Medium sized, user friendly 3d printer than will host a variety or filaments?

[BrokenBiker]

First thing you need to know, I know 10% of sod all about 3d printers.

But I want one, or rather at this point need one.

Following the rule of if I've had to ask 5 times for something to be made in a year, I need to buy my own...I've currently had 27 parts printed through a friend this year so about time, plus he is downsizing to a 1 bed flat and as such has sold his large printer for a smaller one that apparently is only good for trinkets and the stuff he sells (without offering into me I might add).

The stuff I have had made ranges from small knobs and handles, to cup holders that will securely hold a can of monster and one of those giant Stanley cup jobbies, a few radio clips with adhesive pads, just bits to make work easier and more comfy...

So, I don't need anything huge, I don't really know what filaments do what but I've been told pla, silk pla, petg and tpu are a must, and have been advised on a flash forge ad5x multi colour printer.

So the real question is, is that advice good advice? And what are my alternatives for that sort of size machine? The multi colour is not a requirement I must add, more a luxury, most everything I have had made, to my knowledge has been black PLA, none of it needs to be load bearing, or shock resistant (that may change when I have my own) but an idea of the things am looking to make next are things like lathe chuck key holders (with a magnetic base), drill bit stands for drills, reamers, taps and what not, lathe tool stand and some sort of tray for my tool holders, dti storage box etc so nothing massive and the larger bits could be made in multiple pieces and glued

 

[minimutly]

They are a superb little gadget but it breaks my heart to warn you it's not really a plug and play device. I cut my teeth on my old Ender but it takes a fair bit of finesse to get the thing to print reliably. Bed levelling, bed adhesion, filament calibration all "need" to be dialled in and that's after having to build the thing if supplied in kit form.

A better option would be the Bambu A1 mini. https://uk.store.bambulab.com/collections/a1-series

I am surprised to see how cheaply they can be had and if they're really available at the price I link to above, it's a no brainer for a starter system. I'm half tempted to get one myself and I was an early adopter for the X1 Carbon which I use almost daily.

This was the answer I got a few days ago in the "what I made in my 3d printer today" thread. It seems you can by a cheap thing for a few hundred or less, up to £7k for something pro. Also I guess you need a PC to run the control code and drawing software, and a PC these days is not cheap.

 

[minimutly]

This was the answer I got a few days ago in the "what I made in my 3d printer today" thread. It seems you can by a cheap thing for a few hundred or less, up to £7k for something pro. Also I guess you need a PC to run the control code and drawing software, and a PC these days is not cheap.

This gives you a good starter:-

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[BrokenBiker]

This was the answer I got a few days ago in the "what I made in my 3d printer today" thread. It seems you can by a cheap thing for a few hundred or less, up to £7k for something pro. Also I guess you need a PC to run the control code and drawing software, and a PC these days is not cheap.

I have a laptop spare that will live in the shed solely for 3d printing, the odd bit of music and so on...and I have fusion 360 for design/drawing and I'm sure I downloaded some sort of slicer as well although may have lost that in the factory reset.

I'm prepared for the learning curve, but something that doesn't require a degree in IT would be beneficial. I enjoy learning new skills but obviously if it's akin to solving string theory, it's not for me.

Also, from what I can see the flash forge has a self leveling bed and auto calibration which was beneficial to me when looking at them as that would take a lot of fiddling out of the equation.

Prepared to scrap the first handful of parts while dialing settings and techniques in

 

[Bladevane]

Ask this sort of question to 20 people and you will get 40 answers. It comes down to ease of setting up and use but mostly budget. I could tell you my preference but so can a load of others, therefore what is the point? It won’t make your decision any easier.

 

[MattF]

I could tell you my preference but so can a load of others, therefore what is the point?

Exactly. We all have our preferences.

 

[Kram]

Bambu printers generally work out of the box with no issues, and Makerworld has an immense libarary of tat that can be printed with no knowedge from a few presses on a phone. There are some good items on there.
I'd suggest one with a enclosure, it helps the print and lets you do filaments which are more likely to warp or smell.
I also quite like the AMS 2 filament holder, I've got 4 spools I use most set up and theres no manual messing about. Remove the previous print, wipe the bed, press print.
I'm using a P2S, it was roughtly £700 from AdditiveX.

 

[Dr.Al]

The printers that seem to be thought of as the easiest options are the Bambu Labs Chinese ones. Like many newer printers, they do lots of fancy things like auto first layer calibration (which saves a bit of hassle when you change nozzle). Multi-colour capability is an add on that adds to the cost, but it's well implemented. They're fairly fire-and-forget but if you have any problems you're pretty much on your own: the tech support is awful (as I've recently experienced with an H2D I bought).

Bed levelling itself is done on most printers, even old ones. The thing you have to do manually on older ones is getting the first layer calibrated. It's not difficult per se, but it is a tedious step that you have to do when you change nozzle or build plate.

Generally speaking, newer printers are easier to use, older printers less so. If you want one that'll be super reliable and you'll stand a really good chance of getting expert help if you have a problem, then Prusa are probably the best, but you pay a premium for them. Bambu are cheap for what you get but work out of the box as long as you don't get a Friday afternoon build (in which case you're in for a world of pain). Traditionally, Creality ones needed a lot more fettling to get them to print (but you'd learn a lot in the process of that fettling). That might have changed with newer models. I don't know anything about Flash Forge.

Horses for courses really.

For what it's worth, I'm going to sell my Prusa i3 MK3S+ as soon as I can get round to writing an advert for it. It's nowhere near as advanced as newer printers: manual first layer calibration, single colour at a time (although you can switch colours manually on layer transitions, which is okay if you just want some text in a different colour), but it has superb support, is upgradeable if you want to go that way (I've already upgraded it to have OctoPi to allow sending and monitoring print jobs over the network) and is very reliable printer. If you want something more fire-and-forget, then look elsewhere and I certainly won't be doing a hard sell on it as the best option for you. I only used it with PETG and (on one or two occasions PLA). It'll print TPU, but I've never done so. However, if you want something relatively cheap but very reliable (and with great support from the manufacturer, who seem happy to help with issues even post-warranty), then it may be a good introduction until you want to upgrade to something else.

Think about whether you just want something to plug in and go (in which case a new printer from most of the manufacturers will probably be good) or you want to learn about it a bit more (in which case one of the Creality ones that might need fettling or alternatively a Prusa kit printer might be better). Of course there's a whole spectrum of variants in the middle ground.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Ask this sort of question to 20 people and you will get 40 answers. It comes down to ease of setting up and use but mostly budget. I could tell you my preference but so can a load of others, therefore what is the point? It won’t make your decision any easier.

I'll be honest, I knew this when asking the question but I have found there is often an overwhelming recommendation for 1 brand over others.

As for budget, I hadn't considered that aspect as most all of the ones I've seen similar to the flash forge have all been around 300 quid or so

 

[Kram]

They're fairly fire-and-forget but if you have any problems you're pretty much on your own: the tech support is awful (as I've recently experienced with an H2D I bought).

I suggest if buying a Bambu to get it from AdditiveX, they were quite helpful when I spoke with them and knowedgable about their products. Same price as Bambu's website and likely faster delivery.

 

[Dr.Al]

I suggest if buying a Bambu to get it from AdditiveX, they were quite helpful when I spoke with them and knowedgable about their products. Same price as Bambu's website and likely faster delivery.

Yes, I think that's good advice. I wondered about it when I bought the H2D, but although the printer price was the same, buying from Bambu directly meant they threw in some free stuff and also gave big discounts on other stuff when bought with the printer and AdditiveX's offers didn't come close. Having experienced Bambu support now though, I think I'd be inclined to go with AdditiveX and accept the extra cost.

 

[BrokenBiker]

I would prefer something that is on the simpler side of things, I don't mind the odd tweaking here and there but something that requires in depth fettling probably isn't for me at the moment given how much I've got going on with other projects that don't seem to get finished because of each other getting in the way.

Hadnt looked at bambu labs, will do though

 

[Beanwood]

I would prefer something that is on the simpler side of things, I don't mind the odd tweaking here and there but something that requires in depth fettling probably isn't for me at the moment given how much I've got going on with other projects that don't seem to get finished because of each other getting in the way.

Hadnt looked at bambu labs, will do though

For £429 you can get the P1s with the 4 spool AMS holder, so as mentioned above you can change filament colour automatically- which can save a lot of time and effort.
For another £270 you get the P2s - newer and slightly better - so it depends how rigid your budget is..

 

[BrokenBiker]

For £429 you can get the P1s with the 4 spool AMS holder, so as mentioned above you can change filament colour automatically- which can save a lot of time and effort.
For another £270 you get the P2s - newer and slightly better - so it depends how rigid your budget is..

Will have a look at the p1s when I get 10 mins.

I only looked at the fast forge ad5x because it was a suggestions by both the mate that's been printing for me, and my Mrs friends fella that has now moved to a resin printer, he had an ad5x and liked it

 

[Kram]

Even the A1 for £200 works very well out of the box. Its not enclosed but you could put a box over it. My brother uses one for mostly decorative prints, so far he has only used PLA but it should print PETG and many others without issue.
It appears if you are printing downloaded models on PLA/PETG, your not really getting any speed advantage of buying a better printer.

Elgoo Centuri carbon is another worth looking at. Perhaps the best cheaper option.

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Or Neptune 4 Max if you want to print bigger stuff

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so as mentioned above you can change filament colour automatically- which can save a lot of time and effort.

I havent actually done a multi filament print yet, but it is useful for swapping between prints. Without, you have to manually wind in the filament and feed out the new one.
With the AMS I dont need to touch it, so it stays dry, no humid air gets to the filament.

@Dr.Al your pic of the Prusa in the other thread, shows the filament spools open above the printer, did you have any issues with moisture in the petg?

 

[BrokenBiker]

Even the A1 for £200 works very well out of the box. Its not enclosed but you could put a box over it. My brother uses one for mostly decorative prints, so far he has only used PLA but it should print PETG and many others without issue.
It appears if you are printing downloaded models on PLA/PETG, your not really getting any speed advantage of buying a better printer.

Elgoo Centuri carbon is another worth looking at. Perhaps the best cheaper option.

Elegoo Centauri Carbon | Best High-Speed CoreXY 3D Printer

Enjoy CoreXY high speed and advanced materials with Elegoo Centauri Carbon. Get ultra-detailed prints with easy Plug-N-Play, built for both beginners & pros.

uk.elegoo.com

Or Neptune 4 Max if you want to print bigger stuff

ELEGOO Neptune 4 Max FDM 3D Printer

ELEGOO Neptune 4 Plus FDM 3D Printer with Up to 500mm/s Printing Speed, 300℃ High-temp Nozzle, Dual-Gear Direct Extruder, 320x320x385mm³/12.59x12.59x15.15 Inch Printing Size

uk.elegoo.com

I havent actually done a multi filament print yet, but it is useful for swapping between prints. Without, you have to manually wind in the filament and feed out the new one.
With the AMS I dont need to touch it, so it stays dry, no humid air gets to the filament.

@Dr.Al your pic of the Prusa in the other thread, shows the filament spools open above the printer, did you have any issues with moisture in the petg?

Thanks for that, I had looked at the A1 earlier.

As I say, multi colour printing isn't a huge desire, most of my stuff will likely be black or red.

Looks like I have a few to look at and compare now so will do my usual thing if obsessing for a few weeks then buying one on an impulse when I have something I need printed

 

[BrokenBiker]

Another question...if I get a printer that can only handle 1 spool at a time, can I still do multi colour prints by way of programming and then manually changing filament?

Again, not a requirement but just something I thought of as ive been looking through them

 

[Beanwood]

I havent actually done a multi filament print yet, but it is useful for swapping between prints. Without, you have to manually wind in the filament and feed out the new one.
With the AMS I dont need to touch it, so it stays dry, no humid air gets to the filament.

You wil appreciate it when you do. The killer (And learning point) for me was when I had the top 3mm of two separate models with a different colour. There was a LOT of colour changes - which whilst it took a lot of time and purging didn't bother me too much, as it was automatic

As I say, multi colour printing isn't a huge desire, most of my stuff will likely be black or red.

Ah yes - but wait until you realise you can print mumbers - maybe on that dial you decide to print.... because you can....

 

[Dr.Al]

Another question...if I get a printer that can only handle 1 spool at a time, can I still do multi colour prints by way of programming and then manually changing filament?

Yes with caveats. I've done this countless times on the Prusa: this is an example. The way I did it was to print the first layer or two in one colour, then change filament (Prusaslicer makes it easy to put a manual filament change in on a layer boundary), then do a couple more layers, then perhaps change back. There are gaps in the first layer so the other colour shows through. The downside is you get a stripe around the rim.

I've also done a more involved process to print two colours on one layer (seen in this image), but that involves a lot of careful fiddling with the slicer to get the filament changes in the right place & was a bit of a pain.

@Dr.Al your pic of the Prusa in the other thread, shows the filament spools open above the printer, did you have any issues with moisture in the petg?

Short answer: no.

PETG does absorb moisture, but really slowly. If I have a reel on the printer for a week or so, it'll be fine. If I leave it there for a month without using it all up, it'll start to go a bit stringy, but the early appearance of strings can just be rubbed off with a finger & if it gets worse I'd just bung the reel in the kitchen oven at about 60-70°C for a bit.

In most cases, I either get through the reel before it absorbs the moisture or, if I'm not going to be using it for a while, I store the filament in a vacuum bag.

 

[Agroshield]

...that will live in the shed solely for 3d printing

Maybe the panel could speak on this a little. From what I understand, 3D printers and their feedstock are quite fussy about their environment. The printer is not something you could leave in the same kind of shed as a lathe, walk up to it one morning, and just expect it to work.

That might influence your buying decision if you have to make a little climate-controlled cupboard in which the machine can reside.