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Does anyone here have a 3d printer?

Think I'm going to preorder the Qidi Tech X-Max 3. It's got a huge build area, excellent customer support, very fast (on paper at least) and is enclosed. The only downside is having to change the extruder when printing with certain materials.
I joined the Bambu Labs, Prusa and Qidi Tech Facebook groups to ask why I should buy their printer over the competition. Obviously everyone had a different opinion, but this was my take from it:
A number of people are having problems with Bambu Labs and support isn't great. Although it's quite likely they could be struggling to keep up, so that's put me off. It's a shame because they have a good sized build area, print very fast and relatively cheap.
Prusa have excellent customer support and a large community, but a lot of people are saying although they are very reliable, they are expensive for what you get.
 
The Mk4 looks very impressive. I have the Mk3s and can upgrade. I purchased it coming up 3 years ago and have printed a lot of stuff. My only complaint is its boring. Nothing ever goes wrong, I don't have to tweak, or otherwise geek on it. It just does what it does without fuss.

I cannot justify the upgrade, its faster sure. But I have got into the mindset of wait and see, its probably helped me with other stuff like spray painting, etc, (no honestly) I am traditionally very impatient and 3D printing forces you to slow down.

I cannot justify the 4 upgrade...
 
garyi said:
The Mk4 looks very impressive. I have the Mk3s and can upgrade. I purchased it coming up 3 years ago and have printed a lot of stuff. My only complaint is its boring. Nothing ever goes wrong, I don't have to tweak, or otherwise geek on it. It just does what it does without fuss.

I cannot justify the upgrade, its faster sure. But I have got into the mindset of wait and see, its probably helped me with other stuff like spray painting, etc, (no honestly) I am traditionally very impatient and 3D printing forces you to slow down.

I cannot justify the 4 upgrade...
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As far as I can tell it would make much more sense financially to sell the MK3 and buy a new MK4 than upgrade it. The upgrade is almost $600 in the US, and a new MK4 is $799 for the kit version. If you're going to upgrade a MK3S to MK4 you can build the kit, so it's a no brainer. Sell the MK3S for $400 or so and then buy the new one. I'm really tempted, but I've sold a couple thousand in 3D printed stereo parts (mostly for Sansui) this year, so I can't have the down time between selling now and waiting for the new one.
 
Fatmarley said:
I'm still saving up, so I have no choice, but to wait :(
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There's really nothing wrong with the ender 3.
I bought mine 3 1/2 years ago and did a few mods and tweaks at the start and it's been working great since then.

I haven't really felt any need to upgrade, I wouldn't mind getting a resin printer to go with it though.
 
booja30 said:
As far as I can tell it would make much more sense financially to sell the MK3 and buy a new MK4 than upgrade it. The upgrade is almost $600 in the US, and a new MK4 is $799 for the kit version. If you're going to upgrade a MK3S to MK4 you can build the kit, so it's a no brainer. Sell the MK3S for $400 or so and then buy the new one. I'm really tempted, but I've sold a couple thousand in 3D printed stereo parts (mostly for Sansui) this year, so I can't have the down time between selling now and waiting for the new one.
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Yes fair, but that would have meant me being quicker and selling mine before its inevitable crash on the second hand market lol.

It will be neither here nor there for the next 3 months at least, I have no doubt its sold out.
 
cubastreet said:
There's really nothing wrong with the ender 3.
I bought mine 3 1/2 years ago and did a few mods and tweaks at the start and it's been working great since then.

I haven't really felt any need to upgrade, I wouldn't mind getting a resin printer to go with it though.
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From a bit of reading, I need ASA or PC for the tweeter grill. PETG is risky, and could soften in the hot sun. Will the ender be able to print either of those filaments?

I'm still set on the Qidi Tech. It should do everything I want, and if you have any problems they are supposed to bend over backwards to help.
 
Getting better with Fusion, but still have lots to learn...

Vifa NE25 tweeter grill, held on with magnets. Just need to glue the magnets in...

QbTOdozl.png
 
Looks really good, well beyond my skill set. I have only every used sketchup but do have a licence for fusion. I should learn.
 
garyi said:
Looks really good, well beyond my skill set. I have only every used sketchup but do have a licence for fusion. I should learn.
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Thanks Garyi.

Watch a few YouTube tutorials, and I'm sure you'll be ok. I think It helps when you have a reason to want to learn.
 
I like the magnet solution. I think you could probably add small bumps or a ridge in the magnet hole that would hold them in without glue. Or friction fit could work if you added a couple little splines in the hole.

Fun thread!
 
Fatmarley said:
Getting better with Fusion, but still have lots to learn...

Vifa NE25 tweeter grill, held on with magnets. Just need to glue the magnets in...

QbTOdozl.png
Click to expand...
Not as standard but upgrades are cheap.
It comes down to time vs money I guess. Do you like to tinker or want it to be great out of the box?
 
cubastreet said:
Not as standard but upgrades are cheap.
It comes down to time vs money I guess. Do you like to tinker or want it to be great out of the box?
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I don't mind tinkering if I know it can eventually achieve excellent results, but If I can buy a machine that does it straight away, I'd rather take that route.
 
Fatmarley said:
I don't mind tinkering if I know it can eventually achieve excellent results, but If I can buy a machine that does it straight away, I'd rather take that route.
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For me it was more of a learning curve with software than any problem with the Pruse. E.g. I was using generic PETG and it really helped to set the extrusion multiplier to 95%. It just takes a little experience and troubleshooting.

I guess I like that the Prusa is open source and has a big support community. Other machines may have smart firmware that works around some initial hurdles, but still I wonder about long term reliability. E.g. will I be able to buy parts for it down the line? Is there a manual for disassemble? Is it upgradeable? Prusa is still selling parts for the MK2 which is way out of date by now.
 
Fatmarley said:
I don't mind tinkering if I know it can eventually achieve excellent results, but If I can buy a machine that does it straight away, I'd rather take that route.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, and that's why prusa printers are so much more expensive - they just work.

as tempting as the new machines are with all their bells and whistles, if I was to buy my first machine today knowing what I know, I'd probably buy an ender or a prusa simply for the amount of support available. Probably a prusa if I had the money.
 
It's looking more and more like Prusa MK4 is the sensible choice. May have to sell my Topping dac, or a kidney...
 
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