3D Printing

Printers

FDM

personal ranking

  1. Voron - good hardware, very upgradeable + repairable, very open-source
    • best option if you’re fine with building it yourself
  2. Prusa - good hardware, very upgradeable + repairable
    • gold standard for quality + customer support
  3. Qidi - well-priced CoreXY printers with some interesting features, prints engineering filaments out of the box
    • the Qidi Q1 Pro is an amazing value and very competitive with Bambu Lab!
  4. Sovol - SV06 ACE is a Prusa clone, SV08 is a Voron kit, very repairable + open
  5. Bambu Lab - good hardware and some parts are replaceable, but very closed ecosystem
    • Bambu Lab has locked down on third-party software!
  6. Creality - meh hardware for the price, may not be as reliable as other brands.
    • ecosystem is also quite closed, but less so than Bambu

Elegoo’s Centauri Carbon recently released, could possibly be an incredible value but wait for independent reviews to release

Prusa
  • smaller bed-slinger: Mini+ ($429 for kit, $459 for semi-assembled)
  • standard bed-slinger: MK4S ($729 for kit, $999 for pre-assembled)
  • upgrade CoreXY: Core One ($949 for kit, $1,199 for pre-assembled)

There no real reason why you should get the Prusa Mini+ unless you want a small printer/the cheapest printer from Prusa. Other options in this price range offer far better value (Sovol, Qidi, and Bambu Lab all have good options)

Qidi
  • cheaper CoreXY: Qidi Q1 Pro ($599 $449)
  • larger CoreXY: Qidi Plus 4 ($999 $799)
Sovol
  • cheaper bed-slinger: SV06 ACE ($299 $279)
  • larger bed-slinger: SV06 Plus ACE ($349 $299)
  • larger CoreXY: SV08 ($599 $569)
Bambu Lab
  • smaller bed-slinger: A1 Mini ($299 $219)
  • cheaper bed-slinger: A1 ($399 $359)
  • standard CoreXY: P1P ($699 $519)
    • with enclosure: P1S ($699 $629)
  • upgrade CoreXY: X1 Carbon ($1,199 $1,149)

Bambu Lab has restricted access to its printers, so you are unable to use third-party software without changing to “Developer Mode” (LAN only mode) in firmware after v4.0.0.0!

If you want to continue using a Bambu Handy-like app with Bambu printers, I recommend the “Bambu Companion” app (unfortunately iOS only) with Tailscale. It works surprisingly well!

Creality
  • budget bed-slinger: Ender 3 V3 SE or KE
    • KE can print at higher temperatures + has linear rail for X-axis + has Klipper firmware
  • upgrade CoreXY: K2 Plus
Elegoo
  • cheaper CoreXY: Centauri Carbon ($299)

The Centauri ($199) is even cheaper alternative if you don’t need an enclosure

Voron
  • fixed gantry CoreXY: Voron Trident (price varies depending on kit)
  • moving gantry CoreXY: Voron 2.4 (price varies depending on kit)

Resin

  • smaller: Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra ($338 $269)
  • larger: Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra ($524 $399)

Filaments

Standard

  • PLA: Hatchbox / Polymaker
    • alternatives: eSun / Sunlu
  • PLA Matte: Polymaker PolyTerra
  • PETG: Hatchbox / Polymaker / MatterHackers / Sunlu
  • wood: Hatchbox Wood

Flexible

  • TPU: NinjaFlex / Overture / Polymaker PolyFlex

Tougher

  • ABS: Hatchbox / Polymaker
    • alternative: eSun
  • ASA: Polymaker / Sunlu

Tools

  • bed adhesion solution: 3DLac
  • filament dryer: Creality Space Pi
    • alternative: Sunlu S2 / S4
  • 3D print recycler: shredder/extruder
  • micro-shears: Fiskars micro-tip pruning snips
  • 3D pen: 3Doodler Flow (Pro+ has more features but is more expensive)

Storage

  • microSD cards: Samsung Pro Plus
  • SD cards: Sandisk Extreme Pro

Addons

  • RFID for non-Bambu filaments: OpenSpool
  • screen upgrade: Panda Touch (for P1 series)
  • open-source multi-material system: BoxTurtle / ERCF v2 / Tradrack (for Klipper-based printers like Vorons)

BoxTurtle and Tradrack seems to be much easier to put together than ERCF, but your mileage may vary. I have never used either.

Software

  • slicer: OrcaSlicer
  • printer software: OctoPrint (remote access, automated print failure detection, etc.)
    • plugins
      • Dashboard (a dashboard for monitoring the printer)
      • Arc Welder (reduces stuttering during printing by modifying gcode)
      • OctoEverywhere (automated print failure detection)
      • Filament Manager (manage spools of filament)
      • PrintTimeGenius (more accurate print time estimates)
      • OctoLapse (timelapses)
      • Exclude Region (prevent printing within a region in the current gcode)
      • Simple Emergency Stop
      • UI Customiser
      • loads of other plugins exist, try them out!
  • Bambu Handy alternative: Bambu Companion (iOS only)
  • print farm management: Polar

OrcaSlicer is based on PrusaSlicer, which itself is a very good slicer!

Other

  • vacuum-seal bags: any will do, eSun and Eibos kits seem pretty good