Hello all, I am considering on getting a 3D printer. I want to print some stuff for a project. I am relatively new to this. I need the slicer software to be compatible (preferably open source) with linux since that’s what I am using. I have only found the stuff from Prusa to be compatible but they are expensive. I have heard of ender 3 but it is the only os printer by creality and saw the repo is 3yo without updates.
Can I get some suggestions?
Bambu labs all the way. Unless you want your hobby to become printer maintenance.
Also unless you want to work in multiple colours and not have a giant pile of printer poop waste.
The amount of filament Bambu wastes is ridiculous.
What volume of print area do you need? Any specific filament types you want to use? What sort of budget? Do you want something that just works or are you fine with tinkering?
Hardware
I mentioned in another topic that prusas solid machines, yeah they’re pricey, kits are cheaper than assembled and because they’re easy to service, I wouldn’t even hesitate at grabbing a second hand one.
A lot of really good responses, there’s a ton you can choose from there, however I’m going to suggest looking into a voron v0.2 kit as an option, it’s totally open source and you own your hardware, I self sourced my v2.4 but I’ve seen decent reviews of the formbot kits, they’re up to date with the voron project and look to include some mods in the kit as well, the v0.2 with everything you need to put together and a dragon HF hotend is just under $500 USD, the v0.2 is a 120x120x120 printer and is totally capable of printing abs (in fact all of the voron printers can have their parts printed on it afaik) they also have trident and v2 kits but they’re twice the price for the larger kits. Another option would be to source a kit from a local supplier, will be a bit more expensive generally though.
I’ve done both, my first printer was a Mendelmax 2 kit that I had to sell unfortunately when I moved cross country, learned a lot building it so I bought a preassembled prusa as my next one. If diy and modding is your thing I 100% recommend building a kit, and even if tinkering isn’t your thing you’ll learn a lot about how they work by building one, but also totally get the need for something that’s capable out of the box.
Software
I use SuperSlicer heavily, Ellis provides a great tuning guide and superslicer profiles for vorons, but overall I like it, it’s a fork of PrusaSlicer which is itself based on Slic3r which has been around forever. I think SuperSlicer and PrusaSlicer are on flathub, but they also provide appimages. SuperSlicer has a ton of settings, PrusaSlicer has some really nice features and out of the box printer and filament profiles, also a measuring tool which is nice. I like the interface better on SuperSlicer and it has some tuning tools built in.
Since you asked, I really don’t have any issue as long as it is no smaller than roughly 15cm in one direction.
Edit: will ofc look at the stuff you sent. Replying quickly since I am doing sth rn : P Thank you!!!
Mm yeah the v0.2 is just a bit too small then, only 12cm in each direction. You can check out their other kits, I have a v2, have heard great things about the trident, I’m currently thinking about building a 250x250 one or smaller, but they (the supplier I linked) don’t include printed parts for those kits, the guts are still there though if you go for one check out the voron print it forward program, they’re strict on who’s able to fulfill requests.
I second the formbot voron 0.2 kit, it was my first printer and it was a great experience. I have had a lot of heat creep issues with the dragon hf hotend though, I’d probably recommend the standard one instead. Other than that it’s been much less required tinkering than I was led to believe. It generally just works.
Oh yeah the HF has a bit of heat creep, just swapped my franken-prusa to a noctua 24v hotend fan and it seems better, I’ve also found it super filament specific. I also dropped the plate temps as PLA was unhappy in the enclosure with the summer heat, had to do a rebuild and found the tube going into the extruder wasn’t flush up and some PLA had blobbed into the void.
I like the dragon specifically because it’s fixed in places, I’ve totally had self induced issues with a v6 hotend which prompted me to look into it in the first place, also was component compatible. I like the uhf a lot on my v2.4, I don’t push my printers to their limits but I’m pretty happy with what it can put out with a 24mm3/s profile with a standard 0.4 mm nozzle, it’s really nice with a 0.6 mm as well.
Yeah that was my experience with the v2, I tinker with it because I can’t help myself, but it’s been a rock solid experience once I got it dialed in (which I would expect to do with any printer). They’re also popular and well documented so there’s a lot of information out there. Klipper is also amazing, my experience with it and the v2 was what prompted me to klipperise my prusa in the first place.
Orcaslicer runs on Linux which interfaces with almost every printer. It is a merge between Prusa and Bambu slicer
Bambu Labs is closed source but currently by far the best option for out of the box printing.
If you want open source consider the Sovol Sv08 but as a beginner this is a difficult start in the hobby. Or a Prusa printer.
The Ender 3 is the printer I recommend new users get. It’s open source hardware and firmware, the devices can be found for as little as $20 sometimes. Bambu Studio, UltiMaker Cura, and PrusaSlicer, and probably loads more are all awesome slicer software that is compatible with a LARGE number of 3D printers.
more info for people leaning towards ender: ender 3’s need to have their wiring fixed by removing tinned ends from wires in screw terminals and either putting them in bare or with crimped ferrules to reduce fire hazard. The heat break should also be swapped for all/bi metal one that puts the ptfe tube out of the melt zone as it will continually degrade from the heat and lead to problems a newbie probably can’t diagnose. and the bed mounts suck, and the build plate once petg gouges it out, and the extruder when the tension arm inevitably snaps, and the list goes on…
that said I have 3 now. 2 were acquired for free. One is a switchwire conversion, one is ender NG, and the other is kevinakasam belt modded. I would recommend both mods that are not the switchwire for cost to improvement ratio.
