice feature for sure.

Re: Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

#182

Post by kzalesak » Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 12:58 AM UTC

I am surprised nobody mentioned the Qidi printers. They are the perfect balance between tinkerability and reliability (but see below - QA varies), and have open firmware. They are the only ones that currently compete with Bambu in high-temperature materials. These will outperform PC/Nylon and can also print advanced stuff as PPS, especially on the new Q2.

Now, for their QA - it is not on par with Prusa or Bambu, however, there are a few tips to avoid the pitfalls. 1. If buying the Plus 4, buy the US version of possible. The EU models are older units with a faulty part. 2. Buy from places that offer returns. If the printer is faulty, you can always return it 3. If something breaks, document and send to support. Expect free replacement parts shipped within a week.

By following the above, you will get an extremely capable printer at a fraction of a cost of a Bambu, with offline modes, open source FW a great community and hotend capabilities that are virtually unparalleled and venture into engineering grade machines.

Happy printing :)

Re: Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

#183

Post by hollerith » Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 1:00 AM UTC

dotancohen wrote: post #175

hollerith wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

-- if all you care about is yourself and your family.

[flagged]

Your comment seems to rely on the premise that the only alternative to everybody's acting 100% selfish 100% of the time is everybody's (or at least my) giving up their property rights and privacy.

I wasn't suggesting anything like that or even trying to pressure anyone into not being selfish: I merely pointed out that a sentence on the internet[1] would be untrue if anyone cares about Bambu's policies and practices for non-selfish reasons.

[1] "none of the supposed business practices/privacy concerns amount to anything tangible"

Re: Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

#184

Post by dismalpedigree » Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 1:14 AM UTC

I do mechatronics for a living. I have (and still have) some “hobby” 3d printers. For my job, I don’t want to screw around with settings, I just need the part to come out well.

My day to day goto is the creality K1 line. I have 3x K1Cs and a K1 Max. The K1 Max is for you. It costs about $800. 300mm cubed build area. Runs every material I throw at it. PLA, PETG, TPU, Nylon, ASA, PC, etc.

It has a cloud option, but I don’t use. They all run on a separate vlan so no phoning home. Doesn’t cause any issues.

They run unlocked klipper firmware, so if you want to mess with it feel free. Also means most slicers work well with them. I typically use OrcaSlicer but the CrealityPrint and Cura work also.

I don’t recommend the K2, it has quite a few annoying bugs. The Enders are hobby machines for sure. Go with K1C or even K1 Max for the bigger bed. You won’t regret it.

Re: Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

#185

Post by 2muchcoffeeman » Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 1:24 AM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #111

baq wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1. Bambu is the difference between 'my hobby is 3d printers' vs 'my hobby is 3d printing'. The damn thing sits in the garage idle for months and then it just prints a whole spool of stuff perfectly without even a drop of oil (which it asked for in between plates, I'll grant it that).

A Prusa is equally reliable.

My Prusa has been very reliable over the years. However, it’s not as cheap as the Bambu.

It’s going to be hard to justify supporting open source hardware at these prices.

Re: Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

#186

Post by vitaflo » Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 1:32 AM UTC

pfych wrote: post #166

shocks wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They pushed a firmware update which blocked direct use of your printer without using their proprietary “Bambu Connect” application - because ‘security’.

LAN mode still works on my A1 & I can access it from Orca Slicer just fine.

Same on my P1S. LAN mode doesn't even attempt to call home at all either, I've checked my logs. And even if you're super paranoid you can always walk an SD Card to the printer.

Re: Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

#187

Post by vitaflo » Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 1:39 AM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #73

I've had a number of different printers, and the one I like the most [by far] is the Bambu P1S. It doesn't hit your desire to avoid the cloud, but as a machine it is top notch quality, and very reliable. It requires far less babysitting and tweaking than something like a Creality. If you just want to print things and know that most of the time it Just Works, they are a great tool for that.

You can set up a P1S in LAN mode and everything stays local, no phoning home or cloud shenanigans. It's not the default set up but it is certainly possible and how I have mine set up.

Re: Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

#188

Post by vitaflo » Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 1:43 AM UTC

amelius wrote: post #16

sampton wrote: post #15

If you want good prints and only care about the prints, get Bambu P1S. If you want to tinker with the machine and have a lot of free time on your hands then Prusa. although Prsusa starting to close up it's walls like Bambu.

What? Prusa used to be the most open company out there. I can't believe they are going to enshittify their products now. Anyway, I have a Bambu, and it is a nice printer, but it wants to phone home and it is difficult to use when you put it behind a firewall.

Put the Bambu in LAN mode, it won't phone home, everything stays local.

Re: Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

#189

Post by bluGill » Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 1:47 AM UTC

atonse wrote: post #172

trenchpilgrim wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a Bambu A1 Mini a few weeks ago and it's practically easier than 2D printing. Printed a whole tabletop game that I played with friends, and replacement parts for a gun that held up at the range.

Wow I’ve heard about these 3d printed guns mostly in the context of the gun control debate. I can’t wrap my head around “how does plastic stuff withstand the stresses of a bullet?”

Most of a gun doesn't see that stress. put a barrel on a plastic gun and something metal behind and good enough for most needs.

Re: Ask HN: What's a good 3D Printer for sub $1000?

#190

Post by GuB-42 » Thu, Sep 18, 2025, 1:49 AM UTC

atonse wrote: post #172

trenchpilgrim wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a Bambu A1 Mini a few weeks ago and it's practically easier than 2D printing. Printed a whole tabletop game that I played with friends, and replacement parts for a gun that held up at the range.

Wow I’ve heard about these 3d printed guns mostly in the context of the gun control debate. I can’t wrap my head around “how does plastic stuff withstand the stresses of a bullet?”

Small caliber, lots of plastic, short lifespan, unreliable.

Most serious 3D printed guns have at least a metal barrel. Often, 3D printed guns are just a lower receiver, that is the part you hold in your hand, the parts that actually fire the bullets (barrel, pin, slide, etc...) are bought off the shelf from real gun manufacturers.

This is a workaround for some laws that considers gun parts to not be a gun. For example, outside of a gun, a barrel is just a metal pipe and can be traded freely. The part that makes a gun a gun is the lower receiver, and you can 3D print that in plastic and still get good performance. In fact, Glock makes this part in plastic and these are some of the most popular and proven guns in the world.