What printer should I get

[sunil06]

Hi guys I received a $500 gift card from work and was looking at getting a 3D printer. I saw that Amazon has some with dual and triple extenders that I could get for under $500. Are any of these worth it or should I just get a single head? Also what kind would be recommended it would be to basically play with maybe make something for the kids. Thanks

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[AutoWiz]

I think you should look at the Geeetech A30T. It has a large build volume and is 3 filament mixing printer. Which means you can print every color in the rainbow if you load in the translucent colors Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. It has all the good features of the day. Geeetech is a name that has been around for a while. The very first printer I bought back in early 2016 was a Geeetech i3 pro B. This is a nice machine and fits your budget. Geeetech A30T 3-in-1-out auto leveling mix color 3d printer [800-001-0613] - $479.20 : geeetech 3d printers onlinestore, one-stop shop for 3d printers,3d printer accessories,3d printer parts

[curious aardvark]

first - who (what retailer) is the giftcard for ?

I can see autowiz's point.
But I reckon you're just asking for treouble with the printer. Too complicated by half.

A single extruder is fine and while I do have a dual extruder - I pretty much just use it for two colours or two materials.
At the moment one extruder is loaded with flexible polyurethane filament and the other with pla (I forget the colour)

I do sometimes thibnk: wouldn't it be great to make such an item with both flexible and rigid parts. And then i remmber it teks 3x as long and uses twice as much material - and I do something else instead :-)

The current crop of slicers - really isn't that great at multiple exrtrusion.

And there is very little you can't make with a single extruder setup.

So lets assume your voucher is for amazon.
What $500 machine would I reco0mmend.

This IS a dual extruder - but a tried and tested design that just works: https://www.amazon.com/Function-Extr...trial&sr=1-267
And has all the bells and whistles as well.

For an i3 style with a much larger build volume and single extruder, the artillery sidewinder takes a lot of beating: https://www.amazon.com/Artillery-Sid...trial&sr=1-289
Has all the latest stepper dirvers and a lot of very good reviews.

THis is the cheapest I'd go: https://www.amazon.com/Printer-Struc...trial&sr=1-339
Good machine and the fastest of the bunch.
Plus it would leave you wuith over $100 to buy filament and other essentials (sanding blocks, micro files, buildplate adhesive) :-)

having just scrolled through the entire current amazon printer selection - those are the three I would buy personally.
And the three I could happily recommend as first machines.
All have extensive user groups and come from reasonable manufacturers.

If I had to just pick one - it would probably be the tronxy. Nothing to do with cost.
It's the largest build volume, the moist stable frame and prints faster than the others.
And dual extrusion really isn't anywhere near as useful as you think it's going to be :-)

Interestingly I didn't see any delta printers at all.
people have twigged that corexy printers are faster and offer more precision. And are almost as absorbing to watch running.

I can absolutely see where autowiz is coming from. But I just think for a first machine a 3 colout mixer is going to cause you a lot more trouble than the novelty is worth.

As a second machine to play around with - absolutely, but for a first machine, I'd personally avoid it.