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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?

#201

Post by zrobotics »

jasongill wrote: post #150
thot_experiment wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure but the last tweaking I did on this printer was years and years ago, and it's been "just working" ever since. I haven't fiddled with anything, I haven't even leveled the bed, I don't use hairspray. I don't think you can even find the firmware I flashed onto it in 2014 anymore because of link rot. It's just a solid printer that makes the part I want every time I hit print. I use it all the time for mechanical par…

> I don't think you can even find the firmware I flashed onto it in 2014 anymore because of link rot This is exactly what I am talking about - you claim to have a reliable and easy to use solution, but it's not a solution that someone who wanted to print dragons for their grandkids could use. Bambu Labs is (and Prusa's current offerings, to some extent, are as well, although that is up for debate as you can imagine).…

But he's also using a 12 year old maker bot. They're not really even in business anymore. Why are you pushing so hard that GP needs to provide a completely turnkey solution for their long out of production printer? All of your comments are attempting to make it sound like bambu is the only turnkey solution, and you aren't doing a terribly effective job refuting GP's point that there are and have been other printers that just work as well. For another comparison point, my prusa MK3s (also now out of production I believe) has been absolutely turnkey and has required literally zero fiddling. The only print failures I've had have been due to part design, which would also apply to a bambu. I bought mine as a kit, it was a fun few hours to build but you can buy them fully built and assembled. Literally plug into an outlet, load filament, and hit print. Bambu isn't the only option for printers that work reliably and aren't a separate hobby, I don't know why this narrative gets pushed so hard.

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

#202

Post by 0_____0 »

baq wrote: post #94
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.

+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).

My Prusa Mk3 also does this?

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

#203

Post by system2 »

Bambulabs P1S ($549 now), or if you can spend just a little more, get the X1C ($799). If you want the best they have, it's the H2S ($1,249).

I have been using 3d printers since 2015. I've never seen anything close to Bambulabs, and the first time I used A1, I almost cried thinking about the countless wasted hours with Creality and Prusa printers I have. Don't get Creality because they have quality control issues. Prusa is currently behind and more expensive. Bambulabs is lightyears ahead of the game.

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

#204

Post by all2 »

baq wrote: post #94
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.

+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).

I don't have a lot of time on my qidi pro4, but that's been my experience with that printer.

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

#205

Post by gpm »

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.

I've been unable to connect Orca Slicer to my A1 mini over LAN and I'm led to believe that as a result of that firmware update it is impossible. It's possible something else went wrong and I just gave up because of a misunderstanding I guess?

Are you sure you aren't just running older firmware (my A1 mini is a recent acquisition)?

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

#206

Post by 1024core »

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 you want a large printer that's decent for tinkering, Sovol SV08.

I disagree about Sovol the company though. I have a Sovol SV07 in the garage gathering dust. Its printer head got all clogged up and when I complained to them, they just sent me a random part with no information on what to do with it. I guess I could get into the tinkering mode, but who has the time?

I'd just love to have a sub-$1000 printer which prints whenever I have something to print (which is not too often, I concede), and does a fantastic job of it.

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

#207

Post by nebula8804 »

chakintosh wrote: post #76
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 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.

1000% this. I used to "lightly" follow 3D printing when it first started to become cool among hackers a decade or so ago, then I dropped off until 2023 much older and much less tolerant to BS in technology.

I went onto Reddit to get their recommendations. To someone completely new who hasn't followed any real developments occurring in the industry, it was confusing but it seemed like the Sovol SV06 was a good "starting point".

Well I didn't realize how far behind the industry still was. I thought surely at this point all printers much just be load file -> load filament -> click print. Just like regular printers no?

Nope, doing dumb things like using some third party slicer tool, transferring a file to a microsd card manually and then babying the printer for its super slow error prone prints feels like its still a toy not a professional device.

Imagine having to do that level of nonsense for your laser printer? Yeah maybe back in the days of "Office Space" but not today!

I was in a time crunch so out of desperation I took a gamble and dropped a wad of cash on a Bambu X1C. It is what I consider a professional product for normies in my eyes. Most everything else are just toys.

I was ready to say Bambu, Bambu and nothing but Bambu but then I read the user's last few sentences. Seems like he is not really looking for a end to end professional product and so hes got infinite options but for anyone else, its gotta be Bambu!

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

#208

Post by tverbeure »

deno wrote: post #127
pests wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 3D printing community is really two different groups: people who like to actually print things and people who like to tinker with their printer.

I hate this false dichotomy. Plenty of people like both. People that buy expensive consumer grade printers are just satisfied with mediocre results because they don’t know any better. To get great quality prints you need to actually know how the tool you are using works and what are its strengths and weaknesses.

If I can get great quality prints without having to tinker, I don’t see how it’s a false dichotomy.

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

#209

Post by sho_hn »

syntaxing wrote: post #200
sho_hn wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Truly meant without offense, but I'd say if you haven't had a Prusa since the MK2S (which I think predates Bambulab entire existence?) your opinion is outdated and not really relevant anymore.

The out of the box experience between a Bambu printer and a modern Prusa is not noticably different. You'll be onto your first print in 10 minutes with either.

Prusa's product history simply goes back longer to when 3D printers were more hobbyist kit. But they've grown up just the same.

It's a bit like saying a 2025 Lexus is superior to a 2025 Maybach because Mercedes' first car in 1886 was a rickety afair.

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

#210

Post by SchemaLoad »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #185
Symbiote wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I had used a Prusa MK3 in the past and had a good experience with it. When I went looking at printers again Prusa was what I assumed I'd get but after looking at Bambulab, their A1 is about 1/4th of the price while being better than the Prusa MK4.

It's almost impossible to justify buying their printers today. The issues and concerns about Bambulab seem to be primarily driven by disappointment with how a new company that didn't open source their hardware was able to absolutely steamroll the entire market, rather than actual real issues you as a user will have.

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