I am new to the forum as you may notice
I have been looking to buy a 3D printer for ages. I have a budget of up to 800$ CAD.
Since I am a beginner, I wanted to have advice on two Makers, Babu Lab and AnyCubic.
Bambu lab is the Combo P1 Series combo, which exceeds my budget, or the A1 3D Printer multicolour combo offer.
AnyCubic, Kobra 3 Combo from Amazon. I want to use it to build small parts, as much as figurines… I am approaching my retirement and I wanted to have fun learning, playing, and see if I can be creative… If you have other suggestions, please feel free. Thank you
This is just my opinion so take with a large grain of salt. Also only been printing for 3 years.
The two 3d printers I have owned are from Bambu (P1P currently use) and Anycubic (MegaX).
The Bambu Lab printers just work. Their software is really dialed in. Out of hundreds of prints I have only had about 3 failures which were entirely my fault.
From the reviews I have seen on the new Kobra printer, the software still needs a bit more tweaking but the hardware looks pretty good.
The Bambu Lab ecosystem is closed proprietary meaning you have to use their proprietary hardware and software. If you want to tinker with the 3d printer itself probably not the best choice.
If you need good detail on the small parts you will want the smallest extrusion nozzle possible. Cost in time to get better detail.
Having said all that, Bambu has the market lead for entry level printers for a reason but there are several companies biting at their heel. Most are not there yet but they are getting close.
Again, welcome to the fun. I primarily do trinkets and toys with my machine but not too small. My sweet spot for the models are between 6 to 10 inches.
If you want to print figurines, you might want to consider a resin printer. They are much finer resolution than one that melts plastic. But also, messy and smelly…
Thank you, Oscar and mcdanlj,
for your comments. I was leaning more toward the Anycubic question of space, and I find it more fitting for my need to explore my capabilities as a beginner.
My colleague at work, just bought his It is a Bambu Lab, X1 Series.
I am still taking my time to make a choice. Let’s say my other half is not too happy that I am a Geek.
If you aren’t aware yet, Bambu just announced that they are blocking third-party software from talking to their printers, pretending that it’s for security. I would steer clear of them now.
Get you a Crealityt k1 max. You will be glad you had the extra build volume 1st time you try to make a paper towel holder or a multi meter case or remake a Christmas track. Try to find a nice used one or new from some reseller in your area.
Another printer in that price range is the Sovol SV08. It has a large print volume (substantially larger than the creality k1 max). And because it’s closely based on the Voron (just with some custom pieces to reduce the price) there’s a huge open source community building variations on that design, and a large ecosystem of add-ons.
A lot of suggestions for large print volumes above; but I noticed in your description that you mention printing figurines.
You may want to consider a resin printer for that; small volume resin printers are quite cheap; and produce a level of fine detail far above what any filament based printer can achieve. Resin systems are fiddlier to use, with extra steps such as UV curing, but this might be part of the fun?
If you also want to print cases, brackets, statues or anything large or strong the conventional advice above is good. But for minatures etc resin can be way to go.