From personal experience, I can tell you the really cheap, like sub $200 printers, are mostly shit. I’m currently rocking an Ender 3 V2, which is around $300.

So far I’ve had pretty good luck with it. It’s not perfect, and if you do get the base kit, you’ll still probably need to put some money into it to upgrade it to fix some of it’s more glaring issues, but that can be done iteratively and it will still work ‘stock’.

It’s also a pretty popular printer, which means there are a lot of videos on upgrading it and printable upgrade parts on Thingiverse.

Obviously still do your own research, but at least as of the time of writing (Mar of 2021) this seems like the best option at an entry-level price point. If you can’t do at least this printer, I’d really advise just saving your money, because anything cheaper is really going to be questionable, to the point it may not ever really work.

[TODO]

Calibration @ https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html

[TODO] Autoleveling

Modeling #

[TODO] look into https://libfive.com/studio/ instead of OpenSCad as OpenSCad is full of problems

[TODO] compliant design, see 3D Printed Joystick Using Spherical Flexure Joint (Hackaday)

OpenSCad #

https://github.com/davidson16807/relativity.scad

https://github.com/revarbat/BOSL2

https://github.com/JustinSDK/dotSCAD

isogrid2020 (GitHub)

Vpype (GitHub) - “The Swiss-Army-knife command-line tool for plotter vector graphics.”

Laser Etching Stainless Steel with Mustard (Hackaday)

Achieve true 3D printing with non-planar slicing (YouTube, Teaching Tech)

3D Printing 90 degree overhangs with non-planar Slicing (Hackaday)

Giant Mechanical Iris! Cut on a CNC Router (YouTube)

Topology Optimization makes for some cool shelves (YouTube)

Cleaner Laser Cutting With a 3D-Printed Nozzle (Hackaday) ,Links to article by Jesse @Nervous Systems

Elksmaker modifications (YouTube)

Some neat 3D printable things #

https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/7876-rotating-rings-toy

VGA USB cover (Thingiverse)

Fuckofftopus 2.0 (Thingiverse)

Motorized Scaly Gauntlet (Hackaday)

Fractal Vise Holds Odd-Shaped Objects Tight (Hackaday)

3D PRINTING SEX TOYS: a quick, easy and safe method! (Billie Ruben)

3D Printing Materials #

PLA, ABS, PETG, etc. #

https://www.3dnatives.com/en/plastics-used-3d-printing110420174/

The Weird Stuff #

Started working on 3d printed foam again. This piece printed in about 7 hours (parallel printers). I have a lot to learn about actually finishing a head so I've been printing out 1/4 and 1/2 heads for practice. Failing fast and often pic.twitter.com/9Q5XP4Cjhw
— Rev (@RevitFur) July 12, 2021

https://hackaday.com/2022/08/18/put-3d-metal-printing-services-to-the-test-by-making-a-watch/

41.3 - Aluminum Extrusion #

Getting started with Aluminum Extrusions (Hackaday)