so im a teen with not alot of money but i want to get into 3d printing, another community suggested the ender 3 original. it looks like a solid printer but who know im a noob after all. my budget is around 100$ or less. im looking into making mini figures and painting them or whatever nerdy thing i find. i know the budget is tight but im hoping there is something, also im debating on buying a used 3d printer because they seem cheaper.
also any tips for a noob would be great like what makes said model good or bad compared to other models and such.
Absolutely one of the Ender 3s. Easy to find around $100, especially if you live near a Microcenter. They are such popular printers that any problem you may have has already been asked and solved.
If you’re mainly interested in figurines, then a resin printer will give you better quality. But it comes with smelly chemicals and more work/cleanup.
love my enddr 3. Watched a youtube video about how to tension the belts and have had much success printing all sorts of things. If you can a afford it get an auto bed leveler it will save you a ton of time.
If you plan on printing small things, I’d recommend checking your library first. My library has one that’s free to use, I just have to stay at the library while it’s printing, and it has to be while that section of the library is open, which is usually 4 hours at a time.
I’ve seen other libraries that charge a small fee to print.
This way you can get your foot in the door to make sure you enjoy it, and by using their machine/software you can get a feel for what you might want in your own printer.
The Ender 3 v3 SE is going to be y our best bet. I run a 3D printer repair shop, and unless you are already experienced and good with assembling kit machines and highly technical of a person - you will have a terrible time with an Ender 3, 3 Pro, or 3 v2.
The Ender 3 v3 SE can be had for $200-ish at various places, comes with auto leveling which even handles all the Z-probe offset stuff, so there’s no need to get yourself confused with terminology, it already has a direct drive, and PEI build surface, all the things you’ll end up spending another $200 on to put on an Ender 3 of a previous generation.
Don’t start your 3D printing journey for $100 unless you have a highly technical acumen or you will have a terrible time. I know the others are trying to be helpful by suggesting machines to you that fit within your budget, and it’s certainly possible to start out that low – but the better advice is just to get something slightly better. It’ll make the difference between you hating 3D printing, and loving it.
Just adding onto this as someone who got an ender 3 V2. This comment rings so true because I tried and tried to get the printer to work how I wanted for months before I just gave up. Flash forward almost 2 years and I got a much nicer but not crazy (~$400 if I recall) and it’s such a night and day difference. I actually quite enjoy printing now, whereas I just kinda thought it wasn’t for me with my first printer. Turns out cheap tools really do give cheap results
Adding onto this as someone who bought an ender 3 pro years ago and got it printing beautifully within about 6 months.
Yes, you have to have some knowledge and skills, but it is quite possible to get those printers working nicely and reliably. Of course, between the cost of upgrades and the time spent it’s only worth it if you want to learn or practice.
You won’t get a good printer for doing minis for $100. Just the extra supplies that go with safely resin printing would blow out your budget. Even if you do find a decent $100 resin printer.
100 is pretty tight, but you could probably find an original ender 3 for that much. It’s good for beginners because you assemble it out of the box which gives you a feel for how to adjust and repair it, it’s very modular so you can upgrade parts or add modules easily, and overall it prints pretty well right out of the box. Overall, definitely a solid choice.
One downside is no case, so ABS and other high temp or toxic filaments are no good, but PLA will print perfectly fine.
Another downside is no removable bed (they make removing the print easier), but you could easily buy one online or use tape.
If you go with the ender, make sure to get a program like Cura (free) and a micro SD card for slicing and transferring print files. You can also hook it up directly to your computer with mini USB, but that’s been finicky for me. Also mini USB is old as hell and I doubt his have one laying around.
Double your budget at least or be willing to learn the ins and outs of how 3D printers work at a basic level Be sure to check out the Tomb of 3D Printed Horrors on YouTube if you are into minis
Enders print just fine but tend to be a bit more maintenance-heavy
You’ll be limited to PLA and PETG for filaments
My first PETG print
Elegoo has some preowned printers. For under $100 you could get a printer a few generations older. If you’re doing models, like others have said, it’s probably not what you would need. If you want the practicality of printing out prototypes or cool objects then this is more of what it’s for.
Monoprice Select Mini V2, I’ve used this little guy for a few years now, and it’s rock solid
I would say anything but this one if you’re looking for a printer as a tool. My mp select mini v2 has been wonderful for me but thats because I wanted to learn electronics and have 3d printing be my hobby. Not have it as a tool.
This printer has a mandatory bed rewiring that if not done can cause a fire or the printer to lock up. Has a odd z-axis screw that needs to be replaced as it has weird magic numbers to work with for nonstock firmware, and the board causes the motors to be incredibly loud. A bed plate that is recommended to have a glass plate added to it for adhesion and to prevent warping as it’s only 1mm thick. And a very limited 120mm build volume.
I love this thing, it taught me soldering, it taught me about electronics and voltages, how to repair and tune a printer. The fact that the motors didn’t make the printer loud but stepper drivers do. How fusion 360 and sketchup work. Plus the amazing part of gcode changes like arc overhangs.
I’m finally starting to be very happy with mine but its a ship of Theseus situation now.
I’m currently building a voron and utilizing my printer and my coworkers stock ender3. And tbh I love the ender3. Its great, and at your budget price range it’ll do most things. $100 won’t be great for anything safe to use resin wise. So before you make a jump for ender3 look up the differences between fdm and resin prints as ender3 is fdm.
As someone who owns an Ender 3 v2, a Bambu p1p and an Anycubic Mono 4k, here are my thoughts… If your goal is to print and paint tabletop minis, you do not want an Ender, SV06, or even a Bambu labs printer. Even if you swap out the nozzle for a smaller one, paint and washes WILL absolutely show layer lines, unless you’re willing to do hours of post processing, filling, filing and sanding. FDM is not your friend in this regard. You can, by all means, get acceptable quality prints if you’re willing to spend months calibrating, tuning, failing and burning through filament with printers in your price range, especially once you start upgrading / fixing your printer (ask me how I know). If, on the other hand, tabletop minis aren’t your main goal and more functional parts, or larger decorative pieces are what you’re after, I cannot recommend an FDM printer enough. Cost savings on filament vs resin, speed (kind of), selection and community support are light years beyond the SLA / resin printers. I would try to avoid the cheaper Ender printers however, as other have stated and I can attest, you will be spending a lot of time calibrating and troubleshooting, and eventually throwing money at it.
I personally recommend the ender 2 pro to all my friends who just want a taste of getting into it. You can get em pretty cheap online, or at microcenters. They work well pretty much out of the box, but simple enough to get you to learn tuning them. And they come with a magnet removable build plate.
Sounds like you might want to check out something from maybe Elegoo, AnyCubic, or Photon: Resin printers are unrivaled when it comes to detail/minifig printing.
Resin printers are also much easier to assemble and calibrate.
Keep in mind that you’ll also need to buy or build washing and curing stations and set aside funds for the resin itself too. When working with resin, personal protective equipment and ventilation is also very important.
Sovol SV06 works pretty great for me :)
Ender 3, any, check ebay. Plastic is cheap on AliExpress. Mid quality though but it works.
People might not agree but a prusa mini is a great reliable beginner machine but sadly way over budget. If you can find a secondhand prusa mk3 or mini within your budget I’d recommend that. They are very repairable and reliable and god for high pression prints. The best thing about a prusa is the huge amount of guides and resources online where you can find help for absolutely everything should you have problems. There’s literally not a problem that has not already been described and solved on a prusa printer making it good for beginners. If you are going to make small high quality prints you should also buy a 0.25mm nozzle and you’d be amazed of how fine detail you can get (and long print time sadly, but no way around that)
I orginally bought an ender 3 and had had it for about a month before i returned it. Back when i bought it, in 2020 creality were swapping out parts, for cheaper alternatives some of which had defects like xt60 connectors for the psu. Which would catch on fire, i took that money and bought an i3 mega S from any cubic. It ran for about a year in a half until the 16pin cable burnt out and i decided to mod it. I switched the board for a duet wifi and the hotend for a hemeria and just recently upgraded to revo. The printer is rock solid and works well, the ender 3 is good if you want to tinker and learn about how a 3d printer works. But if you just want to make parts l, id suggest looking at other printers that are a little more expenisve, trust me you thank yourself.
It looks sketch but it works well
