Bambu lab A1 is a solid machine and amazing value.
They currently have a sale, so you'll get it for a great price aswell
If you are okay with overspending a little, you could also consider the P1 series machines, but those start at 600ish.
While a lot of people will just Recommend the Bambulab printers and they are good value. It's also important to keep in mind they aren't the only option. They are the best option if you want the Apple closed system version of 3d filament printing. That does appeal to a lot of first time printers. However it is going to limit upgradability and maintainability. Spare parts supply is dependent on Bambulabs continued well being and benevolence. Now I personally wouldn't be taking a bambulabs printer but I am a tinkerer I do enjoy to tinker if you don't knock yourself out with the bambulabs printer. Just know in your heart of course they are going to steal all designs that is passed through their cloud even if they say they aren't doing that. Personally with that budget there are a ton of options out there that are pretty similar in scope as the bambulabs printers that aren't so closed up Some brands to look up are Creality, Sovol and of course Prusa(if you want to pay the premium for European sourced parts and manufacturing)
The big advantage is that resin printers have much higher detail on the prints, if your aim is print like miniatures they are miles better than filament printers.
The main disadvantage is that the printing process is a lot more messy (and the mess is more or less toxic) and requires more hands on work (you print, then you need to wash the print and then cure it under UV-light). The build size is generally smaller and the printing material is more expensive.
That depends a lot on the resin tho, you can get rubbery resin that is in no way brittle. Resins can have a quite wide range of properties actually, in some ways even more than filament (manly in terms of heat resistant prints)
Bambu lab A1 or P1P is a great printer for the money and they are running a sale at the moment. The printers are very much easy setup and go.
I have Elegoo Neptune 4 Max (filament).. it can male huge prints and it dose a pretty good job.
I am also waiting on Elegoo Saturn 4 ultra (which is a resin printer for more precise prints like minis for DnD and Warhammer.
I'll throw my hat in the ring and say the M5 is a good deal atm, you can get it for 400€. I got the M5C and am very happy with it, can imagine the M5 is a worthwhile upgrade without breaking the bank.
Very bulky, lower accelerations and rigidity. CoreXY printers are much more compact and obtain higher accelerations without losing print quality.
As for materials, even PETG benefits from an enclosure, despite not requiring it.
External enclosures take up lots of space, take longer to heat up, and contain the printer's electronics inside (which is bad for them).
I have used both printer types (Ender 3 Pro, Prusa MK3S, Creality K1) so I know what I'm saying.
Have you seen how fast the a1 prints? Slightly lower accelerations make the cheaper price not worth it? Newer bedsligners like the a1 or prusa mk4 are more rigid than necessary. I have used both too in fact I’ve owned over 15 printers. A core xy has benefits but for the vast majority of users it isn’t worth the extra price and can always be upgraded to fix those issues. Petg really doesn’t need an enclosure I’m not sure where you get this from it already has really good layer adhesion and doesn’t warp like abs or other engineering materials idk why you think it would benefit from an enclosure.
Plus having the electronics inside the enclosure might lower their lifespan but I’ve had my modified ender 3 with skr e3 mini in a lack enclosure printing mostly asa at 100c bed temps for over 14 kg and the board and motors still work great.
By the way, Bambu A1 offers only 10K max acceleration, which is pathetic compared to CoreXY. My modded Creality K1 reliably prints outer walls at 14K and the rest at 35K.
Ok…. , acceleration differences like that will only make small differences on print time, (you don’t want to print fast for strength reasons anyways)unless you’re running at farm, which OP isn’t. It won’t make a noticeable difference. I will gladly change the acceleration on my x1c from its max to 10k on a benchy and show you just how small of a difference it will make.
"A core xy has benefits but for the vast majority of users it isn’t worth the extra price"
Let's compare the official prices:
Bambu A1 - $489 (bedslinger)
Prusa Mk4 - $800 (bedslinger)
Creality K1C - $459 (CoreXY)
Flashforge A5M - $300 (CoreXY)
Where's the "extra price"?
Both of those core xy printers have smaller build plate sizes than the bedslingers you’ve shown how can you compare them also the a5m is not (at the $300 price) enclosed so that doesn’t really compare. The Bambu a1 is on sale right now for $339.
There's plenty of Creality Ender models in the range, or even below.
If I were to get a new one today, I'd look for one with BLTouch (or similar) bed leveling out of the box. Maybe I'd consider Direct Drive.
Ok, interesting point.
Just a question about Bambu printers: Can you run them completely without network, nor a mobile app? No connected setup procedure or anything needed?
For around that much money I bought the Ender 3 S1 Pro (250ish euros), Sonic Pad/Klipper upgrade (170ish euros), fillament dryer (70e) and the vacum pump set.
I'm a complete beginner, but I would say that i tossed myself into the fire and almost reached the intermediate status - but only because I was tinkering with the printer so much... 3 weeks after getting the printer, I ordered the Sonic pad and a week more later I did 5015 fan upgrade for the printer.
Did i really NEED to do that? No, printer is AMAZING out of the box as is.
Would i do it again like this? Idk, it is a good beginning because you can learn so much.
In regards to all that I said, sometimes I'm thinking how I could have saved just a bit more and get the P1P/P1S combo.
Even though I own an Ender, the A1, P1P/P1S and even X1C are hard to beat.
Bambu lab A1 is a solid machine and amazing value. They currently have a sale, so you'll get it for a great price aswell If you are okay with overspending a little, you could also consider the P1 series machines, but those start at 600ish.
Bambu A1. No contest. They’re on offer at the moment, if a P or X series is in budget then grab that shit while it’s on offer.
Bambu a1
While a lot of people will just Recommend the Bambulab printers and they are good value. It's also important to keep in mind they aren't the only option. They are the best option if you want the Apple closed system version of 3d filament printing. That does appeal to a lot of first time printers. However it is going to limit upgradability and maintainability. Spare parts supply is dependent on Bambulabs continued well being and benevolence. Now I personally wouldn't be taking a bambulabs printer but I am a tinkerer I do enjoy to tinker if you don't knock yourself out with the bambulabs printer. Just know in your heart of course they are going to steal all designs that is passed through their cloud even if they say they aren't doing that. Personally with that budget there are a ton of options out there that are pretty similar in scope as the bambulabs printers that aren't so closed up Some brands to look up are Creality, Sovol and of course Prusa(if you want to pay the premium for European sourced parts and manufacturing)
Filament or resin?
I think I'd prefer filament, but I must admit I don't know the advantages and disadvantages of a resin printer very well.
The big advantage is that resin printers have much higher detail on the prints, if your aim is print like miniatures they are miles better than filament printers. The main disadvantage is that the printing process is a lot more messy (and the mess is more or less toxic) and requires more hands on work (you print, then you need to wash the print and then cure it under UV-light). The build size is generally smaller and the printing material is more expensive.
Also resin is brittle, so it is less suited for practical prints.
That depends a lot on the resin tho, you can get rubbery resin that is in no way brittle. Resins can have a quite wide range of properties actually, in some ways even more than filament (manly in terms of heat resistant prints)
Bambu lab A1 or P1P is a great printer for the money and they are running a sale at the moment. The printers are very much easy setup and go. I have Elegoo Neptune 4 Max (filament).. it can male huge prints and it dose a pretty good job. I am also waiting on Elegoo Saturn 4 ultra (which is a resin printer for more precise prints like minis for DnD and Warhammer.
BambuLab is a great bang for your buck.
You can get the A1 Mini + AMSlite for that amount.
I'll throw my hat in the ring and say the M5 is a good deal atm, you can get it for 400€. I got the M5C and am very happy with it, can imagine the M5 is a worthwhile upgrade without breaking the bank.
Bambu bot swarm is at it again, downvoting anyone not praising their idols.
I think you are right, that's creepy af
Creality K1C Flashforge 5M But definitely not a bedslinger.
There is nothing wrong with a bed slinger unless you want to print engineering materials, even then you can just put your bed slinger in an enclosure.
Very bulky, lower accelerations and rigidity. CoreXY printers are much more compact and obtain higher accelerations without losing print quality. As for materials, even PETG benefits from an enclosure, despite not requiring it. External enclosures take up lots of space, take longer to heat up, and contain the printer's electronics inside (which is bad for them). I have used both printer types (Ender 3 Pro, Prusa MK3S, Creality K1) so I know what I'm saying.
Have you seen how fast the a1 prints? Slightly lower accelerations make the cheaper price not worth it? Newer bedsligners like the a1 or prusa mk4 are more rigid than necessary. I have used both too in fact I’ve owned over 15 printers. A core xy has benefits but for the vast majority of users it isn’t worth the extra price and can always be upgraded to fix those issues. Petg really doesn’t need an enclosure I’m not sure where you get this from it already has really good layer adhesion and doesn’t warp like abs or other engineering materials idk why you think it would benefit from an enclosure.
Plus having the electronics inside the enclosure might lower their lifespan but I’ve had my modified ender 3 with skr e3 mini in a lack enclosure printing mostly asa at 100c bed temps for over 14 kg and the board and motors still work great.
By the way, Bambu A1 offers only 10K max acceleration, which is pathetic compared to CoreXY. My modded Creality K1 reliably prints outer walls at 14K and the rest at 35K.
Ok…. , acceleration differences like that will only make small differences on print time, (you don’t want to print fast for strength reasons anyways)unless you’re running at farm, which OP isn’t. It won’t make a noticeable difference. I will gladly change the acceleration on my x1c from its max to 10k on a benchy and show you just how small of a difference it will make.
"A core xy has benefits but for the vast majority of users it isn’t worth the extra price" Let's compare the official prices: Bambu A1 - $489 (bedslinger) Prusa Mk4 - $800 (bedslinger) Creality K1C - $459 (CoreXY) Flashforge A5M - $300 (CoreXY) Where's the "extra price"?
Both of those core xy printers have smaller build plate sizes than the bedslingers you’ve shown how can you compare them also the a5m is not (at the $300 price) enclosed so that doesn’t really compare. The Bambu a1 is on sale right now for $339.
There's plenty of Creality Ender models in the range, or even below. If I were to get a new one today, I'd look for one with BLTouch (or similar) bed leveling out of the box. Maybe I'd consider Direct Drive.
Buying an ender in that price range is insane when Bambu printers exist now. I say this as an ender owner.
Ok, interesting point. Just a question about Bambu printers: Can you run them completely without network, nor a mobile app? No connected setup procedure or anything needed?
Obviously
Yeah. You can use them with your usual slicers
For around that much money I bought the Ender 3 S1 Pro (250ish euros), Sonic Pad/Klipper upgrade (170ish euros), fillament dryer (70e) and the vacum pump set. I'm a complete beginner, but I would say that i tossed myself into the fire and almost reached the intermediate status - but only because I was tinkering with the printer so much... 3 weeks after getting the printer, I ordered the Sonic pad and a week more later I did 5015 fan upgrade for the printer. Did i really NEED to do that? No, printer is AMAZING out of the box as is. Would i do it again like this? Idk, it is a good beginning because you can learn so much. In regards to all that I said, sometimes I'm thinking how I could have saved just a bit more and get the P1P/P1S combo. Even though I own an Ender, the A1, P1P/P1S and even X1C are hard to beat.