Hi guys. I am trying to buy a 3d printer for someone willing to create stuff anywhere from small PC enclosure for a radpberry PI to say awesome stands for monitors or appliances. I dont want to build outrageously big stuff but i need something beginner friendly in a cheaper side of budget (maybe 500€/$?) what would you recommend?
Edit: i am looking for the biggest dimension possible so say 300x300 dimension… i am not sure if its the biggest possible even. I read about sovol (i also like generally open source / ageless, i dont mind tinkering or learning) —
Wanted features:
300x300 dimension Open source? Maybe? Multi coloring but without much hassle
Im a noob in all this so i dont know about the latest and best features.
If you’re leaning towards the budget end of the spectrum, a Sovol SV06 isn’t a bad choice. I ran a cheap and cheerful printer for 5 years or so before upgrading and it served me well. It also printed parts for its eventual replacement.
I’d suggest something with auto bed levelling at a minimum.
For a “just works” experience, you could consider the Bambulab A1 (not the Mini), although it is a proprietary design and only just exceeds the 500€/$ budget. At an additional cost, you can purchase the “AMS” which allows printing in 4 different colours.
Alternatively there’s the Creality ender 3 v3 SE and KE editions which come in at about half your budget. These use a pretty common 3D printer design and it’s fairly cheap to get spare parts or upgrades if desired. If going this route, I would personally lean towards the “KE” because it uses the open source Klipper firmware
There are a lot of Ender models available, please be cautious of the older ones and the cheap ones on Amazon as they are not the same thing - most of those have manual bed levelling and hit-or-miss quality control, which can make printing a little bit of a pain out-of-the-box for a beginner IMO…
As for me personally, I got my first 3D printer secondhand for the equivalent of €100 - it’s a Delta style printer by FLSun and works great for me, however I did binge hours of 3D printing videos to familiarize myself with things just in-case the used printer arrived broken (thankfully it didn’t, it printed fine OOTB!)
The Bambu A1 (mini or full size) may be a good fit for you. Price point is there or below if you opt out of the multi color unit, and they are remarkably beginner friendly.
