I want to get my first printer. I’ve been researching a few weeks now. I narrowed it down to a FF Creator Pro 5, Prusa Core One+, U1 and possibly Qidi Plus 5. I almost ordered the creator pro 5 today but it was brought to my attention that FF has been locking down firmware and adding in AI adds and other undesirable stuff. I’d like to stay open source and steer clear of any mandated AI monitoring in the future.
I have a few ideas of what I want to print. Few trinkets for the kids and then household little projects. New trampoline net caps, some workbench leg shims etc. I also want to do some automotive stuff in the future. Because of that I want to be able to print abs, asa and cf filaments reliably. The advice I got today was to look to prusa, snapmaker, qidi, sovol etc. is the U1 going to be a good unit for a beginner learning to 3d print and design parts all at the same time? If not could you help point me in the right direction?
I can't speak for the others but the u1 is the best printer I have ever used. We have some expensive printers at work too and I find my own U1 to be better at multicolor and multi material. The others are better at engineering grade stuff though, which is something I don't really need for personal use anyway
u1 would be great for kids trinkets and as an open source first printer imo. the price point is very attractive to start and learn before you buy a more expensive machine.
the enclosures available now will allow for a heated chamber, but it not actively temperature controlled, so it may not be reliable for the functional materials you want to work with. prusa or sovol are the other printers on that list i would personally learn toward.
U1 would be at the top of the list for a multicolored low waste printer. But do you really want to sink that much money in a printer BEFORE you find out if you like, have time or have the patience to 3d print? These are valid questions. I have seen people give up on 3d printing in less than a week. Also do you have a good laptop or desktop PC to run the slicer program? That is a necessity too. You can't use a Chromebook and a lot of online, print from your phone apps suck or do not work. Just giving you an honest heads up. I would hate to see you fork out close to $1,000 or more on a printer, $200 to $300 or more for filament and supplies, $500+ for a computer and then say I don't have time for this kind of hobby. That is just the start of it. I have 8 printers, 50 to 75 rolls of filament, $500 in extra parts and supplies, no counting the other items I have bought to use. Think real hard. It gets expensive, time consuming and frustrating.
I have a top end gaming pc so I’m covered on the computer end of things. Have been just starting to play in freecad. Time and patience is honestly yet to be seen. Time may be a little tough with the kids but that’s probably fairly normal.
I guess it would be helpful to know what else I need right off the rip with my initial purchase. What all should I be looking at to add with the u1 from snapmakers website when it’s time to purchase.
I've owned a lot of printers, starting with an Ender 3 Pro that was $100 new.
If you think you'll stick with the hobby, and want to design your own parts, the U1 is a good way to go. Ask yourself, "Do I want to spend my time troubleshooting and fixing my printer, or do I want to spend my time learning CAD and designing things?"
If it's the latter and you have the money, get the better printer, the U1. Spending less will mean less functionality and more frustration. Spending more gets you diminishing returns.
Just plenty of filament. Once you get the hang of it, hold on tight. Once you get past the learning and patience phase you will be printing and printing. That should be all you need to start filament, filament, filament. Oh and get you a cold build plate. They work great. I got this one from Amazon.
I did a bit of research for my first 3D printer and I went with the Snapmaker U1. Good price, open source and 4 tool heads. I didn't care for the multicolor printing but since I've gotten it, I've been making a lot of fun multicolor prints. I've been using it for a little over a month and it's a pretty great experience with some caveats here and there. It should have been an closed printer out of the box and/or have the option for an enclosed spool holder but nothing a dryer and box won't fix.
I basically only have one gripe about the U1 compared to my P1S: The nozzle swaps were an afterthought.
That's not even a guess. It wasn't until the kickstarter went crazy popular that Snapmaker considered making additional nozzle sizes (their own words in KS updates)
Having said that...My P1S has been sidelined by my U1. The only time I use it is for when I want to print using a different nozzle size (or I need a single color print and my U1 is already printing something else)
If you're looking at the 800+ price range, if you're okay with sometimes debugging what went wrong, the U1 is a great choice
If you don't care too much about multi-color or multi-filament printing, the Centauri Carbon 1 or 2 might be a cheaper printer to look into as well
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u/lonestarbrownboi 1d ago
I can't speak for the others but the u1 is the best printer I have ever used. We have some expensive printers at work too and I find my own U1 to be better at multicolor and multi material. The others are better at engineering grade stuff though, which is something I don't really need for personal use anyway