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by dwild
1824 days ago
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The Creality Ender 3 is probably the best entry-level 3D printer you can get. It does need a tiny bit of tinkering in some case, but it can print incredibly well, for a pretty low price. If you just want to print as well but without any risk, a Prusa i3 pre-assembled is the best bet, but it does cost 4x+ the price of an Ender 3. |
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I have to admit, that the CR-10S, and the Ender 3 is a lot of printer for the amount of money they sell them for - though, of course, you need to be prepared to fiddle with the printer more. But if you dial it in, and you gain experience, there aren't a lot of things you couldn't do.
I built my own Prusa, I think it's a fun experience, if you like building. My CR-10S came in two parts, I needed to screw them together... my MK3S came like a car after a crash test. But since put together, I haven't had to touch it, it operates like a wonder.
Of course a Prusa's price tag is much steeper compared to an Ender's. Prusa is an European product, the construction in my opinion is better, and they take a lot of care of the hardware and software. I don't want to go into nationalistic battles, but I was happy that I could buy a local product. Our Ender 3 didn't have a bootloader installed, so when we wanted to update the firmware to a more up-to-date Marlin, we had to take apart the machine, and flash a bootloader on the AVR, which is... troublesome for somebody who doesn't know about microcontroller flashing too much.
Regardless, I think for a beginner, the Ender has an extremely good value, and perfect to get into 3D printing, as it opens so many possibilities. I could print parts for the household, which I wouldn't ever find anywhere else. I've fixed multiple household appliances. The freedom that if I need something special, I can make it.