A lot of libraries offer 3D printing for about the cost of materials.

It’s worth trying out before dropping huge cash if it’s possible near you.

I own an Ender 3, 5, and a Prusa Mini. The mini is by far my most reliable printer, but both enders have had a lot of work done to them to get them where they are… and not quite click to print yet.

At one of my jobs I maintained some 35 Prusa Mk3s, about a dozen Elegoo’s, and witnessed their graveyard of Anycubics and some other brands. The Prusa’s generally only needed to be unclogged or have their nozzle changed less than once a month, with only a couple failures per week max, the room also was not temperature controlled and they had some… questionable engineering practices.

The elego’s were like pulling teeth, needing glue to keep it adhered, frequent clogs and skips, thermistors needing replacement after under 100 print hours, blobbing would get into the part coolig fans. Small leveling knobs. Prusa’s IMO were designed to be serviceable, but seem to need it way less.

Especially at a business, the premium on Prusa printers over say bambu labs is well worth their customer support. Ive never used a Bambu so I cant necessarily recommended or not, and I do wish I had an MMU on the cheap as you’d get with their mini, but Im most pleased with my Prusa mini

Bambu Labs A1 Mini

Cheap, high quality device, high quality prints, out of the box and printing in 25 minutes with no fiddling required.

Don’t get an ender unless you want your hobby to be working on the printer. That’s fine, but it’s not the same as having something ready to go when you unbox it.

Prusa printers are quality and open source; very much worth supporting if you have the money. Your hobby will be printing things for other things if you get one.

Bambu printers are cheap, but not open source. However, you will spend most of your time actually making stuff instead of fixing the printer.

Cheap, reliable, open source/modifiable. Pick two.

I have a 3D printer buyer’s guide on my website that lists a few. I mostly use and would recommend any Bambu printer, there’s a few that can suit any price range. Elegoo also make good printers too which won’t break the bank

Ender 3 is pretty good introductory model and does nice prints with little effort.

If you’re a buy once, cry once sort of person, Prusa makes good stuff that has a lot of community support.

I have an AnkerMake M5 and it’s gloriously painless. There are intrinsic unavoidable challenges to 3D printing, but this thing has been incredible for casual creation.

https://www.ankermake.com/