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

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

#191

Post by johnwalkr »

kzalesak wrote: post #182

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, howe…

I second qidi. I have a Q1 pro and have had great success with higher temperature/exotic materials. I live in EU, and I also appreciate that they stock everything in Europe and I always get delivery of consumables and materials within a few days.

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

#192

Post by tfvlrue »

horsawlarway wrote: post #67
thot_experiment wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this person cares about privacy and openness, and Bambu is an awful VC funded push everyone out by undercutting prices and then enshittify company.

I guess. Having just bought a Prusa Core One because of concerns about the direction Bambu is headed... I regret it. Hands down. It is absolutely worse from a practical standpoint than the much older X1C I have, and the absolutely maddening part is that the "worse" bits are mostly software related. You can hate on Bambu all you want (and frankly - a good chunk of it is well earned, but some is exaggerated or false) -…

I have been using a Core One at home for the past six months or so, and have not had this experience at all. For me, it just works. I can send prints to it and it completes them, hands-off.

It sounds like there may be a hardware problem with your printer. Did you buy it assembled or do it yourself? You may want to contact Prusa about this, because I can confirm this is not normal behavior for this printer.

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

#193

Post by the__alchemist »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #133
skhameneh wrote: post #8

If you don't care about business practices and general privacy concerns, Bambu. If you want a large printer that's decent for tinkering, Sovol SV08. If you want relatively good support and to support a company that has a history of giving back, Prusa. If you want something cheap with a lot of features that tend to be more high end, Elegoo Centuri Carbon. If you just want something cheap that's arguably incredible val…

I wouldn't recommend a Creality to someone new to 3D printing. They can be a pain to work with. They're CHEAP, and there's plenty of aftermarket support, but that ends up turning the printer into a product for someone who sees the printer itself being a hobby, rather than the printer being merely an appliance that produces things. Buying a Creality printer is like buying a hobby-grade RC car (ie, Traxxas, Team Associ…

Concur. I had a grin on my face when I threw my ender into a dumpster. Then regret for not Office-Spacing it first. Replaced it with a Raise3D E2, which just works.

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

#196

Post by windexh8er »

skhameneh wrote: post #8

If you don't care about business practices and general privacy concerns, Bambu. If you want a large printer that's decent for tinkering, Sovol SV08. If you want relatively good support and to support a company that has a history of giving back, Prusa. If you want something cheap with a lot of features that tend to be more high end, Elegoo Centuri Carbon. If you just want something cheap that's arguably incredible val…

If OP isn't in huge hurry I'd also add the impending Snapmaker U1 [0] to the list. It looks like it's going to be a better machine than Bambu has out in the long run for cheaper and much more in-line with one that you have full control of, unlike Bambu.

[0] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/snapmaker/snapmaker-u1-...

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

#197

Post by wpm »

dangus wrote: post #180
wpm wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing I need the internet for to be disgusted by Bambulabs' practices is to learn about their practices in the first place.

I did read up on them when they and I feel like the Internet echo chamber inflated the issues and Bambu basically addressed all of them reasonably well.

Are you talking just about the "Authorization" thing? Or did you read about them abusing Printables to reverse engineer it for their own copy-cat platform?

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

#198

Post by jkestner »

alach11 wrote: post #19

I'm going to make an unpopular suggestion. Have you considered using a service that will print and ship to you, like CraftCloud? Depending on volume, your total cost would likely be lower. I know you mentioned privacy concerns so this may not be an option. But it significantly simplifies your work, letting you focus on the parts themselves.

This is the way. Multijet fusion has ruined me for anything else and it’s cheap from print shops. I just need to find one in town and I’ll get the quick turnaround time that’s the only reason to have my own printer.

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

#199

Post by doubled112 »

theodric wrote: post #23

The Ender 3 V2 is very solid and repeatable, but loud. I spent more money making mine quiet than I did buying it. You can literally get Enders free or for very little in classifieds. Bambu has a very good marketing department.

I have an Ender 3 v2. I assembled it, and my first print just worked. Apparently this isn't very common. It wasn't difficult, but I can see places people would run into issues.

It was about a month later the problems started. Plastic extruder broke like they all do, and the extruder gear was done.

A bed leveling probe is a game changer. A PEI bed plate is great. Those tubing couplers are super fragile. Klipper is nice.

Now it just works and I expect it to for a long time.

The trouble is that people don't want to spend the time and effort to get there. Me? I like that any replacement part is going to be 20 bucks or less. Everything wears eventually.

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

#200

Post by syntaxing »

sho_hn wrote: post #151
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.

Prusa generally has better print quality in terms of accuracy and better overhang performance. Prusa drives the slicer development ecosystem (Bambu Studio is a fork), so new production-ready advances typically come from them first, which is lovely to support. The Bambu products are fine. They print well. But the "it's on another level" stuff is mostly paid influencer narratives (a rampant thing in 3D printer YouTube,…

I haven’t tried the Prusa XL so I can’t say much about that and I’m a fan how Prusa supports OSHW. But let’s be real, Bambulabs printer are vastly superior. I don’t deny that a lot of “free” and open source work was used to make Bambulab printers today but their printers just work out of the box for less money. I’ve been 3D printing since the reprap days, had cheap printers like Enders, tried Prusa used upto the MKS2. The Bambulab printer feels like a product. All the previous printers I owned or used was more like a hobby. (Minus maybe the Ultimaker 3, that thing was amazing for its time).
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