What's the Best Budget 3d Printer?

[KamikazePigeon]

Hi all!

It's been awhile since I've posted here, but I've recently gotten into 3d printing for props and cosplay. The only problem is I don't have a 3d Printer of my own to print things with.

I currently use a 3d printer provided to me through my Applied Physics Class at my High School, which I've used to print some greebles for some smaller projects. Unfortunately, because it's the schools printer, there's some competition amongst other students (and teachers) to use it, thus my current problem.

I've recently acquired a part-time job which I intend to use the income I generate from it to possibly purchase a 3d Printer of my own. However, because my job is only part-time and only pays minimum wage, I can't afford anything expensive.

I have found a plethora of printers within $150-$1000 price range from amazon and newegg, but I haven't the slightest idea which would be the best for my prop and cosplay needs

For all of you 3d Printing nerds and Gurus, can you help me determine the best possible 3d printer that costs nothing more than $500 - $600? Asking for a friend

Happy Costuming!

KamikazePigeon

 

[mercuryapollo]

I have been very happy with my Monoprice Maker Select. Runs about $300 and comes fully assembled.

 

[FlowerPower]

For that price, Prusa kit all the way. Fantastic printer. I have a Monoprice Maker Select Plus that I got for half the price of the Prusa and produced very good results for about six months, but the mainboard died and Monoprice not only would not replace it under warranty, but would not sell me the part, nor would they even tell me what part I needed or where I could get it. They can be good printers, but expect zero support if something goes wrong.

 

[Strikerkc]

I was gonna say, at $1000, prusa is a no brainer in my experience. you can get one built and calibrated by Prusa, and shipped to you for $1000 on the head; with a ton of bells and whistles, and always improving firmware and slicer software.

$500-$600? I don't know.

 

[Kal Argos]

I have a monoprice miniselect... 120cm ^3.... small but for $200 im pretty happy with it. Can be mod'd too.

 

[TSpawn]

Monoprice's printers are pretty good for the price. The Mini Select is only about $200 and great for a starter printer and since it is so inexpensive there is a big community around it to solve any problems and to help upgrade it.
The CR-10 is supposed to be good and it has a gigantic build volume but it would be at the higher end of your budget.
At the very very top of your budget is the Prusa i3 mk2s kit ($599+shipping) and even though that is an amazing printer and makes everything so easy it does need assembly and won't leave room in your budget for any filament or tools if you need them.

Just whatever you do STAY AWAY FROM THE ANET A8. They are really cheap kits with poor quality parts and bad firmware which means you'll need to spend more money and more time to upgrade parts and make the printer safe. They are really not worth it.

 

[FlowerPower]

Very good point. You don't want a $150 printer. For $300, be sure you look up mosfet upgrades if needed, because some safety corners may have been cut. Regardless, do yourself a favor and build a simple enclosure from durock or something else fireproof, so no matter what happens you don't burn your house/apartment/dorm down--won't be much more than $50 in materials.

I always recommend a Prusa kit for a first printer because putting it together teaches you every single part and what it does. They all break down, malfunction, or start producing poor results at some point, and you need to be able to figure out what the problem is and fix it.

 

[Great_Bizarro]

Monoprice with an allmetal swiss upgrade and you can print most filimants. Done lots of upgrades to mine.

 

[rundown]

Creality cr-10S

Best printer i've had!

 

[MrSouthpaw]

I would skip monoprice. I've tried 3 of their printers. The original Mini, the Maker Select, and the Mini V2. All of them had various problems that I didn't care to solve as they were sold as "ready to print out of the box". The first mini had a horribly loose Z-axis rod that gave Z-banding of 1/2mm-1mm in depth. The Maker Select had a bed warped beyond reason. And the Mini V2 had some kind of problem that made infill randomly stick out of the wall.

I decided if I was going to have to fiddle with it, might as well just get a kit. And right now I'm waiting for a Creality Ender 3 to get to my door. Supposed to be something like 20 screws, some tuning, and your ready to print. It's a fairly new printer, but the company has a good rep. And I hope it turns out as good a printer as it's big brother, the CR-10 series.

 

[MangyDog]

honestly though very few budget printers are perfect out the box.. thats why theyre budget.

I have a tevo tarantula that cost around 180 quid after import tax. and ive dont a million and one upgrades to it... Its great for what i want. But its still not perfect. I still get a little z rippling.

Its fine for my needs and i post process prop builds by sanding and filling so that slight ripple isnt an issue...

But nothing cheap is perfect. Thats why you 3d print upgrades

 

[Empiricus]

Monoprice Ultimate/ Wanhao Duplicator 6. Upgrade the hot end drive block/gear and cooling shroud with blower and you are all set for anything. Upgrades are all in the Wanhao D6 upgrades group on thingiverse.

 

[xl97]

I'd like to ask all those who have commented/chimed in..

....could you post some results of YOUR printer. (From your own work... not something someone else did on the same printer).

I'd like to see the results of these machines... as that helps me understand the quality you can get form this price-range.

From all the printers listed.. (which I believe is)

Monoprice
Wanhao
Creality cr-10S
Prusa i3 mk2


What is the print volume/work envelope for the above options?


Which of the above have:

heated extruder
auto-leveling bed


what other 'upgrades' are a must or nice-to-have?

 

[Empiricus]

Well search on thingiverse or instructables.com for empiricus. The updated Monoprice Ultimate/Wanhao D6 is my only printer and going non stop for two years now. Wanhao D6 upgrades group on thingiverse has the info you need to ad leveling etc. For the price you will have to upgrade and work on anything to get it working correctly then the print quality will be same also. Print quality is not that much related to the individual printer it is in the print settings for each filament and geometry to be printed. Software is critical too, investing into Simplify 3d recommended. Prusia has great Cura integration and the Prusia i3 Mk3 is fairly well received. These type of printers you can also build on budget yourself. Look for Tom Sanladerer or the 3D printing Nerd on youtube. Open printers will make it near impossible to use ABS for larger projects. Good luck figuring it all out. Take your time.

 

[propmaster2000]

I think it very much depends on what you want to print, how fast and mostly the type of filament you intend to use more often (PLA, PETg, ABS)..
If you just print PLA, then no upgrades are needed (at least on my CR-10S).
Prop below is all white PLA.

.

 

[KamikazePigeon]

Maybe just print a benchy or something. That tends to be the best way to show how good a 3d printer is

 

[Empiricus]

A few years back maybe. But that is a very simple model and any printer should be able to do that perfectly nowadays. If a printer fails there it is indeed crap. It is helpful for tuning your print settings for a particular filament but it wouldn't tell you anything about the quality of a particular printer per se. Today the print quality is determined by how well the heating, cooling and speed settings are adjusted to the specific melting and transition characteristic of a filament. And that is in your hands and needs to be done also taken the geometry of the part into consideration. Some automation maybe integrated there like the Prusia specific cura engine or with the Ultimaker but that applies always only to a specific filament. I probably have a benchy sitting round somewhere though.

 

[Empiricus]

PLA is easy indeed and any printer should print it. I find it hard to work with though as it is very stiff, breaks easily and has a low transition temp. I prefer PETG as ABS wraps and shrinks to much for my taste.

 

[Frenzy1971]

Folger Tech FT-5 R2 Large Scale 3D Printer Kit

I'm looking to invest in a printer, and I can't afford some of these really snazzy ones. I'm pretty tech savvy and have read about this one, which for the build size and price, have me very intrigued. Do any of you salty pros have experience with the revision 2 model of this thing? (I did search for it, and did not find.)

 

[Booyotch]

I've been loving the hell out of my Ender-3. Tons of community support, great reviews, and it's super easy to use and does amazing prints at 0.1mm layer resolution. Here is a pic of my first try, a large Probe Droid, the, I printed the Bladerunner 2049 binoculars, and currently I'm almost done printing K's gun. I've only had it for maybe 3 weeks?