Recommend an inexpensive 3D printer please.

[KwikFab]

So, my last post here because really there are more 3D print threads on this forum.

This is just because I've now owned my A1 Mini for roughly 24 hours and have done several prints.

Here's the shipping container (1:64 scale) for my kid to use with his hot wheels.









After that I decided to make some "add-ons" for my printer.







Everything was printed from the Sunlu PLA I bought, using Bambu's own settings and I am really impressed with the quality of everything so far. So much that I ordered an AMS Lite for multi-color printing along with a few more spools in different colors.

Hope my experience helps those watching this thread.

 

[AEAdam]

Before this thread gets locked, I wanted to add a contrarian point of view. If the OP is messing about with custom made guitars, would he be better off with a little milling machine? Maybe the parts in question should be milled from a solid, high quality plastic.

Depending on the mill, you could mill out all the holes for pickups from a slab of wood. A CNC mill with a slitting saw blade could be programmed to slit a neck for frets.

While I too would like to have a 3D printer, I feel as tho they are pretty expensive for the value of parts they produce. Guys at work print things for their kids that used to come free with a McDonalds happy meal. The cost per part is coming down, but still seems high. On the other hand, little mill while twice as expensive as you guys are talking, could do an awful lot more.

 

[mike93lx]

Before this thread gets locked, I wanted to add a contrarian point of view. If the OP is messing about with custom made guitars, would he be better off with a little milling machine? Maybe the parts in question should be milled from a solid, high quality plastic.

Depending on the mill, you could mill out all the holes for pickups from a slab of wood. A CNC mill with a slitting saw blade could be programmed to slit a neck for frets.

While I too would like to have a 3D printer, I feel as tho they are pretty expensive for the value of parts they produce. Guys at work print things for their kids that used to come free with a McDonalds happy meal. The cost per part is coming down, but still seems high. On the other hand, little mill while twice as expensive as you guys are talking, could do an awful lot more.

I'm hoping mine gets used for more than happy meal-quality stuff, however if that's what I end up enjoy making, so be it. It won't ever make me money and will be a mix of a toy and a tool.

A mill and a 3d printer are two very different things that I wouldn't really compare at all.

 

[AEAdam]

I'm hoping mine gets used for more than happy meal-quality stuff, however if that's what I end up enjoy making, so be it. It won't ever make me money and will be a mix of a toy and a tool.

A mill and a 3d printer are two very different things that I wouldn't really compare at all.

Yeah, you know me. Sometimes OPs ask a question like: “Which is the best pocket knife for starting a fire?” And we try to answer that, instead of suggesting a lighter. Happens a lot here.

If he’s messing with custom pickups in an electric guitar, he probably needed to custom rout the body to accept the pickups, so he may be pretty deep into guitar tech stuff. Maybe he only sees the need for this one part and hasn’t considered other ways to build it.

Not a criticism, just some food for thought. There are a lot of guys with HF type mini mills doing guitar work.

 

[GeoBruin]

Sometimes OPs ask a question like: “Which is the best pocket knife for starting a fire?” And we try to answer that, instead of suggesting a lighter.

That's because youre missing the subtext when questions like that get asked. The guy just really wants a new pocket knife, but feels the need to justify the purchase with something more than simply "because I want it". In this case, OP wants a 3D printer. Yeah, they might try their hand at making some parts for a guitar, but really they just want one because they're cool.

I don't know how we got here where people feel the need to justify their purchases to a bunch of strangers on the internet. Anyway, I feel it's my duty not to judge, but rather to help them spend their money! And in the spirit of GJ, if you feel compelled to suggest they may ALSO benefit from a milling machine, well that's just fine too!

 

[Mandres]

I think the real value is in learning to design things with cad, and then carrying through to a physical prototype right from your desk with minimal fuss and mess. Need a clip bracket for your belt? Design it yourself and print it up. Make it cool, add a pattern or a personal touch. It's the goddamn replicator from star trek right there in your bedroom if you have the imagination and drafting skills to use it

 

[Madjik Man]

I agree with the above post ^

But I have no design skills. That said if someone is willing to print up VIM magrail equivalents, I’ll gladly give you my money.

I’m in dire need of socket organization, have gone down the rabbit hole of options for years and the magrail is the ultimate.

 

[Citation]

For those who are interested in learning some CAD, Solidworks in particular, this is a good guide.

https://www.solidworks.com/sw/docs/mountainboard_student_wb_2011_eng.pdf

If you hunt around you can find grabcad (or similar) links to some of the parts that are supposed to be provided in the class that goes with this guide. It's a 2011 guide so some of the commands and features have changed (mostly the FEA stuff) but it's still a very good training guide. Even just looking at how they do things is useful for other CAD packages.

 

[Skellyii]

I agree with the above post ^

But I have no design skills. That said if someone is willing to print up VIM magrail equivalents, I’ll gladly give you my money.

I’m in dire need of socket organization, have gone down the rabbit hole of options for years and the magrail is the ultimate.

Heck, if you bought a smaller printer and could find the appropriate VIM clone files, you could pay for the printer with the savings.

 

[Madjik Man]

Heck, if you bought a smaller printer and could find the appropriate VIM clone files, you could pay for the printer with the savings.

That’s the thing. I’ve searched for the files everywhere I know to look and don’t see them. The local public library here allows you to print files for free. So I’d be psyched if I could find them.

 

[ArcReactorKC]

There are reasonable ways to make diy filament dryers with plastic tubs/plastic cereal boxes + desiccant. I haven't had much need with my pla so I haven't bothered.

That is not a dryer, that will KEEP filament dry but it won't dry already wet filament. A heated dryer is necessary for those occasions.

 

[FJ 432]

What size/ brand would you recommend for gridfinity?

 

[Citation]

That is not a dryer, that will KEEP filament dry but it won't dry already wet filament. A heated dryer is necessary for those occasions.

No, desiccant dryers absolutely will dry wet filament. However, they don't do it as quickly as a heated dryer. So if Monday morning you want dried filament for a print that will start Monday night, go with heat. However, if you have more time, desiccant dryers work well for many materials.
https://www.cnckitchen.com/blog/cyo43tzz88uqge65xgwz0wv8yvv3rs (see conclusion section at bottom).
Basically, the same mechanisms that allow moisture to be absorbed also allow it to be liberated. The issue is the rate when done at room temperature.

If you have a really sensitive material you may need to heat dry before use. However, for many materials just storing it in a desiccated box will is fine so long as you leave it in the box for a few days before use. As a bonus some of the box designs let you feed from the box directly.

 

[IndyGarage]

As is tradition

I'm sorry but I would never buy an overhanging arm printer like that. You are just asking for bad prints.

And quite honestly, that boat print is not that good. My crappy old (by the gurus on this forum) Ender made better prints than that right out of the box.

 

[IndyGarage]

So, my last post here because really there are more 3D print threads on this forum.

This is just because I've now owned my A1 Mini for roughly 24 hours and have done several prints.

Here's the shipping container (1:64 scale) for my kid to use with his hot wheels.









After that I decided to make some "add-ons" for my printer.







Everything was printed from the Sunlu PLA I bought, using Bambu's own settings and I am really impressed with the quality of everything so far. So much that I ordered an AMS Lite for multi-color printing along with a few more spools in different colors.

Hope my experience helps those watching this thread.

That shipping container print is not very good either. Sorry but you guys need to tune those printers. You've got backlash problems.

The bottom print - with the holes in it is pretty good.

 

[KwikFab]

I'm sorry but I would never buy an overhanging arm printer like that. You are just asking for bad prints.

And quite honestly, that boat print is not that good. My crappy old (by the gurus on this forum) Ender made better prints than that right out of the box.

That shipping container print is not very good either. Sorry but you guys need to tune those printers. You've got backlash problems.

The bottom print - with the holes in it is pretty good.

I can see you have trouble trying to convey a message, especially when you don't read up on the context provided by the user you're quoting.

It's ok though, there's no need to apologize and I more than understand what you're getting at.

Never having owned a 3D printer (which I mentioned above I have zero experience with), the prints right out of the box were much more than just acceptable to me. They're awesome, and I'm excited to finally get my foot through the door.

Unlike you, I have no "reference" of what's good, and what's really good.

I've owned lots of Corvettes, with one of them digging nearly into the 10's. Yet I won't tell someone their car is slow (even though it is) just because they were excited about breaking 14's. To them, that's fast!

My last post was a simple update of having owned my printer for just 24 hours so yeah, there is absolutely no tuning done. There was no confirming how much backlash was present, nor do I know anything about settings as I just did my first slice this morning.

So really what you mean to say is "there are far better printers in the market" and "wait until you get things dialed in".

We can get to talking about CNC plasma if you'd like? Or running at the strip? Maybe extended long range shooting? Don't tell me 1,000 yards is far because I've done +3,000 yards myself. See what I mean now?

 

[ArcReactorKC]

I can see you have trouble trying to convey a message, especially when you don't read up on the context provided by the user you're quoting.

It's ok though, there's no need to apologize and I more than understand what you're getting at.

Never having owned a 3D printer (which I mentioned above I have zero experience with), the prints right out of the box were much more than just acceptable to me. They're awesome, and I'm excited to finally get my foot through the door.

Unlike you, I have no "reference" of what's good, and what's really good.

I've owned lots of Corvettes, with one of them digging nearly into the 10's. Yet I won't tell someone their car is slow (even though it is) just because they were excited about breaking 14's. To them, that's fast!

My last post was a simple update of having owned my printer for just 24 hours so yeah, there is absolutely no tuning done. There was no confirming how much backlash was present, nor do I know anything about settings as I just did my first slice this morning.

So really what you mean to say is "there are far better printers in the market" and "wait until you get things dialed in".

We can get to talking about CNC plasma if you'd like? Or running at the strip? Maybe extended long range shooting? Don't tell me 1,000 yards is far because I've done +3,000 yards myself. See what I mean now?

Your prints are fine for an out of the box printer.

Also cantilever printers have been around for over a decade and turn out prints much better than an ender 3 that he believes is the epitome of the industry.

I've got an A1 mini in the shop with over 2500 hours on it. I have no doubt it'll continue to turn out high quality prints for another 2500 hours.

Is it as good as my x1c? No, but it also cost a heck of a lot less. But does my X1C turn out prints as good as my voron? No it definitely does not. Again it cost less than even my "budget" voron build did.

 

[KwikFab]

Your prints are fine for an out of the box printer.

Also cantilever printers have been around for over a decade and turn out prints much better than an ender 3 that he believes is the epitome of the industry.

I've got an A1 mini in the shop with over 2500 hours on it. I have no doubt it'll continue to turn out high quality prints for another 2500 hours.

Is it as good as my x1c? No, but it also cost a heck of a lot less. But does my X1C turn out prints as good as my voron? No it definitely does not. Again it cost less than even my "budget" voron build did.

Not worried for sure, and thank you!

I did purchase the cheapest Bambu printer on the market, so I definitely didn't have expectations to print stuff like I've seen posted in the 3D printer threads on many forums.

His comments just reminded me of the very people that plague many other hobbies such as CNC plasma for example.

In CNC plasma there's a big learning curve (just like I expect here in 3D printing) and tons of people everyday struggle with it. Whether it's the CAD side of things, CAM, or just trying to figure out "what's wrong" at any given point.

You get the usual person that comes in criticizing someone's work, whether it was their first successful cutout or just something different than what they're used to making. Best of all though, none of it comes with any actual guidance as to what can make it better.

Now I'm not saying that every criticism needs to come with some powerful knowledge, but maybe even a hint as it can help someone better understand what's going on. Or at the very least, something to encourage others to press on in that it can only get better from there.

There are tons of gatekeepers in CNC plasma, and it's a big reason why I'm a moderator in a rather large group always willing to help people understand anything related to the hobby.

Have to say, Voron is one company I did look into just last year but I would've been way over my head had I gone that route

 

[IndyGarage]

I can see you have trouble trying to convey a message, especially when you don't read up on the context provided by the user you're quoting.

It's ok though, there's no need to apologize and I more than understand what you're getting at.

Never having owned a 3D printer (which I mentioned above I have zero experience with), the prints right out of the box were much more than just acceptable to me. They're awesome, and I'm excited to finally get my foot through the door.

Unlike you, I have no "reference" of what's good, and what's really good.

I've owned lots of Corvettes, with one of them digging nearly into the 10's. Yet I won't tell someone their car is slow (even though it is) just because they were excited about breaking 14's. To them, that's fast!

My last post was a simple update of having owned my printer for just 24 hours so yeah, there is absolutely no tuning done. There was no confirming how much backlash was present, nor do I know anything about settings as I just did my first slice this morning.

So really what you mean to say is "there are far better printers in the market" and "wait until you get things dialed in".

We can get to talking about CNC plasma if you'd like? Or running at the strip? Maybe extended long range shooting? Don't tell me 1,000 yards is far because I've done +3,000 yards myself. See what I mean now?

I was not trying to pick on you. Sorry. I understand you are new to printing. And your point is made.

Your prints are fine for an out of the box printer.

Also cantilever printers have been around for over a decade and turn out prints much better than an ender 3 that he believes is the epitome of the industry.

I've got an A1 mini in the shop with over 2500 hours on it. I have no doubt it'll continue to turn out high quality prints for another 2500 hours.

Is it as good as my x1c? No, but it also cost a heck of a lot less. But does my X1C turn out prints as good as my voron? No it definitely does not. Again it cost less than even my "budget" voron build did.

Please do not put words in my mouth. I did not say the ender was the best. I only said it worked for me and has been 100% reliable. And it is dirt cheap. Which is all true. I did say it is slow as molasses and i would recommend a faster one. But if you want a cheap machine, they work

And it is capable of much better prints than those out of the box prints on that particular bambu.

Now, i'm sure if you tweak the Bambu you can get excellent prints too. What I would suggest is spending some time working the backlash out of the axes. For my printer that involved getting rid of all the slack on the belts for each axis and spending a bit of time making sure that the axes were running perfectly perpendicular to the table and one another with a dial indicator - something I would do with any CNC machine.

That took about 20 minutes to do one time on my machine - which I would not consider to be "working on the machine constantly". I've not done a thing to it since - I think I re-leveled the table once. I can't tell you if it made a big difference in the printing, because I did it before I used the machine.

My opinion about an overhanging arm machine is simply based on my engineering gut feel. Something that moves as rapidly back and forth as a 3D printer with an overhanging arm would have to put tremendous forces on the tower. I cannot imagine that not causing problems but if you have 2500 hours on one I just might be mistaken.

Bottom line is there are a lot of ways to get into 3d printing. I've read on this thread about Bambu wanting to be connected to the internet before working - that would be a show stopper for me if true. Although I suspect they will try to make all of them like that so the government can keep tabs on what you are making.

 

[KwikFab]

I would think the bed slinging back and forth to cause more of a print quality issue than anything else.

Just looking at it from my own point of view (and having zero knowledge in actual engineering). I say this because it brings a lot more NVH than necessary, probably as much as the fast moving X axis movements that shake the entire assembly.

But man, is it cheap. And man, does it impress this old man.

Wife texted me that her kids absolutely love the stuff I printed and sent with her for her classroom.

 

[niget2002]

While I too would like to have a 3D printer, I feel as tho they are pretty expensive for the value of parts they produce. Guys at work print things for their kids that used to come free with a McDonalds happy meal. The cost per part is coming down, but still seems high. On the other hand, little mill while twice as expensive as you guys are talking, could do an awful lot more.

This is where your lack of knowledge comes in to play. There's many, many, many ways of using 3d printers other than the Happy Meal toys that you see sold at craft fairs. Most of the prints that come off of my printer are for mounting electronics or custom brackets for other things. There's entire facebook groups dedicated to people printing parts for their cars. One I recently saw was 3d printing ABS intake parts.

I also use mine a bunch for 3d printing jigs for use with woodworking and for prototyping parts I plan on later milling in aluminum. The plastic is a lot cheaper than a chunk of aluminum, so if I mess up 2-3 times in plastic dialing in the dimensions, it's a whole lot cheaper than the time/effort to do the same in actual metal.

I've also used mine quite a few times to 3d print replacement parts for plastic things that have worn out or broken.

But all that requires a knowledge in CAD to design those parts. If you don't have that knowledge and don't want to learn the engineering aspect of 3d printing, then you're stuck printing what others have already designed. And a lot of that are nick knacks.

If you take out the cost of the printer, then the cost per part really isn't that bad. It also won't come down much at this point as the filament prices are pretty stable. A 1kg roll is ~$20 for PLA depending on brand and will print quite a few parts. You can't really take in the cost of the machine when discussing cost per part unless you want me to start adding up the cost of my mill and tooling or any of my woodworking tools. If we do that, then the printer is significantly cheaper per part than any of my other means of making parts.

Have I printed little nick knacks? Absolutely. I have 2 kids and they're always asking for stuff. But that's in the minority for what mine gets used for.

 

[duneslider]

All I can say, if for a guy that knows nothing about 3d printing, I bought a used Bambu with no documentation, plugged it in and printed a boat from the sd card in the machine. Then by the time that was done printing, I had the app downloaded and was wirelessly printing other items. I did all this without reading a manual, looking at a user guide, etc. Just plugged it in and it worked. A couple weeks in and I have done nothing more than feed it pla and print stuff.

I don't think the CCP cares what I am printing, maybe they do. I do bet bambu wants me to only buy their filament though, that makes total sense from a business perspective. In my day job we have a number of manufacturers that only want us to buy consumables from them, they basically give away the machine to lock in the consumables business. This is just like my home printer, if I don't use HP inks there is no telling what I am gonna get.

 

[IndyGarage]

I don't think the CCP cares what I am printing, maybe they do.

It wouldn't surprise me if the government wants to know if you are printing guns or other weapons and maybe if you are violating patents.
Just like color printers won't print money - they want to regulate what you can and can't print.

 

[Cruzan80]

ve read on this thread about Bambu wanting to be connected to the internet before working - that would be a show stopper for me if true.

Have you also read that several people (including myself) have said multiple times that ours are not connected to the internet in any way, and still continue to work? They DO NOT NEED Internet to work. Full Stop!

It wouldn't surprise me if the government wants to know if you are printing guns or other weapons and maybe if you are violating patents.

Bambu has said in their legal documents that the region chosen sets up which server is used for their printer. Asia will use Chinese servers, North America uses Amazon Web Services. They have said that they do not in any way have NA selected printers connect to Chinese servers.

Even if you think something nefarious is going on, not sure why the Chinese govt would care about a NA resident...

Regarding your experience with Enders vs Bambu, you are firmly an outlier amongst hundreds of other users I know (both within Engineering, prototype, hobby, educational and others). Maybe 1 in 50 or less think their Enders "just work", even after initial adjustments.

 

[niget2002]

All I can say, if for a guy that knows nothing about 3d printing, I bought a used Bambu with no documentation, plugged it in and printed a boat from the sd card in the machine. Then by the time that was done printing, I had the app downloaded and was wirelessly printing other items. I did all this without reading a manual, looking at a user guide, etc. Just plugged it in and it worked. A couple weeks in and I have done nothing more than feed it pla and print stuff.

I don't think the CCP cares what I am printing, maybe they do. I do bet bambu wants me to only buy their filament though, that makes total sense from a business perspective. In my day job we have a number of manufacturers that only want us to buy consumables from them, they basically give away the machine to lock in the consumables business. This is just like my home printer, if I don't use HP inks there is no telling what I am gonna get.

The only people really concerned about China are people that design sell their prints. They don't want the designs potentially being stolen. Those people are also setup to print locally.

 

[duneslider]

The only people really concerned about China are people that design sell their prints. They don't want the designs potentially being stolen. Those people are also setup to print locally.

I totally understand that part but I also think the vast majority of printer owners are mostly printing "junk" and nobody cares about what they are doing and only want to sell them consumables. If I was designing, printing, and selling things I designed myself I would def have some concern and I would probably not connect my printer to the internet. I am fully aware that other countries steal intellectual property all the time. That just isn't a concern for the vast majority of printer users.

 

[niget2002]

I totally understand that part but I also think the vast majority of printer owners are mostly printing "junk" and nobody cares about what they are doing and only want to sell them consumables. If I was designing, printing, and selling things I designed myself I would def have some concern and I would probably not connect my printer to the internet. I am fully aware that other countries steal intellectual property all the time. That just isn't a concern for the vast majority of printer users.

agreed. I didn't mean to come across argumentative.

 

[KwikFab]

Update.

Looked into the P2S quite a bit, and ultimately decided to order a P1S last night.

Seeing as how I bought the A1 Mini on Amazon, I'll be returning it unless my wife insists we keep it.

She's been loving everything I've printed for her classroom as the kids love it.

 

[Aaron_W]

Prusa is kind of the gold standard for hobby printers. They are expensive and probably don't justify their price, but the community is supportive and extremely active. Because of the community support, they are pretty dialed in. Settings are available for damn near anything you can imagine.

Prusa seems to get dismissed by many for the price, and admittedly it seems like they kind of fell into a patch of complacency which they are now scrambling to get out of.
Prusa was comfortable sitting in the market as THE printer to buy if you wanted to print things instead of futzing with your printer. The arrival of Bambu seems to have come as a bit of a shock to them, but they are responding.

I bought my Prusa MK3S in 2020 when the main competition was from Ender at about 1/3 the price. I have never used an Ender so I can't really compare it, but I have to say the instructions to assemble my Prusa kit were some of the best instructions I have ever encountered.

Although the Bambu printers seem like a great affordable printer, I feel like Prusa is still a strong contender for anybody willing to spend the money. The money is not a small factor being about double for a similar Chinese printer, but Prusa has great product support, even offering upgrade kits to bring their older printers up to the current model. They have a strong community and have been very positive towards allowing their machines and software to be customizable by the end user.
I have no idea how much weight to give to the rumors about Bambu controlling their printers, but Prusa is about as far on the other end of that spectrum as you can get.
Prusa being a Czech company is also the only printer company I am aware of that offers "home use" priced printers that is not based in China for those worried about COO.

 

[mike93lx]

Feels kind of like the "who makes the best pickup" question.

Obviously it's Ford, but there are lots of (wrong) opinions to the contrary.

 

[gayler]

Before this thread gets locked, I wanted to add a contrarian point of view. If the OP is messing about with custom made guitars, would he be better off with a little milling machine? Maybe the parts in question should be milled from a solid, high quality plastic.

Depending on the mill, you could mill out all the holes for pickups from a slab of wood. A CNC mill with a slitting saw blade could be programmed to slit a neck for frets.

While I too would like to have a 3D printer, I feel as tho they are pretty expensive for the value of parts they produce. Guys at work print things for their kids that used to come free with a McDonalds happy meal. The cost per part is coming down, but still seems high. On the other hand, little mill while twice as expensive as you guys are talking, could do an awful lot more.

I’m only doing pickup mounting rings not complete custom guitars. I thought about just buying a sheet of 1/2 inch thick plastic and cutting and drilling it. I may still do that but a 3D printer is intriguing because of the many things I could make with it.

 

[F-22]

Got my Prusa i3 mk3 on preorder in 2017 and received it in 2018. To this day it's been rock solid and reliable. I earned thousands off of printing some very niche parts on it and selling them.

It's in big part made in the Czech Republic which to me is also very cool for any consumer electronics. Also they did a lot of R&D which other companies are now using. Stuff like the removable sheet metal bedplate, for example. Or just the general layout of most printers.

 

[Aaron_W]

I’m only doing pickup mounting rings not complete custom guitars. I thought about just buying a sheet of 1/2 inch thick plastic and cutting and drilling it. I may still do that but a 3D printer is intriguing because of the many things I could make with it.

You can get decent 3D printers very cheap these days, Bambu is the current hotness but it has gotten to the point that you almost have to try to find a bad one. If you want to go super cheap I've seen used Ender 3s on CL and Ebay for around $50. Odds are decent that a used 3D printer is either barely used as the seller bought one and lost interest or it is dialed in and the seller just wants space for something newer, either larger or faster or both.

 

[Cruzan80]

I have to say the instructions to assemble my Prusa kit were some of the best instructions I have ever encountered.

This is one reason for lots of people that Prusa (and others) is still a "I want to mess with the printer" vs "I want to print things that work". Assembly, no matter how well written the instructions are, is another step between a user and printing, and another place for it to go wrong. Bambu's are shipped pre-assembled only, and if you skip the (optional) initial calibration stuff, can be printing within 5min of cutting open the box. Remove some mounting screws (marked with red tape arrows), peel off the protective plastic, and plug in.

 

[pcrov]

Bambu's wiki also has a surprising amount of instruction for disassembly and repair. At least it surprised me. I expected them to be far more black box about their stuff.

 

[soloz2]

Just saw this thread and thought I'd chime in here too. I got a Bambu P1S w/ AMS 2 weeks ago and at first my wife was not thrilled with what I spent... but I made her a couple fidgets, a gas cap holder, and then a cup holder extender that perfectly fits her large coffee mug in the mornings and she's now on board! We are now getting my nephews a 3d printer for Christmas and she's sent me a list of files she wants printed for her office...

 

[KwikFab]

Just saw this thread and thought I'd chime in here too. I got a Bambu P1S w/ AMS 2 weeks ago and at first my wife was not thrilled with what I spent... but I made her a couple fidgets, a gas cap holder, and then a cup holder extender that perfectly fits her large coffee mug in the mornings and she's now on board! We are now getting my nephews a 3d printer for Christmas and she's sent me a list of files she wants printed for her office...

You should've started with things for her lol my wife was so on-board I ordered a P1S just days after I owned the A1 Mini

Oh and she insists we keep the A1 Mini too

 

[soloz2]

I started with the “basics” like a ********** and dry boxes for the AMS. My bad…

 

[KwikFab]

I started with the “basics” like a ********** and dry boxes for the AMS. My bad…

Oh I did too!

But I also made some sensory toys for her classroom as she's a teacher. So when she woke up the next morning, she had lots of stuff to take to her kids.

 

[Lazy]

First, I'd like to recommend a CAD program with an easy learning curve: emachineshop.com (go there and download their cad). It's lightweight, no bloat, and free. Export as DXF, then import into your slicer (I use Cura).

I have an Ender 3 v2. In my opinion it prints good, but I have nothing to compare it to.