Are cheap 3D printers more trouble than they’re worth?

[@joshuabradford1]

For me my first cheap 3D printer (Ender 3) was totally worth it. It gave me a chance to learn about 3D printing first hand and figure out what I really want when I do decide to spend more money. It has made several different successful prototypes that I still use to this day!!!

[@MindsMouth]

I got my first ender 3 back in 2018 lol. Since then I've only bought clones. They all work fine.

[@kekkodance]

same, i got an ender 3 for cheap, modded the crap out of it to learn and have a journey, sold it for 200 euro and with that same money bought an a1 mini, now whenever i want to mod this a1 mini's startup gcode it's all so clear thanks to that prior printer

[@jclosed2516]

My very first 3D printer was a Sunhokey Acrylic monstrosity from 2015. Sure there where better ones, but they where very expensive, and the Sunhokey only costed about $450 with import and VAT (called BTW in my country). I did not had much choice, because my budget was very limited at that time. My very first print went totally wrong and it took about 20 attempts to print a kind of cube that looked more like a small sphere. After countless attempts and months of tinkering I got that devilish contraption print something recognizable. It did not help that the slicers at that time where very bare bones, and difficult to use and wrap your head around for a absolute beginner. Also the hot end was something to get nightmares from, and I replaced at the end by a original E3D hot end. That was a gigantic improvement, and at least the results where acceptable (somewhat). For me that very first 2018 Ender 3 was a dream. Yes - You still have a lot of construction to do, but compared to that Acrylic disaster it was a simple job. By that time the software was dramatically improved. My very first print was a success and even much better than that older printer could deliver after years of tinkering. That very first Ender 3 saved 3D printing in general for me, because I was about to give up and bought that Ender 3 to give it a last chance. Now, years later, I am still glad I gave it that last chance. My last Ender printer was a Ender 3 V3 (one of the latest models), but needing more room on my electronic workbench, I finally bought a Bambulab A1 mini. It is simply one of the most reliable "plug and play" 3D printers I ever had. We sure have come a long way since those early machines from 2015. That's for sure.

[@UltraNoobian]

Ender 3 Pro user - Its' my kit car project.

[@DoRC]

This whole video gives me PTSD to my years of 3D printing before My first BL printer.

[@theputnamto3468]

right, had a bunch of good prints on my e3, but it wasnt worth it in my eyes, to much upkeep.

[@meanman6992]

Same here I got a P1S and my Ender 5 hasn’t done anything sense. It was reliable, but took a lot of tuning. May use it for parts to build something else. 🤷‍♂️

[@DoRC]

@@meanman6992 I was skeptical before I bought my P1P. The day after it arrived I sold all of my other printers. I have not had a single failure on my P1P that wasn't directly caused by me doing something stupid like selecting the wrong filament in the slicer and even then sometimes it still works.

[@FoolOfATuque]

Just bought a P1S and Amen to that

[@PrintKrafters]

Bro you and me both. Nothing is worse than all of the endless wars with compiling firmware, scrolling GitHub, ruining probes crashing them into the bed because you compiled a version in vs that used the z probe pins vs the BL touch pins lol…I bought an X1C for the family to play with this week- I’m sparing them from any of these headaches I endured a few years ago.

[@oyuyuy]

There really is a 'before and after Bambulab' and I don't miss the tinkering one bit. To think that I was fidgeting with something as simple as bed leveling a year ago is truly alien.

[@benjaminmiddaugh2729]

My new A1 developed a dislike for putting the print head over the purge wiper during the pre-print preliminaries after I updated to firmware version 01.04 today/yesterday. A downgrade seems to have solved the problem for now and, apart from one print developing spaghetti 2/3 of the way in, it's been trouble-free. But I'll definitely be a bit less enthusiastic about firmware upgrades for a while.

[@NWGR]

Literally same lol I got my first bambu in February 2024 and before that it was a modded ender 3 pro. Night and day difference.

[@pirobot668beta]

I had owned several AnyCubic printers, a MingDa, and a Tevo 'Little Monster'. Each had their own unique strengths and glaring weaknesses. Up until the recently acquired Bambu X1C, "the printer was the hobby" Filament changes were my worst nightmare, now they 'just happen'. [I love filament painting!] As one gets older, convenience gets more and more important.

[@FoolOfATuque]

I had an ender 3 V2 for years. I spent so much time upgrading it and working on it. Added a direct drive extruder, BL touch ABL, and magnetic flexible bed. Added a Raspberry Pi for print server and changed to klipper firmware for faster printing. I’ve spent countless hours tinkering and setting up this printer. Recently I tried printing a model and the material was curling due to the ambient room temperature. I went to Microcenter, bought a P1S with AMS and am not looking back. If you want to print get a good printer. If you want to waste half your life messing with a printer buy a cheap one.

[@nevilenobody606]

Not everyone is prepared to spend that kind of money up front if they're not sure if this is something they want to play with long term. And even a Bambu needs some maintenace and trouble shooting when things go wrong. For the most part you're still expected to fix things yourself which is why they have such detailed wikis.

[@SianaGearz]

What do you mean waste half of your life. Is the skill and understanding gained worth nothing?

[@harrisappleton5866]

@@SianaGearz My A1 needs very little fiddling. I have 2 Enders and gave up on them after constant clogging and heat creep issues, despite using them fine for over a year.

[@RenRenification]

@@SianaGearzdo you want to know how your paper printer works? Do you think it would be that useful if you knew how to fix it? Wouldn’t you rather spend that time on more useful/relevant things?

[@potrzebieneuman4702]

Like any profession, trade, 3D printing or anything else the mistakes are a way of learning the basics that carry you through life. I have an Ender 3 Pro and yes I've had a few things go wrong but through those learning experiences I now understand the whole deal much better. I never expected to simply start the machine and have a perfect output every time, one has to learn.

[@tminfidel]

Watching you do the live level on the Elegoo took me right back to the many, many hours I spent on my Ender3 messing about trying to get it level. So glad I bought a P1S and left those days behind me.

[@patrick8116]

First printer was a mingda(crap), I tried a whole bunch of internet guides to level the bed before having to just eyeball the damn thing. It worked for a while before it started breaking. Now Bambulabs and only Bambulabs.

[@DatMammut76]

If you’re tempted to get someone a cheap printer for their first one, just get them an a1 mini for 179 that dramatically outperforms its price. I’m a Voron guy but my wife got one of those and I’m shocked how easy it is use, and she is actually enthusiastic about printing now because it just worked with no fiddling like she’s been seeing me do for years.

[@eaman11]

Get a QIDI X Smart now for the same prince: it's an enclosed corexy that can print ASA and ABS with accelerations of 12-25k.

[@krashanb5767]

​@@eaman11 cheapest QUIDI printer I'm seeing is $400

[@Jokershadow696]

​@@eaman11 for $180? Where? Not used.

[@eaman11]

@@Jokershadow696 I bought it last week for black friday, I see some at 200e on Amazon.

[@fungames24]

Got my cheap printer 7 days ago and it already paid for itself by making plumbing tools I bought it for. BiQu Hurakan for 90GBP at a list of 300GBP. I fixed elephant foot and stringing by lowering temperature. It's a marvel.

[@mjordan812]

I had some serious flashbacks watching this. I bought an Ender 3 a few years ago as my first 3D printer, and by the time I sold it, about the only original bits remaining were the frame, axis motors and power supply. It was one hell of a learning tool, though. It got replaced by a Prusa Mk3s and I was properly amazed. I just bought my sister a Bambu Lab A1 for Christmas. 😁

[@honkhonk8009]

same lol. got an x1c. This thing is amazing. Within a month, iv already put more hours through it, than I have through my ender 3. Ender 3's work fine. Its just that I rmeember tryna go to sleep at 10, and then ending up going to sleep at 1 cus the printer had a fuckup lol

[@mjordan812]

@@honkhonk8009 Yeah - I bought an X1C, I needed to be familiar with the interface so I could support my sister. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 😁 Sold my Prusa Mk3 and now have a Mk4s. Both Prusas built from kit. Highly recommend.

[@Kalvinjj]

The Ender 3 definitely had it's purpose filled I would say. It's really great as a learning tool indeed. I even wonder if starting with a better machine you aren't letting go of some valuable knowledge you can obtain on the cheapos for future inevitable headaches, usually maintenance induced.

[@mjordan812]

@@Kalvinjj Yup. Being somewhat of a geek, I didn't mind fooling with the beast - rather enjoyed it, actually. Starting with the Ender really made me appreciate just how good newer machines are. I built both of my Prusas from kit (a Mk3s and a Mk4 - recently upgraded to a Mk4s). By comparison, my Bambu X1C is an appliance - plug it in and print. That doesn't keep me from messing with it, though. 😁

[@Z287899]

I started with an ender 3v2, then a cr-10 mini for a larger bed size. upgraded them over and over and over. I learned an incredible amount from both of them. Different bed materials, different hot ends, different extruders, different boards and displays, different operating systems, how to compile and edit them, troubleshooting prints, dialing in settings, what features i wanted, which i needed. The list goes on and on. Then I got tired of constant tinkering, bought a sovol sv07+ and it's been magic. Now the other 2 sit in the basement collecting dust. I'm glad i went with cheap ones to start. The cost over time ended up being more than a better printer, but the lessons learned were invaluable.

[@VolkanTaninmis]

This video made me remember the period between 2019-2020. Ender 3 and 3-pro was the greatest... How much technology releated with 3d printing and 3D printers have developed in 5 years... it is an incredible process.

[@SaHaRaSquad]

When I first got interested the most popular choices were a kit using acrylic parts that might already shatter during shipping, making the kit unusable (tevo tarantula) and one where people debated whether it can really burn your house down (anet a8). I'm glad I waited and bought the Prusa Mini, the thing has been almost maintenance free to this day (though not a good choice today)

[@honkhonk8009]

I never expected 3d printers to come so far in the past 5 years. Nothing ever happens? Nah 3d printers happened. Bambu lab stuff is insane.

[@VolkanTaninmis]

​@@SaHaRaSquad At that time, Marlin firmware already had over-temperature protection, but somehow Anet managed to disable that feature. Unbelievable!

[@VolkanTaninmis]

@@honkhonk8009 The time I spent on my Ender-3 back then feels like wasted time now. It was educational, but I’m not sure... Even the cheapest bambu (not a1 mini) is excellent.

[@NiSE_Rafter]

I don't think the Enders were ever the greatest? During that time it was kind of standard that if you wanted something decent you bought a Prusa, although even back then fancy enclosed printers like the Ultimaker 3 existed if you had the money. Enders were always the janky budget option.

[@orangefeelrelaxingmusic898]

Love tinkering, cheap printers and then the price doubles with the upgrades but.. the knowledge gained on how to troubleshoot, fix and understanding what’s happening to the machine is invaluable, the fixes and upgrades you did to the elegoo, six years ago i would of been head scratching for months trying to solve it, but thanks to your work and many others I’m able to diagnose my machines quickly to determine if it’s hardware or firmware, and don’t get me started with maintenance.. 3D printers are a tool and after certain amount of use they will need something adjusted or replaced and then recalibrate and keeping parts lubricated and retention of belts , couldn’t do any of that and more without tinkering to learn

[@BeefIngot]

I have been forced to learn similarly and couldn't *disagree* more. All that time spent could be spent having fun learning the specific things I wanted to learn doing projects I planned to do. After buying an X1C I stopped using my older franken printer (modified to the gills) and got enough time back to learn the basics of pcb design. It was so freeing to have a printer that just printed and just enabled the maker hobby I have. I don't want to be forced to have a 3d printer hobby, actually more specific than that, bad 3d printer fixing hobby. If I want to get into 3d printer enthusiasm, I'll make a custom printer. If I want to do anything else I now have a printer I don't have to worry about.

[@untildawncrepes]

@@BeefIngot There's a saying, there are two hobbies: 3d printing and 3d printers

[@eaman11]

Actually it would cost some ~20-40$ to upgrade the old Marlin printers to today standard, you mostly need a 9e BMG clone extruder, a CHT nozzle, 5015 blower, a 3D Touch probe if you don't have it already. Then those printer can do 4-12k accel and they can be silent, print with bigger nozzles...

[@BeefIngot]

@eaman11 Oooor you just buy an A1 mini

[@eaman11]

@@BeefIngot That is smaller, it can't print ABS / ASA, it's closed source. I'd rather buy an X Smart 3 if that's your point: way faster and it can print eng materials like it's PLA.

[@LabRatJason]

This video couldn't have come at a better time, or been more on point. My brother just called me last week and asked if there were any sub $200 USD printers that were worth getting, and I told him that unless he wants to tinker and upgrade and fuss with it, the answer is no. All the Ender 3 clones are a labor of love, and I told him he'd be better off buying a Bambu. He's never had a 3D printer before, and doesn't know anything about the workflow of getting something to successfully print. I sent him a link to this video. For the record, I'm running an Ender 3, and tinkering with it all the time. I've got it pretty dialed in at this point, but I'm also in to it about $600. I've had it for several years, so it's not exactly fair to say that I should have bought something different (Bambu didn't exist when I bought it) but if I had cash in hand now, and had all my choices to make, I'd definitely not pick the Ender at this point.

[@ichisaur]

The A1 mini is actually sub $200 right now.

[@thebillyd00]

​@@ichisaur I wouldn't want to recommend the A1 mini to anyone though. It's a good printer, but it's super limited by its size. Id rather save up for the full size A1.

[@braixeninfection6312]

It's a really good point. Get something known to be easier to use even if more money. Unless that person wants to enjoy fighting a machine day after day. Which can also be enjoyable. I got a P1S and love it. No fighting it which makes running it more enjoyable. Although some bits of it are still a pain. If not for Bambu I don't know when I would have gotten a printer. I've wanted one for a long time and glad I got into it finally. But I would have known a lot more if I did it a decade ago like I first wanted.

[@SaHaRaSquad]

@@thebillyd00 Nah, at that point I'd just go directly for an enclosed printer. The Mini format can be good enough for many and is actually cheap.

[@slowcyclist4324]

You get a family or a pet to love, you get a 3D printer to print. Throw that ender away and get something better. You’re just sticking with it due to sunk cost but somehow confused it as a “ labour of love”.

[@geoffreyhowells7290]

Don't even own a budget machine, but watching your videos is like absorbing valuable info. Thanks for the engaging content. For the beginner, it makes the plunge into 3d-printing far less intimidating. PS - If you are in the market for a so called 'budget machine'... take a look at the Bambu Lab A1 or A1 Mini. But if ya happen to find one of these 'budget machines' laying in a dumpster, it might be worth tryin to get it to work, but probably not.

[@poodlescone9700]

It all comes down to doing your research and tempering your expectations. Budget machines are good for tinkering and customization. I decided on the Ender 3 v2 with the full intention to upgrade with a dual z , 400mm extender and the usual upgrades. The reason for this decision was it met my printing needs for bigger items on a budget and I can use CR-10 parts like the frame supports and the dual z kit.

[@BeefIngot]

The first sentence is no longer true. You can pay 180 and get an A1 Mini. Further, the type of "tinkering" you're forced to do with worse printers isn't something the vast majority of people want and for learning value, you'd be better off having the time to learn the specifics you care about in a more fun way.

[@BadSpock]

Cheap printers make you learn how to troubleshoot general 3d printing problems. You can get more expensive machines that will give you less trouble out of the box but they will eventually give you trouble and you'll have to learn anyway. Learn now or learn later. The real reason not to get an old Ender 3 like clone is that most printers are much faster now and you're really using a relic. If you get it for free or close to it, dust it off, get it working, get the experience then move up to something modern. I spent $85 on a returned Ender and it was absolutely worth it. My new printer is an Ender 3 V3 which is light years ahead. Though I might have returned that if I hadn't found I could root it. If I am going to be stuck with a curated experience I might as well go Bambu.

[@SkateSoup]

This whole video reminds me why I was glad to get the printer that I did instead of an Ender 3 as my first printer. The Kywoo Tycoon had all the quality of life upgrades (bl touch, direct drive extruder, metal tension arms, and a bunch of other stuff) for about the same price as all those upgrades and an Ender 3, but installed from factory so I could just print things. Even better, it was a rigid bed mount so there was no messing with wheels to tram the bed every half dozen prints. It's a personal pet peeve, and I know that system can be serviceable with upgraded springs, but the printer world will be way better off when those things disappear for good. Unfortunately it looks like they aren't manufacturing printers or parts anymore, as it was and still is a workhorse that kept churning out parts, but I'm quite happy with the Magneto X and X Smart 3 I upgraded to. If someone really wants to tinker, and would love to install those upgrades themselves, it's a viable path, but there's also better quality printers out there for the tinkerers.

[@RichGardens]

Yep, you are spot on. I'm still using a Ender 3 clone and 2 Ender 5 clones. As their stock parts die I standardize them all with the same upgrades (when possible). My game changer is Klipper on cheap printers. My next big upgrade is a Z offset calibration sensor. If you're new to 3D printing follow the advice given in the video

[@UNVIRUSLETALE]

I spent 350€ on my ender 5 pro and then like 1000 in mods over the years, wouldn't do it with the current market tho, I did it 4 years ago right before COVID start, I learned a lot but didn't print much but mostly modded and fixed stuff. It works great now and I'll a chamber heater soon but it was a hobby, not a tool, today I'd get and A1 mini/normal/p1s

[@shaunmorrissey7313]

Had I not bought an ender 3 all those years ago (or so it seems) I would never have found your channel😊I still believe that there is great value to be had from learning to use and troubleshoot cheap bed slingers.I learned so much from you because of them.

[@See-essEll]

Not just "cheap" printers, but the "kids special" ones like the ToyBox featured on Shark Tank are terrible. When an A1 mini is an option, there's no reason for "kids" printers to exist. The toybox is more expensive, harder to use, less accurate, slower, and they try to tie you into their expensive filament ecosystem.

[@BeefIngot]

Truly. Get a kid toycad and an A1 Mini and they're way better off.

[@xxW00LYxx]

I get GREAT results with my ender 3! I just had to get a PEI build plate, bed leveling probe, direct drive extruder, stiffer bed springs, replaced the lead screw with belts and installed klipper. Easy!

[@dmk_games]

Makerbot Cupcake CNC 3d printer first. Felt a massive step up to an Ender 3 Pro. But then I got a Prusa Mini and the change in reliability was amazing and made 3d printing a joy. Then I bought a Sovol 5 IDEX. And while IDEX was great it was a lot of bugs to fight and design issues. Then I got X1C. Another massive setup. I will still use the Prusa mini for some things or when the X1C is busy. (I leave it with a 0.25mm nozzle and my X1C with a 0.6mm CHT style nozzle). They both just work. The hobby is now about designing stuff.

[@ThisisDD]

2:02 huge appreciation to this channel For this stance

[@the3dprintern]

This was awesome! This video would have been so amazing to have years ago, but I am certain it will be an amazing resource for soo many people still. I love that you were able to show off your site and resurface it, pretty cool. Thank you for such great content and your contributions to the community!

[@TheRealPlato]

I've run into many firmware issues on Neptune 3 Pro, but the hardware has performed flawlessly for over a year with minimal maintenance

[@janellegodin2934]

I agree, my Neptune 3 plus has been pretty reliable. I'm happy I waited for the 3 line to come out and didn't rush into getting something like the Neptune 2 or an Ender machine.

[@lawabidingcitizen5153]

Same with my Neptune 4 pro

[@theo3000]

I love my 150 dollar Neptune 3 Pro, but I also love to tinker. I agree that the A1 mini is best for the beginner who just wants to print things without any hassle.

[@AdemKazkondu]

I'm learning a lot with my Sidewinder X2. Calibrating and tuning are a lot of fun. Iphone users should buy a bamboo printer

[@potrzebieneuman4702]

I knew absolutely nothing about 3d printers just under 2 years ago however I wanted to get into it so I did a LOT of homework and the Ender 3 stood out from the crowd. I bought one and have flogged it practically non stop ever since. There have been a few small things that went wrong but once again some homework solved the issues and I put it down to a learning experience. I can not say enough good words about this printer, it turned out great prints even when I had no idea at all about the slicing software, hell I didn't know what slicing was !. I now have a dual drive filament extruder and it has made an unbelievable difference to the quality of the output from his brilliant little machine.

[@DaveDFX]

12 years ago I started 3d printing. We had no choices back in the days. Manual leveling and all the time spent on tweaking the hardware and software. I got an Bambulab A1 and love it . I spend more time making and printing instead of tinkering with the printer. Hot end swapping is a joy. AMS lite works great.

[@viewatyourownrisk]

It was just about a year ago that I got my first printer. After being indecisive about it for a while, I opted for a printer that came with some nice additional features right out of the box -All metal hot end -ABL sensor -PEI sprint steel build plate And even upgraded to klipper about 2 months in. Learning to get the printer to produce high quality results presented a lot of learning and challenges by itself. If I would have been fighting the printer the whole way along, the learning curve would have been much worse. For this one user, it was worth it to spend extra for those features. This has really turned into a hobby I enjoy greatly. And no, I don't want to drop the make/model. Out of respect for the channel.

[@Arek_R.]

I've noticed ender 3 and a lot of the clones will have an issue with the Z axist limit switch, they are nautrally the cheapest stuff, and the top casing on them is loose and what it does is that the actual trigger position varies, and thanks to the lever that small variation is further amplified by the lever, so you can end up with easily 0.5mm Z homign error, you claibrate it, it prints well, you send another print job, it re-homes the Z axis and goes out of whack. It's probably why not using it at all and adding 3rd party probe fixes the problem. But all you need is to glue down the switch casing or get quality omron switch.

[@NiSE_Rafter]

Or get rid of it all together and use probing to home the z axis since bed probing is the way to go anyways. Knockoff BL Touch is only $10 and works fine. I own both real and knockoff probes and they all work great.

[@davedempsey5282]

I have bought 15 printers in the last 2 years. It's been a total crapshoot but anything older (SV04, SV05, X5SA Pro) always had a ton of issues. This generation felt cheap, copied and not particularly usable without a lot of work. The SV05 cube printer was the only one that operated fine but was very slow and limited in print quality. Of the models less than 1 year old, most were including new features or speeds, and it was a mixed bag. Most issues were with "auto" anything. So many of these machines claimed to deliver Bambu ease of use and automatic leveling etc and completely failed to deliver on any of it. The SV08 has the most warped bed ever, a cover that pops off mid print and destroys the print, and a few other issues. The Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo works well after a few updates. That took 2 months to get working though. The only 2 machines that worked properly out of the box were the Infimech TX and the Flashforge Adventurer 5M. The FF I moved on because it was too locked down to print in my normal methods. The infimech I have now. I have a Two Trees SK1 on the way, we will see about that.

[@KRich408]

Scold Elegoo LMFAO 😅 I did the same thing they tried to give me gifts to change my review and opinion of their Laser engaver. I never agreed to change anything they sent me gifts I added to the review to say they tried to bribe me with free stuff. At least I'm not the only one not afraid to stand up to these companies. A lot of people are complacent today out of fear maybe? I grew up just outside NYC back in the 70s I'll tell you how it is ! 😊😊😊 Just don't take anything if you sign a NDA or agreement in writing that you will change your opinion for $$ or gifts.

[@barrag3463]

When I was giving a lot of advice I started telling people around 2019-2020ish and especially post 2022 that while there was an abundance of good entry level machines, that those machines usually require a bit more work (always remember to level the plate and mentioning bowden-gap jams were common things I'd mention), and I especially emphasized that there was a price floor, under which you were getting something that was going to be a project, not a tool. Specifically back then I was referring to the still present abundance of bare bone i3 kits using old MK8 / MK10 extruders, frames made of acrylic or wood, and poorly fabricated parts you could find for less than 200 USD, which in my experience make the issues encountered on cheap E3-pattern machines trivial. Forget simply changing hotends (though I absolutely had to do that too) and adding ABL- the one I made the mistake of getting basically had to have it's Z and X axis basically rebuilt, due to parts being poorly fabricated and thus misaligned. It makes sense that as the standard for machines improve the floor moves on, especially for people who want a tool. But, to me, for someone who wants to tinker with machines as a hobby, these are still very much relevant as base machines.

[@ScottLahteine]

I love a story with a happy ending! Talented people in add-on and open source world are bringing new life and improved value to old hardware.

[@dlgloege]

Exactly! I have an "inexpensive" Ender 3 clone. I have spent enough upgrading it over the last couple of years to have bought a Bambu P1 series machine. I have however learned a lot about this hobby. I still use your website as a reference for calibrations. I recently purchased a QIDI Plus4. I love this printer. It is fast, prints every material and turns out beautiful work. My Aquila is collecting dust at this point. I'm considering buying the SV08 next and using you great guide to turn it into a tool changer. Thanks for your informative videos. It's obvious to me that you love teaching.

[@MrRazer1978]

Hey, so last year around this time I got my first 3D printer, an Ender 3 V3 KE, and I'm loving it! It's so easy to use, and any issues I've had were totally my fault from pushing myself too hard. I debated the Bambu A1, but I'm not a fan of closed ecosystems, plus I like to mess around with things, so the Ender was perfect. I've done some upgrades, like printing a new tool head with bigger, quieter fans, and added LEDs too. I even built an enclosure from foam board and have been printing ABS successfully. Next up is dual linear rails for the Y-axis - the parts are ready, just waiting for a free printing slot to install them.

[@jeminacek]

I bought cheap Ender 3 long time ago (6 years?). Only changed the motherboard for the silent one and replaced the plastic extruder when it broke. Had no problems with it since then. Can't remember the last time I had to do manual bed leveling. I might do things recommended in this video in the future but don't see any reason to do them when everything works for me. (Just to add an opinion into the mix.)

[@SheLeftMeUnsupervised]

My ender 3 pro is still all stock. Still has the original board in it that is basically worthless. Prints like a champ. Have had to level it when I bought it and 2 moves. Getting ready to upgrade it to run klipper for kicks as well as learning.

[@ahow8017]

Nice work again. The funny thing is that I watched this video on the day it came out then today I traded some sewing machine parts that my father in law gave me to try to sell in our yard sale for a working Neptune 2 machine. Looking forward to seeing what I can get it to do. Let the mods begin.

[@onewaydown]

FWIW, the Neptune 2 does have a Z-offset setting. I tend to need to use it to adjust for certain PETG filaments for more squish. Aside from that, I'll attest to everything else mentioned in the video. =) These are all almost guaranteed upgrades. The only difference for me is that I've started just with replacing the bed level springs with the Creality silicone nubs, rather than going all out into the BLTouch. And I chose the Creality aluminum feeder assembly, and a Slice Engineering heatbreak rather than the MicroSwiss.

[@visrupt]

I have two ender 3 v2s running all day everyday for the last two years. Modified with the belt Z axis and klack ender by kevinakasam,replaced the bed knob with lock nuts,PEI plate, volcano heater block, Hero Me fan duct, mini e3 v3 board and orbiter extruder, running mriscoc firmware. Can't remember how long ago i had a failed print, but it was caused by my lazy soldering for the z motor connector causing it to stop while printing. Other than cleaning the nozzle before a print and occational bed tramming, they've been very reliable. I consider my experience the perfect course into 3D-printing. People thank bambu for their innovation, but if cheap creality printers and all the others we called the "ender clones" back then didn't exist, they'd be competing with the prusas and we could only imagine at what price range.

[@solarbirdyz]

I was gifted an Ender 3 V2 but specifically wanted it _because_ of the tinkering and modding. I learned _so goddamn much_ and have modded it so completely - including variations on all of the above plus a lot more - that it is at this point absolutely just a workhorse with essentially 0% tinkering remaining. It's not the fastest, but it so completely just works. (I can't even remember the last non-experimental print failure. Well, other than that one last month where the filament spool was miswound by the factory which would've failed on literally any printer, so doesn't count. But if I just want to print an object? Click and off it goes.) I do want to move up now - I yearn for speed. And I understand people who don't want to bother with all that. But I am also so glad I did it this way.

[@josephsmith601]

2:02 And this is why I subscribed to Teaching Tech! Thank you Michael for begin the definition of honesty and integrity!!! 👏👏👏👍👍👍 P.s. I also own a Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro and it is a good machine, but do agree that what Elegoo did is wrong and makes them look bad as a company and could hender them from receiving any additional sales from the viewers of this channel.

[@fouroakfarm]

I cringe to think anyone is buying these printers in 2024. We have come a long way. Printers are so much easier to use now and you can see that exhibited by how many people are now in the commercial print space (ie selling prints at craft fairs, online, farmers market, etc)

[@OneIdeaTooMany]

If you want to get into 3D printing, I'd also recommend either an A1 mini or a Prusa mini. If you like to tinker, buy a second, cheap printer to mess around on and tinker with. If you don't you'll tinker with your main printer and it won't be ready to print with when you need it. I started with an Anet A6 and the only thing that's still stock on it these days is the main board, and the XYZ stepper motors. It's running a 24v e3d hemera super volcano hotend, bl touch, external MOSFETs, TL smoothers, 24v heated bed with borosilicate glass and an ez something magnetic removable build plate, 24v fans, a 20 amp power supply all enclosed in an aluminium extrusion frame. It works though I had to solder a new stepper motor driver in for the y axis stepper motor since it was overheating from the weight of the y carriage.

[@xyxy1024]

My first and so far only printer is a cheap I3 clone that I got for free, with the frame cut out of plywood and a glass 12V heated bed. My first prints were a part cooling fan mount and air duct, and it now runs off an old server PSU. I mostly print small functional items that I design in OpenSCAD, and after some tinkering it works quite well for my needs. After insulating the bottom of the heatbed with corkboard (free) and the heater with a silicone cover ($2), I can print ABS and TPU quite reliably. So it is possible to get a cheap printer to work for you, but it does depend on how much patience you have. I got the printer because its previous owner gave up trying to set it up...

[@camlearmonth6373]

I'd always recommend a used (but good condition) ender 3 pro to a newcomer. Once you're familiar with your machine, slicer, and specific filaments, an ender 3 can absolutely blow your mind with the quality of prints. Great machine to buy if you're not 100% certain you want to spend decent money on the hobby yet. The only problems mine has ever given me were my own fault. This goes for most people I've talked to but most wont admit it

[@Zeldur]

This actually came out at just the right time. I did upgrade my extruder on my ender when I got it, but the spring is too strong and I've now destroyed 2 gears. I was going to get another gear but replacing the whole thing will be better. I'm likely going to save up for a bambu because I want my tools to just work. I have enough chaos in my head and projects, I don't want my tools to be part of that chaos

[@lego_minifig]

4 years ago the Ender 3 was the perfect machine for me. It was a cheap printer that could grow with me. I got amazing results from it for 2 years and upgraded it a bunch. Then one day a driver blew out. I fixed it, but then a glitch occurred that caused the bed motors to skip if I printed a model that took up too much space in the Y axis. Spent 3 full days troubleshooting with no luck. With my printer now unreliable I stopped printing for two years. A few weeks ago I purchased a Bambu A1 with AMS to get back into the swing of things. Man has the technology come a ling way in the past 4 years. This thing has all the bells and whistles for just $450 (with AMS included which you definitely don’t need). I have probably spent more on my Ender 3 over the years than I did with this bundle. The Mini can be snagged for $200 when on sale. It used to be impossible to find an FDM printer below $240 and now you have one of the most consistent and user friendly FDM printers (albeit with a smaller bed) with auto leveling, filament runout detection, wireless printing and the ability to add a camera and AMS later on down the line. Was the Ender 3 a good choice for me back in the day? Yes. Would I buy a Creality now? Not unless it had some niche usecase that I needed. I am past the point of wanting to tinker. I tinker enough with my servers and don’t want another project machine. I want a machine that just works so I can focus on solving problems in CAD rather than in the compiling of firmware for my printer. One of my biggest regrets was recommending a Biqu Ender 3 clone to my cousin who lives 10 hours away. I don’t think he ever got that machine running properly. I can only help troubleshoot so much without in person testing. Due to that experience, I would never recommend anything other than a Bambu or Prusa to someone who is not overtly technical and loves to constantly tinker. Especially with how Bambu Labs now has a presence in the low budget category. It does not make sense to buy anything else unless you know you need a particular feature that those brands don’t offer.

[@resignator]

Still using my Neptune 2s daily. My first printer and I still love it.

[@harshbarj]

I love cheap printers. My first one was a Anet A8. Spent $140 for it back in 2014. It lasted till just last year. Rarely gave problems especially after flashing the marlin firmware. It's best to read reviews before buying and focus on the negative reviews to see if it has issues.

[@TankErdin]

You absolutely get what you pay for, and I think it's far too easy to get an interest in the hobby, only to have that cut short by mediocre hardware. I got my start tinkering with an Ender 3, before I got in touch with a number of printer manufacturers who were happy to send me Amazon return units for a very low price. At the time, $250 machines were coming in under $100! Often times, you got lucky and they simply never built it right, or couldn't figure out bed leveling. I picked up an Ender 3 V3 KE for my brother last year, thinking that because it automated first layer calibration, it might be a decent machine for a decent price. He ran into issues within the first month, and it sat for most of the year until this past month, when I got a chance to modify and upgrade everything. Now it's screaming and reliable, but it took someone with experience to get there. Spend the little extra up front, to save yourself a lot of time and headache down the road.

[@taylorschmid]

This has pretty much been my exact experience with my Neptune 2. I’ve added dual Z, direct drive, and converted to klipper. Feels almost like a reliable machine now.

[@dr_harrington]

Thanks for the reminder about your Marlin setup guide. Been a long time for me too, but I've got a few printers to restore (yet again) and it will be helpful.

[@KennethScharf]

I usually have to manually re-level the bed of my Ender 3 pro using a piece of paper as a feeler gauge evey time I start a print from a cold start. Once a print is finished, I can print several more items without re-leveling the bed. Also I know that the bed is a bit lower in the middle than near the corners and sides. So I usually avoid the middle when slicing prints if possible. Otherwise, I adjust the manual leveling so the middle isn't too far off, while the corners are not too tight. It's possible to find a good compromise, just takes a bit longer to set up. Creality does have a BL-touch add on solution for the Ender 3, as well as a second Z axis motor add on, and both are probably good ideas. I've converted an other Ender 3 Pro into a Voron Switchwire, and right now I'm finishing up with that project. So far it looks like a nice improvement, but not worth the overall cost. However it was a fun project, and a goo learning experience. I did upgrade my first Ender 3 hot end with an E3D CR Revo and the build surface with a PEX magnetic one. The Ender 3 Pro has a magnet on the bed already that works fine with the Wham Bam magnetic plate. I think there will also be a Klipper upgrade in the future, and I will add an inductive probe as well. Yet another item to be swapped out will be a Voron M4 extruder to replace the Creality one. This is still a Bowden extruder, but it is gear driven and will mount on the printer frame, not the X gantry. This will reduce the weight on the X axis. I'm on the fence as to adding the second Z motor as I don't really want to spend anymore on this printer (the M4 extruder is left over from my Switchwire conversion, there I changed my mind on the extruder after the new Galileo2 came out. I built the Switchwire using the new E3D PZ probe equipped Revo Voron hot end.

[@astrumrocket6556]

This is a trap I tend to fall in! I tell myself that it'll be ok, since I have some raspberries with multiple klipper instances on them, so I can just plug them in and convert them to klipper. But other expenses always creep in. Recently, Artillery 3D was selling out old X3's for 170$ I think, luckily I missed out on it before their stock ran out, but on cyber monday I saw SP-5 v3 for around 200$, and I just couldn't resist. I know it was always a troubled child among 3D printers, but that just gives it more charm in some way. I still prefer V6 style and open source, which many new printers don't provide, and there are also companies like Trianglelabs that offer cheap, (mostly) acceptable upgrades to "fix" older printers and bring them close or up to modern standard. But in the end, I just find it funny that I'm willing to go so far for an older printer, while something Infimech Tx does it all for similar or smaller price...

[@Chretze]

I'm still rocking my Ender 3 that I bought way back in 2018. Upgraded it a bunch over the years (Micro Swiss ND hotend, dual Z motors, PEI print bed, Raspberry + Klipper for input shaping, bl touch, etc) and it has been phenomenally reliable for me during the time. There have been no grave errors that I haven't directly caused as a user, so I have been extremely happy with the printer. Granted - The extruder system did in fact eventually give out, which is what prompted me to do the Micro Swiss ND upgrade, but really it has been fantastic especially considering the price If you're a handy man and you can be very careful and precise when building the printer yourself (because that's 80% of what determines your print quality imo) then these cheap printers are a good idea.

[@BeefIngot]

The ender you just described is straight up more expensive than a A1 Mini. Your advice is outdated.

[@Chretze]

@@BeefIngot damn that's true Hang on though 1) the A1 mini is especially cheap *right now* because of black friday / xmas sales right and 2) an ender 3 has bigger build volume. Print quality with my upgrades is about the same, but granted the bambulab is faster. A better comparison would be the A1 which is slightly bigger but much closer in size and here the price advantage disappears.

[@BeefIngot]

@@Chretze caring about the 40mm extra for the tons of time lost is a classic noob trap The A1 Mini is the better comparison because it's the comparison based on price.

[@Chretze]

@@BeefIngot Yes, smaller printers are cheaper, you are very smart!

[@BeefIngot]

@@Chretze You missed the point by a very wide margin

[@adscomics]

When it comes to choosing printers, you're either gonna pay with your money, or your time. Pick wisely.

[@BeefIngot]

Hey now there are plenty of outdated printers where you pay with both, like lulzbot printers. Price doesn't mean quality.

[@nevilenobody606]

Easy to choose if you have money.

[@AlexusMaximusDE]

@@nevilenobody606 It should be an even easier choice when you don't have the money. With an initially cheap printer you will spend time and money to get it to an acceptable state. You are better off holding off and spending the time mowing lawns or something for minimum wage in the hours you would be wasting on upgrading and maintaining the cheap printer.

[@adscomics]

@@BeefIngot Yeah I suppose you're right lmao.

[@nevilenobody606]

@@AlexusMaximusDE depends on your point of view really. Is the time spent learning the ins an outs of 3d printing worth less than spending time on menial tasks? Only the individual can decide.

[@miggychan]

I remember starting out with cheap 3d printers and after a while of trying to square the entire frame, using dial gauges to level the x gantry, and trying to drill precise holes to get around certain weird cost cutting corners companies tool at the time I said to myself "I might as well become a machinist if I'm doing all this BS" I am now a cnc machine programmer and operator so I have cheap printers to thank for that, but I do NOT miss the race to the bottom of the barrel that every company was doing. Never again haha

[@gman9543]

Great video and a very accurate depiction of my traumas in the recent past. Except mine were with Prusa i3 clones. As they say, "Buy once, cry once" (if your primary objective is to actually print stuff and not to tinker with the printer.)

[@Fluxxi3]

After finally upgrading to an X1C I can totally say YES!

[@chifurbr]

while i agree with the point of spending a little more and getting modern QoL upgrades out of the box, i still think it is necesary to go through a bit of pain and learn how these machines work, kinda like learning to drive manual before switching to automatic, i do find concerning the amount of apple-like mentality of people just recommending a specific machine as the only viable option today, best piece of advice is do your own research, look for all the pros and cons and find a sweet spot between price and features that suits you

[@greyvlad]

If it's the A1 Mini the answer to this video is yes, I have 2 because that thing is amazing. Then, once the person that is being gifted get's into it, they can just get the A1 for full sized.

[@tsepash]

To run new wires through the cable loom, use a small screw with a rounded head and some duct tape to create a ball shape on the connector. You can then feed the connector through the loom much easier, and even use a magnet to assist.

[@vasilistsilioukas4270]

I had a Wanhao duplicator i3 for many years... With the money spent on this machine i could have bought 2 Prusa MK2... lol BUT, the upgrades, the tikering and troubleshooting made me a pro in 3d printing philosophy; i do not regret a single penny. After the birth of my child, i did not have the time to tinker and decide to go for Prusa XL 5TH.. Can you imagine? From a Wanhao duplicator i3 to Prusa XL? The feeling was just like driving a Yugo for years and then take a driving seat at F1...

[@rickseiden1]

My first printer was a Wanho i3 that had manual bed leveling and no removable bed. It was OK, but I never got the hang of leveling the bed, and constantly ran the nozzle into the blue painter's tape. I upgraded to a Prusa MK3 with auto leveling and a removable bed. It's so much better than that old Wanho ever could have been.

[@RLfilmz]

I love our cheap 3D printers. They taught me a lot, got me comfortable modding and troubleshooting and do a good job of throwing you in the deep end. But for our mostly production use, they’ve become more work that they’re worth

[@GeekRedux]

Recently bought a P1S after years with an Ender 3 and then a Neptune 4. So happy to just be printing now.

[@Numenor7]

Thought I broke my Creality machine purchased during COVID. Bought a Bambu A1 mini combo before the China tariffs go into effect. Ended up fixing the Creality machine. But I agree a Bambu mini is probably one of the best 3D printers for beginners. I watch lots and lots of 3D printing videos and very rarely see anyone printing anything large. I also very rarely print anything large. The Z height especially doesn't need to be as tall as it is with Ender 3 clones. If you need to print large things, you'll know who you are, and you'll buy an appropriately sized machine. But the vast majority of us will typically be printing smaller useful items. Here in the US everything with a chip will increase in price by a third come January. There are a few well made machines on the market now with rapid print speeds. Get something easy to start with. Tinkering can take the fun out of it. Unless you just want to tinker in which case, again, you know who you are. I'm a tinkerer too. But sometimes you just want something that works.

[@OmegaGamingNetwork]

I'll be blunt..unless you are a tinkerer and just want something super basic to experiment with there is only 1 budget printer that is worth buying on the market. That is the A1 mini. Sorry but for those who just want a 3d printer that just works there is nothing else that is worth the trouble under $300. One of my first printers was actually an Elegoo Neptune 2s. It never worked. It had a warped bed and to Elegoo's credit they sent me another entire bed no questions asked. It was also warped just in a different spot. I only got a handful of servicable prints out of it (mostly upgrades for it) but overall it was a giant headache and I spent more time screwing around with it than actually printing. That said, it taught me a ton and the experience was valuable in helping me learn how to build these machines.

[@kenabi]

picked up one of the neptunes when the second batch dropped, and got the adjuster/spring upgrades. dialed it in, haven't looked back. i've had to adjust it again _once_ in how many years now? i've done some minor things like, putting the creality glass plate on it, a psu exhaust shroud, and a hotend shroud to direct the air better. it pretty much just works.

[@AndrewAHayes]

I still have my original Ender 2 and Ender 3 machines, the Ender 3 is upgraded within an inch of its life, I love working on them when things go south. My X1 Carbon apart from the odd filament snap never goes wrong.

[@oledennis6918]

As a noob watching this video made me wonder what a wealth of functions It seems I've missed. My first and short lived printer was a used original Flashforge Creator Pro. It had issues that I did not understand, but my wife saw the value of what a 3D printer could have. So we bought a new Bambu Labs A1. It's been perfect, which means I have have no idea what could possibly make it better.

[@SeizureGman]

I went though several 3D printers from Creality, FLSUN and Flashforge and yes they worked but also required a lot of tinkering. My Bambu X1C is pretty much plug and play I have printed 1000 items in total and only had 6 failures and I can bet they were human error related. There is no harm in getting a cheap 3D printer and for a person who enjoys tinkering more than making it's a better way to go but if your a person who prefers to design and print go for something like a Prusa or a Bambu

[@SheLeftMeUnsupervised]

Which FLSUN?? I have the qqs-pro. Never tinkered with it. Did the bed leveling probe thing and its been by far my favorite old printer. It was my go to until I bought my K1 max.

[@Otamatone_Productions]

The original ender 3 was discontinued a week ago, sad, but about time. I'm glad this part of 3D printing history is over.

[@INNOCUBE3D]

Life is like a printer. Enjoy the joy of tinkering, keep upgrading, and keep thinking to make us more advanced.

[@darrenellis9491]

Great advice, as always.

[@m97120]

Buying an Ender 3 or clone and going through the trouble of fixing and upgrading them made sense in 2020 when everything slightly better was significantly more expensive. But nowadays there is no good reason to even consider one of those, unless it's a secondary machine for the sole purpose of trying out mods.

[@ericthecyclist]

yep. My first was an acrylic plastic framed piece of chinesium which I replaced with the Prusa MK2 when it came out because the MK2 had the induction sensor for bed leveling. Now I have the Sovol SV08 which has more quirks than my old MK2->MK3S, but is still nicer to use.

[@nevilenobody606]

For a printer like the Elegoo and it's ilk swapping out the hot end is unecessary as beginners are unlikely to be printing beyond PLA for a long while if ever. The magnetic bed on the other hand is a must have upgrade and so easy for anyone to do.

[@DanielLopez-up6os]

Atleast for me the Elegoo Neptune 4, which is i think 5 years newer than the 2? has worked marvelously and got int on sale for 200 and it's a dammn good machine for that price on sale. At the regular 350 price im not sure about that. But it's basically fixed everything wrong with the old Elegoos.

[@Amybnuy]

My first shitty any cubic printer is what got me my first job and changed my life :)

[@333donutboy]

That Micro Swiss hotend is worth twice as much as the entire printer. That's definitely what I call putting lipstick on a pig. I agree with all the upgrades but I wished you would have mentioned/used a more budget friendly hotend. The cheapo V6 clones work well and they have plenty of STL's to print the carriage. I know, that maybe too much for the beginner, but I had to say it. All in all, nicely done video.

[@dogoonubs997]

The micro Swiss MK8 hotend he installed is only about $50. Yes, it’s a $110 printer. But it’s not twice as much as the printer.

[@333donutboy]

@dogoonubs997 it would seem I missed the price of the micro swiss a bit. Although you can get a V6 clone kit for $10.

[@dogoonubs997]

@ Yeah, I think in this instance that would fit the price of the printer way better. I have a micro Swiss on my ender 3, but only because I’ve done other upgrades that really highlighted the pitfalls of the original hotend.

[@lowellhouser7731]

Having started in 3D printing in 2016 with an FLSUN delta that had to be 100% assembled, and moving on from that to an Ender3, and from there to a Kingroon KLP1 while also having access to a Bambu X1C I can honestly say that going cheap was a GIANT MISTAKE. I got sick of the KLP1 and bought a Qidi Plus4 because it seemed to be as good as the4 X1C but with OPEN SOURCE firmware. So far the Qidi has been superior to the Bambu, but then it is over a year newer in design and liberally copies everything Bambu did right while offering a larger print area as well as 1.5MM belt instead of 2mm for Bambu and the entire rest of the 3D printing world. But yeah, The Ender3 was just a series of problems. It's a printer for people that like screwing around with upgrading a 3D printer rather than printing useful parts. Qidi or Bambu, either one will work fine and go with the one you feel drawn to as Orca slicer supports both of them.

[@arturkonczalski]

My first and only FDM printer so far is Kingroon KP3S v 1.3. Ive had it for years and love it. Had some issues of course, but no that i would be frustrated. Now planning on adding BLtouch as recently moved it to Marlin, but also am thinking about a bigger printer, as 180x180 is a bit limiting :)

[@BeefIngot]

I've been saying this since options like the A1 Mini came out. When you can have one for 180 USD on sale, saving an extra few more bucks really makes no sense. People who don't know what they're buying see printers that look relatively similar and just don't understand the differences that matter like vrollers vs non vrollers or features like auto z or more. They often (the _really_ "value" oriented ones (the real scrooges)) just think "but I can get more build volume for slightly cheaper" as if blind to anything they don't understand, and end up with a printer they hate. To be fair my first printer was an anycubic chiron.... so you can see I was not immune to this either. I then spent more than the price of the printer fixing it. People don't get that the frustration is not something its easy to put a price on.

[@hellothere6627]

The effort of installing the BL touch is much higher than the bar for learning how to properly manually leveling the bed via live print leveling. I have worked with many ender printers and some clones and once leveled they stay leveled, unless it is a public printer in a public space where others mess it up.

[@FoamCrusher]

There is an old saying when buying tools, “Buy once. Cry once.” You never regret buying quality.

[@raiden9250]

The best experience with a cheap printer has been an anycubic kobra 2 pro. It's amazing!

[@danmigala2781]

When the A1 mini exists, this is a whole different conversation.

[@kongchho]

Even the ender 3 fanboys are realizing there's just better machines out there. Absolutely no reason to buy the cheap 3d printers when for 50$ more you're in a bracket of machines that have auto bed leveling, direct drive, etc.

[@videoviewer2008]

Aren't we supposed to be building a SteathChanger on a cheap 3D printer? I look forward to the conclusion of the project. I have my concerns about the attachment scheme of the heads to the gantry. I see a lot of StealthChangers in progress, and not a lot of finished parts. Which makes me hesitant to jump into the project.

[@MindsMouth]

I'm still using ten year old machines, upgraded to SKR mini main board and silent steppers and drivers. I Don't need high speed printing, I've changed hot ends and steppers, that's about it. Cheap machines aren't an issue, your skill level at operating them is the issue. I get alone along perfectly fine with decade old clone machines.

[@LTT.Official]

I got into the hobby with a decent-ish machine in the Ender 3 Neo v1. Pretty good for what I paid and it hasn't let me down yet, but I do still have to tinker sometimes, definitely getting to old for that so my next machine will be something more expensive like a Bambu labs P1. I do appreciate the ender though, learned a lot about how these things work.

[@rj7855]

Troubleshooting and fixing the issues with cheap 3d printers is not only fun but you learn from it.

[@jacobstevens6286]

My university has a bunch of Enders that I am in charge of servicing. They are constantly be broken or having issues. They are considering upgrading all the printers. Do you think Bambulabs is a good company for a makerspace setting? Or do you have other suggestions?

[@Sargento_Menta]

Absolutely, my first 3d printer was an elegoo 3 plus ( I’m quite relatively new to 3d printing ) almost when it launched, I can say that this 3d printer was a nightmare! Long story short ended up getting rid of it because of how bad it was an bought a p1s

[@Xenon0000000000001]

I've got an Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro and it was working great until I encountered the dreaded blob of death. That was actually fairly simple to sort out and clean up, but it seems to be stuck with the problem that caused the blob in the first place, which is it catches already printed layers. The initial layers go down fine, but as soon as it speeds up and starts doing in-fill, it'll catch something and that disturbance usually results in disaster. I've levelled the bed so many times, and made sure that Z-Hop is enabled, but it won't print anything successfully. I even swapped to a new nozzle in case that was causing problems. At this point I'm out of ideas, other than replacing the whole extruder.

[@tomtaylor135]

Check every extrusion. Make sure they are straight and the grooved channels are all the same. I got bad prints till I figured out a extrusion channel was bent a little and a groove expansion in it.

[@ww4102]

For me all the upgrades to this printer (neptune 2s) were very cheap: thick glass bed (glued to pei with thermal glue), silicone spacers, cheapo chinese bimetal heatbreak (works well with few adjustments), ikea lack enclosure. I had bltouch combined with some costum marlin firmware found on reddit and it was very frustrating, so I got rid of it. Maybe I'm too dumb for bl touch, old school manual leveling from time to time is good enough for me. Extruder was already made of metal so that is fine. For printing a few things a month this printer does the job, not worth investing in expensive parts for those ender clones since Bamboolab printers went affordable and very reliable.

[@AlexusMaximusDE]

So far I have bought 3 3D printers (Anycubic 4MAX Pro, Anycubic Mega Pro and Eryone ER20) and all of them got upgrades but they are all still pretty bad printers. I don't print every day because I really just want to use them as a tool for when I have some kind of project and it feels like every time I want to print something there is something I have to fix and I can never trust that the print comes out properly. So my 20-30 minute "let's quickly design and start printing a brace/spacer/enclosure" turns into a 4 hour troubleshooting session and it truly makes me dread using them.

[@brianholdridge1860]

I was about to give up on 3D printers. I would get 3 prints done and a part would break or the prints started to show something was out of adjustment. The Bambu printers showed me that a 3D printer could be a tool and not a tinkers hobby. I now have four Bambu Lab printers.