I’m shopping for my first printer, I don’t have any experience with 3d printing but I’m vaguely familiar with the whole process and I understand there will be a learning curve and I’m looking forward to that part.
I’m leaning towards the Creality S1 Pro because I remember the huge hub-bub about the Ender 3 when it first came out and it seems like everyone and their brother suggests it as a good first printer but then when I read reviews it seems kinda janky and I’m an adult with a job so I don’t mind fussing a little but I don’t want to fuss a lot.
I picked the S1 Pro because I think it has an auto-leveling print surface and the name recognition from the previously mentioned Ender 3, but when I try to research other printers I’m completely overwhelmed by the options.
I was in the same boat a few years ago. I ended up paying the premium and got a prusa mini. I don’t regret it at all, the thing prints and prints and prints. The few times my prints failed were just because I was getting a little crazy with the settings.
A relative of mine was also looking to get a printer and I helped with the research. He ended up settling on an elegoo and so far has had a great experience with it.
Creality printers generally have the reputation of a tinkerer’s printer, so if you don’t want to spend a lot of time meticulously dialing in your print settings I would probably steer away from them.
Yeah, it’s pretty overwhelming when you’re first starting out. Aside from budget constraints and the type of printing material used, you need to ask yourself, do I want to tinker with the hardware AND have the time to do so. That will steer you in the right direction.
Personally, I don’t, which is why I bought a Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro several months ago. It’s very similar to the S1 Pro in many ways. I’d recommend taking a look at that one since it’s been well reviewed and also has been working like a champ for me. It’s not perfect, but it’s got the best bang for your budget, especially when first starting out, and it works right out of the box.
Creality’s been a popular brand for years due to the low price point of their printers and its modding community. However, their base printers use cheaper parts, plus their QA isn’t always that great, so I would hesitate recommending them for your first printer.
Overall, nearly anything from Prusa will print with beautiful results, and if you run into a snag, they’ve got robust support to back you up, justifying why they’re more expensive than other printers.
Other companies like Bambu Labs and Flashforge make easy to use 3d printers, with the former getting a lot of deserved hype for how fast their models can print. While they both offer great products, keep in mind that they use closed source designs and require you to buy replacement parts from them, which can hurt you in the long term if something’s discontinued and/or if the company folds. If all that doesn’t jive with you, look elsewhere.
TL;DR: Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro over the S1 Pro since Creality can ship lemons; Prusa = quality + support + $$$; closed sourced printers offer simplicity now with potential drawbacks later.
My advice is to buy based on the availability of replacement parts. A red flag to me is a brand where there are no third party nozzles or hot end components. Because inevitably something is going to go wrong and you’re gonna have to fix something. Some printers make it really hard to get at the hot end components which will make it really intimidating to troubleshoot for the first time.
What is a good example of a brand that has parts vs one that doesn’t?
I’m a fan of the aftermarket parts offered by micro swiss (store.micro-swiss.com) so I check there before taking a printer seriously. Hope that helps!
I have an S1 Pro and I hate it. Creality support is terrible and I’ve constantly had issues.
Replaced multiple parts and cables. When I can tolerate it, I’m going to try a TH3D mainboard in it and see if that gets it anywhere near reliable.
My next printer will probably be an Elegoo on the cheap end or a Prusa if I can afford it.
Keep in mind that you are buying into a hobby, not buying a tool.
Depends on your budget and how deep you want to dive.
I bought Ender 3v2 as my first 3D printer, and it traumatised me to the point I’ve not printed anything in a year. 3D printing has it’s learning curves, but Creality gives you no ropes here. Which is great and ultra frustrating at the same time. You will learn a lot about 3D printing, even stuff that you don’t really need. But it will take you a long time and loads of sweat and tears for your first successful 3D print (unless you are lucky and your printer will be good to go from the box).
This makes me feel so much better. I had the same start as you and was pulling my hair out a bit. I knew there would be some learning curves but not this hard. I just felt like a moron for a bit. Some things would be fine then the next print would be spaghetti for no reason. Don’t even get me started on the 4 contact points for balance/ leveling.
Don’t even get me started on the 4 contact points for balance/ leveling.
One feature I definitely want is auto-leveling. I hope it softens the learning curve at least a little bit.
I mean it wouldn’t even be so hard if they just put a small level bubble and just 3 points of contact so you don’t have to worry about the center being convex or concave
This is one thing that just boggles my mind about 3d printers.
How the fuck has no printer maker figured out that four points don’t always make a flat surface? This shits like one of the most basic concepts of mechanical engineering, and yet it appears to be completely absent from 3d printing. Apparently no one in the industry has ever heard even of it.
Hi! I was just going through the same dilemma, so you might find comments under my post helpful. Be warned though, as you lean towards S1 Pro, I was also biased, albeit towards Prusa MINI+.
Depends how hands on or off you want it to be. I wanted complete ownership so I went with an open source one and did Klipper and other mods and after all that its maintenance free but certainly not a short road. Know it inside out though so no relying on anyone else to fix it which was important to me.
If you want good support and relatively hands off Id do Prusa or Bambu
If you are looking for minimal fussing about, get a prusa or a bambu. You will spend more money that route though, and the bambu is a closed system so you buy official parts from bambu when something breaks. Personally I am a fan of sovol and elegoo printers over reality, if you are looking for a bed slinger design. (creality is the name everyone recognizes so they have market share, but really they aren’t making anything better than (or in many cases even as-good as) anyone else.)
I’m also a big fan of flsun deltas, but don’t think I’d go for the v400… Super racer is a great machine and the q5 is a fantastic starter printer and cheap to start, if a bit limited in build area. But if I had the money to spend on a v400 I’d likely buy a bambu (or build a rat rig or voron, actually) instead.
what makes a sovol or elegoo better than creality? I just get so overwhelmed because they all look pretty much the same and seem to be priced the same too
I have only one printer and it is a sovol sv06 so I can’t compare it to any creality printers, but it has been great. My understanding is that the sv06 is a clone of a prusa printer. I have had extremely minimal tinkering with mine (other than lubricating bearings once) and I have been printing most days for the past month. I’m sure the prusa has better QC and better customer support but the sovol was less than half the price
The more research I do that more I like the sv06.
Generally better features out of the box, and generally better build quality and QC. Basically the only thing Creality has going for them is name recognition among people outside the hobby, which means they end up being a LOT of people’s first printer.
Can anyone comment on integration with Home Assistant, for whatever printer you’re recommending?
While I haven’t yet done homework on printing, I did like that Home Assistant has an OctoPrint integration so you can see or notify on printer status. It looks like the Prusa models, at least, are proprietary
There is a PrusaLink integration for Home Assistant, I’m using it.
Most 3D printers really don’t draw a lot of power, but be aware that smart plugs are usually limited to 15 A. Some might be just 10 A. If you are thinking about using a smart plug to control your printer (and be sure it’s off) just look at the rating of the power supply of the printer ahead of time.
Pulling a full 15A is liable to trip a circuit breaker anyways, it’s extremely rare to need that kind of power from a single outlet. The outlets I use can handle up to 1200W, but the Prusa Mk4 has a 240W power supply, so there’s plenty of power to spare. I don’t imagine even a Bambu would be pulling a full 1200W.
The product I’m using: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SQGG8Z7/
Thanks for this question: I’m also looking at starting this as a new hobby, and I’m also an adult who would prefer to pay a little more to avoid constant fussing. I haven’t gone very far into looking into it though, except goi g to my local shop and saying “cool! But I wonder what’s different about different machines”
If you look how cheap creality printers are, they are amazing. I never owned one, but I like S1 Pro much more than ender 3. It has all metal hotend, direct drive extruder, cr touch, filament sensor, magnetic pei sheet so actually it has what most people buy for cheap machines. Even tho they both are cheap, I dislike wheels instead of proper rods or rails, 4 point bed leveling and bed slinger design. Ive seen loads of perfect prints coming from ender, but Im sure you need some luck and loads of skill and patience for that. If you are prepared to recieve faulty parts and fix whats broken you can enjoy this hoby with creality. Dont expect much support from creality, but there is loads of people that can help on lemmy im sure. I heared good about sovol sv06 (prusa clone) so check that out, its same price range.
Better one but much more expensive is prusa, same kind of machine but better support and build quality.
Other than that most people recommend bamboolab p1p but thats not open source and also more expensive.
Whatever you buy have fun
Dont expect much support from creality,
I’ve been running Fedora Core on my laptops for years and my cell service is tracfone…support is for the weak :P
Consider getting a job at creality support center, exactly what they are looking for hehe
I have the S1 (non pro version). I purchased it around a month ago and have been loving it! Sure, it requires a little bit of tinkering, but ultimately if I have the z-offset correct for the first layer, it prints great. I imagine there are quicker printers out there, and ones that have more features. But for an entry printer, I cant complain. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out!
if I have the z-offset correct for the first layer
How do you figure out the z-offset?
Run the auto level on the printer. Once it finishes it will zero out where it thinks the z is. You can then adjust it down to the correct level. Too high, stuff won’t adhere to the plate. Too low, it squishes it. Just right, and you get the picture.
You can use a piece of paper as a guide or a feeler gauge if you have one. I’d imagine the steps are very similar on the s1 pro.This doesn’t seem like too big a deal.
I got an Ender 3 for Christmas, it was great - but it’s limited if you don’t get a bunch of upgrades. But I did learn a lot about how 3D printing works.
I recently got a Prusa Mk4, and I’m very happy with it. Prints like a dream, is much faster than the Ender 3, and is much quieter as well. Time will tell if long term reliability is as good as I’ve heard, but short term it’s been very reliable.
I’ve heard a lot of people suggest Bambu for the same price - but honestly I’m pretty skeptical of how they run their business. For some reason, they encrypt log files. Their support staff gave Grant of 3D Musketeers a terrible support experience when he had problems with his printer. Recently they had a cloud outage that resulted in printers starting up unexpectedly and starting to print automatically, which in some cases resulted in physical damage to the printer when there was a previous print on the bed. I would wait at least a year for them to sort out their business.
I’d recommend a Bambu printer. Cost to benefit is pretty good, and they’re very easy to use. Someone touched on their recent misfortune with the cloudstorage thing, which is a fair criticism, but I don’t think it should ice you out from them. I’ve had X1 Carbon, with AMS, for a while now and it has been nothing but an absolute breeze for me to use. Also to note, my printer wasn’t affected at all by their recent issue. I switch my printer off which I think may have removed me from the situation.
A big important question is do you want your hobby to be 3d printing or 3d printers? If it’s 3d printing, save up and pay the premium for one of the more appliance-like ones that just works out of the box like the Bambu X1 Carbon. If it’s 3d printers, the skies the limit because you’ll probably end up replacing almost every part over time to upgrade/tweak everything