I need:
Low cost.
Easy Maintenance, as I only have one working hand.
Lightweight.
PLA or ABS is OK.
Suggestions / Ideas?
I am in no hurry as I’ll be saving for it.
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I purchased the Creality CR6SE during their kickstarter, and it’s been a great machine (though louder than advertised).
Given your restriction, I’d say prioritize bed leveling and maybe a one handed locking mechanism for changing filament. My previous printer required 2 hands (or some sort of jig) to change the filament. This one has a mechanism that locks open or closed for this.
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Would a resin printer like the Eagoo Mars be an option? Others can chime in as to the pros/cons of a filament or resin printer [cost, print area, and cleanliness come to mind].
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Prusa Mini+ it’s $400 can do PLA and ABS, autobed leveling compact easy to use. https://www.prusa3d.com/original-prusa-mini/
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get a resin printer, they are superior in every way except messy
Resin printers are out. Try picking up a bowl of water one hand and you’ll understand.
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My husband has 3 and runs them constantly. A Flash Forge, the Ender and a resin printer. He does mostly action figure prints sculpts (so he likes a lot of detail). Each have their own downsides. I think hobbyist machines will be this way.
When he was shopping for his newest, he wanted auto bed leveling. He chose flash forge over the Prusa simply because it has American support I think??? Maybe it was simply faster ship. Prusa will be his next buy though. He maintains he really likes his ender3 but I feel he is always fixing it in some way. I guess it just simply takes a lot of maintenence.
If you want to pick his brain shoot me a message.
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Loading filament may prove your greatest challenge. I think a Bowden tube Extruder is a big consideration. Auto-leveling should also figure heavily.
Price and Tech Support are critical. At this point I’m starting a savings account for it. I figure I will get both doses of vaccine and will have returned to the space before this happens. Still, it is good to have goals. Please recommend where I can buy such a unit along with the price.
The Prusa Mini and I3 MK3 would both be excellent options in terms of low maintenance. I would put the I3 MK3 slightly ahead for one handed operation since it has an integrated spool holder directly above the extruder and direct extrusion which is easier to load filament. If you go with the Mini then I would pass on the optional filament sensor. It adds extra bulk on the end of a tube, it’s kind of a clumsy design, and filament tends to catch on it when loading.
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Prusa Mini checks all those boxes, that’s my recommendation.
I just tried loading it one handed. Kind of a pain in the ass. Though maybe it could be modified with a longer PTFE tube and wires. Then the filament sensor could be mounted somewhere instead of floating in the air. Having it solid on something like a workbench would make it a lot easier to load filament one handed. Just one wiggly bit to deal with instead of two. The thing floating in the air is the filament sensor.
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Link Please?
Never Mind, Saw it on the second read through.
At $400.00 I’ll be saving till August or September($50.00/mo)
$400.00 is a bit pricey [sigh]
The absolute cheapest you are going to get new is a Creality Ender 3 for probably like 180$ if you shop around for clearance sales and imo that’s the best value. It will run consistently once you know what you are doing and you have to spend atleast twice that much to get anything that prints noticeably better.
Honestly if you are on a budget and in no hurry I would check craigslist and fb marketplace there are a lot of people who get printers then don’t use them for much and have buyers remorse.
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Unfortunately, a lot of second hand 3d printers are not user friendly unless you have experience with them to troubleshoot. Even Prusa mk2 are still going for $300-400.
I agree the Ender 3 is the cheapest best printer you can get thats decent, I’m just not sure how user friendly it is out of the box (I’ve had to adjust a few of my friend’s ender 3’s for belt tension or v-rollers not adjusted).
You can get even cheaper with an Ender 3 clone like the Anycubic Mega Zero but again I can’t vouch for the accessibility options for that printer… https://www.anycubic.com/products/mega-zero
Good luck!
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My savings are going well, I expect I need to start thinking about accessories like an Octoprint. A bit of advice please? How much one would cost and getting it set up for the printer shown in post 10?
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Others can pick up on Octoprint cost but I will mention that for many hobbies, the initial investment is a license to start spending money on accessories. That is not the case with Original Prusa printers. I keep a small spray bottle of 99.5% isopropol alcohol, a pair of flush cutters (slightly handier than scissors) and paper towels. Of course you will want a supply of filament at about $25 per 1kg spool.
With only a couple of exceptions, I only use PLA and PLA+. Others may have different suggestions here.
Good luck! Its addictive!
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I wouldn’t bother with octoprint. Printers can be controlled directly from the machine or print over USB. Octoprint is not required by any means
I’d rather not buy another high power computer for the 3D printer, which is all an octoprint is (a low power computer). .Plus you can control the printer remotely. I plan on putting this in an unused bedroom my son trashed before moved out after my stroke. Another long term project is cleaning it out.