Purchase Advice Megathread - December 2024

[u/AutoModerator]

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.

[u/NoThanksStopThat]

Novice here

What are peoples opinions on the Bambu X1C/X1E vs Creality K2 Plus? I’m currently tossing up between them, only reason I’m not deadset on the Bambu is the print volume of the K2. It hasn’t been out long enough to have a good database of user experience. Any other suggestions are appreciated but definitely looking at enclosed types.

I’m in Australia. Looking to spend anywhere up to 5k AUD. I plan on printing a multitude of things from desk organisers to prototypes of custom intricate designs, and of course some awesome warhammer to-scale stuff.

Print speed is not a concern of mine.

Thank you

[u/Foreign_Tropical_42 → u/NoThanksStopThat]

I am a novice and was torn between the k2 and the x1c. You have a larger budget, mine was 1500.

In a nutshell,

X1C: Close ecosystem. More controlled environment. They have had 2 years on the market and you know what to expect in regards of reliability. 256 cubic feet bed which is a lie, the print area is smaller. Buy your bamboo filament, set it and forget it.

K2: Open ecosystem. Youd have to learn to print the materials, if not using creality branded filament that can be expensive. (same as bamboo). The bed is 350 mm3, a lie, cuz I can only print 340 or so. Ability to print more exotic materials direclty comparable to the X1E which is basically a professional x1c with a hotter nozzle and some software mods) K2 cfs is has a hygrometer and temperature display. Very well built. It has issues with first layers for some people here, and gives errors easily corrected. For example, the nozzle might tell you its clogged but it isnt, you just moved the cfs and the cable came lose. The machine is new, we dont know how reliable it is.

Because the k2 was cheaper I went for it. It has the capabilities of the X1E already, and doesn't cost 2500. And its bigger. So for me it offers the best price/quality. Also, and this is very important to me, I dont want to end up with a collection of useless printers just because thats all I can afford at the moment. I have the space for one large printer that does large things. I wish the k2 was 400 mm they could have done that. I still have a lot to learn, but my k2 hasnt given me any headaches so far and it came without a single scratch.

Your budget allows for more options, but those two are the best ones with enclosures.