Beginner to 3d printing not sure what printer to get happy the pay up to $2000

[rob10000005]

Hi i am a beginner to 3d printer and have been looking for a printer but there are so many models and they vary in price a lot. I'm happy to pay up to £1500 ($2000), I don't want to get a cheap printer to only have to replace it after a short while, any advice would be much appreciated.
Rob

[Martin_au]

Most cheap printers don't need to be replaced. Instead they tend to be more like the Ship of Theseus. Just replace bad/worn parts with new/better.

What do you want to print?

[rob10000005]

I would like to print quite a lot of diffrent size things from small-ish model's, peces for props/cosplay and parts for prototyping things. For this reason I was thinking a bigger printer would be more useful than a small. It does not have to be the highest print quality as I will finish off models and stuff but I want to get the best I can to save me some time on finishing. I hope that makes sense and thanks for the reply.

[Martin_au]

Hmmm, That's a similar issue I faced recently. I had to build a custom machine as there isn't much in the market that fits the "big, decent quality, reliable, easy to use" market. There's a whole bunch of cheap machines, some of which work decently and some of which ....don't. There's a handful of machines that are reasonably high quality, generally easy to use, and reliable, but usually with smallish build volumes (Prusa, Flashforge Creator). Then there's the high end machines, with associated price tags.

Perhaps check out the Artillery Sidewinder. It's very well priced, but also not too cheap. It has a fairly decent design and is a well balanced machine, with a hotend and extruder design that matches the build volume. More importantly, from what I've seen, spare parts and support are easily available, and there's a decent community that can offer support. Firmware appears to be maintained on github, and is a Marlin version.

There's a lot of other machines out there. Just try and check that there's decent community support, and watch out for machines that run a custom firmware that is difficult to update.

[rob10000005]

Thanks, I will have a look at that one. I was looking at the Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ and the dremel digilab 3d45. But there where things I like and disliked with both of them. Thanks for your help.

[Martin_au]

What were your thoughts on the 3D45 and Prusa? Might help refine our suggestions.

[AutoWiz]

I would like to print quite a lot of diffrent size things from small-ish model's, peces for props/cosplay and parts for prototyping things. For this reason I was thinking a bigger printer would be more useful than a small. It does not have to be the highest print quality as I will finish off models and stuff but I want to get the best I can to save me some time on finishing. I hope that makes sense and thanks for the reply.

Hello. I think for the cosplay you would want the larger format printer so you can have more fun with your hobby. The TronXY X5SA 500 Pro is a very large format coreXY machine with a lot of available support. This printer up front will cost you less than half of your budget and upgrades are easy, help for the upgrades is readily available with the robust Facebook support community @ : https://www.facebook.com/groups/169728600253557 . And the time and effort you will put into upgrading such a large format printer will always be worthwhile because the machine lets you build up to 500mm x 500mm x 600mm . There is a sped up assembly video available from the manufacturer you can watch first to make sure this is nothing that is gonna be outside your ability to assemble. That video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJWcAGB-UZg And here is a picture from one of the members of that support group. The large format rigs will let you print your wearable costume parts and usually in just one piece..

[curious aardvark]

how large is large ?

The dremel is a flashforge made machine a couple generations old now.

have a look at the flashforge creator 3 - uses idex dual printheads - which for the fancy cosplay and models is a real bonus.

At the moment tenlog are making the best idex I3 printers around: https://www.tenlog3d.com/tenlog-tl-d...600mm_p17.html
now that's large enough to build breastplates in one piece.
The dl3 though would be my recommendation: https://www.tenlog3d.com/tenlog-tl-d...rsion_p11.html

With the i3 printer design - you can go too tall. AS the bed moves back and forth it will inevitably create layer shift.
But a mid size print volume usually works well.
So for the really large items you're better off with a print bed that either does not move at all - or just moves vertically.
And for that - go for corexy printers.
The fastest of the current 3d printer designs. And with large items - speed really does matter :-)

Which brings us to deltas :-)
probably the most robotic looking of 3d printers. But really good for tall items.
I love deltas.
Cool looking, take up minimal desk space and print fast and with great precision.
This one is large enough to make helmets in one piece:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ANYCUBIC-Pr.../dp/B07MZNLPGH

Anycubic are a decent company and apart from lacking silent stepper drivers (which can be added by you) this seems pretty decent spec.
Deltas have kind of gone out of fashion. Not sure why - they are still a great design and unmatched for printing very tall items.

[rob10000005]

Thanks for reply's and info it is very appreciated. I will go through it all and do some more research. I will try and narrow down what ones I want and will work best for me.

[Franke]

Purchased a 4Pro 2.0, they took the money but never shipped the product.... see trustpilot before you waste your money !