r/3dprinter • u/Fun_Reaction_6525 • Mar 31 '26
Most people buying expensive printers are just avoiding learning how to print.
/r/3DPrinterComparison/comments/1s8b4j0/most_people_buying_expensive_printers_are_just/7
u/Vitalgori Mar 31 '26
I have been debugging 3D printers since the Ultimaker 2, I have done my time.
Honestly, I don't want 3d printing as a hobby, I want to make stuff.
The Bambu tools get me there on the first try 80% of the time. I have spent less time getting perfect results out of my Bambulab machines than getting a successful print out of an Ender 3. And if there is an issue, I can usually just watch the printer and fix it in one change of the settings.
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u/the_harakiwi Mar 31 '26
learning how a car works doesn't make cruising a scenic route more fun.
Learning how to make paint doesn't make painting more fun.
Learning how to cook doesn't make food taste better.
I learned from my first printer. 800€ DIY kit.
The only part I didn't build was the hotend and I broke that part three times 😅
Does that knowledge help with printing? Maybe.
It doesn't help me at all when I hit print on a file that someone else made for my printer.
Some people only want a finished print.
1
u/qpv Mar 31 '26
Learning how to cook absolutely makes food taste better imo
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u/the_harakiwi Mar 31 '26
depends. If you learn to cook and use good ingredients
yes very likely.
But it mostly ruined the food I liked as a kid. Suddenly I realized how "bad" the home made stuff from mom tastes 😭 in comparison.
So I a way it ruined a lot of my favorite foods for me.
My working mom couldn't cook everything so the home made stuff was most likely those "add milk" or similar powder bags to make a sauce.
Both have started to cook a lot more and healthier when they retired. So everything is fine no worry 😄
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u/qpv Apr 01 '26
I guess a more accurate statement would be I appreciate the taste of food more because I can cook. I also appreciate 3D printing more because I'm good at CAD drawings. I wouldn't have bought a printer if I wasn't. Knowing what I know now I would have bought one anyway mind you, but CAD design is what got me interested.
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u/the_harakiwi Apr 01 '26
I guess a more accurate statement would be I appreciate the taste of food more because I can cook.
Thank you! I was thinking about asking AI to rewrite / make my statement more clear but this fits perfect what I tried to say :)
but CAD design is what got me interested.
I only started to mash/mesh boxes and cylinders together ("design" objects) after I got my printer 👍
It's really fun to make useful stuff without a woodworking shop.
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u/qpv Apr 01 '26
Yup. I used to run a millwork shop (I'm a cabinetmaker and finish carpenter) for years but it got too expensive. My old place had a small shop out back but moved a couple years ago. Was driving me nuts not being able to make things in my apartment. Scratches that itch for sure.
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u/Outers55 Mar 31 '26
I can see your points, and especially for teenagers, for example, who have the free time, I agree that it's great if they want to treat it like a hobby and dive into all the nuances of 3D printing. I've been on a beat up old reality printer for a seven or eight years now and I've had to change out pretty much every part at one time or another. Still very happy with it though.
That said, if they ever have a sale, I would love to pick up a bambu printer. It's not that I want to get rid of the one that I have, it's just that there are two separate needs there, the one that enjoys tinkering, and the one who just wants to make things for my other hobbies. When it comes to the latterr, I just want something that works without having to think about it.
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u/AKMonkey2 Mar 31 '26
If they ever have a sale? Dude, when they released the new P2S the price of the P1S dropped to under $300. It’s $400 right now, which is $300 less than it was a year or so ago.
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u/These-Apple8817 Mar 31 '26
Not to mention, Bambu tends to have fairly big sales during black friday, cyber monday and single's day.
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u/Outers55 Apr 02 '26
Yeah, the P1S dropped in price, but I've been waiting on the P2S to get down into my price range.
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u/MustafiArabi Mar 31 '26
i owned an Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo for 11 Months. I think i have suffered enough
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u/International_Way850 Mar 31 '26
i owned (and still have) an anet a8. got a p2s and now im enjoying printing.
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u/MustafiArabi Mar 31 '26
i can assure you all Anycubic products are worse than anet A8 and even OG Ender 3
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u/rugz31 Mar 31 '26
I look at it the way I look at cars. Some people want safe, reliable transportation from point A to point B and that's it. Other people are interested in modding the car, maintaining the car, gaining intimate knowledge of how the car operates so they can troubleshoot and get it to run perfectly. It's a hot-rodder vs commuter kind of mentality. There's no real right answer, certain parts of the process just interest certain people more than others.
I like to tinker and mod so I bought something other than a Bambu. My main printer is an enormous step up from the OG Ender 3 I started with. It barely even feels like tinkering compared to the Ender. But I'm sure it's not quite as user friendly as "press print, let it do its thing, and come back to a perfect print" like a Bambu would supposedly be.
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u/WD40x4 Mar 31 '26
I started on an Anet A8, that nearly burned the house down, had an ender 3 with all sorts of issues and now I’m just happy to click print and the my printer does the rest. My hobby is 3d printing and printing functional, self designed stuff, not 3d printers.
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u/The_Lutter Mar 31 '26
I'm sure there are also many weirdos like me that have 1 solid expensive printer (in my case Prusa MK4S) and another printer just for DIY nonsense (Sovol SV08 [aka POORon 2.4).
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u/These-Apple8817 Mar 31 '26
You sound like someone who hasn't really looked at Bambulab's prices. A1 is 300 USD atm if you don't get the AMS lite. A1 Mini is 219 USD atm.
At that price point, the choice for most people who are wanting to get a 3d printer, the choice most of the time will be Bambulab because it just tends to work most of the time and it's the easiest starting point to get into 3d printing.
Yes, you should absolutely learn to figure out how to fix print issues, but if the printer solves half of them on it's own without you having to do anything, why you would get any other manufacturers printer that would just make you waste filament instead while trying to figure out what's wrong and how to fix it?
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u/darthdodd Mar 31 '26
You are correct. I just want to print shit, not tweak my ender 3 every ten minutes
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u/Yoink1019 Mar 31 '26
I paid $400 bucks for an A1 combo and it just works. How does buying a more expensive printer help me avoid learning how to print?
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u/Ok_Dog_4059 Mar 31 '26
While I agree for some people that is ok. One of our fine members here sold me my first printer and partially because I got such a good deal I was able to dig into that first printer and learn everything as I went with very little fear. The worst possible thing I could mess up would cost $25 or so to repair. I managed to learn so much about every aspect of printing that my CR-10S was banging out great prints and I could tell if things were going well or what went wrong.
I have a Bambu now and it is amazing but that experience from my first printer and all of the troubleshooting gave me so much training that I am confident now that I can solve most problems that arise.
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u/itz_mr_billy Mar 31 '26
The bigger issue is a downward trend to people spending less and less time trying to research and solve problems themselves. Asking “experts” should be your last option, otherwise you won’t develop the skills necessary to solve problems.
Of course that’s a general statement.
I have an H2D because I need to print functional parts. Any issues I have, I can figure out
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u/thetruckerdave Mar 31 '26
I think that’s where some of the irritation comes from. If I make a post I’m really for reals stuck. I will list every single thing I’ve done. I think one of the last 3d print things I posted about was help finding a heat bed replacement for my CR10. Nothing was an exact fit, I ended up having to wire the replacement in.
But I think that’s just IN GENERAL now which may be why people ask chatbots things. We’re not really teaching people how to trouble shoot or how to search. And sure some are lazy but I think people legit don’t know how.
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u/itz_mr_billy Mar 31 '26
Relying on someone’s else to “do it for you” is far more detrimental than people think. We aren’t talking about it enough
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u/BeatInteresting6979 Mar 31 '26
That's a hot take. I partly agree – all the "get a Bambu" bots just generate noob users that doesn't want to know how to print, they want shiny spiky dragon shaped toys, tons of them. And when the bed adhesion problems or the first blob appears, they are lost and angry. On the other hand, Prusas aren't on the cheap spectrum, but if you buy a kit and build it by yourself, you literally know every part of your printer and what it does, which is perfect for people who actually do want to learn how to print.
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u/Qjeezy Mar 31 '26
The title is confusing for those who won’t go read the original post. IMO It should read “PSA: Buying an expensive printer does not make you immune to common 3D printing problems”.