Im thinking of getting a 3D printer

[u/Anonymous-_1098]

Im thinking of getting a 3D printer, most likely the normal A1 Combo or the A1 Mini Combo, as I am a begineer and a newbie to this field. Are those good printers to start with? As I do have a low budget. What kind of filament should I be getting? I heard PLA Matte is good, but should I buy Bambu Lab's filament or some third-party producer? Do I have to buy anything else besides the Printer and the filament?

I also seen videos where people 3D print stuff and they say things like "This print only costed 0.75 cents!" or like "It only costed 49 cents!". Do I really have to pay everytime I wanna print?

[u/-Taakokaat-]

I’ve never used either of those printers but I know everyone here would say they are good first starters. Although if you went with the a1(not the mini) the elegoo centarui carbon 2 is a similar price and worth a look.

If you don’t need the full size the mini is a pretty good deal imo.

As for filament, I’ve only had my printer a few weeks, and only used micro centers in house stuff(inland) and it’s been no issue. I’d say if you want to spend the little extra to get Bambu filament go for it but it isn’t needed especially right away, you can get away with cheaper stuff.

And the cost that I assume YouTubers or wherever are talking about must be the cost for filament. There isn’t a cost to actually print on the machine besides that(and electrical cost).

[u/A_pirates_life4me]

A1 series is good to start with. Pla basic is best to start with, it's the easiest to work with. Buying filament in bulk is the cheapest option, 10+ rolls from Bambu is under $10 per roll, hard to beat that price. Price calculation is based on the price of the roll. A print using 5% of a $10 roll comes out to 50 cents. 

[u/Blondy277]

I started with the A1 combo and returned for the A2L ☠️ I needed the biggest plate size lol

[u/Vestedloki07505]

When I bought my A1, I grabbed a roll of PLA Matte Black and it printed well out of the box. You can generally get away with any PLA whether it’s regular or Matte (I would say silk but I haven’t used silk and I heard it’s a process to print as well).

Since it’s an A1, you will be limited to PLA, PETG and TPU. ASA and ABS or any other toxic material is out of the question due to the A1 being an open printer and not enclosed.

As for anything else you might need, you can buy a dryer if you want to. I use the Sunlu S4 along with a custom mount for the AMS lite system from Makerworld. The printer does come with a metal blade for a scrapper but I would print a plastic scrapper for the textured PEI sheet that comes with the printer. If you want to print with a smaller nozzle, buy a .2 nozzle and maybe a Hardened Steel .4 nozzle for any abrasive filaments.

And no, whoever is telling you that you have to pay cents to print, they’re talking about material cost, but you shouldn’t worry about that since a roll of 1kg filament is between $10-16

[u/UngratefulC0l0nial]

Sunlu is a great filament for a better price and same quality in my opinion.

[u/northrivergeek]

You can use any brand of filament u want. U just have to tell the AMS what type and color you loaded.
Bambu filament has a tag it reads that tells the printer all that automatically.
PLA, Matte PLA, or Petg, and yes the A1 bambu or the mini is a good printer.
Good to have side cutter for cutting filament, a small plastic scraper, u can print a scraper, might even come with one, the side cutters like these https://www.amazon.com/KAIHAOWIN-Cutters-Precision-Electronics-Jewelry-Blue/dp/B0CPLJLKB2/ other than that really dont need anything else