i got myself an ender 3 printer 3 years ago now, I never looked back, the amount of things I've designed and fixed/ improved around the house is crazy just, takes some time to know all the settings your importing also id recommend changing the fans on the ender 3 v2 to something like noctua fans, the sound is surprisingly silent, there's plenty of videos on the subject
Welcome barry. Have you tried anything like a direct drive prints and flexible materials. TPU and other flexibles can have some incredible uses. I've printed bushings for the 6 speed MT shifter in my car in which replacements don't exist. I think there is a decent market for 3D printing parts which either don't exist yet or replacement parts that are impossible to get. Im working on a Steam deck backplate right now that adds a raised bulge in which you can install a full size 2280 M.2 ssd instead of a puny 2230, ill release it for open source once its finished.
I have a Biqu B1. While it was quite a pain getting it set up and upgrading the firmware (there's 2 different versions of the screen firmware depending on which one of two manufacturers it's from which you can only find out by opening it) was a pain. But once I got it running I haven't really had to touch anything. I do highly recommend using a glue stick to ensure bed adhesion, though. Haven't had a single print let go of the build plate while printing, even quite narrow and tall parts.
The toxic fumes produced by 3D printing heavily depend on which material youre printing. If you just stick to low temperature filaments like PLA, you'll be fine. If you print high temperature plastics like ABS or Nylon, you seriously need to consider ventilation
if you still see this comment, the only popular one that can be toxic when printing is ABS, and even that isn't gonna kill you when sleeping. PLA ,PETG, PET, TPU, the popular ones are all safe. the other thing you said, I don't understand what you mean when you said about micro plastics, if you warred about just throwing plastic away, that a far point. But if you think plastic just go up into the air that isn't how it works. when it melted it doesn't just suddenly start turning into gas.
I just started with an Ender 3 Pro last year after my brother suddenly wanted one to try and print something. So far he's only printed 2-3 things while I spent months in our basement trying out prints and setting up Octoprint, BLTouch, Timelapses, Calibrations, etc. And just like yours the printer is pretty much mine now (though my brother disagrees). I didn't realize how useful it'll be and my family pretty much accepted that we're able to create pretty much any shape we want overnight. (If the printer accepts the model, I'm still new to 3D modelling) TBH there are times when I cursed this damn thing, but in the end I patience always prevailed and I've managed to solve almost every problem I ran into.
As someone who has multiple 3D printers, whenever anyone asks me "Hey should I get 1?" I ask them 2 questions. "Are you going to use it frequently enough to save money?" "Are you willing to be up at 4am because a print failed and you have to find out why?" 3D printers are very much still in the Industry and hobbiest stage, and many people throw their printers away or sell them on Ebay because they think they're plug and play. They're not. I love my Ender 3 Pro, My Mini Delta, ect. But I would be lying if they didn't make me wanna pull my hair out sometimes.
If they say yes, then I suggest the Prusa series if they have the budget or the Ender series, because to me, their community support makes them worth the little bit extra over other i3 clones. Can you can you get printers cheaper? Yeah. But are you willing to deal with way less support WHEN, not if, WHEN something breaks?
I've been on the fence about 3d printing but hearing its something that you have to tinker with may be the thing to push me to get one I love tinkering with tech, I dual booted linux for awhile, not because I even considered making it my daily driver but just to have something to mess around with, I ended up breaking my install but to me that's a pro because I enjoyed fixing it Recently I bought a PS3 controller for the sole purpose of reinstalling my PS3s firmware just so I could mess around with my jailbreak I did to it, it's safe to say I enjoy fixing things, I mean my end goal is running my own electronics repair shop (waiting to see if right to repair laws start to go anywhere before I truly act on that)
I prefer printables to thingiverse. And Enders are horrible, just next to garbage. If you want cheap, get a Sovol, if you want something good, pay for it
I agree with the first point. I still like Thingieverse but god forbid you refresh the site because you are back on page 1 if you do. But calling Enders horrible is just not true. I have my V2 for about 6 months now and I never had a single (major) problem with it.
@@FizzyLean Then I think you got a golden nugget! I have heard others too running Enders for months on end without issues, but theyre rare. Still I think it's a matter of perspective. Someone who mainly drives Toyota may think that is just fine, when I think we can agree that Toyota doesn't make the best cars, though it will definately get you there :)
Love to see you printing, barry. I bought my first 3d printer, a Rat Rig V-Minion. Set me back $700 (which I paid for with some of that money from the AMD internship I mentioned in a comment around a year ago) and its been an amazingly useful thing to have. I'm on a college robotics team and the amount of stuff we 3d print (a lot of which I myself printed) is kinda ridiculous. By the way, if you're just printing PLA you dont have to worry about microplastics or toxins since its biodegradable, and if you print PETG thats non-toxic, but it can create microplastics. Just dont try printint ABS or ASA on that unenclosed 3d printer. Since you have an Ender 3 V2, you could look into upgrading it to a Voron Switchwire. If you choose to do that, just make sure you're ready for the upgrade before you start or youll need access to another printer.
Just fyi, although pla is biodegradable on paper, in reality it is only consumed by a enzyme that is nearly non-existant in nature. Also, you can print ASA on unenclosed printers, as long as you avoid drafts and have a hot enough bed and the parts aren't too large.
V-Minion is my second printer, Ender 3 Pro was my first. V-Minion is great. Quality build, although I did have a couple of overnight prints fail because the cantilever got loose. But it's printing now as I type this :D
