1

Hi, I am interested in getting involved with 3D printing but don’t know which 3D printer to buy. I have been looking at the Robo3D and some DIY printers too. What is a good beginner 3D printer for personal uses that doesn’t cost a fortune, Thank you.

2

Hi there!

I personally have had great experience with FlashForge, and have heard good things about the Monoprice Maker Series. Besides Robo3D, are there any other specific printers you’re looking at?

If you need some more ideas, check out the 2016 Print Guide from 3D Hubs, specifically the Budget section (Best 3D Printer Guide 2023 | Hubs) and the Plug’n’Play section (Best 3D Printer Guide 2023 | Hubs). You can look at the Index (Best 3D Printer Guide 2023 | Hubs) which has a much larger list of ranked printers.

3

Hey there

If your completely new to 3D printing and don’t have much experience I’d advise staying away from a DIY kit. The main reason for this is that a lot can go wrong. I know people who though they’d saved a fortune as it was cheaper than those that were already assembled, but it took ages for them to build and for some found it more costly to rectify their mistakes. 3D printers present enough problems so building it incorrectly is going to disastrous.

Invest in a printer that you can use right out of the box. I wouldn’t even recommend building your own if you had the experience, but if you feel you could build it successful then go ahead.

When choosing a printer think of the essentials like build volume or material that are compatible. Don’t go for the fancy stuff like wifi enabled to begin with. Use these preferences to help narrow down your search as there are loads to choose from

Hope this help.

Good luck with the printer

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Thankyou, I am looking at the printrbot (assembled) and the FlashForge also.

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No problem, do you have any specifics about what you want to print? In terms of size, material, etc.? If you can provide more details about what you hope to be able to accomplish by buying the printer, I could help out in more detail!

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I would like to have a rather large build area like the Robo3D. Also, a heated bed would be nice but it is not too important to me. I am mostly going to print small toys and maybe some household items. Thanks for being so helpful!

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The R1 has an exceptionally large build volume for it’s price range, so if that’s your biggest concern, the R1 is probably about as affordable as you are going to get without doing a kit/DIY build (which I don’t recommend for first timers). It does seem to be a solid machine based on reviews here (FDM 3D Printing Service | Instant Quotes, Online Ordering | Hubs), but there are some trade-offs you should be aware of with something so large being so cheap (other competitors of similar size are at least triple the cost).

There are some issues with it, specifically the x-axis and z-axis, and the company does seem to have quality control issues judging by the range of reviews from perfect to awful. The nice thing about it is the Robo 3D community forums are very helpful, so with some tweaks and slight mods you should be printing wonderfully in a few days/weeks. The R1 is, in my opinion, more designed towards intermediate users than beginners, but if you’re willing to put in the time to tune it and work with the machine, you’ll get very nice products out of it.