I’m buying a damn printer and will worry about getting yelled at once it shows up. NOW the question is WHICH ONE is worth getting yelled at???? Seems like most people say PRUSA. Is that the consensus? —Random Notes—- I’m used to the Polyprinter at MakerSpace, but that’s the only machine I have experienced. I agree the Ultimaker S3 is just too expensive for what it is. I want to print more ships like Surcouf, including cannons. The Surcouf guns do seem like they are going to work; so I don’t NEED a dual extruder. I do want fast prints with good quality. I don’t want to fiddling with it much/often. I want to set it up quickly and just print. I’d like to be <$1500; but have wiggle room. I have been printing ABS, which requires the heated cabinet. Prusa sells a $$ cabinet, it I wonder if it’s worth just making my own?
I personally hate Prusa machines. The design of the MK3 is 15 years old and they are still asking $800+ for minor ‘usability’ tweaks. Way over priced and over hyped for something you can buy and upgrade for less than half the cost. I have an Ender3 in an actively heated enclosure. The only upgraded I have are an all metal hot end and BL Touch. It prints ABS and PETG exceptionally well. I also just picked up a Bambu X1-Carbon for my heavy printing now. It is an awesome machine but this is the first version so there are a lot of tweaks needed and they are still working kinks out. IE some had part cooling fans foam taped to the side, mine is glued, and there is a version that is screwed on. The slicer is based on SLIC3R tuned for the printer but there are issues with some of the features they are fixing. You DO NOT NEED a $1500 printer. A $200 Ender3 with a $15 all metal hot end and $40 BL Touch will give you pretty great prints. Pick up a small space heater and a cheap cabinet and youve got an actively heated enclosure.
Justin, I have had a tough time in getting my Prusa to effectively print ABS. From my experience I would order the spare parts bag as a necessity along with the extra sheets. I have replaced the heater bed, and three nozzle heaters in the last two years as it has spent more time needing repair than use. I gave it the benefit of the doubt thinking part of my error has been the newby learning curve, but it can’t be all of my problems. I bought mine in 2019 and have not completed but 2-3 ship superstructures in the last 2 years with ABS. I had phenomenal success with PLA and believe it would print PLA without issue or adjustment all day long. ABS proved to be a different story. The steel spacers that support the heated bed off the carriage were not the same height. So in PLA they were close enough the printer would be fine. In ABS the variance was enough to cause problems with lower level layer adhesion. I do have an enclosure from Matterhackers and it is functional but not great. I had definitely taken interest in RCENGR’s notes on adding the heater in an enclosure. One detail that has been an important issue was the filament choice. Prusa has filament settings for some manufactures but not many. So there has been a lot of trial and error in trying to use American sourced filament. Honestly I would have just purchased Prusa filament if shipping prices were still what they were in 2019. I hope Printed Solid will be selling Prusa spec filament soon/ might all ready started, I need to check. BigGunJeff uses a Prusa and prints PETG for his ships. Clint
I use a Lulzbot Mini 2 for most of my printing. After messing around with several early-generation printers that constantly required tweaking, trimming, and regular attention (and still regularly failed prints), I said F*** it, I'm buying something better. I also got a laser-cut ABS/acrylic enclosure, a small heater, and temperature-controlled switch. All-up cost at the time was about $2000. That's a lot of money for the volume I'm able to print (6.3"x6.3"x7" max), but it has given me trouble-free printing for years. All I have to do is oil the rails once a month, and keep feeding it plastic. The parts just keep coming out. I'm sure there are better printers out there now, but this one just doesn't fail me. In 3 years, I've only had 1 week of down-time. That said, I don't think the Mini 2 is your best bet right now. I've been reading around for something bigger than the Mini 2, and the design I settled on was the Artillery Sidewinder X2. It is a large-format printer, so you can build any ship you want in 1:144 scale. It has all of the modern usability features like automatic bed leveling and filament exhaustion detection. You'll still need a heated, temperature-controlled enclosure to print large-format ABS hulls. I haven't used one yet, mostly because I have to finish up current projects that fit on the Mini 2. For future projects, though, I will need the larger print volume and then I'm definitely getting one. View: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09GVTFGCZ/
Well I bought a 3D printer!!! ALMOST. My local b&m had a Lulzbot Taz Workhorse 12”x12”x12” refurb for $500. I bought it immediately, only to get a cancellation email 20mins before it was supposed to be ready for pick up. I think the stock boy wanted it for himself…. ;(
That would have been a great pick up. Ebay and Craigslist are great places to find “i bot this n dunno how to make it work so i am selling it” printers.
I’m gonna go in to the store tomorrow & see if I can get a deal from the manager.. it won’t be $500 though. ;( @Kotori87 - IF I get a good enough deal, what are you using to drive it though USB?
Lulzbot printers can be run with a SD card, but I have mine plugged into an old laptop. It doesn't take much to run a printer.
Wellllllllll…. It must be my lucky day! The manager @ micro center found the $500 Taz Workhorse!!!!!!!!!!!
Found an old pi4 sitting around, octoprint is now installed! Now I just need a home for my new giant “desk” printer.
Hot diggity, that's a nice printer. Hopefully you get as much use from yours as I have from mine. And with something that big, battleships ARE on the menu.
