Atoro’s answer is pretty much what my response would be, but I figured I’d add a little more here.
I have an Ender 3 Pro that IIRC I spent about $250 on and an Ender 3 V2 Neo for about $285 (both made by the company “Creality”). I’m a huge fan of both and would recommend Creality any time. Most of Creality printers are really solid performers but without a ton of upgradeability or bells and whistles. In other words, really good beginner printers but also with limited upgradeability. They’re quite “plug and play” in the sense that you can unbox it, assemble it (the instructions are simple and straightforward), and and be printing in like 2 hours. You will for sure have to learn how to maintain your printer (replace a nozzle, configure the z-probe offset, etc), but there are so many resources for that and the processes aren’t terribly complex.
If you want any fancy features (multiple extruders so you can print complex things with multiple colors, faster printing, support for harder-to-print materials like HDPE, really high resolution, etc), there are of course options out there.
In general, I’d say before getting a printer, definitely spend some time doing research first. If you haven’t learned at least the basics, it’s easy to end up with a printer that’s hard to use or whatever.
I said I have two printers; I lied. I have three, but the third one is half-disassembled gathering dust on a shelf. I got my first printer second-hand and immediately fucked it over to the point of unrepairability. Lol. It wasn’t all a loss. I did learn a ton trying to fix it. But I do wish I’d done more research before I bought one.
There are tons of videos on YouTube that are great primers on the basics of 3d printing. They’ll have you salivating about all the cool things a 3d printer will let you do as well. And if you have issues with your printer, there are lots of communities to ask for help. And my experience has been that even maintenance info doesn’t need to be learned before you get the printer. It’ll chug along for quite a while before it starts needing maintenance.
Beyond that, the only thing I can think to say is that when I upgraded to a printer that had automatic bed leveling with a z-probe, I immediately decided I’d never mess with a printer that didn’t have it. It seems at first blush like it’s probably non-essential, but my experience has been that without a z-probe, you can’t use but a small portion of your print bed, which limits what you can do with your printer quite a bit.
If you do decide to embark on 3d printing, all the luck to you! I’ve found it extremely rewarding!
Atoro’s answer is pretty much what my response would be, but I figured I’d add a little more here.
I have an Ender 3 Pro that IIRC I spent about $250 on and an Ender 3 V2 Neo for about $285 (both made by the company “Creality”). I’m a huge fan of both and would recommend Creality any time. Most of Creality printers are really solid performers but without a ton of upgradeability or bells and whistles. In other words, really good beginner printers but also with limited upgradeability. They’re quite “plug and play” in the sense that you can unbox it, assemble it (the instructions are simple and straightforward), and and be printing in like 2 hours. You will for sure have to learn how to maintain your printer (replace a nozzle, configure the z-probe offset, etc), but there are so many resources for that and the processes aren’t terribly complex.
If you want any fancy features (multiple extruders so you can print complex things with multiple colors, faster printing, support for harder-to-print materials like HDPE, really high resolution, etc), there are of course options out there.
In general, I’d say before getting a printer, definitely spend some time doing research first. If you haven’t learned at least the basics, it’s easy to end up with a printer that’s hard to use or whatever.
I said I have two printers; I lied. I have three, but the third one is half-disassembled gathering dust on a shelf. I got my first printer second-hand and immediately fucked it over to the point of unrepairability. Lol. It wasn’t all a loss. I did learn a ton trying to fix it. But I do wish I’d done more research before I bought one.
There are tons of videos on YouTube that are great primers on the basics of 3d printing. They’ll have you salivating about all the cool things a 3d printer will let you do as well. And if you have issues with your printer, there are lots of communities to ask for help. And my experience has been that even maintenance info doesn’t need to be learned before you get the printer. It’ll chug along for quite a while before it starts needing maintenance.
Beyond that, the only thing I can think to say is that when I upgraded to a printer that had automatic bed leveling with a z-probe, I immediately decided I’d never mess with a printer that didn’t have it. It seems at first blush like it’s probably non-essential, but my experience has been that without a z-probe, you can’t use but a small portion of your print bed, which limits what you can do with your printer quite a bit.
If you do decide to embark on 3d printing, all the luck to you! I’ve found it extremely rewarding!