Edit: wow I’m overwhelmed by all the help I received in this thread, I was gonna reply to everyone but it’s gotten to a lot. You’ve all given me a lot to think about, thank you so much.

Hello there, hope everyone is doing well. I could use a bit of help/wisdom choosing my first FDM machine.

I get it, the technology has advanced a lot and I’m so lucky to be getting into this when I am, spoiled for choice with great options which is kind of the problem.

Realistically, my main goal is building functional, engineering style parts for my work as a cinematographer, think things like custom viewfinders, cable ties, precision rollers, and general parts and accessories for my rigs.

I do have a kid and family home too so I’ll definitely want some toys for him and knick-knacks for the house but that’s secondary.

So I know I need an enclosed core-XY with high temp hardened steel nozzles/heated bed for these special abrasive engineering materials.

I don’t want 3D printing itself to be my hobby, but I definitely know how to tinker, I’m also not half bad with CAD/3D modelling.

Folks recommend Bambu but I’m also conscious of much cheaper options available that would do what I need.

I think I’m almost settled on the elegoo Centauri Carbon, but I’m worried about regretting not having multi-color right away (they’re supposedly bringing an AMS style add-on but it’s not there yet), and even when it does, it’ll have the massive waste issue all these systems have.

So then there’s the brand new options that are just coming out like the Snap maker U1 which sounds amazing but I dunno about getting something so new and apparently they don’t have great track record.

Also looked at creality, flash forge, Audi Q2… It seems I discover a new brand/option every day even after a month of research, lmao.

So, what are your opinions? What would you get as someone in my situation? I’d rather not spend too much on the printer (hence not listing Prusa) but I also don’t want buyer’s remorse and wanting to upgrade in a few months, ideally I get a work-horse that’ll serve me for years to come right away and skip the upgrade paths…

Thanks in advance for your thoughts 🙏

  • atomic peach@pawb.socialEnglish
    4·
    1 day ago

    I think it’s important to remember that hobby level printers often require some amount of hobby level tinkering. There are many plug and print options available, and anything is extendable if you want to put the work into it (i.e. don’t fret if multicolor or multi-material are available yet or not, it’s always possible to mod a printer later). Any new cutting edge tech will likely have a bunch of bugs to work out, so expect some hurdles when adopting it.

    If you want something to print here and there, it might be worthwhile to look at makerspaces near you. Let a shop handle the tinkering and machine upkeep and yet have something ready when you need it. Makerspaces often have a ton of additional resources so you aren’t stuck to just plastics.

    But having worked with numerous off the shelf printers and finally building a Voron, I think it’s important for any printer owner to know how their machine is pieces together/how it works. Then, when things go wrong you’re able to fix them without much fuss. You don’t need to be an engineer to operate one, but it helps to know what’s holding each piece together and where the moving parts travel in order to quickly fix issues.