3d Printer recommendations

[Brendan2904]

I’m looking at getting a new printer. Currently I have the anycubic Kobra 2 neo which has been really good for the last year or so. I really like anycubic but I’m looking for suggestions on a nice multicolor printer that won’t cost me a fortune.

What printers are used here? What are your pros and cons?

[GoMachV]

For me, I like my Bambu X1C's. They have ran flawlessly for me. GreenBaron is getting great prints off his Qidi Plus4 as well but I dont think they have released their multi material system yet. Prusa are also very solid choices, more expensive but a long history of quality. Those are the 3 I would recommend.

[HS-YZ250]

I have a Prusa Mk2S and a Creality Ender 5 Plus.

The Prusa was used and is a very old version (they're up to Mk4 and CoreOne, now), but has still been a workhorse. It only recently suffered an issue that I'm considering replacing with a newer Prusa. They're reliable, work well, open source, often upgradeable to the next release, but pricey. I regularly see a lot of used ones coming out of small printer farms as they upgrade.

The Creality is big for the price, and that's about it. It's temperamental, doesn't print the best, and the first layer over a wide area is never great. Really needs to be upgraded out of the box and even then you still have to fiddle with it. First week the SD card slot fried from static, so it was mandatory to run off octoprint. Not sure about the latest Creality offerings, but if I had money to burn I'd replace it with a Prusa XL.

At work I use a couple of old Ultimakers that have been pretty solid. They now make printers aimed at industrial settings so they're priced out of reach of the average person. But if you're industrious, used to be you could build a clone of a UM2+ Extended.

[silvertriple]

I have two bambu lab, one X1C (around 1600 hours of prints) and one A1 Mini (around 250 hours or prints). Both are working flawlessly. I could not say the same for my Ender 5 plus, which was more often in maintenance than printing.
Basically, with the Bambu labs printer, when I fail a print, it's of my fault (and it is quite rare).
That being said, if you are looking for a capable printer, reliable, efficient, and not too much expensive, you should look into the P1S + hardened nozzle and hardened extruder.

[GoMachV]

I still have my old ender 5 plus also, haven't used it for probably 6 months. When you boil it down, even with every part of it modified it's just old tech. I hear the new creality machines are capable, but I'd have a hard time going back to them knowing they basically made the printers themselves a hobby for me. Every since the Bambu I just print. I don't find myself wanting to print gadgets and upgrades for the printer like I did with creality

[Brendan2904]

I was looking at the Bambu P1S. It’s kind of a little more than I was expecting but it looks like it gets good reviews. I’m also looking at the anycubic Kobra S1 too.

I really am just a hobbyist. I print stuff for my RC’s, Trains, and my Reloading Presses. Over 1k is definitely not an option right now.

[GoMachV]

The p1s is great. I bought mine to use for advanced materials and ease of use but the p1s does all you need and more. It's capable of high temp materials and it's as simple to use as the others. Just need to buy a couple parts if you want to print abrasives. The screen is also less useful but I find myself barely ever using the screen on mine. It's a solid machine for sure and you can still add one or up to four ams to get more colors. I have 4 ams on one of mine and 2 ams on the other.

[Elkcycles]

Another vote for the Prusa MK4/S. I have 4 that I use at work with students, dead reliable. I built them from kit form, which was time-consuming, but brought the price down. They have run nonstop for 10 months at a time over the past two years. I will buy 4 more next year (or possibly the new Core model).

I also have a Bambu X1C with AMS. I use it 2-3 times per week with students. It is a solid machine, but I really don't care for the closed ecosystem and Bambu's now forced updates (I print from micro SD exclusively). If you are OK with adhering to their ecosystem, they print very well. The AMS system has required some tinkering to fit spools other than Bambu proprietary or respools.

[Frankentruck]

My Ultimaker 2+ has been great for the past 7 years. It's single color printing, but most of my prints only need single color.

[morrisey0]

Just to throw it out there. I have multi-colored on my X1C only a couple of times, and found it to me more a pain than it is worth. It is super slow, and wastes so much material! I could have just painted the portions I needed a different color, and it would have been much less of a hassle! Jus sayin..............

[Dadio]

I've been very happy with my Bambu labs P1p and AMS but I'm seeing good reviews from the Creality K series printers these days , we just got a K2 plus at work but I've not had time to play with it yet .

[HS-YZ250]

I was looking at the Bambu P1S. It’s kind of a little more than I was expecting but it looks like it gets good reviews. I’m also looking at the anycubic Kobra S1 too.

I really am just a hobbyist. I print stuff for my RC’s, Trains, and my Reloading Presses. Over 1k is definitely not an option right now.

3D printers are going to be a bit of a trade off in cost vs effort depending on how much of a 3D printing expert you can tolerate becoming. Personally, I spend all my time modeling a part and don't want to tune and tweak endlessly, so a pricier printer makes sense. You can definitely get some super cheap 3Dprinters, but those you're going to have to work with them to get decent results. The pricey ones have worked out a lot of those bugs for you. The market is advancing very rapidly away from it's origin as an oddity for the hobbyist/tinkerer to a consumer friendly product, so costs are going to rise as features are added.

A Prusa MK3S+ is a decent bridge between refined old-style hobbyist and the newer self-correcting printers. You can find them for about $400-$500 USED, sometimes less if you can wait a bit and watch ebay. I was just about to grab one when someone cleaned out the seller. If you have a friend with a printer, I think you can print out most of the plastic and pretty easily build a clone that will work just as well.