What is the best 3D printer to buy, without getting carried away?

I've been really happy with my Ender V3. Bought it on Amazon for $180 if I remember right. Took my time putting it together and it has been great. I did upgrade the table springs but that was only a few bucks.

I have the Ender 3 Pro.  It's a very decent entry level 'Filament' printer.  I have maybe 200 hrs on it... no problems.  The Ender 3 Pro, with a spool of filament (kilogram), shipping and tax... you should be able to get it into the house for under 250.00.   (printer 180, filament 20, tax 20, shipping 30).

If you want to print little people or very small highly detailed delicate parts you probably want a Resin printer.  The Elegoo Mars (small) or Saturn (larger)... will run 250 (Mars) to 550 (Saturn) including resin, washes, tax & shipping.  The Saturn 2 should come in at around 750.00 <-- This is a Very Nice 8K Machine.   (I would only consider resin printers where you can use a 'water wash').  Always ask what the cost of materials and other 'incidentals' are when folks tell you how much the machine is.

There are many other 3D printers out there... I'm sure folks will be chiming in.

If you haven't looked at this page... https://3d.ogaugerr.com/printing101/ ...give it a look and start using TinkerCad for free while you are scoping out 3D printers.

mine's way too expensive and

you would need the larger way way more expensive version to print a ship.

printed on a FormLabs3L printer.

Alan, how big is that ship?

Just out of curiousity, how much does a machine like that cost? (I am obviously not thinking of buying one). Rather it is to see relative prices, what are now home machines cost a lot of money at one point

Earlier this year I started researching printers and it was a learning curve to say the least.  Since I was interested in very good detail for a long time I only looked at resin printers, but eventually changed my mind and obtained one of the new Elegoo Neptune 3 (which was less than $200).  The reason I selected PLA over Resin was not just the cost, but the safety environmental issues and the potential mess with resin.

I found the PLA printer does fine enough detail for everything I've tried, and for various tools and jigs PLA is supposed to create a stronger print than resin.   The new Elegoo has a lot of updated features such as self leveling bed which is important along with being very quiet and no bad odors.  Also PLA is rather inexpensive and available in a multitude of colors.  The biggest challenge was learning 3D software so I followed advice I read here on OGR and started a free online Tinkercad account which I still use since it is so simple to create many everyday items.

-Mike in NC,

600mm in length.  (Great for engine shells)

this was done in March of 2021;

it's one of the first prints posted in the FL Forum done with the FormLabs 3L printer (Cost $11,000)

Note the support points on the build plate that are very small.

the model is removed from the build plate with a simple hand twist that breaks the support points off with no marks left on the model shell.

What would the cost of printing one of those be if you had the printer.  I'm talking about the materials necessary to feed the printer, your out of pocket costs to create one engine shell.  I'm assuming it's also somewhat time consuming!

So I contacted ALLONSCALE (Netherlands) to ask that question for a model I had.

In April of last year the cost  for this

was

$250 for the roof and front shell  (not the sides)

$  53 VAT

$  18 shipping

$321 total for each shell

I have a Prusa filament printer and it has worked very well and has been reliable.  Level of detail in the output is useful to me.  This is direct purchase from Europe and at the higher end of the price range that we have been discussing.  Ordered during Covid, but received quickly.  They make their own filament too, though you can use other brands.

@AlanRail posted:

So I contacted ALLONSCALE (Netherlands) to ask that question for a model I had.

In April of last year the cost  for this was

$250 for the roof and front shell  (not the sides)

$  53 VAT

$  18 shipping

$321 total for each shell

I was actually asking how much the materials would cost if you had the printer.  I figured it would be pricey to have someone print this.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Alan, how big is that ship?

Sounds kinda personal there John!

@Dennis-LaRock posted:

Sounds kinda personal there John!

Well, I could have asked a more personal question...   How big is your... OK, that's enough of that!

cost of materials(and printing)  for my model  from ALLONSCALE was $1 per ml of resin, so for $250

my model plus supports was 250ml of resin.

FL resin cost is $150 per litre.

so 1/4 of $150  is $37.50 would be the actual resin cost for the model,

And, for further cost analysis... Filament, depending on Type and Manufacturer is around 18.00 - 25.00 per spool (1 kilogram/2.2 pounds).

Just curious if you had the printer how cost effective it would be to print the shell.  Not too bad, but I'll bet it's time consuming for something that big.

@AlanRail posted:

So I contacted ALLONSCALE (Netherlands) to ask that question for a model I had.

In April of last year the cost  for this was

$250 for the roof and front shell  (not the sides)

$  53 VAT

$  18 shipping

$321 total for each shell

I know it's only a portion of the total, but why are they charging VAT?  That shouldn't apply unless you're in the EU.

I brought my Prusa type 3d printer off craigslist.

It was a customer build kit kit that sells for about $100 on Ebay.

I had to replaced the power supply soon after purchase, but it worked when I got it.

The nice thing is all the parts are off the shelf and open sourced.

Parts are cheap and anyways available online.

Avoid non-open sourced models as parts can be pricey and hard to find.

I purchased an Anet A8 on ebay, i think it is a knock off of a Pursa.  About $150 at the time.   Over three years I had to replace a few parts but nothing expensive.  The key to getting good prints is to have the bed level.  It does not have auto bed leveling but it is very easy to do.  I have been able to print small parts, parts of bridges, models of prime movers building fronts and lots of other things.    I usually find HO or G gauge models online and scale them to 1/48.   The spools of PLA are inexpensive and lots of colors to choose from.  One of the best investments I have made for my train hobby.

Marty