Total Noob. First printer. What to buy?

[fred_dot_u]

The "ripple" reference is more a potato chip reference, especially if you enjoy Pringles. Consider placing a plate of glass on a surface. If the glass rocks when corners are pressed, don't use that surface to build your printer. Your printer would be constructed in such a manner that it would not rock, but that means that it conforms to the potato chip surface which the glass presented. I just realized that our glass-top range makes a great build surface for that reason. It doesn't have to be level, only flat, as you won't be referencing earth normal during any build (I hope).

I think it's difficult to compare the two printers head-to-head, as one of them is a dual extruder design. This adds features and can add complexity. I've not researched the Tenlog other than to scan the specifications. I've seen very little in the forums regarding problems with the Tenlog, but mostly because I don't travel much to those areas. Most of my experience is with the Prusa in a support mode, which has been pretty darn easy. Even the standard "turn it off and back on" fix has been used once.

The Tenlog has many features to its credit and I expect if that's the printer you get, you'll become proficient with it. I've considered to purchase one myself, just for the direct drive aspect of the extruders. It has a larger bed than the Prusa, although it does not have an auto-level system. On the flip side of that, the glass bed is likely to remain flat/planar making leveling less difficult than beds of other composition. My Sigma has a glass bed and fiddle wheels for leveling, but uses the z-limit switches to determine level status. This means none of the "stick paper under the nozzle" stuff, which can be subjective.

The Tenlog uses rails and bearings for the carriage, promoting stiffness of design, another plus. I've noted that one can purchase (or build) an enclosure for the Tenlog, making it more suitable for ABS and other temperature sensitive filaments. One can build an enclosure for the Prusa, of course.

Of course, the price certainly is a positive for the Tenlog. I suspect I could be as enthusiastic about the Tenlog as I am about the Prusa if I had been involved in building one. If my Sigma dies on me (so far unlikely), Tenlog IDEX would be on the top of my list for a replacement.

[fred_dot_u]

@rfk_bomb, the cold temps mean you may have to increase the nozzle and bed temperatures to compensate and you risk having delamination, even with PLA, but almost certainly with ABS, regardless of your printer choice. You could construct an enclosure, either one limited to the general size of the printer, or create a work cubby that can be enclosed with a safe space heater to assist in warming without having to heat the entire garage. The latter means you'd be dedicating an area of your garage to one specific purpose, but that isn't always a bad thing. In such a circumstance, I'd probably build a big wheeled vertical rectangular box, perhaps with french doors, allowing it to be placed and relocated conveniently.

On another note, I'm a big fan of Prusa Slicer, having had to teach a number of the makerspace members to use it effectively. I use Simplify3D for my slicing projects, but it's expensive and has been static in development for some time. I've recently learned of ideamaker slicer which has been favorably compared to Simplify3D. It supports the Tenlog with downloadable profiles, which is a certain bonus for those owners. There's also a Prusa profile for download, but unfortunately none for my Sigma.

When the Sigma is running, I can only detect the sugary odor of the PLA when I'm within a couple of meters of the machine. I don't smell ABS at all, but that could be aged olfactory equipment! I'm currently running the X-Max with ABS in my living room (for lack of space) and neither my wife nor I can smell it unless I open the enclosure. Your basement may be too humid for the filament long term storage, but I suspect the smell won't be too bad. If you have a sensitive nose, recalibrate my opinion appropriately.

Another point that makes it difficult to determine which printer to buy is that both of them are very quiet. The library had a Cube3D v3 printer which was so noisy, the staff hated to have to run a print. The replacement Prusa was quiet enough that one could easily forget it was running. The Tenlog appears to have similar specifications regarding noise levels.

[curious aardvark]

right - the most important aspect of the tenlog is that it uses LINEAR RAILs. The direct dribe extruders look good too - but that's something that can easily be added to most printers.
The rails are the crucial piece.
This means the movement is totally smooth and does not require a level surface to sit on - where did that come from ?
Linear rails also allow for more precise movement and faster movement - for the record Prusa do NOT use linear rails on any of their machines.

I have a prusa mk1 clone - that Does require a flat surface. plywood anyone ? I mean flat is not the same as level.

3d printers will print at any angle and even upside down (check youtube) - so 'level' not important

Some i3's need a flat surface because the z-&x axis gantry isn't actually bolted tot eh base properly. Like my cheapo i3.
he tenlog does not look like one of those printers.

My i3 is bolted a sheet of aluminium - because I get free aluminum - but a piece of plywood, mdf or any chipboard would have done just as well.
I just like aluminium.
BUT ! that is an £80 printer and does not use aluminium extrusion bolted to a solid base.

If I currently had both deskspace and spare money and could choose between a prusa and a tenlog 600watt (300c hotend) - I'd go for the tenlog with no second thoughts.
Much larger print volume - better build components, good idex AND Linear rails !
lol
People forget that the prusas are made from a lot of 3d printed parts - cos they print their own.
It's not necessarily a bad thing - but it will never beat metal parts.

I'll have a look at ideamaker fred. Have a suspicion that it's for specific make of printer only - but could be another slicer I'm thinking of.

Abs stinks and you never need to use it - so don't :-)

[fred_dot_u]

Ideamaker has tons of profiles for various printers. Somewhere in this great big interweb thing I read that it's a clone of Simplify3D, but with more recent improvements. I paid a bunch a bucks for S3D and probably won't advance to the next (paid) update unless ideamaker doesn't build a profile for the Sigma.

I think one of my references to flat was misconstrued as level. I tried to clarify that in a later post.

[curious aardvark]

not just prices rising - components are starting to become rarer.

There is a current global semi-conductor shortage that is likely to last for at least a couple years.

On top of that you've had an unprecented global demand for all things electronic, as people in lockdown keep buying things they don't really want or need.
3d printers being one of these.

Now the real problem is that in times of shortage, many manufacturers have a tendency to take faulty goods, re-package them and send them back out into the world. And they keep repeating this until the item is not sent back and they get to keep the money.
Given that many machines would need to be sent back to china - it's a good strategy for the companies.
But a lousy one for the buyer.

So not only are 3d printers going to be getting increasingly expensive - they are also going to be getting increasingly unreliable.
Oh joy.