The best 3D printer for beginners and budget creators in 2020
Maker culture is thriving and growing, thanks in large part to YouTube’s extensive library of instructional videos that teach you how to do almost anything under the sun. 3D printing is an ever-increasing area where people discover how groundbreaking they have become. Imagine the possibilities of being able to print both fun and functional objects directly at home.
3d printing, like virtual reality, is one of these technologies that come closer and closer to the mainstream every year. We have seen the 3D printing concept on TV and in films for years (what do you think a Star Trek Replicator does that?), and printing with a 3D printer at home finally grows beyond a wild exotic Hobby for a small enthusiastic audience.
In 2018, I started playing around with 3D printing, which is less known than additive manufacturing, mainly to satisfy my curiosity, with an unexpected result. I am now totally addicted to 3D printing. Since then, I’ve doubled and dealt with 3D scanning and even laser cutting, which you can use to shape real wood and leather designs.
These creative tools, with prices ranging from under $ 300 to over $ 3,000, are great gifts for a creative person in your life – or even better – great for creating your own personalized creations. After researching and testing many low and medium price devices, from monoprice gravure printers to high-pressure resin printers that produce really professional print quality for prototyping, my recommendations for each price range are listed below.
Keep in mind that every 3D print needs to be smoothed out a bit and filed with a hobby file to look optimal (you can also prime and paint every print, fill gaps with filler, etc.) – but the example below for Abe Lincoln busts are straight from the print bed, with no rework after printing.
A printer that I have not yet tested, but about which I hear a lot of good feedback, is the Creality Ender 3, which currently costs an affordable $ 230 and has a large community of dedicated fans. Just note that some manual assembly and adjustments are required.
Information about printing and starting 3D printing, including high-quality printing materials (e.g. polylactic acid versus ABS plastic), and 3D printing technology and software; See my latest tips and advice for 3D printing.
3D printer
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Despite the low price, this is a damn high-quality 3D printer with full functionality and a popular, affordable first step to testing the waters of the 3D printer. Monoprice also sells a slightly cheaper, affordable entry-level design called The Mini Delta (and the Monoprice Maker, which offers more volume), but this is superior print quality in almost every way – and it’s often sold for $ 199 or even less.
But it’s also much more difficult to set up and use than some of the more expensive 3D printing models. One of the disadvantages is that the printing surface is exposed, making your printing more sensitive to the elements (or cats or children). Many adjustments, calibrations and bug fixes were required to achieve good print quality. Despite the beginner’s price, it’s not as beginner-friendly to print as I would like it to be. That said, it comes with a pre-installed SD card, and we ended up printing a lot of nice prints of it. It is the best cheap 3D printer.
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Best plug-and-play 3D printer
Flashforge Adventurer 3 / Monoprice Voxel
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This is my preferred printer to balance price, usability and print quality. Flashforge is the manufacturer and sells this as Adventurer 3, while the Monoprice Voxel version is the same hardware that is sold under a different name (“Adventurer 3” is even shown on the voxel screen when you turn it on). It’s not the fanciest 3D print, but it does have a fully enclosed print area, a touchscreen interface, and a flexible heated print bed that allows you to effortlessly create high-quality prints.
The most important thing about this pair of printers (and I tested both versions to determine the best 3D printer for plug and play) is that the setup was easy and I got in in less than 30 minutes after opening the 3D printer Operation was a box and collecting material. I’ve found that this 3D printer’s Wi-Fi connection can be difficult at times, but there is at least one USB port directly on the front that allows you to import your files to the device via a USB stick. My other complaint concerns the filament – the included filament housing only holds 0.5 kg half-size filament rolls, not the more common 1 kg filament rolls.
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The Inventor II is a further development of the quality printing from Adventurer / Voxel, although this 3D printer has approximately the same size and almost the same construction volume. The larger color touchscreen represents a huge improvement in printing technology and makes it much easier to enter Wi-Fi passwords before printing. The closed space automatically stops 3D printing when someone opens the door, and the removable heated print bed is strong and has a clever, flexible surface that magnetically peels off.
The manufacturing speed was slightly faster than the adventurer’s, with more calibration and fine-tuning options for 3D printing, making it the best 3D printer for protecting printing. Despite the faster 3D printing speed, there is also a tap, a closed filament housing that is only suitable for smaller 0.5 kg filament spools that are less economical and harder to find than other filament spools. In our Abe Lincoln test, the cleanest and most detailed print quality of the filament printer was printed with a resolution of 50 to 400 micrometers.
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No matter how fine, 3D printing is still just a plastic design that is layered drop by drop during printing. That means layer lines when printing, surface defects and an appearance that is not as clean as professionally shaped plastic. Resin printers are the next step in rapid prototyping technology if you want your print to look as high as anything that is assembled in a factory. Instead of printing your object in 3D with a hot nozzle at high temperatures and separating plastic filaments, resin printers with UV light cure liquid resin, one wafer-thin layer at a time, on a reversed print bed that slowly rises from a vat with semi-toxic slime.
Yes, it is as uncomfortable to print as it sounds. The resin smells bad and requires rubber gloves (and a well-ventilated room for printing). You will also need isopropyl alcohol to wash the print after it comes out and a UV lamp to complete the curing process. It’s a lot of work and chaos. But the printed model we got from Anycubic Photon was just amazing and the best 3D printer for sharp details. (The resolution is 25-100 microns.) Cured resin feels almost like glass and contains high quality design details. The print quality of the printing process is amazing – just be prepared for what you are getting into with 3D printing.
Associated accessories
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Recreate pretty much everything by putting it on this 3D scanner, where a rotating base and camera make a 360-degree copy that can then be edited in any 3D program and printed on your 3D printer . It’s $ 599, which is a high price to print, but the accuracy is impressive, the platter rotates automatically, and even the color accuracy of your print will be just right.
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Glowforge laser cutters can form projects from wood, leather, lucite and other materials and are therefore an interesting printing alternative to 3D printers based on filaments. Prices range from $ 2,500 to $ 6,000 for different models, but all cut different types of wood, leather, or lucite.
Most of the projects I’ve tried use thin 1/8 inch wood panels (3 mm), although thicker 1/4 inch woodworks. The most impressive thing about the Glowforge is how quickly it can be printed. Instead, what would take hours for an FDM 3D printer only takes a few minutes.
