Alright, so with all the printers on the market, let’s hear what seems to be the best option for quality, longevity, user-friendly, upgrade options, sturdiness, and any other comments to boast your choice of 3D printer.
My self I am looking at the CR10s-Pro V2 and the Ender 3 V2 with the updated touch controller and silent board.
I have been using a CR-5s enclosed unit for the last 2 years and truthfully has been absolutely perfect. I print a fair amount of larger PETG projects that turn out amazing. I recently had a board failure, so I am down until it can be fixed up. I am now looking at obtaining a second unit for this reason.
Ironically my cr10s pro v1 has been a lemon, but i got it used so im not sure if that stands as normal. Though when its working it does a good job. My issues were hotend related. Ive since modded it to accept a v6 and a bl touch (so now its a v2).
Prusa is defidently rock solid. Though you may be waiting awhile for the xl if you were looking at that.
Most printers can be pretty good, but whats good out of the box is a good question. As you can always upgrade so long as the bones of the printer are ok.
My thoughts are there is always going to be something wrong or imperfect to a degree with any products that people can get their hands on. I look at where these imported units come from to begin with, they are mass produced which does leave room for error especially if quality assurance is not met or scrutinized as a standard.
I was not aware of the Prusa XL but after watching the vids…OMG sign me up for 5 Ext model. That unit is amazing and looks high tech! The sectional plated heat bed is a great idea only heating the surface needed. It sure does come at a cost but when it comes to things you love to do , THE SKY IS THE LIMIT. I will put that on my radar as im filtering out the lemons here.
Thx for the comment Marvin.
No problem. Aside from the wait for release, there will certainly be a backorder on the XL. Id be suprised to see mine by christmas and i preordered early.
The prusa mini at my time of ordering was like 3 months on backorder. That time has changed, but something to be mindful/aware of.
Regarding the XL i kinda wish you could get 3 heads without the breakout board, im considering the 5 hotends but currently signed up for just the 2.
As for the prusa mk3s. There are plenty of mods people have done to them. So if its stock size is too small, look into the prisa Caribou/Bear mod. Theres also a rumour in the pipes about a new control board for the mk3 (mk4?) But as Prusa is secretive i wouldnt expect to see much untill theyre ready. Their stock one is pretty good anyway.
That is really good information. Congrats on the order for the dually XL !!
I am definetly going to look further into Prusa as I have not owned or even seen one yet but according to the design they have made a leap in the industry with the XL that’s foresure. Looks like XL shipping will begin in 3rd quarter of 2022 so Santa should deliver you a Prusa.
I did have my eye on the Snapmaker 2.0 A350T 3-in-1 3D as I would like to get into Laser and CNC also. There are so many things a guy can do with those options. As I get older I am looking for things to captivate a small market with detailed products and keep the doe rolling $$ in.
I dont want to get into politics but, from I see it is looking grim for the next 3 years in Canada and fear the damage will be done.
Prusa for sure. I own a mk3s+ When Prusa updates they usually have a kit to allow the older printers to be brought forward. I am hoping that with the XL the nozzle bed leveling will be a potential upgrade. The products from your name here 3d technology co. ltd
Creality, artillery, bigtree, anycubic, longer, piocreat who know how many others all seem to be own by the same parent company. seem to produce printers that have
poor QC
poor assembly/ clone parts
questionable electrical safety
poor design choices that need modifications to work properly/ at all.
Community engagement for tech support.
It becomes a question is your interests in the printer or printing?
If you want a tinkering project these are ideal, most parts are cloned and should be upgraded with better so there is plenty of people doing that.
If you want to make prints avoid these and buy products that have high QC and lots of testing. typically they will work well from the start and not suffer issues as often.
Good stuff,
Looks like Prusa has definetly won over a lot of people with their products. I have been doing some reseach last couple days and yes they do have the upper hand in the quality of 3D printers.
Thx for your input on the topic. Very much appreciated.
I love to plug 3DPC so here I go…the good news is electrical safety is taken care of on all printers sold here at the shop so Creality and others from China are CSA approved
I have the Ender 3V2 and it is a good basic printer and low cost as well. It’s best feature is that it can be upgraded, over time and you end up with a much better printer equal to the best-ish. You could in fact upgrade it so much that all that would be left of the original printer would be the frame, steppers (maybe) and power supply (possibly) but that would be extreme. This also makes it completely reparable even if original parts become hard/impossible to get. You can also get an Ender Extender kit and significantly increase the print area, for a reasonable cost and much cheaper then buying a larger printer to start, if you need it.
P.S. be warned upgrading a printer can lead to uncontrollable parts purchases.
Hi @Loosenut
Thx for your input, this 3D printer market seems to move fast. Out with the 3 month old and in with the new it seems like. Been doing a bunch of research on Prusa as they seem to have a rather large part of the market along with good quality products out of the gate. Not sure where I will be led to but, this time I am taking all considerations for best support, product quality, parts sourcing and print quality.
I really did rush to buy in a few years ago but the Creality CR-5S dually has been pretty good up until a few weeks ago. Thx to @Jason I am back to printing again.
I know all about this one below!
P.S. be warned upgrading a printer can lead to uncontrollable parts purchases.
Look out AMAZON…
Hey, @Trigger Glad, you got it running. I have to weigh in here (cause that’s just what I do, Glad my mouth never gets me in trouble).
100% of the machines I run on my farm are creality printers, Of those 90% are Ender 3 Pros. I have to call it as I see it, They just work. I can have it from Box to printing in under 30 mins, Parts are cheap and support is abundant. For the most part, I would say that about most Creality machines.
HOWEVER, IF I was going to buy 1 printer bigger than an Ender 3, that has outstanding print quality, with very little work to do on a regular basis, I would take the Troodon. Have to be honest Wasnt a big fan first when I saw it. Kinda cool, fully enclosed and Core XY. Too many things to break and looks difficult to maintain. Don’t get me wrong, Had a couple of early ones that were real Lemons but Formbot has really picked up their game on this one. IN Canada we have CSA/ETL certification we have to go through and although the first couple did not pass qualification Forbot repaired what was needed and modified their production process to make them certifiable. This to me said a lot.
It’s basically a Voron with some parts cloned and a custom print head. The rails are not Hywin, the print head is not the brand name and the mainboard is a custom Duet Wifi clone However now that I have had the chance to really use it I’m impressed. It is a little on the pricy side but for the options, you get out of the box it’s easy to justify.
