2025-03-17 17:00 UTC
Replies (9)
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@Greg@social.coop 2025-04-06 18:17
We ended up getting the Bambu Labs A1 mini as our first 3d printer. It arrived when I was on a work trip. This thing is an appliance. Like a toaster that makes pokemon.
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@liiwi@mastodon.social 2025-03-17 17:13
@Greg@social.coop Prusa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8DybBlX55k
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@aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place 2025-03-17 17:15
@Greg@social.coop being a decade+ late is good for your goal of getting something beginner friendly :) I have an older Prusa that I bought preassembled new, and I was very impressed with how little fiddling it needed to work for a while. It needs fiddling to work now, but that's because I did some ambitious mods to it that didn't quite work out. I've been eyeing up their new "Prusa CORE One" since it looks a lot more resilient and easier to service.
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@lorepozo@tech.lgbt 2025-03-17 18:17
@Greg@social.coop I've been using an UltiMaker 2+ for several years. It's very easy to use, I got it pre-assembled. UltiMaker also has excellent software "Cura" for slicing 3D models that's open source (LGPL) and supports a huge variety of printers (not just their own). If you or your children are also into math or programming as a means of creating 3D models (CAD), check out @OpenSCAD@fosstodon.org For a more WYSIWYG style of CAD, I find Shapr3D on the iPad to be elegant, intuitive, and tactile (but proprietary and freemium).
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@urig@mastodon.online 2025-03-17 18:36
@Greg@social.coop Hi. Beginner here too. Prusa wins because they are open-source and have a large and supportive community. You'll want the latest basic model, which is called "mk4s". It comes either pre-assembled or as a kit for you to assemble (cheaper). #3dprinting
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@tartley@fosstodon.org 2025-03-17 20:16
@Greg@social.coop We got a Toybox. It is a low spec entry level printer, which I've only used with their proprietary software, all of which might not be for everyone, but the upside of it is that it is so straightforward and reliable that the 12yo kiddo has been entirely self sufficient with it right from the start. He's making things like new Catan boardgame prices in onshape, exporting them to toybox as STLs, and is good to go.
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@djsundog@fedi.reclaim.technology 2025-03-17 21:04
@Greg@social.coop I don’t have any recent experience at the starter end of FDM printing, but I’d recommend avoiding Bambu Labs, only looking at printers that have a self-leveling bed (or auto-leveling or whatever variant of that they use in their marketing press) and if pre-teen kids are going to be operating the machine one that’s got an enclosure from the start, as there are lots of hot moving parts involved and they can and will get you eventually. (for the record, my current watchlist for printers to acquire are the Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo with four-filament material swap: https://store.anycubic.com/products/kobra-3-combo and the Elegoo Centauri Carbon (which doesn’t have a multi-material unit yet but should by autumn theoretically): https://us.elegoo.com/products/centauri-carbon-all-in-one-family-combo but obviously I have no hands on experience with either heh)
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@lea@mastodon.social 2025-03-17 23:04
@Greg@social.coop I recently oversaw the purchase of a 3d printer for my partner’s nephews, and I asked my former advisor (a highly knowledgeable fabrication researcher and 3d printing enthusiast) for recommendations for inexpensive and user-friendly. We ended up going with the Anycubic Kobra 2 Neo. A different colleague also suggested the Bambu Lab A1, but apparently their proprietary firmware is annoying (and also they didn’t ship to the country the nephews are in).
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@LovesTha@floss.social 2025-03-18 03:12
@Greg@social.coop I'm not against a two stage purchase plan, as printers that will make you happy are a serious cost and 3d printing isn't for everyone. I brought an Ender 3 SE last year, and 4 months later brought a Sovol SV08 to replace it (as my sensibilities prevented me from buying/RMAing the parts needed to fix it). The cheapy lets you learn enough to know what you features and specs you actually need.