Which 3D Printer to buy for under $400 CAD

[hrnet940]

Hi Everyone,

 

Looks like I might be able to get a 3D printer here shortly to start printing my own cockpit parts.  I am looking for suggestions on features to look for and what to stay away from.  I am hoping to stay under $400 Canadian, before taxes and shipping, and get something that will last a number of years and print what I need.  Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

 

Thanks,

Wayne

[obious]

I have an Anycubic Chiron which I bought because of its big build plate. It’s incredibly easy to setup and produces great prints so well worth taking a look at 

[simbiosi]

I have an Anycubic Chiron too but in terms of quality is not great and it's built with cheap parts like the extruder and is very noisy.

All those printer are build in china and are very low quality even when you spend 500 $ US.

If I was you I would look to buy a used one's, as you can replace with spare parts vary cheap.

Many people buy and after a while they sell it as they don't use them.

3d printer are like PC and you can find modded one's very easy.

If you want to build strong parts like ABS or Carbon, Nylon you need to box them to keep constant temperature inside.

The price rise by the print dimension.

Unfortunately forget fine detail you will always see that is a 3d printed part.

I will look for a a Creality CR-10 or Anycubic Chiron even used.
https://creality3d.shop/collections/super-sale-under-300/products/creality-cr-10-3d-printer-prusa-i3-diy-kit-aluminum-large-print-size-300x300x400mm

If you don't mind dimension maybe a Original Prusa MINI+could be an option for quality printer, the best could be an Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ used.

https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/

Remember that once you purchased maybe you need to build them as they are in kit.
You need to calibrate them with test and change parameter like PID, extruder step

https://3dprintbeginner.com/3d-printer-calibration/

[hrnet940]

Thanks for the information guys.

 

Thanks,

Wayne

[CorporalCarrot]

The biggest question you need to ask yourself first, is whether to go SLA or FDM printing.  SLA (or Stereolithography) produces parts by curing liquid resin a whole layer at a time.  FDM (or Fused Deposition Modelling) is where plastic is extruded from a hot nozzle and added on layer by layer.

 

SLA pro's: Highly accurate and detailed parts (~0.05mm on an average machine), print speed is faster (especially on newer machines), barely visible print lines.

SLA con's: Can be messy, liquid resin is an irritant and need to wear nitrile gloves and is smelly; need an ultrasonic cleaner and 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean the parts post print,  max build volume tends to be smaller (129(l) x 80(w) x 160(h) mm on my mars 2).

Example printed: https://www.elegoo.com/products/elegoo-mars-2-pro-mono-lcd-3d-printer

 

FDM pro's: Large build volumes, multiple materials available

FDM con's: setup can be tricky and important to stop prints failing, hot end and heated bed can pose HSE risk if you have small children/cats etc., parts will have print lines on them (some materials cannot be addressed at all) but some materials can be post processed (you can try ironing flat parts, and ABS can be acetone smoothed for example). Long print times (can be days for large parts).

Example printer: https://www.creality3dofficial.com/products/creality-ender-3-pro-3d-printer?gclid=Cj0KCQiAlsv_BRDtARIsAHMGVSYSHcHLXGlrmXLQhJyWNMse_oc0G9fRoa6PBHdQ8sEbRRQw-aZH0zcaAkGXEALw_wcB

 

I have both of the example printers, and both do specific jobs well.  If you plan on printing whole panels then go for an FDM printer, but if you are printing knobs, controllers and small detailed parts then SLA is the way to go.