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Budget 3D printer

by Jake

SHARE: GIVE $10, GET $10

2907 votes

Budget 3D printer

by Jake

SHARE: GIVE $10, GET $10

2907 votes

sidneythree

The Anet A8 was my first printer, and I honestly can't recommend it. Too many issues, several of which are major safety hazards. I am happily printing on the Prusa i3 MK3 now, and its great. It just works, without all of the troubleshooting necessary on the A8. And if you can't afford the Prusa, there are plenty of budget printers out there that seem to do better than the A8. My coworker got a Monoprice Mini Delta for $160 and has had a good experience with it. With the A8, you need to be prepared to do a lot of tinkering to get it to work right, as well as spending more for safety upgrades, specifically MOSFETs for the heated bed and hotend, as the board is not up to spec to handle the current.

MichaelBretz

I got a XYC Printing DaVinci 1.0 and even though I was very skeptical at first I have made really positive experiences with it. I picked it up for 250 Dollars and its super simple to set up and use. Absolutely no prior knowledge is needed to start printing. Its as easy as setting up a normal Inkjet printer. Plug it in and go. I know for experienced users it has a lot of shortcomings. it does not offer the modability, build size or performance of the printers mentioned here but for someone with no or limited knowledge of 3D printing I think this lack of options make it a great choice. In addition to the simplicity it can Print ABS right out of the box witch I Personally prefer over PLA as its easier to finish parts after printing. I also successfully printed Polycarbonate with Carbon fiber on my machine and only needed to change the extruder temperature in the software.

sagenate

What about the Creality Ender-5?

SvHD

I've got an Ender 3 (180$) that I feel was a pretty good value. Trolling through the choices here, though, I'm wondering how $500+ is considered budget.

DataDink

A8 has a popularity vote. This sort of information gathering is a bit skewed. It's not really a troll. A lot of people got A8s for very cheap. Some because it's what they could afford, others because they value low prices over all other factors. Most of them only have experience with their A8s and so they vote A8 because it's what they know. There is also a group of people (we've all run into them) who need others to agree with their situation in order to justify it to themselves.
I feel like it would be useful to have more information gathered in a vote - like "How many printers do you, or have you owned/used" Then you could weight the poll to bias towards people that have more experience.

rootduck

207

Wth is going on with the A8 thing?! The MK3 DIY kit is clearly the best option and here is my proof:
https://all3dp.com/1/original-prusa-i3-mk3-review/

Afp1

Was the a8 a troll thing? You can pick them up for about 150 shipped here in the states in 4 days.. cr-10s would have been a good choice

moazzamk

MK3 would be the best printer to get. It has automatic leveling, warp compensation , filament detection, etc. Others require manual setups - and modifications to get to a decent state.
I have Monoprice make select v2. It is a good printer but you need to get a z-brace for it, glass plate (because the bed warps with default setup), etc.

OKCIS

For the money the CR10 and now CR10s is the best thing going. The new prUSA is amazing as well but not for double the cost. Im trying to figure out why the Anet A8 is winning you can already buy those thing for like $200 and they really arent that impressive....

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OKCIS

Its not bad but I personally feel (and this is 100% personal opinion) that there is too many little things that if you are new to 3d printing might really turn you off from the hobby. The Creality CR-10 (not the S model) is cheap enough these days that if you go that route youll be happy with it and its super easy to upgrade.

The Anet A8 is not particularly bad but it does require a LOT of work to get to a decent state. Everything is spec'd to the bare minimum. You'll have to print a lot of parts to increase belt tension and frame stability, but overall is a good printer to learn how it works and to easily diagnose print issues. So if troubleshooting, calibrating, and improving things is not for you, then get a better kit or an actual printer that works out of the box.

Asleep75

The Original Prusa is the way to go, even though it's a bit more expensive. It's as close to plug and play as you can get with an entry level printer. Every cent you save on the others, it will cost you in frustration. I had a DaVinci and a Monoprice Prusa clone that I sold and parted out (respectively) as soon as I build my Mk2. Would never go back.

Drizzt321

138

I can't believe nobody put in the MP Select Mini v2 before now. Heated bed, 0.1mm resolution, and highly modable. Pretty cheap but featureful gateway into 3D printing I've found =D