I am looking to purchase a 3D printer as a hobbyist, not for any commercial use. I have limited options with local 3D printers but that’s good as they’re mostly cheaper low end printers so I can look at them thoroughly.

When I’m comparing the different 3D printers I’m mainly looking at the following: Cost, nozzle diameter, layer height, volume, and viable filaments.

My question is, is there anything else I’m missing? Are there important things I should be considering or avoiding?

Different printers have different resolutions but for my purposes it looks like they’re all highly accurate and way past what I need. Not worried about speed either. They all mention bed and nozzle temperatures but I assume they are all within the necessary range for the filaments they allow right? So does it matter?

Also, any advice for maintenance? How to make it last as long as possible any mistakes I should be wary of. Thanks.

  • tjhart85
    3•9 months ago

    I’d say support, whether it be official or unofficial is a thing you didn’t mention.

    Try googling any printer you’re looking at + any random common error (not sticking to bed, not heating up, slicer options, etc…) and see what kind of results pop up and if they look helpful.
    Look up parts costs and see how they look and if they’re proprietary or not.
    See if there are official maintenance recommendations, etc…,

    One of my printers is one that has ZERO support from the community and what you can get from the manufacturer is limited and it kind of sucks when I have problems with it.

    Enders for all their faults at least have an insane community support (note: in 2024 I would never recommend an Ender 3/5 as a first printer).

    My most reliable printer is a Qidi Smart-3 … vendor support has been great and the Facebook groups for it have been good too. The downsides: z-offset is manual & it’s 185x185 which is pretty tiny and it’s a bit of a pain to change the filament.
    Upsides: core xy, fast, reliable, klipper
    From what I’ve seen though, quality control is hit or miss, but the manufacturer seems to take care of you, so YMMV, mine hasn’t had problems that weren’t self induced.