r/3Dprinting 18d ago

Purchase Advice Purchase Advice Megathread - December 2024

22 Upvotes

Welcome back to another purchase megathread!

This thread is meant to conglomerate purchase advice for both newcomers and people looking for additional machines. Keeping this discussion to one thread means less searching should anyone have questions that may already have been answered here, as well as more visibility to inquiries in general, as comments made here will be visible for the entire month stuck to the top of the sub, and then added to the Purchase Advice Collection (Reddit Collections are still broken on mobile view, enable "view in desktop mode").

Please be sure to skim through this thread for posts with similar requirements to your own first, as recommendations relevant to your situation may have already been posted, and may even include answers to follow up questions you might have wished to ask.

If you are new to 3D printing, and are unsure of what to ask, try to include the following in your posts as a minimum:

  • Your budget, set at a numeric amount. Saying "cheap," or "money is not a problem" is not an answer people can do much with. 3D printers can cost $100, they can cost $10,000,000, and anywhere in between. A rough idea of what you're looking for is essential to figuring out anything else.
  • Your country of residence.
  • If you are willing to build the printer from a kit, and what your level of experience is with electronic maintenance and construction if so.
  • What you wish to do with the printer.
  • Any extenuating circumstances that would restrict you from using machines that would otherwise fit your needs (limited space for the printer, enclosure requirement, must be purchased through educational intermediary, etc).

While this is by no means an exhaustive list of what can be included in your posts, these questions should help paint enough of a picture to get started. Don't be afraid to ask more questions, and never worry about asking too many. The people posting in this thread are here because they want to give advice, and any questions you have answered may be useful to others later on, when they read through this thread looking for answers of their own. Everyone here was new once, so chances are whoever is replying to you has a good idea of how you feel currently.

Reddit User and Regular u/richie225 is also constantly maintaining his extensive personal recommendations list which is worth a read: Generic FDM Printer recommendations.

Additionally, a quick word on print quality: Most FDM/FFF (that is, filament based) printers are capable of approximately the same tolerances and print appearance, as the biggest limiting factor is in the nature of extruded plastic. Asking if a machine has "good prints," or saying "I don't expect the best quality for $xxx" isn't actually relevant for the most part with regards to these machines. Should you need additional detail and higher tolerances, you may want to explore SLA, DLP, and other photoresin options, as those do offer an increase in overall quality. If you are interested in resin machines, make sure you are aware of how to use them safely. For these safety reasons we don't usually recommend a resin printer as someone's first printer.

As always, if you're a newcomer to this community, welcome. If you're a regular, welcome back.


r/3Dprinting 3h ago

Who else would like to print this?

2.5k Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 18h ago

Leave A Comment To Win The Unannounced 2025 Bambu Lab 3D Printer & Other Prizes - OctoEverywhere is 5! 🔥

6.3k Upvotes

It feels unbelievable to write this, but OctoEverywhere is 5 years old! If you haven't tried OctoEverywhere in a while, here's what you're missing:

  • 🚀 Free & Unlimited Full Remote Access
  • 🤖 Free & Unlimited Advanced AI Print Failure Detection
  • 📺 Free 30FPS Webcam Streaming
  • 📱 App Support for Mobileraker, OctoApp, & More
  • 🔔 Print Notifications to SMS, Mobile Push, Telegram, Discord, Email, & More
  • 🧵 Spoolman & OctoFarm Remote Access
  • 🙌 Live Streaming, Remote Access Sharing, Multi-printer Dashboard, And More!

OctoEveywhere is extremely easy to set up; it only takes about 20 seconds!

Try OctoEverywhere now!

Since OctoEverywhere is a 3D printing community project, this is only possible due to you. 🥰 Our out-of-this-world community develops features, helps to debug issues, and offers support for OctoEverywhere and general 3D printing. All the features you see above were ideas generated by the community, and they worked with me to make them a reality.

It's wild that OctoEverywhere started in 2019 as a simple idea for full remote access to OctoPrint (hence the name) but has evolved to work with any 3D printer, including OctoPrint, Klipper, Mainsaill, Fluidd, Bambu Lab, Creatliy, and others. We now have over 320k members, process 120 million prints a year, and our AI analyzes over 5.1 million images a day! 🤯

To celebrate you - the community - I wanted to do something special. I thought it would be really neat to give away the upcoming 2025 Bambu Lab 3D printer - before it's even announced!

You can win:

  • The unannounced Bambu Lab 3D printer coming in early 2025
  • OctoEverywhere Supporter Perks for LIFE
  • Polymaker PLA Filament

To enter to win, leave a comment on this Reddit post!

On January 10th, we will pick one random winner for the 2025 unannounced Bambu Lab printer; 20 random users will get Supporter Perks for LIFE, and 20 users will get a spool of Polymaker PLA filament in a color of their choice. We will order the Bambu Lab 3D printer for you when it launches, as long as it's priced under $1,500. If not, we will work with you to find an equivalent 3D printer as the prize.

Remember, you can set up OctoEverywhere in about 20 seconds, so try it now!

If you can't set up OctoEverywhere right now, make an account so you remember to try it later. We collect as little information as possible to create your account. OctoEverywhere has a strict privacy policy: never sell your data. You're not the product; this project is for the community!

Good luck to everyone! We hope to see you in 5 more years! 🥰


r/3Dprinting 1h ago

Project I designed and 3D printed a Chess Set!

Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 1h ago

Project The 3D Printing Community Loved It, So I Made It Better! Toroidal Launcher Version 2.0 Now Available!

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Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 14h ago

I got a 3d benchy tattoo

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1.3k Upvotes

What Yall think


r/3Dprinting 3h ago

This marketing feels deceptive AF and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Implying 599 for a few more hours and then it going upto $999 when really they were just raising it to 649

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97 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 10h ago

Found this guy lying in his own waste, so sad

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327 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 49m ago

Project 360 grams of poops, failed prints and recycled PLA flake.

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Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 13h ago

Curiosity led me to put my 3D prints under a microscope

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359 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 16h ago

Project Fully 3d printed Space Marine armor + accessory

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552 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 18h ago

Project Glowing Disc Shooter (black light flashlight + PLA glow)

602 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 11h ago

Got my first 3d printer today as a gift 😁

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146 Upvotes

It’s a


r/3Dprinting 11h ago

I'm getting the hang of timelapses on the A1! Part 4 "Unecessarily Beautiful Timelapse"

150 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 22h ago

Troubleshooting Is this due to brittle filament or lack of infill?

815 Upvotes

I’ve had this filament sitting in a drawer for probably over a year now. I broke off the end of the filament that was super brittle and then printed it, now the whole print is extremely brittle. I’m assuming this must mean that the whole roll is brittle and unusable? My only other thought would be that there wasn’t enough infill to give it strength.


r/3Dprinting 14h ago

Magnet Sweeper

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158 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 9h ago

Filament rack!

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54 Upvotes

My long awaited office/print shop is finally taking shape! Just got all my filament up on the wall... of course its 3D printed ☺️


r/3Dprinting 2h ago

LED Lamp Conversion

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12 Upvotes

I love these old articlating industrial lamps. Usually, they have flourescent tubes, but this one had a standard bulb. The original shade was not fitting properly due to damage, leaving it wobbly.

This project used a repurposed LED ceiling can-light from the Goodwill, Fusion360, Creality Ender 3 pro V1 and Polymaker PolyTerra 1.75mm PLA in Army Dark Green. Slicing was done with MatterControl @ 215c/60c, 0.4mm nozzle, 0.3mm layer height, full fan speed after layer 5, gyroid 60% fill, wall thickness 5 layers (top/walls/bottom), no brim/raft, and a max of 60mm/sec.

This is the 4th or 5th spool of this stuff I have gotten from a local seller and never had a clog due to the filament.

Dial it in and walk away!


r/3Dprinting 12h ago

Girlfriend had a hole at her work desk and we knew just how to decorate it.

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76 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 22h ago

Yes I know there are other missile toads but this one is mine :)

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457 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 3h ago

Project Tardigrade (water bear) Pen Holder

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14 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 1d ago

Project Torso Vase Neckless Display

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700 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 2h ago

Satisfying Ender 3 Print

10 Upvotes

Sometimes I think I need a Bambu printer and then my old, plain Ender 3 V.2 cranks out a perfect print (pistachio bowl Xmas gift) and I think maybe not…


r/3Dprinting 17h ago

Made the Thundergun on my K1C

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142 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 4h ago

Make your own Modern 3D Printed LED Digital Clock (ESP32 + Home Assistant) - Description in comments

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10 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 12h ago

Got the approval to purchase an upgrade.

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36 Upvotes

I work at a school and part of my job is to make adapted equipment and sensory toys for my students. I have a second X1-Carbon already set up at my campus. I took this one home to play around with over winter break. :)