3D Printer Recommendations

Alright guys… I’ve got around 1800 to spend on a 3D printer and was looking into a lulzbot Mini 2 with enclosure and Ruby 3mm by 0.40mm nozzle… What’s your thoughts? I just need a printer that can print nylon and abs well without much mods…

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If you want a fool proof and bullet proof 3d printing experience, you can’t go wrong with Lulzbot.

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Thanks! Any nozzles or things I should get besides an enclosure and ruby nozzle?

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Not that I know of. You can get me a new bed, mine shattered after after 2 years. :grinning:

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Why spend so much? You can get very good 3d printer’s for relatively cheap these days. Also I heard rumors of luzbot going out of business so you may want to look into that.

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Because I want something that will last me a long time with minimal wear and ease of use… Any suggestions on 3d printers for printing nylon? @M.Hboards

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I have a jgaurora a5s. It’s build quality is really nice. I have never tried printing nylon on it but it has been very good to me in the past 6 months that I’ve owned it.

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@DEEIF If you want to build your own look into a VORON. I’m biased as I have one but its the greatest 3D printer I’ve ever used even better then my Prusa. It is a super high quality machine that has lasted me at least 2 years with minimal headaches.

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Printing nylon is just about learning to print nylon not so much about the printer itself. Basically if the nozzle can get hot enough (all metal) then you just need to print slowly and have the nylon very well dried before attempting to print with it. It will want to warp but a thin layer of PVA/white Elmer’s glue, spread with water (it is water soluble) across the whole glass bed. The nylon will stick insanely well to the PVA layer only issue then is dissolving the PVA and getting the part off the glass (harder than it probably sounds). Key is need to print slow and enclosure will help a ton.

I printed nylon with my super cheap kit printer from about 3 years ago that was made of acrylic and threaded rods and bolts (MK1 clone kit)

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I’ve got the same
Ender 3
direct drive all metal e3d hotend
Lack Table enclosure
filament dryer and drybox on top
dryboxes with heaters and desiccant under for filament storage
I print on mirrors using white glue
it can print almost any filament

just my opinion you really don’t need a huge print volume except for 1-100 prints
I don’t have the patience for 100 hour prints
never printed a benchy. my print makes usable stuff

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On the cheap side, Anyone using Anet A6 or A8?

Cubicon single plus

Cubicon-Single-Plus-White

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I run an A8. Wouldn’t recommend it.

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10 ender 3s

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I love my ender3

I started 3d printing with the wooden printrbot and could barley make it work on anything over 3 inches tall. Upgraded to a wanhao duplicator I3…that worked for about a year and everything slowly started dying, couldn’t keep the bed level for shit, motors started sagging.

Got the ender 3 on sale for about $160 and I am so glad I did. I upgraded the bed springs and I barely have to level it anymore. I check it with feeler guages every 2 weeks and its usually just 1/8 turn of the leveling screws.

I put a BL touch on it, but its not even a huge difference with or without it. Going to upgrade to a petfang parts cooler due to some bad supports and over hangs recently.

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CR10 (already +2yr old I guess) works perfectly, I just add support frame and change the buildtape :+1:

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I have got Bontech extruder clone. While there are a lot of people worshiping this extruder, i think its crap. MK3 had issues at the beginning and its still not as good. My opinion. The gears need to be lubricated and they dont work as good. I have titan extruders and they are good. Not perfect as the design is a bit rubbish with tension arm resting on motor shaft without bearing but it produces far better prints than bondtech. There are only two thing extruder must do: 1. be able to push plastic with force; 2. restrict filament path so it has nowhere else to go than down the tube to the hotend. I am talking about DD extruders. bowdens ar not my cup of tea. There printable extruders that are better than bondtech. Funny enough, cheap RobotDigg drive gear is producing more push force than any other fancy gears.

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If you’re brand new to 3D printing, buy something in the $200 range to learn the ropes on. Ended 3 comes to mind.
Taking advantage of 3D printing requires you to learn the machine, the slicing software and often CAD software as well. Printing cubes and figures is easy, small parts too. But Printing 32 hour prints like big enclosures with advanced materials is totally different.

If you’ve got a little extra money, the time and the knowledge base that you think you’ll definitely take off with it…
Get a corexy machine, something 24V and 32 bit. 3D printing technology just took a big-ish step forward and now 32 bit processing, WiFi connectivity, linear rails and quality clone hot ends have become the new standard. Corexy machines are substantially better than Cartesian machines and are much easier to enclose- which you’ll need for some materials.
Corexy kit machine that’s budget friendly and has great components

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I’m trying to decide between an ender 3 and a DIY Prusia I3 MK3S.

I print mainly Nylon and TPU these days…

Either I get a new printer…

or swap out my control board on my old Duplicator Plus.

Or both…

Ender 3 with direct drive conversion?