The BambuLab A1 mini is the obvious choice here. Incredible value for the money and IMO quite beginner friendly.

The alternative choice would be the Prusa Mini, although the BambuLab has higher quality and more features than the Prusa.

I heard that Bambu Labs is violating open source licenses, thus stealing from Prusa in particular.

I've heard people claim this but never seen any actual evidence of license violations.

Everything seems perfectly in order with both the Linux-based firmware on the X1C[0] and their slicer[1] which is a fork of Prusaslicer.

[0] https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/knowledge-sharing/open-source-s...

[1] https://github.com/bambulab/BambuStudio

Not really.

They forked a slicer, which wasn't against the license but not terribly nice either.

The big thing now is the patent lawsuit with Stratasys

None of these things matter for the average user. For the average user the Bambu products are the ones to buy. Easy button for 3d printing.

PrusaSlicer itself was a fork of the open source Slic3r, and also received critism when it was first announced.

One criticism of Bambu that I've heard is that sending prints over the network requires the public internet, which is not true with Prusa, which can do local-only network printing.

this is not true. https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/knowledge-sharing/enable-lan-mo...

Is that relatively new? Maybe my info is out of date?

Maybe last year people were saying that Bambu intercepts your models, that it's not private.

As I google, they say that your camera feed also goes to the public internet.

Well yeah ofc the camera feed goes thru the Internet so you can view it from anywhere?

I suppose they could bang a hole out thru your router & host something on the printer, then have your app sync your ip when on the wifi with the printer, but then if your ip changes when out & about you'll lose access unless you've set something up for it.

Gotta remember that Bambu is all about ease of use. It does have a LAN only mode, but I do agree that they should support some sort of plugin system for the printers and just refuse to support unless you're experiencing an issue while using 0 modifications/plugins.

I used to group-think this too and talked mad shit about Bambu.

But after looking into it all the bad stuff doesn't really apply - they forked Prusa slicer which Prusa fans got mad at (ofc) but Prusa forked from Slic3r, sooooo nothing wrong there at all.

Bambu use an nfc tag in their filaments, not to lock people in as I (and others) thought, but to auto select the right profile when it's in their AMS (multi colour) system; it's still completely possible to use other brands and their slicer provides a couple non-bambu brand-specific profiles already, along with "generic" profiles/material that work pretty damn well by default.

I picked up an A1 mini during their recent sale and unfortunately after using it...I don't think I'll ever use my Ender 5 Plus ever again (poor thing)...when I have enough space I'll just buy an X1C.

They've made it just so...effortless. You know what, it even takes even less effort than a fucking 2d printer these days (HP/Brother et al).

Which; Hueforge turns my 3d printer into a really fun four-ish color 2d printer.

I've always wanted to try hueforge, how is it?

Although primarily I'd really like to be able to print full colour 3d busts, I understand that the point of hueforge is that it's 2d because it works like a picture box/shadow box with the layers.

Doing 3d is just a regular multi-colour print I suppose but the only annoying thing is that small regions of colour just require too much flushing. :/

eg https://makerworld.com/models/179240

There's just something about the bas relief output that's satisfying in a way that a 2d printer doesn't hit.

Oh yes, I can imagine the texture feels so interesting. The tactility is probably similar to something like sliding a Pokemon cartridge into a game boy. Or clicking a pen on and off.

For functional prints I would go with the Bambu Lab A1 instead of the A1 mini because of the larger build plate.

I agree. I have the X1C, however the A1 is as good as the X1C (unless you go into more advanced stuff like ABS/ASA or want to print large objects)

I bought the Prusa Mini+ kit. It was educational, but a few months later I upgraded to a Bambu Lab X1C. It’s a much more expensive machine, but the print quality and consistency are worth it.

With the Mini, I was hesitant to try things because I was afraid the prints would fail and I’d spend forever calibrating things. With the X1C, I can crank out prototype iterations as fast as I can design them.

Bambu is surely the best option if you have the money to spend, but I wanted a budget option, so I got a used Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro for 150€ and I'm extremely happy with it.

I'm shocked by how well the prints come out and how little fiddling it requires.

I've set it up with Klipper now with an old mini PC I had around and a Playstation 3 Eye camera, feels nice to put old hardware to use and controlling / monitoring prints remotely is neat.

If you aren't sure you're going to pursue this for the long run, think about joining a makerspace/hackerspace first and trying out theirs. On the downside, many people with varying degrees of skill have used the machine and it may not be factory fresh in performance. On the upside, given a vibrant makerspace, there's somebody there who's responsible for upkeep and can help you over some of the bumps in the road.

My local makerspace is very active, and some very knowledgeable people who maintain the printers. But even with the limited amount of people permitted to use the printers, they still fail way sooner than they otherwise would at the hands of a single, experienced operator.

Another +1 for Bambu. Recently replaced an older Ender 3 with P1S and it's been a breath of fresh air. Ender was much cheaper but the many, many hours I spent on tweaking both the software and hardware... I was many times ready to give up on the whole thing.

Same. I struggled and struggled to print things on a two year old Qidi that just worked on a Bambu Labs X1. The Bambu has limits but they are in a very different place. The pace of development in this area is wild. Patent law may be slamming on the brakes though.

I have a cheap Ender 3. I’ve had it for about 5 years and it’s been just fine. I did do a few upgrades along the way that helped a lot (bed leveling probe l, direct drive extruder, and second z axis screw drive). Figuring out how to add those was part of the fun.

If you wanted something more production/out of the box ready, you can certainly find it. But it doesn’t have to be a big initial investment. You can start small and then upgrade as you go.

I've had a very good experience with the Sovol SV06.

It was around CA$300 when I bought it a year ago. I'm considering getting a second one.

I’ve also had a good experience with my SV06, though if I were buying a new printer to replace it now I’d probably pick a Bambu.

It does require some tinkering and few minor upgrades (nylock mod for bed levelling, oldham couplers for Z-wobble) to get good results as well as plenty of profile tuning, though now I’m there it’s been rock-solid.

Bambu labs. Pick your price point. I got one a couple of months ago and it’s been great and so far has worked without hassle.

I only noticed recently that people are now printing in multiple colors (materials?) in one go - is that a new thing? Maybe something this manufacturer integrated?

Bambu Labs has the AMS, Automatic Material System that sits on top of the printers and makes multicolor printing pretty easy, holds 4 colors but you can link units together for up to 16. There's other companies that provide other multi-color solutions for other printers but Bambu's P1 and X1 series with the AMS really took off in the last 2 years.

I just got a Bambu Lab A1 (Combo with AMS lite, which I can also recommend) and am really impressed how smooth and well designed everything is. They really put a lot thought even into how the product is packaged and assembled. The few parts that you need to assembly yourself are all color coded (but after installing the color coding is hidden).

With my good old Ender 3, almost every print required tinkering with settings, otherwise print quality was bad or prints straight up failed. It was great for learning about 3d printing but with the A1 I can just print everything in much better quality without worrying about any settings.

I started with a Prusa Mini. It's a reliable workhorse.

Bambu Lab is extremely popular right now, and looks to be very easy to use.

If price is no option, Bambu labs is the way to go.

If you are tryna get a 3d printer on a budget, any of the Creality Enders, like the Ender 3 or the CR-6 MAX are good starting points within the ~$200 range.

Since the BambuLab A1 series was released, I consider this highly outdated information.

Looks like the A1 is $489.00-$559.00. A $170-$200 3d Creality printer still fits into a different category and pricepoint imo for beginners on a budget.

The A1 is presently $339.00. The price you cited is for the combo including the AMS, which allows for multi-filament printing.

source: https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/a1?variant=4158335519...

You can get a Bambu Lab A1 mini for 205 EUR. Cheapest Bambu Lab A1 I see is 345 EUR.

But there's also the A1 mini. A volume of 180x180x180mm³ is not bad.

ender 3 is super fun. i couldnt grt the levelling on my printer quite right tho :(

I used to joke that my favorite tv show was just spinning a model around and around that I was working on in freecad or kicad or openscad. It's honestly still my favorite tv show.

I got myself a Ender 3 V3 SE for christmas, and it has served me very well once I got used to it, especially once I hooked it up to a pi running octoprint. However, I've heard that the Bambu printers are generally the most "plug and play" you can get

I have an Ender printer as well and probably wouldn't recommend it. IMHO, the Bambu printers are a much better value.

The exception might be if 3d printing itself is your hobby and you enjoy tinkering endlessly, upgrading parts, tramming, setting esteps, etc...

Auto leveling printers alone are a godsend. Having to manually level my Ender 3 got to be a true pain but it sure did teach me a lot as a beginner!

Adding the autoleveling probe and firmware made my Ender 3 usable. I still try to make sure the bed is somewhat level, but I agree that this is a must-have feature.

My ender 3 has autolevelling build in, that might be part of the new V3 stuff. I thought it might be giving bad results at one point, but it turned out to be an incorrect temperature setting

If you want something that just prints, and want to spend absolutely no time fettling or upgrading the printer, then either Prusa (which I can speak to) or Bambu. Bambu has leapt ahead of Prusa in terms of features, though. They’re more expensive than some competition, but you’re paying for the simplicity.

A1 mini, it's sitting on my desk right now (is very small) and I love it!

I just get bambulab p1s a few weeks ago. My goal was to find “iphone of 3d printers”. It is still not there but it’s as close to “press a button to print” as possible. So far I’m pretty happy with the device and software.

Bambu Labs A1 - not had it long, but for less that £300 it's unbelievable, easily matching quality with the prusas on the type of stuff I'm printing.

The Bambu Labs A1 Mini is less than £300, the A1 is more expensive.

A1 is presently £289.00 GBP

They might be looking at things with the AMS thing that lets you do multiple colours. Mini with that is about £300.

Without that, the mini is £169 and the A1 is £289 as you say.

I got the A1 mini for £169 and it's just unbelievable value. My only regret is not just getting the X1C. The mini was for me to trial the brand and it has exceeded all expectations (at least for PLA).

I love my Creality Ender 3, I was intimidated by the assembly process but it went fine and I can’t believe how good it is. And it cost peanuts.

I suggest do a search for "makerspace" in your area - They can help you build the project & you can learn how to do it, and you might meet some great friends in the process.

+1 to all of the recommendations for anything by Bambu Lab. It's as close to plug and play as you'll get. (Personally I feel the P1S with the AMS combo is the best value to price, but you really can't go wrong with any of them)

Going against the consensus, I'd recommend a Prusa MK4S instead. It'll likely serve you much longer and will achieve better dimensional precision and slightly better quality at the same speed.

Be warned though, the printing part is just a tiny step in the rabbit hole. Soon enough you'll be lamenting the state of CAD, yearning for class A surfacing in your projects, and trying to decide between diving into Rhino/Grasshopper or mastering SOLIDWORKS.