buying advise 3D printer

[roncromberge]

Yes @pharmacist i’m also like 3D printers.
I don’t know if you already own a new 3d-printers?
But here is my 50 pence advice

I’m a long time 3d-printer enthusiast. Started 10 years ago with a cheap Chinese prusa like bed slinger. Most of the time you’re busy to keep the printer in shape. Then I bought a Chinese corexy printer. It was crap but I rebuild it so it finally works ok. But to make the corexy good I needed a second 3d printer to print the parts. Bought a sheep creality ender 3 pro… it works for a while and then the problems begin. Due to the cheap build quality the tolerances gone way out of bounds. Next an elegoo Neptune 4 pro. This one was the first that make the promises true. But it was slow. And the prints are Not on par with a good corexy printer. After the truly success marketing campaign over YouTube every 3d-print YouTuber and many off site YouTubers, promoted the bambulab 3d printers. And also I after a year switched to the bambulabs x1 carbon with ams. And this is the printer that’s makes all promises come true. Until they showed their true face. About privacy and respect of open source.

So I’m not recommending the bambulab line. But when I buy a new printer it will be a prusa core one! Not the cheapest. But I think the best supported printer firm. And all open source.

Or if you like tinkering and build your own 3d-printer choose a Voron 2.4 kit. Expensive but you’re in complete control. And the open source community add constant new innovations to the printer.
Ron

 

[Artur5]

Think twice, think it very well, before getting a Core One, Just take a look at the Core One section of Prusa's forum. Every kind of problem a 3D printer can have is there. I'm telling you this as a satisfied owner of a dated but trusty Prusa MK3S+, I wouldn't touch a Core One with a barge pole.

As experienced forum member Redbrickman says, probably the best deal nowadays for an affordable decent CoreXY printer seems to be the Qidi Tech Plus 4. Not quite on a Voron 2.4 level, but it's half the price and it comes already assembled.
If I had room in my flat for another printer, possibly I'd get one of these for printing high temperature filaments.

 

[roncromberge]

Here is something to read!

https://makezine.com/article/maker-news/why-is-open-source-hardware-not-working-for-3d-printers/

That’s why I go for voron or prusa! The only two real open source 3D printer designers. I choose for open and not closed. We have seen it with Bambulabs and All the other Chinese company’s. Using open source and then closed the door.

 

[pharmacist]

Thanks Ron and others, I am looking at the Prusa MK4S printer at this moment and it seems to fit my needs.

It is not cheap I must say. How about the filaments: any tips about a reasonable priced and good quality filament that can be used with this printer ?

 

[roncromberge]

Hi apotheker,

I think you make a good choice. I is not the fastest but it runs like a tank. AND prusa is famous for the upgrade sets for older models. There is an upgrade from the mk4 to the core one!

There are several Chinese filament providers. Momentarily I use Petg from sunlu. But I advise start with pla. Also from sunlu. But if you search wel on ali you will find lots of filament vendors. (You will find more filament than oem printer inkt)

 

[pharmacist]

I have read the Core One is an upgraded version of the Prusa MK4S and @Artur5 says the Core One has flaws.

 

[roncromberge]

I have read the Core One is an upgraded version of the Prusa MK4S and @Artur5 says the Core One has flaws.

Sure there are flaws. When the 4 came out there were flaws too! But the benefit of a trustworthy company is that they have a high customer support. Prusa can’t afford not to support there customers. All printers when they are new have issues. And a good company solve those issues.
Most of them are software related. And if it is a hardware problem. Then they have always supported the early buyers with an upgrade path. As far as I know they have never left the buyers alone when there are a new iteration.

Don’t think that these Chinese manufacturers offer you a fair upgrade path. You can buy a new one and throw away your old one. (They are cheap enough) The only thing what’s count is market dominance.
But sadly most people think from there wallet. Instead of moral ethics.

 

[pharmacist]

What about this printer and the price seems to be right to me:

https://store.creality.com/eu/products/k1c-3d-printer

 

[roncromberge]

Creality is a well known chinese company. And has grown in quality after the boom of bambulabs.

They tend to work as designed. But my experience is that in the long run they wear faster.
But for a first 3d printer I think this is the better choice. Also because a Core xy have a beter surface quality due to the less mass movement of the print head.

 

[x64]

What about this printer and the price seems to be right to me:
https://store.creality.com/eu/products/k1c-3d-printer

Crealtity is really bottom of the barrel stuff. I think they are regarded as decent because of good marketing, Ender reputation and low prices. The main appeal for example of the Ender series was its upgradeabilty. With their more recent models they step away from this and make a closed design that is more difficult/impossible to improve on.

From the factory, I tried the advertised speeds with the Ender KE, but couldn't even get a good print with half that speed. Now, after at least tripling the cost of the printer in upgrades, and a lot of days wasted adjusting and tweaking the machine, it prints accurately.

Compared to the more expensive Bambu Lab P1S that I had before, that just printed flawless accurate parts at top speed, straight from the box, getting another one of those would have been the financial better choice.

However if I were to go back in time, I would tell myself to invest a bit more and build a VzBoT, to have a real cutting edge printer at the price of a Bambu Lab X1C.