I’m considering getting a filament (not resin) 3D printer. I keep getting Facebook ads for Makerbot. There are much cheaper versions on Amazon without cases, and there’s even a Dremel version.
Ideally, it would be large enough to help with PPE creation efforts, such as what @HankCowdog described in the other thread.
If you were going to buy a 3D printer, which one would you buy and why?
I bought a Prusa I3 MK3 Nov 2018. I’ve run perhaps 25 KG of filament through it with a probably 95% success rate on my prints.
Had one part catch and break, which I repaired with epoxy putty. I’ve intended to print a replacement (the design is open source), but it will involve completely tearing down and rebuilding the printhead - a task I’m not looking forward to.
The prusa is a bit spendy (~$1000) but Is a solid and well-supported design.
There are cheaper options out there: the Creality Ender 5 is popular in the terrain-printing FB groups to which I am subscribed. They are in the $500 range.
Owning a 3D printer is a bit like owning a project car: some initial work is needed to get it tuned up and running, and expect periodic tinkering to keep it going.
The less you spend on your project, the more tinkering you should expect.
3D printers (even higher-end ones) are not really at at consumer product level like a toaster or microwave. If you’re not into tinkering and/or not tolerant of failures, a 3D printer might not be right for you.
A lot of tuning and maintenance happens on the DMS printers behind the scenes to keep them running as well as they do.
I can support these statements fully.
I have a 3D printer that prints, and then I have to level the bed from time to time, and baby it to make sure the extruder doesn’t do this weird thing that causes it to fail to feed from time to time (I haven’t looked into it yet) etc etc
OR
I can use DMS’s working printers (except during the apocalypse I guess), and not have to worry about anything except staying up at DMS for 20 hours.
Since I’ve been a member I’ve fired up my home printer once.
I’d want it for use during the apocolypse 
Thank you for letting me know!
Mike (@HankCowdog) summarized it all very well IMO. I own a MK3 (now a MK3S with MMU2S) as well. I would say if you want less tinkering, definitely do NOT convert it to a multi-material version (the MMU2S). I did that and my printer definitely isn’t as “fire and forget” as it used to be.
On a single filament where I don’t worry about switching (which is most of my prints), it’s still super rock solid once it gets loaded up and printing.
That’s an easy thing to do there. The Space is a Time Warp where all time is lost.
My experience is like @HankCowdog but shorter. I bought a slightly used Prusa MK2S in early January and have run 5 KG through it with over 95% success rate except for a few self inflicted problems.
I would strongly recommend Prusa MK3S or Mini. They have sold over 150,000 printers. In November they introduced the Mini which sells for $400 with shipping and is so backlogged you will not get delivery until June.
Search youtube for reviews of Prusa Mini or a Creality model.
Edit update: Changed KB to KG.
well said!!!
I’ll sell you a qidi tech 1 (replicator clone) for little under $200 ! needs a bit of love but I have got good prints from it and should be good to go. Dual head is useless tho I just use one as getting both configured to work at same time is a pain. It has xy motion and a solid build plate, enclosed so can print ABS and other difficult fillaments. Have some spare replacement parts (nozzels) and fillament I can throw in.
My bad for hijacking lol. Added benefit of you can have it today! But in the near future it could use an upgraded driver board for 32 bit, quieter steppers, and better firmware(nothing explicitly bad about qidi just lacked some features I wanted). I just have decided to use the makerspace tho honestly as I prefer to just print and not the hobby.
Another vote for the Prusa machines. They do great work with minimal interaction for a reasonable price.
If you’re looking for something other than a ‘generic’ printer, high temp materials, larger bed size, multiple materials, there are other ways to go. But for all the day to day functional parts, figures, toys, etc the Prusa gets my vote.
I have both the Prusa i3 MK3 and the Prusa Mini. They’re both excellent choices in those categories.
Is that what you used to make the fractal pyramid?
Yeah, you can see it on the Prusa in this thread:
There’s an emoji for “nail care”, but not for a Sierpinski octahedron. That’s frickin’ bullshit!
I have a Creality CR 10 Mini. It was $230 and after a very accurate bed leveling with a feeler gauge, good Prusa filament, and a slight bump in bed temperature, it prints well on default Cura settings. It’s super cheap and works.
But from all I’ve read and seen the Prusa printers seem to be at that optimal balance point between tested quality and cost.
ROFLMAO! This world sucks!
I agree with everyone on the Prusa Mk3. Best support and print quality for the price, easy to follow instructions, prusa edition slic3r has great features.
The CR-10 and Artillery Sidewinder X1 are bigger volume but good for the price if you don’t mind doing some troubleshooting.
I’m bias to SeeMeCNC, their Artemis delta printer is a work horse.
Cetus MK3 $399 (or other Tiertime printers)
I’m the rare 3D Fab enthusiast that wants to design and print, not work on a printer. Cetus is the step kid of Tiertime whose been making printers for 15 years. It is as close to a turn-key printer that I’ve seen on the lower price range. I’ve had my MK2 for a year and a half. I’ve had to change the nozzle a few times (brass is worn out by some filaments) and leveled the bed maybe 3 times, that’s it for upkeep.
The one thing some don’t like about them is that they use Tiertime’s slicer instead of open source. That limits some of your printing variables and ability to tie in other Arduino based equipment. That said, the Tiertime slicer used on the Cetus is the same they use on their $200K commercial units, and it works great! Running my Flashforge with different slicers, I got used to an unexpected fail 5% of the time. The only failed prints I have on my Cetus or UPMini II are due to user errors.
Cetus is not as well known, but I can’t recommend it enough. Check out MakersMuse on youtube for a pro review.
Damn, I must add that the Prusa face shields being made won’t fit on a Cetus. This face shield will though, and it is the most comfortable of the ones I’ve tried.