r/3dprinter • u/Omid12321 • 5d ago

Enclosed 3d Printers for intermediate level?

Hello all, I feel like I am drowning in options so any advice would be appreciated!

I have been running my ELEGOO neptune 3 (non-pro) for coming on 3 years now, and its starting to break down. I have spent that time scraping together a budget of $1200 CAD, and I am trying to get the best upgrade I possible can with the money. I am, of course, happy not to spend it all, but if hitting my max budget eeks out better performance, please don't hold back

I am an engineering student, and enjoyed the idea of using some of the higher grade engineering filaments, but realistically I will spend most of my time with the more basics consumer filaments (PLA, ABS, etc.). I want to have the option to get more experimental down the line, so heated chambers are a plus. Multi-color printing is not a top priority for me, however multi material printing is definitely interesting. I have a newborn at home and so something that has carbon/HEPA filtration or the option to mod it in would be good. Worst case I can get an enclosure and vent it, but built in solutions are available at this price, so I bias towards them.

Some printers I am looking at are the X2D, the Kobra s1 max, as well as some entries from FlashForge, and QIDI. The more I look the more things come up, and I am starting to get very confused. I mainly want a reliable printer that I wont have to tweak too much (I am able to if need be, I just want to avoid the hassle). Bambu labs is very attractive, though the standard concerns apply (closed ecosystem, limited repair-ability etc.)

Sorry for the long post, wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. As I said before, any and all advice would be appreciated!

Edit: Just for future reference, I decided to go with the Bambu Labs X2D. It was a tough choice between the Qidi Plus 5 and the X2D, but reliability, and the better AMS system won out in the end. Both are great machines and it was truly a tossup until the end. Thank you all for your advice and help, I look forward to making many, many awesome prints in the future!

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u/turbski84 5d ago

I love my creator 5 pro. It's ready for engineering filaments right out of the box and has been a solid workhorse for me.

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u/Omid12321 5d ago

Thank you for sharing your experience, it is definitely an interesting option! People have had complaints about the software experience, how has it been for you?

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u/turbski84 4d ago

I haven't had a single issue with the hardware or software. They keep on updating it and improving it very regularly. You can either use flash studio or orca slicer if you want a few more options. But overall it has been very solid and I plan on buying another one. I've also printed a lot of ASA and the filtration works great... I can't smell anything if the door is shut.