I’m extremely happy with my Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro. I got mine for about 165 bucks last year (new) and it looks like you can still find it for about this much.
A few things to do to get decent results out of it (these points also apply to most other 3D printers):
Spend a couple of hours researching aspects like which print settings to use for which kind of print. Experiment and test - there are all sorts of useful test files on the usual sites.
Put it in a well ventilated room that you’re not spending much time in, especially if your asthmatic. Both noise and air pollution are substantial.
Calibrate it properly: This printer, unlike its successor, has automatic bed calibration, so this aspect is a breeze.
Be careful with the belt tensioning. You can accidentally overdo this. Ask me how I found out…
Get the following small accessories that you will inevitably need: Tweezers, a small wire brush (tooth brush size) to clean the nozzle with, spare nozzles in a few sizes (look up how to change them - the printer needs to be hot for this), cleaning filament (use it any time you’re changing between different filament types), a long “clog poke” needle with a proper handle (trust me, you’ll need it eventually), a pair of wire cutters (to cut filament), a scraper with plastic blades (to clean up the print bed and remove some especially sticky prints without damaging the bed) and a few sticks of glue for bed adhesion with some materials. A spare PEI bed sheet also makes sense.
Make sure to use dry filament. No other point on this list has a bigger impact on print quality. This means that a decent filament dryer is mandatory. I went with a Creality Space Pi for about 65 bucks (don’t get cheaper models with fake sensors). You can print directly from this dryer, but make sure it’s bolted to the desk, since the printer will otherwise pull it across said desk. Store the filament, once dried, in an air-tight and light-protected place. I recommend large plastic cereal boxes with a handful of desiccant each (the type that discolors when it’s used up), placed in either cardboard boxes or dark cupboard. If you’re feeling fancy, you can place air humidity and temperature sensors in each box. Do all of this and you can achieve prints that rival and even exceed those of machines that cost more than ten times as much a few years ago. Sure, the prints will take about three times as much as on an expensive printer, but having used both, I’ve been consistently impressed by the quality of the prints this cheap thing manages to achieve.
Don’t buy the cheapest filament possible. Cheaper filament tends to have inconsistent diameters, which can ruin prints. 20 bucks a spool is a good middle ground for normal filament. Fancier materials can cost a lot more, but aren’t needed unless you actually need them for a print due to their appearance or other properties. Having said that, inexpensive, but properly dried filament is still superior to expensive filament that was allowed to soak in moisture from the air and get blasted by light for a few weeks.
This particular printer appears to be ideal for PETG, which is considered a more challenging material to print compared to PLA, but I’m actually getting better results with it more easily than with PLA. Bed adhesion in particular is far superior, to the point that I have to wrangle with some prints to get them off the damn thing. Since it costs about the same per spool and has superior properties (UV, strength, elasticity), it’s a no-brainer, especially for functional prints. I doubt I would have been able to print a complex full-size (and quite dangerous) repeating crossbow after a just three weeks of learning to use this printer had I used PLA instead of PETG.
If you don’t want to run to and from your printer with a microSD card with the print files all the time, set up an Octoprint print server. I’m using an older laptop for this, but you can even use Android devices (provided they aren’t too slow). This allows you to control the printer over your network - and with a webcam, you can monitor prints in real-time. Octoprint is not trivial to set up, but if you can follow instructions and have at least intermediary computer skills, it’s doable.
A word of warning: You need to be able and willing to tinker, experiment and have the ability to deal with failures and issues for this hobby. No printer on the market, including far fancier and more expensive models (I’ve also worked with those) are trouble-free. If you’re the kind of person who has been building and troubleshooting computers since their 12th birthday, you’re probably fine, but if you’re more the kind of person who buys electronic devices instead of building them and needs help from others any time they go wrong, it’s probably not the right hobby for you.
A couple of times. It depends on the printer, the filament and the user. While the cleaning filament is a consumable, it’ll probably outlast my printer, since you only need to use a few centimeters per cleaning.
Got ya. Glad it doesn’t use much, that was going to be my next question. The only time I have had clogging is when using a many year old filament with bad dimensional accuracy that I did not run it through my dryer. So that is 100% on me.
Still running a V1 Ender 3 pro, though it does have a couple minor upgrades, but that thing is a surprising workhorse
I’m extremely happy with my Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro. I got mine for about 165 bucks last year (new) and it looks like you can still find it for about this much.
A few things to do to get decent results out of it (these points also apply to most other 3D printers):
Spend a couple of hours researching aspects like which print settings to use for which kind of print. Experiment and test - there are all sorts of useful test files on the usual sites.
Put it in a well ventilated room that you’re not spending much time in, especially if your asthmatic. Both noise and air pollution are substantial.
Calibrate it properly: This printer, unlike its successor, has automatic bed calibration, so this aspect is a breeze.
Be careful with the belt tensioning. You can accidentally overdo this. Ask me how I found out…
Get the following small accessories that you will inevitably need: Tweezers, a small wire brush (tooth brush size) to clean the nozzle with, spare nozzles in a few sizes (look up how to change them - the printer needs to be hot for this), cleaning filament (use it any time you’re changing between different filament types), a long “clog poke” needle with a proper handle (trust me, you’ll need it eventually), a pair of wire cutters (to cut filament), a scraper with plastic blades (to clean up the print bed and remove some especially sticky prints without damaging the bed) and a few sticks of glue for bed adhesion with some materials. A spare PEI bed sheet also makes sense.
Make sure to use dry filament. No other point on this list has a bigger impact on print quality. This means that a decent filament dryer is mandatory. I went with a Creality Space Pi for about 65 bucks (don’t get cheaper models with fake sensors). You can print directly from this dryer, but make sure it’s bolted to the desk, since the printer will otherwise pull it across said desk. Store the filament, once dried, in an air-tight and light-protected place. I recommend large plastic cereal boxes with a handful of desiccant each (the type that discolors when it’s used up), placed in either cardboard boxes or dark cupboard. If you’re feeling fancy, you can place air humidity and temperature sensors in each box. Do all of this and you can achieve prints that rival and even exceed those of machines that cost more than ten times as much a few years ago. Sure, the prints will take about three times as much as on an expensive printer, but having used both, I’ve been consistently impressed by the quality of the prints this cheap thing manages to achieve.
Don’t buy the cheapest filament possible. Cheaper filament tends to have inconsistent diameters, which can ruin prints. 20 bucks a spool is a good middle ground for normal filament. Fancier materials can cost a lot more, but aren’t needed unless you actually need them for a print due to their appearance or other properties. Having said that, inexpensive, but properly dried filament is still superior to expensive filament that was allowed to soak in moisture from the air and get blasted by light for a few weeks.
This particular printer appears to be ideal for PETG, which is considered a more challenging material to print compared to PLA, but I’m actually getting better results with it more easily than with PLA. Bed adhesion in particular is far superior, to the point that I have to wrangle with some prints to get them off the damn thing. Since it costs about the same per spool and has superior properties (UV, strength, elasticity), it’s a no-brainer, especially for functional prints. I doubt I would have been able to print a complex full-size (and quite dangerous) repeating crossbow after a just three weeks of learning to use this printer had I used PLA instead of PETG.
If you don’t want to run to and from your printer with a microSD card with the print files all the time, set up an Octoprint print server. I’m using an older laptop for this, but you can even use Android devices (provided they aren’t too slow). This allows you to control the printer over your network - and with a webcam, you can monitor prints in real-time. Octoprint is not trivial to set up, but if you can follow instructions and have at least intermediary computer skills, it’s doable.
A word of warning: You need to be able and willing to tinker, experiment and have the ability to deal with failures and issues for this hobby. No printer on the market, including far fancier and more expensive models (I’ve also worked with those) are trouble-free. If you’re the kind of person who has been building and troubleshooting computers since their 12th birthday, you’re probably fine, but if you’re more the kind of person who buys electronic devices instead of building them and needs help from others any time they go wrong, it’s probably not the right hobby for you.
Wow thank you for this reply. Really appreciate all the info you gave me, best of wishes to you :)
Happy to help. Feel free to message me if you have any more questions later on.
Do you see a huge difference with cleaning filament? I have been seeing it pop up lately, but I haven’t had any issues not using it since 2017.
I haven’t had my printer clog up completely anymore since I started using it. That’s the advantage I’m seeing.
Oh, did you have an issue with clogging before using it? It is not something I deal with often enough to buy a consumable to fix
A couple of times. It depends on the printer, the filament and the user. While the cleaning filament is a consumable, it’ll probably outlast my printer, since you only need to use a few centimeters per cleaning.
Got ya. Glad it doesn’t use much, that was going to be my next question. The only time I have had clogging is when using a many year old filament with bad dimensional accuracy that I did not run it through my dryer. So that is 100% on me.
Still running a V1 Ender 3 pro, though it does have a couple minor upgrades, but that thing is a surprising workhorse