Evening all, been thinking about 3D printing for a while and having a look online it seems it’s all moved on quite a bit in recent years.
what would be a good starter set up for someone completely new to it? A full kit ready to go with easy to follow and use instructions/software would be great.
would say £400 be enough to get something that is a reasonable size and ready to go from the outset?
thinking items up to the size of a football or slightly larger at most, but mostly smaller stuff than that…
thinking items up to the size of a football or slightly larger at most, but mostly smaller stuff than that…
That's pretty big.
Creality printers are great imo. The K series is superb. Their speeds are another level from the last generation of printers. Reliability and ease of maintenance, firmware updates and parts.
You'd need something like the K1 Max or the new K2 whatever for the size you wish...and that would blow your budget. A little smaller and the K1 or K1C would be great and much cheap and in every way the same quality.
But.....what are you using it for? Are you going to be designing your own stuff or just downloading and printing?
If you just want something that works (rather than being a project in itself) get yourself over to the Bambu Labs black friday sale and take a look at their A1 or P1s printers.
https://uk.store.bambulab.com/collections/3d-printer
Both should fit your needs and budget but have slightly different strengths/focus. The A1 is the simpler printer and comes in at only £200 in the sales with the £330 P1S offering a bit more capability if you want to trying printing with more advanced materials (like ABS plastics) that need a heated chamber.
There is also the option to get either of these with one of the AMS units which lets you automatically print with multiple different colours/filament types in the same model. You can get the A1 with it's AMS unit for £300 which is just silly when you consider how much something that capable would have cost five years ago. The P1S with the older AMS might be a little over budget at £470 but would probably be what I would be looking at if I wasn't trying to save my money for boring house things (who needs watertight roofs anyway, right?).
Bambu p1s. We have them at work which I use daily. I have one at home. A friend ran a business from home with 4 of them. They just work. No faff. Quite remarkable compared to the vast majority of 3d printers from the last 10 years.
Another vote for a Bambu. I've recommended them to so many people! Reliable, consistent, no faffing. Stark contrast to what I hear from a lot of people about their experiences with competitors.
I started with an A1, which was great, and am now on a p1s as I wanted to have a play with other filaments.
If you can stretch to the AMS then I'd really advise it. Yes you can use it for cosmetic colour changes, but the other huge advantage is being able to print supports in different materials, so you get really nice clean bottom surfaces and supports that come off really easily.
May thanks for the advice!
it doesn’t need to be a huge printer but it would be handy for the odd occasion when I needed it.
and yes, I would like to be designing my own stuff if possible. I’m guessing some form of CAD software will be needed?
it doesn’t need to be a huge printer but it would be handy for the odd occasion when I needed it.
and yes, I would like to be designing my own stuff if possible. I’m guessing some form of CAD software will be needed?
I bought a Creality CR10-Mini about 7 or 8 years ago - not really sure now; but it is now considered a real dinosaur. It still serves my purpose & at the moment is hard to justify upgrading. It never needs fiddling with - just turn it on, load a file & wait.
It has a 300x210 print bed, which was the main reason for choosing it at the time. The CR10 has a 300x300 bed & was just a little too large for the space I intended to put it.
I barely ever fill the print bed. Very rarely I might make a part that extends to the limits, but not very often. It does depend what you want to print though.
I am not up to date with the latest printers, but Bambu gets very good reviews from what I have seen. I assume there are equivalent printers from Creality that get good reviews. When I decided on Creality, one of the main benefits at the time was the availability of spares, the amount of information & help about them online, and the general community around them. It would be worth having a nose around online to see how well the printer you are considering is supported.
With regards to software for designing your own stuff - I use Fusion360 for home stuff, as it's free for home users & will do everything you need.
For your own created parts, the workflow is: Design part > save a copy as an STL file > open STL file in slicer software > send sliced file (gcode file) to printer > et voila.
If you are downloading a part from somewhere like Thingiverse, the download would likely be an STL file, so you whack that straight into your slicer software & off you go.
For slicers, I still use Ultimaker Cura, but there are tons of choices out there & they all have their pros & cons. Most are free so it's worth trying a few & finding one that suits you.
I started out with a Creality ender v3. Recently upgraded to the Elegoo centauri carbon - an enclosed XY printer. It's significantly better.
I thought i got it for a bargain at £299, but it's currently down to £239 here which is, frankly, madness!
It doesn't have multicolour...YET.... apparently Elegoo are working on it. But all my prints are sinlge colour TBH.
Long story short - the centauri carbon is an INCREDIBLY CHEAP fully enclosed, decent printer!
DrP
Bambu P1S user here. The only problem with it is that it's now about £200 cheaper than when I got it last year. Now £329.
I bought an elegoo Neptune 4 plus a few weeks ago as my first printer. Was just over £200 with a kilo of PLA. No problems so far. I’ve read a lot and gone round in circles and price as every printer bar bambu models seems to have plenty of comments on how it’s bad at xyz. Pleased with my choice in the end. Not convinced about how bambu seem to be locking down the ecosystem but would have gone that way if the prices were a shade lower.
I've literally just opened the box of an Elegoo Neptune 4 - £140 inc 1kg of filament, about to start building it now. It looks a fairly major engineering project just to get it built tbh, I can see this being an expensive way of getting really annoyed!
Blimey, if you can get a Bambu P1s for £329 then one of those!
Have had one for a year and it blows previous (relatively high end) printers away. I think it is good for a beginner, very plug and play with Bambu's slicer being approachable. Also fast, which helps for the big prints you are proposing!
I have a 7 year old Ender 3 sitting in the corner of the spare room. It took at a lot of tinkering and faffing to get it print reliably, then just when you thought you had it nailed it would fail massively. I bought a self levelling bed kit for it but never bothered to fit it. Although I did enjoy playing with it and it greatly improved my Fusion 360 skills.
I'm very tempted by either Bambu P1S or Centauri Carbon. Which would the hive mind recommend?
I started with an Ender 3 and it's been great for learning but the hobby was definitely the printer itself and getting over the frustration of getting it to work reliably. It's up for sale if a tinkerer wants it!
I jumped to a Bambu P1S with AMS and it's been absolutely brilliant. About 12 times faster to print than the Ender, and just works. It was expensive, it's not now though(!), it's quite large and it's not quiet. The hobby is now design and print.
I then got an A1 Mini for small, quiet, fast prints and that is also amazing. And so so cheap at the moment.
For most people I'd recommend an A1 (full size). P1S with AMS is next step up and P2S is just out and brings some nice but not needed advantages for the enthusiasts.
Quick look - a football is 22cm diameter. I had no idea. Bambu A1 or P1S will print 256 x 256 x 256 so a bit of room to spare.
Makerworld is OK too. I made a model that was pretty niche but fairly well downloaded, boosted and voted. Just traded my points for a voucher, and got stuff worth £54 at RRP for £1.49 after using my £35 voucher!
Just under an hour from opening the box to starting to print, there's some parts left over which didn't get a mention in the set-up video so god knows how vital they'll prove to be.
It's also a lot bigger than I expected it to be which might necessitate a complete overhaul of the spare room.
17 minutes till my little plastic buddha is complete apparently...
Just under an hour from opening the box to starting to print, there's some parts left over which didn't get a mention in the set-up video so god knows how vital they'll prove to be.
That's not bad, when I got my Ender 3 it took several hours to get it built right. Everything had to be absolutely spot on, or the thing could not print remotely accurately.
Printed perfectly as far as I can tell - much to my surprise!
Awesome! Many thanks again!
So now I am narrowing this down to:
elegoo centauri carbon vs bambu lab p1s
Between the 2 which will be best?
I think this is a bit like Mac vs PC!
The Bambu has the option of adding the AMS later for multi colour prints (or to make it easier to swap materials).
I'm sure someone will explain why the Elegoo is best!
So I went for Elegoo because, and this might be a bit 'tin foil hat' stuff... Bambu really locks down their kit. Si it kinda is like apple vs android..
Bambu do appear to have great printers, but as i understand it the core issue is around a recent firmware and software change that many see as locking down their ecosystem.
Chat GPT says:
My Take
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Yes, there is a valid criticism: it’s not just paranoia — Bambu is tightening control over how their printers are used, and that has real implications for power users / open-source enthusiasts.
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It’s not total lock-in (yet): they are offering a “Developer Mode,” and you can continue to use SD cards, etc.
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Trade-off: You get potentially better security and a more “managed” experience, but you may lose flexibility.
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Risk for advanced setups: If you're running a print farm, or doing very custom slicer workflows / automation, this could be a big deal. For someone printing one-off parts from home via standard toolchain, less so.
I don't want to be locked in to a product that MIGHT limit my filament to JUST bambu filament, etc..
I went for the Centauri carbon as it was a cracking price at 300 quid! Almost a no brainer now at £239!
It's much faster than my Ender (which I still have...fully modded!). The community around the Centauri is quite good as well - i've 3d printed a riser for the top (to open the lid when printing pla etc).
I've not used Bambu, but they DO have great products.
Have a look at some youtube videos..it's addictive!
DrP
I went for the Centauri carbon as it was a cracking price at 300 quid! Almost a no brainer now at £239!
It's much faster than my Ender (which I still have...fully modded!). The community around the Centauri is quite good as well - i've 3d printed a riser for the top (to open the lid when printing pla etc).
I've not used Bambu, but they DO have great products.
Have a look at some youtube videos..it's addictive!
DrP
@DrP _ Can you help with any of these queries?
I'm looking at the Centauri Carbon now. They offer a few different bundles.
The all in one bundle includes a 0.4mm printhead, does the Carbon come with a 0.8mm out of the box?
It also includes a bundle of 3 build plates, I'm not sure what use they are?
Also, when I add it to my cart, it adds a "worry free purchase" for £7.69??? Any idea?
Thanks
Hey... it comes with a 0.4mm nozzle out the box. I'm still running that, but have some aftermarket ones (? Amazon i think) in high stell and 0.6mm. Not fitted those yet.
People say different build plates work for different filaments - TBH i'd stick with the stock one (it's dual sided) until you scratch it - then get a cool blue Cryogrip plate!
I recall the 'worry free purchase' thing - the onus is on THEM to ship it to me undamaged! If there's an issue in transit, it's THEM that need to make sure they've got the right insurance! Just ignore that!
Good choice on the CC!
DrP
EDIT - looking at the all in one bundle, TBH i'd give that a miss... just get the stock one. If you need new nozzles you can replace those for a few quid - no need to replace the whole hot end! Put it this way - the value decreases significantly if you get the all in one bundle!
Get the base carbon - it comes with tools such as scraper, glue etc..comes preloaded with files to print the poop-bin and scraper handle too, which is cool!
Just get a bunch of rolls of e-sun PLA + from amazon and you'll be good to go when it arrives! I went for the lime green theme! 
@DrP - Many thanks for the info.
Looks like they are trying to make some money on the bundles.
That "worry free purchase" was bizarre!
Has anyone used www.123-3d.co.uk?
They have the Centauri Carbon at £240 but with free delivery, everyone else seems to be charging a £20 delivery fee.
https://www.123-3d.co.uk/3D-printers/Elegoo/Elegoo-Centauri-Carbon-p224481.html
So I went for Elegoo because, and this might be a bit 'tin foil hat' stuff... Bambu really locks down their kit. Si it kinda is like apple vs android..
it's far more than that, they operate in a very unethical, anti-cooperative way that totally goes against the principles of the early days of open-source 3d printing. They are perfectly happy to take from the open-source community though (their software is entirely derived from Prusa's open source software, and their file-sharing website initially contained content mainly copied wholesale from Prusa's).
I personally wouldn't touch their products at all from a moral standpoint. I appreciate I'm fortunate in the respect I can afford Prusa prices so don't even have to consider Bambu's second rate knockoff tat 🤣
Has anyone used www.123-3d.co.uk?
yes, not for a printer but I buy a lot of filament from them. very quick delivery, never had a problem, can't fault them!
Has anyone used www.123-3d.co.uk?
yes, not for a printer but I buy a lot of filament from them. very quick delivery, never had a problem, can't fault them!
Thanks. Good to hear as I've already ordered a Centauri Carbon from them. £240 delivered, £20 less than Elegoo.
I have nothing useful to add but, speaking as someone else who is considering dipping their toe into the 3D printer world, all this information is very helpful folks.
Cheers.
@DrP - do you mind if I drop you a message later, I'd like to pick your brains a bit more on the set up you have. Cheers!
I've contributed once already and even I am having my head turned by some of the recommendation to have one at home - currently use the ones at work and take one home when I've a job to do.
I am going to contribute more about the designing element though....
My concern about a lot of home 3D printing purchases is that it's all about the printer...and buying a printer. To be honest I reckon that's at the end of the chain of decisions. To put it in cycling terms....it's like buying a bike. Buying a bike is actually pretty easy these days as they are all damn good. Sure, you need to decide what type of bike and what features will be most useful to you but a good bike is easy to buy. The hard bit it the actual cycling. Deciding where you are going to ride and putting in the hard graft to ride somewhere that it's going to be fun and safe. And then getting fit enough and doing it frequently enough that you can actually ride the damn thing and enjoy the process. Otherwise it's a shiny thing to live in your shed that you'll use one day. You'll take it out a couple of times on a shitty route with your shitty unfit body and rubbish bike handling skills and wonder why other people enjoy it because it sucks as a way to spend your time and all that cash on a thing rusting away in the shed.
All these 3D printer conversations should really start with, what are you going to be making and for what purpose? What software are you going to LEARN to use? How much time are you prepared to put into that LEARNING? The 3D printer part of that chain of design and manufacture is the last 5% of the process. Hell, printers are so good these days it's probably the last 2 or 3%. The hard part is learning to model good stuff. Stuff that actually works for its intended when made and is designed to be additive manufactured. Yes, there are people who buy 3D printers just to download stuff from thingyverse or grabcad or wherever but.....really? Is that it for you? You might as well go buy the plastic thing you wanted from aliexpress or whatever - I struggle to see the point.
The old adage of rubbish in, rubbish out could not be truer than for 3D printing. CAD modelling stuff that's non-dross is challenging. It's literally what some people do for a living. After 15 years of autocad and then 15 years of Solidworks I'm now in my 6th year of Fusion 360. I still get better every day. I teach motivated kids at A level who are still crap at it after months of learning. It's a proper skill. A beautiful skill and incredibly rewarding, but that's the bit people should be focussing on rather than the 3D printer.
@convert - I can see your point. With my old Ender 3, half the battle was getting the thing to actually print anything!
However, I had dabbled in Rhino previously and then moved on to Fusion 360, which was much more user friendly and I greatly improved my skills and made a few pointless designs I was happy with but I'm sure, compared to your standards, I would still be rubbish.
I gave up and the printer gathered dust, as I got frustrated when after several successful prints, things would go wrong, despite everything being exactly the same as the successful prints. I'm hoping a more reliable printer will encourage to stretch my modelling skills in Fusion.
Also, I have quite a board game collection and will be downloading some box inserts, with the intention of creating my own for some of the less popular games.
convert - that's a great point. The design phase is often overlooked when folk talk about printers. Perhaps as there's loads of models flying round the web so they are easy to obtain.
I was a design engineer and used Solidworks and Pro E for a living for long enough, so my mind skips over that bit. I had access to a few industrial 3d printers and am used to design parts to be made (print, prototype or manufacture).
The part I had to learn with the Ender was actually using the printer. With my Bambu that bit is almost trivial as the printer handles a lot and the Wiki steps in when there are problems. So do others.
But absolutely, if the intent is to design from scratch that's a big learning curve. Nothing beats seeing a problem, finding a solution and having the part the same day, it's great!
I ordered the Centauri Carbon yesterday, it stated a 14 day delivery time on the website, however, it turned up today.
I'm going to find out if the "printing out of the box" claim is true!
We were new to 3D printing this time last year, Ender 3 S1 pro. Printed so much stuff, tools and gadgets for me and DC/movie/horror stuff by son. Upgraded as we went but could have saved a lot by just buying a better one at the beginning.
Just bought a P2S, which is really good. Very fast and 99% successful on the prints.
Well the difference between the Centauri and the Ender are night and day.
Quality, speed and ease of use. The software is a bit crap and I haven't sussed how to send files by wifi yet. But really happy so far.
The old adage of rubbish in, rubbish out could not be truer than for 3D printing. CAD modelling stuff that's non-dross is challenging. It's literally what some people do for a living. After 15 years of autocad and then 15 years of Solidworks I'm now in my 6th year of Fusion 360. I still get better every day. I teach motivated kids at A level who are still crap at it after months of learning. It's a proper skill. A beautiful skill and incredibly rewarding, but that's the bit people should be focussing on rather than the 3D printer.
Agree 100% - the design skill is not necessarily something that can be learnt. Especially if you don't have anything real to practice on. I guess the trouble with students is they get very little time to practice and it can absorb a huge amount of it. I've been using 3D cad for nearly 30 years and still use probably less than 10% of Solidworks' capability.
I see the printer as an enabler - it actually gives you a pathway to be able to create your own stuff - my 14 Y/O is loving using ours to generate bits and bobs but it's tough teaching him to use SW. He simply won't read the books I've got. Considering that, he's actually doing very well.
Many thanks to everyone here for their help and advice, and in particular DrP
One Cenauri Carbon has been ordered. Let's see how much mess I can make with this!...
Cheers!
Teaching CAD with a book!? I’m self taught of YouTube, but I like it as an outlet of wanting to design and make things. If I want to do something then I google until I find the right video on YouTube! I really should put in the time to learn how to properly setup my designs so they don’t fall apart if I tweak a simple dimension in the first sketch, but that’s no fun!
I'm not sure I'm cut out for 3d printing, the tension's too much!
Just done this low-polygon doberman, this is the thingiverse image and my actual model is surprisingly close:
I haven't painted mine yet, printed it in matte black though so chuck on a bit of tan here and there and it's job done. It's about 10cm to top of ears and took 90 minutes to print. Printed perfectly but I basically spent the entire time just waiting for it to go to ratshit...
After that I then had to remove the supports which also seemed like an easy way for a ham-fisted buffoon like myself to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Seemed a definite step up from the little Buddha model which came on the printer so a good trial.
Teaching CAD with a book!?
I initially learnt out of a book - though that was way before Youtube existed. I do find that a book is a better reference than YT as it's easy to miss the detail and it's a pain to keep rewinding. The book just stays there. OK it's only teaching you to use the tools, not design things but you've got to start somewhere and i do like a structured course for showing you things that you might not discover organically. Especially if you don't have a "what if?" mindset. It shows you what's possible.
I've got these which is when my own copy of SW dates from.
Obviously similar volumes are available for all softwares.
The software is a bit crap and I haven't sussed how to send files by wifi yet. But really happy so far.
Interesting... if your printer is connected to the wifi, and the PC running elegoo slicer is connected, you should jsut be able to 'find it' and print direct from PC..
DrP
Newbie!
I started with the tutorials in Solidworks 2002
I started with the tutorials in Solidworks 2002
I'm not sure it had a date on it when I started but when I bought my own seat I wanted to see what I'd been missing out on by learning by doing, so I worked through the books. Amazing how still relevant they are over 10 years later. There's a lot of refinement but the basics haven't changed.
Would love to try a few other CAD types but experience with Inventor a few years ago has put me right off. Think I'm institutionalised.
Would love to try a few other CAD types but experience with Inventor a few years ago has put me right off. Think I'm institutionalised.
Based on my experience with Solidworks both Fusion and Onshape are ok for single parts but try too hard to be different when it comes to assemblies. I do use Fusion to create G-code, but the designs are done in Solidworks. My son used NX at university and hated it (he learnt basic SW on my laptop when he was about 12 so knew what he was doing).
I'm retired now but you can use Solidworks at home for something like £50 a year which is well worth it.
Maybe I'm just too old to get the hang of the newer options!
Well I have just found out how perishable Fusion 360 skills are!
Going to go back to square one on some tutorials, hopefully it will come back to me.
A few things I picked up recently on Fusion 360 that I'll share
- Use component design within one model, and assemblies are much easier. I was doing a clunky way of importing models into an assembly, I must have been taught that back in the day. The component system puts all parts in one file (also helpful with 10 model limit) and is much easier.
- Set up to 3d print. Again, old habits of export STL, then import. Instead, from the file settings click 3d print. Point this to your slicer and then you just click the part and it opens in your slicer. Simple. Saved me hours!
Possibly both obvious, but weren't to me! Hope that helps.
try too hard to be different when it comes to assemblies
Same with Inventor - it had some nice part features but the assembly system is just bull**** - there's 2 different types of "mates" FFS! Different for different sakes. The amount of "why don't you just do what Solidworks do?" posts on the user forum is ridiculous. The answers from long time users and "staff" usually being some form of gaslighting.
Would like to try out Catia at some point.
An update. I've had a Flashforge for a few years and its been great. Printed pretty flawlessly, a few glitches here and there but generally turn it on and print. I've got a project coning up that need fancier materials so I thought I'd take the opportunity to get something newer and a bit bigger. Bought the Elegoo Centauri Carbon from 123-3D for £239. Ordered Monday night arrived Wednesday morning. Printed a benchy within an hour.
So far very impressed. It feels quality. Glass, metal, nice touchscreen. Much better than the Flashforge (not knocking it, just a comparison). First print without adjusting anything is pretty much perfect. As good as commercial models I've bought before. Super fast, if anything it feels like its moving too fast. Quite a lot of vibration, but it doesn't impact on the print. Also quite noisy, I have read this before and it is definitely true. Overall very happy and for the money it seems ridiculously good.
Time will tell but it will almost pay for itself with the first project so not much to lose.
I've been working on some 3-D printed keyrings for my daughter to give out as christmas presents to her football team mates.
This thread has highlighted just how old my CR10-Mini is and using it does seem a bit clunky. The separate control box with control wheel definitely feels a bit antiquated.
But, I am so used to using it that the workflow is pretty good & the only real issue I can think of that would make me want to upgrade is the print speed is pretty slow.
I am sure the accuracy/quality is better on the newer machines, but for virtually all of the things I print the quality I get is more than good enough.
I like the idea of multi-colour prints but get put off when I see how much waste they generate and would be unlikely to use that functionality very often.
I think I would miss the versatility of the rectangular build-plate too.
I almost need something in this printer to go 'pop' to justify a fancier new one.
I like the idea of multi-colour prints but get put off when I see how much waste they generate and would be unlikely to use that functionality very often.
this problem has been solved some years ago but the ££££ is not easy to justify for most hobbyists! Actually Bondtech have recently announced their latest (and slightly cheaper) solution, but if you haven't ordered one already you're not getting one any time soon 😃
There are many practical uses for multi-colour and particularly multi-material prints, but they definitely make "fun" prints a lot more, well, fun!!
Speed.
My Bambu's are 12x faster than my Ender 3. That alone was the justification I needed. An all day print takes an hour. Iteration is quicker. Game changer.
My Daughter has just bought herself a Bambu A1 mini (Bambu apparently being b@stards from a quick skim of the thread above). I'm quite excited to have a play with it though, I've got 2 questions:
1. Any good suggestions of off the shelf designs to print?
I'm thinking the hope open source brake tools
these cool mounts for storing fidlock bottles
2. What's a good way to get into designing my/our own stuff? any recommendations on tutorials/software to start with? I'd quite into dabbling with python and raspberry pi - this one is more general dicking about - I figured it would be a good way of exposing my daughter to a load of different tech skills. I'm thinking as a starter it would be quite rewarding to make little custom hooks for hanging/wall mounting bits and bobs.
Re designing stuff - i use onshape cos it’s free and web based, so i can pick up from where i left off from home to work etc.
I’d just have a play about, with a few YouTube videos. Learn the basics i.e design a cube, then ‘remove’ some of the centre, then you now have a tray!
My first few designs were quite ‘square and boxy’, but now i can use other tools in Onshape to make smooth curved transitions etc.
RE off the shelf - jsut go to printable.com and find all sorts of dragons and tatt! My daughter loves that!
Also - this week i sold my first 3d print!!!! A centre console organiser for a polestar 2!
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4455464750/center-console-organizer-for-polestar-2
Not quite time to give up the day job!!
DrP