I’m a 3D printing wanna-be, not even an amateur. Have seen a few printers, helped assemble one long time ago, played with the software a little, though I have never actually printed anything myself yet. I decided to spend some saved money on a printer for myself.

My goals are getting hands-on experience with printing and being able to use it as a tool in projects/everyday life. I’m considering an FFF one rather than SLA one, mostly due to the toxicity of resin (and costs). Printing speed is unimportant. Print quality matters, but only to some satisfactory degree and it’s not paramount. I imagine I might buy another one in a few years, so I don’t need a printer for life, but it needs to serve sufficiently for this period. I’m open to the possibility of repairing/upgrading it, if it can be done reliably by an amateur.

I’m strongly considering Prusa MINI+, but it’s not a final decision and I’ll be happy to hear your feedback. I’m posting this here in hopes that if I’m making a mistake, people more competent than me will stop me. If there’s anything else you think I should know, I’ll be happy to hear it.

  • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Get a Prusa but maybe not the mini unless you can’t expand your budget or very tight on space. Some of the big limitations of 3D printing is size and speed. You claim to not care about speed, but trust me, you will. In terms of size, a smaller print volume really limits what can be printed. Some will claim that it’s no big deal because you can glue pieces together and that is partially accurate, but at some point you’re just going to want to print something in one piece and not have to endlessly assemble it from many small pieces. If you have the space and budget get the larger Prusa model.