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Hi guys, i fancy getting my first 3d printer, complete novice, so really not sure what I'm looking at, I will mostly be printing gimmicky stuff.
Ideally something that isn't too restricted to the print size of the mod, and reliable and cheap
I have shortlisted these as they are mentioned frequently, but are open to ideas.
WANHAO DUPLICATOR I3 PLUS MK2
FLASHFORGE ADVENTURER 3
FLASHFORGE FINDER
Anet a8 plus
Balco 3d printer from aldi
Something from monoprice or xyz printing
I just noticed the xyz davinci Pro, which seems to be a multi functional printer which seems useful, a bit out of my budget, but what are your thoughts?
the balco is the same printer as the wanhao - so for that go for the cheapest one.
in your list it's a toss up between the adventurer 3 (monoprice voxel is the same machine - so get whichever is cheapest) and the anet a8 PLUS.
One is a relatively small print volume plug and play machine with wifi, and a removeable build plate - adventurer/voxel.
The anet a8 plus (never forget the plus) is a basic large volume printer with all the good i3 features but no actual bells and whistles.
For a first machine I'd probably recommend the adventurer/voxel.
But if you're looking for something with future potential that is very easy to modify and already has all the important bits of an i3: dual z motors, direct drive extruder and print bed side support rails and a good solid frame, that you could add auto levelling to fairly easily and would only need a few minor mods - then the anet is a very good buy.
looking at the a8 and without seeing one in real life - the only obvious mod that immediately springs to mind is changing out the bed levelling nuts for locking nuts.
Pretty much the first thing you should do with ANY printer that has manual levelling for the printbed.
It dramatically cuts down on the frequency of needing to level the bed.
So I shortlisted my choices to your recommendations, I think i like to have 1 that is already built, so it's the voxel or adventurer
I have noticed that the adventurer is much cheaper, but the resolution is lower, I don't know if that is a major concern,
I have heard about the filament issue with having bigger ones but can be resolved by having a spool holder.
I have a few more questions if anyone knows.
Can these use any 3rd party filaments?
Can they print from petg and wood filaments?
The inventor ii is only ?20 more than the adventurer, is that any good?
Are any of the cheaper monoprice models any good?
Also why are they so big? I need to see if I have enough space to put one :(
it's the same machine. There was one on the monoprice stall at lat year's tct - they'd just stuck tape over the flashforge logo :-)
Yes can use any brand filament and yes it's a lot more economical to use an external spool holder.
In the uk flashforge sell the 5/600gm spools for about ?11 and the 1kg rolls for ?14.
Kind of a no brainer :-)
as it's a printer with an enclosed print volume, you can pretty much print anything. You might struggle with polycarbonate - but that's just because it needs a fairly serious hotend. Most other things will be fine :-)
Most of the monoprice machines are reasonable.
But will most likely need some minor mods to get the best from them,.
I've got the mini delta. yesterday I made the bowden tube shorter and cut the extruder spring shorter.
It now prints flexible filaments that it didn't before. I have a 0.25mm nozzle on mine - so it's used for small highly detaild or fiddly prints the other machines don't like.
But monoprice just buy in printers and rebadge, and generally they buy from quality manufacturers.
anycubic Mega is my option the best one