capably8341

joined 2 years ago
 

I'm looking into getting a new printer, and I'm interested in building my own. I know Voron 2.4 and Trident are the obvious ones to look at. But I can't help but notice they are both 3+ year old printers. Considering how much the industry has grown in the last few years, it got second guessing if Voron is still the way to go.

How do Voron printers compare to the current state of the art (Prusa CoreOne+, Bambu P2 series, Qidi Plus 4, etc.)? Are there mods that are essential to improving them? Are there other DIY printers I should look at?

Thanks!

[–] capably8341@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

I mean, it depends on how much weight you want to add.

According to the internet, a penny weighs 2.5g or 0.088oz. A roll of pennies costs 50c and adds 125g or 4.4oz.

Some prints I've added just a few pennies to, and some a few rolls. It just depends what you need.

[–] capably8341@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago (3 children)

My solution has been pennies. They're cheap and and easy to get. Since they are a fixed size, it's really easy to model a cavity for them in your slicer. You can also leave them in their rolls for bigger projects.

[–] capably8341@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Sounds like you've done your research.

A friend of mine has a Qidi X-Max 3, so I got to play around with it quite a bit. It is a beast! And apparently their support is top notch. I'm definitely going to look at Qidi next time I'm in the market.

All that said, the Q1 is not the same class of printer as the X-Max 3. It seems like it makes some compromises to hit the price it does. If you are looking for amazing build quality or extremely large prints, you probably want to save up for something like their Plus4. But if you don't care about those things, or don't want to spend more, the Q1 seems like a great choice.

As far as the polydrier goes, it seems good, but expensive. I've had a good experience just using my printer's heatbed to dry filament and using vacuum bags with redried dessicants. The bags are like $1-2 each, so even if 1/4 of them are leaky, it's still way cheaper than dry boxes. And I just collect the dessicants from my new filament spools and redry them in the microwave.

I haven't printed nylon, but I know you can get the cereal box dryboxes for like $7 each. If you plan to have tons of rolls of nylon, then it may be worth getting a full drying system, but for only a few rolls, I'd stick to cereal boxes.

If I were in your situation, I'd cheap out on the storage and put that extra ~$100 towards a Plus4 or some cool filament.

 

tl;dr Don't hate on people who got tricked into buying a Bambu printer. Direct your hatred to Bambu itself.

We all know about the anti-consumer Bambu Printer changes by now. But I think it's important to remember not to make fun of people who already bought one. In fact, most agree with you that these changes are unacceptable. So those people already got kicked in the gut.

As someone who bought from Prusa instead of Bambu, I completely understand the feeling of "Ha, I told you so!" But spreading that on every post is actually counter-productive. Remember that most people who bought a Bambu printer did so because it topped every "best 3D printers" list, had tons of sponsored content, and were affordable easy-to-use printers. Not everybody heard about the potential for such anti-consumer changes to be made. And many who did know were often misled into thinking it wouldn't happen.

Instead of being critical of individuals, be critical of Bambu themselves. Bambu are the ones who screwed over tons of people who love this hobby. If we want to see 3D printing be an open-source style hobby, then we need to help people see the value in that. So if anything, this is the chance for you to make more people aware of good, open systems. If you make fun of people and point fingers at them, you are just making them defensive. Don't make them direct any hatred at you that could be directed at the company itself.

Hope this isn't too preachy. I just wanted to get this out there.

[–] capably8341@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

My current printer is a MK3S+, and I love that Prusa is still pushing firmware updates for it. However, my personal experience with the machine has been pretty lackluster with multiple parts breaking and sub-par print quality. In fact, something else just broke yesterday (I have yet to diagnose exactly what) which is making me more eager to upgrade. I do wonder if I just got unlucky considering their reputation, but I can't say I'm rushing back to then with enthusiasm.

I do agree with your general point about open source. For that reason, the Prusa, Voron, and Ratrig are the most intriguing options. However, if one of the other two are likely to provide a better experience, I think it's silly to not even consider them.

 

Hello,

I am trying to figure out which printer with multi-color capabilities to buy, and I'd like to hear some other people's opinions.

Note: I can't buy Bambu Labs products, so please do not recommend one.

Current options:

  • Prusa Mk4 and MMU3.
  • Voron 2.4-style (either Formbot kit or Sovol SV08) and ERCF, and eventually DAKSH toolchanger.
  • Ratrig V4 and the upgrades when they come out.
  • Creality K2 Plus (when it comes out).
  • Qidi Q1 Pro and the rumored multi-color unit.

My current thoughts:

  • I am happy wait a bit if that's the best option.
  • I like the fact that the MMU3 mechinism doesn't waste as much filament as some other mechanisms. It's easier for me to pay more up front for the mechanism than constantly keeping tons extra filament in stock.
  • The potential for a Voron to be upgraded to a toolchanger with DAKSH is intising.
  • High print quality is important to me, although I can't imagine any of these would result in bad quality.
  • Prusa XL is outside my budget :(

Please let me know your opinions, and thank you to anybody who read this far.