I’ve been preaching that one for months. I can’t understand why so many noobs can’t resist diving in head first with all the “upgrades”, then try to diagnose why their machine isn’t acting “normally” when they don’t even know yet what normal is.
Then there’s the sheer illogic of changing multiple variables at once and trying to figure out which, one of them, or combination of them, is the root cause of your machine’s abnormality. See point 1.
Honestly it’s better to know what to look for. The moment I opened the box and did some calibration, my next 3 prints were strain relief, and bed support. Then a back for my screen,
Then I got annoyed at my bowden tube catching on the y servo. So I designed a bracket to prevent that. Then I built an arduino temp and humidity monitor for the enclosure.
Now I’m getting a bl touch and a swiss hot end, eliminating the bowden totally, and a new fan for it as well.
A rasberry pi arrived yesterday, and a night/day camera is arriving tomorrow for a controller.
Coming from a guy who usually focuses his energy on long range rifles, this is just how it’s done, eeking out every ounce of performance you possibly can, until eventually your obsessing over 1/8 of an inch variations in your 600 meter groups.
Well considering there are plenty of “first upgrades you should do” articles out there, and plenty of people hailing the benefits of various upgrades that make this that or the other thing easier, it makes sense that people new to the hobby will want to get upgrades that significantly improve the ease of certain tasks (ie. leveling the bed).
I wouldn’t shit on noobs too much for their excitement, but I would reinforce the idea of upgrading one thing at a time, calibrating said upgrade, and then moving on.
I was such a noob. (okay not a total noob, I have some 3d printing experience, but not experience owning a printer). I upgraded my springs, added a heat pad…and that’s about all I’ve done. I have a new bowden tube ready and waiting as well as a metal extruder mechanism that I have yet to install (out of laziness, perhaps).
I would encourage new people to learn about their machine, taking it apart (with instructions!) and putting it back together again. Learn how to change the nozzles, clean clogs, problem solve etc.
Better yet buy the most convenient printer you can buy for your budget first, so you dont waste more in time and money fixing it later.