Hi,

I just have some questions regarding 3D printing. Despite doing this for 2 years I still feel like a beginner.

Questions:

I’m looking at the Ender 5 Plus and Prusa MK3S, I’ve seen plenty of people say the Prusa is better because the Ender 5 Plus requires more “tinkering”. I just feel that the Prusa is overpriced and don’t know if I should just bite the bullet and get it or something else? I want to get back into the printing game.

I live in a trailer and my room is pretty small about 30ft x 30ft, would it be safe to use my printer in my room if all I print is PLA (I’m not talking about using it overnight either since I don’t trust it). Or should I leave it in my living room?

  • anguo@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    First of all, 30ft x 30ft sounds absolutely huge! Maybe you meant 30 square feet? If you’re not printing non-stop and can open a window from time to time, PLA should technically be fine from what I’ve read, although a well ventilated room would always be best.

    As for the printer itself, I personally would advocate against Creality products. I would trust a Prusa MK3S with my life, but it is on the pricier side. I’ve read good things about the Sovol SV06 (not the 7), which looks like an MK3S at 1/3rd of the price. Can’t speak from experience though.

    • chrischryse@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      1 year ago

      Lol yeah 30 square feet. Long day. And I’d be printing mostly on weekends for like a few hours

      Also why against creality?

  • tinyVoltron@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’ve got an Ender 5 Pro. Had it for a few years now. The tinkering factor is one of the selling points. I have learned so much about how the printer works, how electronics work in general, stepper motors, GCode, etc. Over the years I’ve upgraded everything but the frame just because I could. Get the Ender and experiment.

    • rustyriffs@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, it’s definitely a learning experience. A frustrating one, but also a rewarding one.

      I’ve had my Ender 2 pro for a couple of weeks now and just managed to get it printing good. The minimum height limitation sensor (don’t know the proper name for it) was not set correctly from the factory. It was too high, and thus my print bed was not able to be leveled correctly until I figured this out.

      Also, the slicer software I was using had a setting for “pause at layer height…” which was enabled at about 4 or 5 different times. That was super frustrating too, until I figured it out finally.

      Now my prints are looking pretty damn good, and I don’t have to babysit them. I’m pretty happy.

      • rambos@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Tbh you could experience that with many printers. You should always check your endstops/sensors/belts etc. Lose screw can make your endstop out of position and collision can happen easy. Slicer issue is simmilar thing. Not biggie, glad you sorted that.

        Best support you can get for ender is community like Lemmy (or old reddit), and its amazing support. Only thing you dont get here is replacement parts or money back

      • tinyVoltron@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Google. Plenty of us out there who can help out. It never occurred toe. To contact Creality if I had a problem.

  • BeefSupreme@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Do you want a 3D printer to actually print things? Get the Prusa.

    Do you want a 3D printer to mess around with, upgrade so it punches above its weight, and experience the high-highs and low-lows? Get the Ender.

    I have an Ender 3 v2, and sometimes it’s amazing and sometimes I want to throw it out a window because that dang first layer just won’t stick. But I got a 3D printer because I wanted to mess around with a 3D printer, not to make high quality prints with minimal effort on my part.

  • notfromhere@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    If I was still living in a trailer, I would try to get the cheapest one I could find that works. I don’t think the fumes are all that bad for PLA. There is definitely an odor but falling asleep to the sound of the motors is worth it imo. It’s so relaxing sometimes.

  • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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    1 year ago

    I would advocate Creality and tinkering for one very good reason… If you buy a fancy printer and it breaks, how will you know how to fix it?

    At work we got a $2500 printer years ago. It has the sensors to self-adjust before every print, you pretty much don’t need to do anything except send your print jobs to it. Sounds great, right? Until it started failing… Around the same time things started to go wrong, I got my Ender 3 printer, and I spent a lot of time learning how to make adjustments, how to correct things in the slicer for better quality prints, and so on. Meanwhile the expensive printer at work sat idle for about 2 years because nobody knew anything about “fixing” it. I finally decided to take a crack at it and immediately recognized that even though this printer has auto bed leveling it was quite obvious the first layer was too close to the bed. Turns out the sensors had gotten dirty over time, I cleaned them and boom, we’re up and running again.

    I have tinkered with my printer to the point of printing all kinds of custom parts for it including a direct-drive head. I can upgrade the firmware any time I want and set the defaults to match my custom hardware, but most importantly I know what everything does and can troubleshoot a variety of problems. Tinkering isn’t a bad thing, and you only have to get into it as far as you want to because the printer will work just fine out of the box if you take the time to set it up properly, but it does provide options if you want ‘better’.

  • Aarrodri@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My recommendation is to get a bamboo lab printer. These machines are leap ahead of any other. There is almost not tinkering at all they just work. There are a few non bamboo that get close if your budget is not enough.

    AFA having the printer in your room, PLA is safe if you can stand the noise.

    • anguo@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      A Bambu printer might be too loud for a bedroom, and you’re locking yourself to their proprietary cloud-based platform…

      • Aarrodri@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I have 5 printers. 2 monoprice, 2 reality abs Bambu. I have heard the argument is the proprietary concern. This printer is so amazing, fast reliable that it’s a great tradeoff. I have not touched the other printers since getting the Bambu. The cloud bases was changed in the last firmware. You can use them locally now. The way I see it you can keep away from Bambu for open source but you are locked in printers that are slow and constant tinkering. But to each his own.

        • anguo@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          If you can now use it without connecting to the Internet, I partly retract my comment :)

  • TootSweet@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t have any direct experience with either of the printers you’re referring to, but I have a couple of printers in the Ender 3 series (an Ender 3 pro that I’ve done some upgrades on and an Ender 3 V2 Neo.)

    If you do end up going the Creality direction, I’d definitely recommend something with a CR Touch. I’ve lived without a CR Touch in the past and once I got my first taste of printing with a CR Touch, I now consider it a must-have.

    And in general, I do feel like Creality’s great at “plug and play,” at least with the Creality machines I have.

    Most folks I know who have bought the MK3S got it specifically for the 5-way extruder upgrade.

    As for where to put your printer, I have seen some studies that found that PLA is vastly less toxic than basically any of the other filament material options. And what I’ve read about it has eased my concerns about printing in the same room I sleep in. (And my room’s smaller than 30x30. More like 10x12.) Of course, only you can make your own decision on that score, but for what little bit an internet stranger’s opinion counts, I don’t have any concerns with PLA printing fumes. (Other filaments, no chance I’d print in my bedroom.)

  • AverageCakeSlice@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    I’m going to go against the grain here and say you should get a Prusa. I had an Ender 3 V2 as my first printer and it was an endless series of headaches with all of the little adjustments and tweaks I needed to make every other print. I nearly gave up the hobby and took a break for about a year because I was so sick of it. Furthermore, an Ender absolutely did not teach me everything there is to know about how 3D printers work, even with all the fiddling.

    Eventually I got an i3 MK3S+ kit. The kit helped me to actually learn everything about what goes on inside a 3D printer. I would recommend staying away from preassembled printers, at least at first. Ever since building it, it’s basically been a fire and forget type of machine, barring routine maintenance and a shorted thermistor that was my own fault. It’s my main workhorse and I now use it to run a small 3D printing business.

    On top of all that, Prusa’s designs are all open-source, their printer profiles are extremely well-tuned using PrusaSlicer, and getting official replacement parts is a breeze. It’s definitely something I would get if you want or need something that can’t have a lot of downtime.

    As for your question regarding PLA, it should be okay, but if you’re really concerned about it, you can get an enclosure to help contain the fumes. I have the official Prusa enclosure with all the add-ons. I think you can get it bundled with a printer for a discount.

  • rambos@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Its almost the same price? Easy decision between these 2, get prusa!

    Ender cons:

    1. Larger build area - yeah this is con for shitty ender-like frame
    2. 4 point bed leveling - this is funny
    3. Wheels instead of smooth rods/bearings - this is acceptable for 200$ machine imo
    4. They still use shitty hotend where nozzle is sealed against PTFE? This is kinda unhealthy, dont use this thing in bedroom, and be careful everywhere else. Its scarry what “engineers” are capable to do just to save 5$
    5. Bad support, higher chance of getting faulty parts etc.

    Prusa is expensive imo, but not overpriced if you are looking for reliable machine. Just check the prices of quality components, only smooth rods + bearings can cost more than some machines. Dont get me wrong, enders can make amazing prints, but you need more luck, time, tools, knowledge, patience, petting, upgrades, etc. Creality made 3D printing more available, they pushed other manufacturers to improve and decrease prices. Hats off, we all benefit from that.

    Im not a fan of bed slingers at all, I think coreXY is way better for 3D printers, but Ender for 700$ meh…

    Bambu printers look promising, but I wouldnt buy one just because its still “new” and closed source. If I wanted to spend $1K+, lot of DIY customizations and reliable machine I would probably build a Voron. For <$1k Prusa, for <200$ Ender 3 and probably something like sovol sv06 in between.

    If you get all metal hotend you should be fine with it in the bedroom if printing PLA only. I would still try to get enclosure (it protects you from noise, helps with printing, protects printer from dust and more)

    Just my 0.02