Hy everyone
I’m a tech enthiast, full time developer and looking a long time to enter in the 3D printer world.
I have been search recenlty for some sugestions on the internet, and looking the options available in my country, mostly on a local aliexpress warehouse (to avoid some unpredictable tax).
I saw some Core XY from Tronxy I saw a lot of Ender 3 and it variants (V2, S1 pro) I saw some SLA (This one i’m a litte scared beacuse of toxity of the material, is that bad ? Like print something to touch for some time) I saw a Fysetech prusa mk3 clone that i discard after watch some bad reviews from long time users I saw the sovol s06 and the sovol s07
All I look will be close to ~500/600 usd in a local wharehose.
The ender 3 v2 will be a littble bit less, and some s1 plus will be a little bit more that that.
My usage will be to make some improvements for my work setup, something that i need in home, some addons for my switch, some charctaers to put on my desk, nothing commercial or that dependes of perfections.
Looks like that the Core XY it’s on trend right now, but I think maybe it’s too much for starts with.
I tend for the sovol s07 right, but i confess that the v roller wheels looks a cheap economy
But what do you guys think about thoes options ? Maybe await to check the neptune 4 ? Worth to buy a cheap printer and made some upgrades ? Like buy a Sovol S06 and put a Klipper by myself later ?
If you are just starting out. It is best to go with something cheap, but with the important features, which is bed-meshing. It does not really matter who you are buying it from, because unless it is a Prusa, after-sale support will all be spotty or non-existing.
Personally, I got the Ender 3 S1 as my first printer, for $300. The hardware works well and simple enough. But it is the kind of thing you have to tinker with before it can become reliable. Within the first 3 days, I had to switch to Prusa Slicer; because Creality’s slicer does not have the features I need. And, by the end of the week, I had to update the firmware to the open-source “pro” version; because the built-in firmware does not allow me to easily tram the bed or adjust the bed mesh, which cause me hours of troubleshooting and tons of failed print. After that it is all good.
The next big thing right now is not the CoreXY motion system, it is auto-z-calibration (or auto-first-layer), which meant you don’t need to do the weird paper trick every 2-5 prints. The cheapest machine that have that is the Bambu Lab P1P. The next one up (in term of price) is the Prusa MK4. The trade-out between the 2 is that the Prusa have a good track record of support, while Bambu Lab is cheaper and faster.
i got an ender 5 pro and the first time i tried to set it up and use it i ended up giving up and setting it aside for a while. the bed would never level, the z stop seemed stuck in place even with tools, the extruder kept running in reverse, i couldnt not get clogs. it was just a mess. in the last month i tried it again and its gone so much better. having something that handles the bed for me sounds amazing.