2 days to decide to keep or return for a dual extruder...

[minneapolis-matt]

First an apology for what might be construed as adding yet another hapless newbie "what do I buy!?!" thread. I'll sheepishly admit that desperation is motivating me.

By way of introduction I have loved the idea of 3d printing since I first learned of it and have been determined to possess one since it became obvious they would become affordable. This motivation can leave defining my requirements extremely vague however.

Generally, I need this first printer to stay around the $500 or slightly above range to maintain the cooperation and tolerance of the hobby by my wife. I want sufficient detail to be able to replace broken plastic parts with functional equivalents. I also do not want to find projects constantly limited by low build volume. I do not require multi color support, being content to paint or otherwise re-color monochromatic prints.

When my wife unexpectedly dropped opposition to adding up to $500 expense to the household budget to buy a printer I felt I had to engage in a crash course to identify the right printer before she would change her mind. I was bewildered by all of the options (FDM, SLA, DLP, etc) let alone the variety within the options (independent dual extruder vs fixed dual extruder) and soon gave up on trying to independently follow each and every one of these rabbit holes to the bottom and opted instead to try to find some sort of consensus among review sites for beginners at my price range. This led me to eventually settle on a monoprice voxel which I have since received and used for a number of prints.

I am quite happy with almost everything, especially the smooth detail in "hyper mode" about the voxel except for dealing with supports. I am so frustrated with removing the supports from some areas of prints and with predicting when supports must be numerous and robust to avoid a spaghetti nest result that I am more than willing to put up with the hassle of returning the voxel, buying a QIDI Tech X-pro (or other budget ranged multi-material printer) and finding a way to continually dry out and store PVA if it would mean being able to at least a large fraction of time have a way to dodge this problem.

I'm also looking for information on just how important an enclosed build volume really is in terms of weighing these options. Many commentators explain that an enclosed build volume adds safety, limits noise, and improves consistency and quality of the resulting prints. I can live with a lot of noise and odor but I don't want to sacrifice print quality. How viable would it be to build my own enclosure on an open framed printer?

Speaking of DIY alterations I get the clear impression that several kit based single extruder entry level fdm printers have multi-material upgrade paths. Does anybody know a good viable cheap PVA support capable printer (even if only through upgrade) that might be out there they might want to recommend as a replacement for the voxel?

Finally, If I replace the voxel with a qidi tech xpro is there likely anything I might miss or regret? I see that layer resolution is supposedly twice as good for the voxel as for the xpro but does that actually mean anything for the user?

Another thought I've had is that perhaps I should return the voxel and get a resin printer now and a large build area no-cover multi-material FDM printer later, possibly through a kit. would this be a best of both world's approach? in that case is there a clear favorite for a budget resin printer that could accomplish a lot of my general 3d printing needs until I can budget for a 250x250x250 mm minimum build volume multi material PVA support capable FDM printer of some kind?

I would be eternally grateful for any guidance from anyone in this community to help me replace the voxel or realize that returning it would not really solve any of these issues. Thank you so much in advance!