First 3D printer that starts us down the path

[manandwala]

There are many 3D printers available for Makers/Hobby Use Which was your first one that started you down the path of 3D printing?  And which one would you recommend to get started?

[Noah Burk]

Hello Manandwala! I recently took a trip down the rabbit hole that is the 3D printer market myself, and you are very correct there are many many options. I was lucky and got the chance to start by borrowing a friend's old printer that was collecting dust. I used this printer on and off for about a year, and then recently I purchased a Bambu P1S, and I have only good things to say about it so far! There are a lot of factors when it comes to picking the printer that is the best for you. If you answer some of the following questions that will help me narrow down my recommendations.

Do you know what you mainly want to print? ( Could be action figures or functional mechanical parts)

What materials do you want to print with? (PLA is standard and will get the job done for most things, ABS and ASA are stronger but should have filters close by.)

Do you have a rough budget?

Have you done any research into FFF vs SLA printers? And do you know what technology you want?

[Mark]

If there was ever a question to ask 30 people and get 30 different answers, it is this. I have a base level creality FDM printer and cant say anything bad about it. I would suggest a low cost entry level that has lots of online support so you can learn the ropes and see what changes do what. Then upgrade to the fancy stuff like Noah here.

[Noah Burk]

Here are some YouTube channels that I found informative!

https://www.youtube.com/@NathanBuildsRobots

https://www.youtube.com/@AuroraTech

I agree with Mark, low entry cost is the best way to start hands down. I've also heard a lot of people recommend buying a printer kit and assembling it yourself, this will give you better insight when troubleshooting quality problems that will happen over time. 

[CarlosR]

Hi Manandwala I agree with Mark and Noah, there are many options and different technologies available for 3D printing. I really got into 3D printing about 2.5 years ago, and I got a cheap creality 3D printer ( ender3) and I still have the same printer to this day.

Here is a link to the printer on Amazon; 

https://www.amazon.com/Comgrow-Creality-Ender-Aluminum-220x220x250mm/dp/B07BR3F9N6/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1BDGS3F7LI3UB&keywords=ender+3&qid=1695053554&sprefix=ender%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-1-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

Like I said Before it is a fairly inexpensive printer, and the good thing about it is that it is al open source meaning that there a a ton of upgrades that can be done to the printer. which include getting a better extruder to print different materials on that same printer, and many more. 

As a Hobby printer for starters, I think this would be perfect.

[manandwala]

@Noah Burk it's mostly for work related stuff (fixtures and such) but I have looked into Resin printers (Formlabs/Nexa3D) as well as Bambu/Prusa and of course for YouTube there is the 3D Printing Nerd and yes @Mark this is subjective but I will say that nylon is great for fixtures.  Then there is also metal 3D printing like the Markforged and Ultimaker.

 

 

[Noah Burk]

@manandwala I agree, nylon is great for fixtures! At Pipeline we have some Markforged printers and they are bad to the bone, but they are expensive to use. Something like an Ender 3 can print nylon with some fairly simple upgrades. Here is a link to an article about all metal hot-ends. You may need an all-metal hot end depending on the print temperature of the nylon you want to use. I have used Taulman 910  in the past, it works well, but all nylons are really hygroscopic so you will likely need to dry them very well before printing and keep them in a sealed box when not using it. I just tried to print with that Taulman 910 about 2 weeks ago after it was sitting in my closet for months. Dried it for 7+ hours and it still had moisture trapped within it.