What would be your "perfect" entry level printer?

[curious aardvark]

lol trakyan is talking about marketing a new printer - he's got loads :-)

the anycubic looks like a wanhao i3 duplicator plus clone.

cheaper though.
Have you looked at the tevo tornado ?
If I was buying a cheap i3 kit - that's currently the one I'd go for.

[abmarinxyz]

XYZprinting is having a Black Friday deal on the da Vinci miniMaker on the B&H website: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...op+Nav-Search=

The da Vinci miniMaker is $169.95 and it has free shipping and no tax. The miniMaker is PLA only, has a level bed, auto-calibration for the nozzle, and a non-heated bed. B&H also sells their filament for $22. I was actually going to post on this today.

[curious aardvark]

101hero review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAsCCetO9ss
for $49 you get what you pay for lol

[Roberts_Clif]

I would scan the Internet / E-Bay for "3D Printer DIY kit Aluminum"
With an DIY kit Aluminum you will learn while assembling and still have a sturdy frame to ensure a precision print.

I purchased Used Hictop 3DP11/12 Reprap Prusa i3's, which could not be assembled by the previous owners, and Saved about 50% from new.
My purchases turned out better than expected, though it very well could have turned out the other way.

[Trakyan]

I never said the 101hero was good, just that i liked the idea of a cheap and accessible printer. The biggest let down are the motors, i think the rest is usable to get decent prints.

As for a first printer, I'd go for something with a big community to help you when you're getting started. If you want cheap go for a chinese kit, but from a reasonably high profile supplier like tevo (gathered some hate lately), monoprice, he3d etc rather than a random aliexpress or ebay listing. The price hike is negligible ($10-20 if anything) but youre more likely to get replacement parts if it arrived dead or broken. Monoprice printers in particular seem beginner friendly and well made.

[curious aardvark]

plus buying random second hand kits/printers from ebay isn't exactly something you'd do as a complete first time user, which is the actual point of this thread.

Looking for printers for total beginners.

[Trakyan]

I mostly started this thread because I'm almost done with my current printer design, and am in the process of deciding if there are any features I can strip away or should add. This is a cheap printer with the goal of being simple, so I'm looking to other good cheap printers for ideas.

The philosophy I'm going for with this printer is simple and minimal. Nothing is there unless it has to be. No extra idlers to make it pretty or route something someway or other, no adjustment screws that don't need to be there, nothing. Apart from standard hardware (motors, hotend, etc.) I've managed to use only one type and length of bolt, its matching nut, washer and bearing as the only hardware for the printer. My only dilemma is M8 vs M5. M8 is more robust (harder to bend bolts etc.) and 608 bearings are the most widely available. M5 is lighter (marginally less moving mass, cheaper to ship if I sell kits) and would allow me to make a dual drive extruder without adding any new bolt types (M8 wouldn't allow this), plus the bearings are thinner so i can use shorter bolts. I'm debating if the dual drive extruder is something I should include, it sort of goes against the simple and minimal philosophy of the printer, on the other hand it's cool.