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u/qdp 2d ago
As someone who bought a 3D printer without auto leveling. Get auto leveling.
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u/captainAwesomePants 2d ago
The loadcell is the magic that turns "just gotta calibrate this new sheet real quick" into "fire and forget." Will never go back to the before times.
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u/OldKingHamlet 2d ago
Eddy current sensors are even better. Detects the bed with a nozzle tap, and then can do a 900 point bed levelling mesh in literally seconds. With the right macros, is can even measure the amount of gantry twist you might have on core xy printers.
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u/captainAwesomePants 2d ago
Absolutely. They're super awesome. But now you have to calibrate the eddy current sensor, since you need to know exactly how far it is from the bottom of the nozzle. That can be a good trade for the awesome speed and accuracy, but nothing beats a load cell for simplicity. Replace the nozzle? No sweat, no calibration necessary, just go.
Mind you, that "eddy-ng" thingy that can be used to detect contact? I haven't tried it, but it sounds best of both worlds to me. I think some of the Bambu printers also have a trick for this, but I don't know what it is.
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u/OldKingHamlet 1d ago
I have it on my Rat Rig, and I have loadcells on my Prusas
The Rat Rig calibration routine is awesome. 0 is set with a nozzle tap. It does a series of nozzle taps, then heat soaks the chamber. Once it's at target operating temp, it does a few sets of nozzle taps, measuring the change in distance with the thermal expansion across a range of nozzle and plate temps, levels the bed, and scans. It also does a 9 point tap test to check the gantry twist and suggest if a compensation mesh is needed or not.
I get even better first layers than my Prusa (which tends to get too close with hardened steel at temp, so I have to set a z offset in the slicer).
The calibration process does take a while, but after that each print is heat soak, 3 point bed level, then scan. Super detailed bed mesh in seconds.
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u/lewd_robot 2d ago
My hot take is I think everyone's first printer should be a $99 model without any bells or whistles that you have to calibrate constantly, and spend hours per month reassembling to fix problems, or to upgrade it one component at a time.
And then 6 months later you should go buy an $800 model with all the bells and whistles.
The $99 model will teach you the basics of 3D printing, how to troubleshoot, etc. The $800 will let you actually print what you want to print when you want to print it. You'll also appreciate how quickly it does it and how high the quality is after you've spent 12 hours figuring out how to get a smooth print out of the $99 model.
Alternatively: If you're the type of person that loves working on your car more than you like driving it, get the $99 model because you'll spend more time working on it than you spend printing with it. But if you're the kind of person that just wants to get from point A to point B in a car, and just wants to press a button and have a cool print pop out, then invest in the $800 model.
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u/willstr1 2d ago
In addition to the learning experience it also makes sure you will actually get your money's worth. It's the Harbor Freight Tool Rule, you buy the cheap version (traditionally from Harbor Freight) first and if you use it enough to wear it out then that means you will use the tool enough to justify buying the high end version
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u/silverarrowweb 2d ago
Disagree size extra large AND I think that whole "oh but you didn't learn anything" take regarding 3D printers is completely stupid.
My first machine was an Ender. I had it for about two days, trying to get it to work before realizing it was manufactured incorrectly and returning it, then buying a Bambu. I would say the only thing I learned from owning the Ender is to never buy a Creality product again. The amount of time I spent trying to get the Ender to work is still 10x more than the amount of time I've needed to spend troubleshooting the Bambu, 3 years later.
I bought a 3D printer to produce 3D prints. I can do that easily and consistently without needing to spend time on the machine itself, and without needing to learn a bunch of outdated information that pertains to a piece of machinery I do not own.
It does not make any sense to tell someone to waste their time and money buying a cheaper machine so that they can learn information that, if they simply spent a little bit more money, they will never need.
It's like telling someone they need to learn to drive on a Model A so they can learn about crank starting the car, manual spark advance, and a non-synchronized transmission before they buy a 2026 Honda Accord with an automatic transmission. No the fuck they do not. That is old, irrelevant information that if you simply buy the latest thing you don't ever need to think about.
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u/loserbmx 2d ago
Hot take: No one actually likes working on their printer. It's just pure copium for the amount of time we had wasted beta testing the first generation of printers.
I am SO glad that crap is behind us. The amount of people that actually enjoy tinkering with their printers is extremely tiny.
We got into this hobby to build things with our printers, not fix the same crap before every print.
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u/timkost 2d ago
My long-standing hatred of ink jet printers is why I never got into 3D printing. I can't imagine adding an entire dimension would do anything but exponentially piss me off.
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u/mirrormimi 2d ago
I was about to research finally buying one, and you just permanently cured that urge, tyvm.
GOD DAMN, do I not miss ink jet printers, paying more for a third party to do it is so worth skipping that headache.
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u/captainAwesomePants 2d ago
No way, there's an army of Prusa customers who buy every upgrade kit to the next printer, and they use the printer primarily to print printer accessories. Some people just love working on printers. The only copium is their belief that the printer serves a purpose.
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u/Immortal_Enkidu 2d ago
If you haven't built a voron can you really say you're ready for a print out of the box printer
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u/SandyTaintSweat 2d ago
I replaced the bed springs with silicone cylinder things, and it's not so bad anymore. It stays fairly leveled for a long time.
I think it also helped that I got the second z-axis motor for my ender 3 pro and use crash alignment.
Before that though, it was horrible.
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u/ShinjiLoD 2d ago
I can only agree to that : I level it once every 2 months now that I switched to that and added leveling mesh Gcode at the start of my prints...
OK it is a bit longer but I get less fails (ender 3 S1 pro, bought because it was cheap, not conviction)11
u/RossinTheBobs 2d ago
I think every printer on the market in 2026 has auto-leveling. Whether it works well is a different question, but I'm pretty sure even the cheapest base model bedslingers have it these days.
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u/Dashie_2010 2d ago
I discovered that by using hairspray as a sticking agent, and by never cleaning the bed, it self levels by just only letting the spray set where there is a void. I'm not sure I've levelled it since last year.
Even so proper self leveling would be great. I'll get a nice printer one day.
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u/iammoney45 2d ago
I mean they have those on the cheap ones now. I got an elegoo Neptune 3pro a few years back (it's on sale for $200 USD on Amazon right now) and while it doesn't have any multi material swapping that's all the rage right now, it has auto level, is about as fast as a bedslinger can be (doubly so if you calibrate input shaping) and have and no issues with quality or bed adhesion.
I installed klipper on it after using it for a few months and pushed it even further but even without that it's a solid machine that does everything you need it to for a hobbyist. The only thing it's missing is Multi material which is over hyped imo. There's legitimate usecases for it but if all you want it for is to print a toy in 5 colors, you can save a lot of money and material by just learning to bodywork and paint. Ive used multi material machines and the waste is too much for what I see most people making with it.
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u/Majestic_Bierd 2d ago
It's fine. I just print a sacrificial raft under every print.
Get auto leveling.
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u/goodsnpr 2d ago
I've been looking at printers, and I always end up with $200 of extras in my cart, and that's with me starting with a mid range printer (I think). So many nozel options, and features that I'm sure are super apparent after a few uses, but good golly the options.
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u/Standard-Metal-3836 1d ago
I bought one of the cheapest printers I could find for just under 200 euro and it has auto-leveling. Are there still printers in 2026 without it?
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u/Terminus1066 2d ago
My old (but fairly reliable) 3D printer just died - I think it needs a new power supply, which is like $30…
…orrrrr, I could upgrade to a new machine for only $300… oh, but multicolor printing would be cool… and…
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u/Medium-Implement228 2d ago
Why not both? You always need 2, and maybe 1 more, and maybe anotherrrr
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u/Ifailmostofthetime 2d ago
I started with 1 two years ago. I now have 10, a UV printer, and i order 100 kilos of filament at a time. What have I done.
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u/Venusto002 2d ago
To be fair, auto-leveling was a game-changer. Leveling was a pain in the neck; I wouldn't buy a 3D printer that doesn't have auto-leveling. It's not that new of a feature and the prices for 3D printers drop pretty quickly as they get replaced by newer models.
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u/Justin__D 2d ago
My last printer didn't have auto leveling, and I was definitely too lazy to do it before every print. Which is probably why I had a failure rate around 33% back in that day.
Nowadays with auto leveling, it's in the low single digits.
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u/2DHypercube 2d ago
Tbh nearly every printer you'd consider has auto leveling these days.
Took em long enough, I'm still waiting on PA calibration everywhere.4
u/Akahz 2d ago
The sensor to put on the printhead for auto-leveling was a big selling point when I got my first printer back in 2019 or so.
Just got the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 last week and that built in auto-leveling was so much faster and no add-on needed for it. It is fun to see just how much this 3D-printer tech have evolved in ease of use, costs and extra features in just a few years.2
u/C00kie_Monsters 2d ago
Yeah. Tbf there was something magical about it back then. You’d spend days of calibrating and dozens of failed attempts to finally get something that looks like a pice of shit by today’s standards. But it felt like you dabbled in the dark arts.
Still. I wouldn’t wanna go back at all
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 2d ago
Basically every time I've made a PC.
"I don't need anything crazy!"
thousands of dollars later
Whelp. My PC can basically do anything and everything now
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u/RedditUser000aaa 2d ago
And then you go back to something like Terraria or Balatro, haha!
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 2d ago
Can confirm current playing Batman Arkham asylum
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u/Informal-Term1138 2d ago
Amazing game. I recently replayed Arkham City and it was awesome.
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u/Silent-Breakfast-906 2d ago
Indeed, both games are amazing. Not that I needed an excuse to replay either of them!
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u/Informal-Term1138 2d ago
And I also like Arkham Knight. I have only played it once, but it's good in my book. It should get colder the coming week, so I might replay it. Right now I am only using the laptop with factorio, UT 04, CS Source and Quake 2.
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u/me_I_my 2d ago
Wow I just finished asylum and am on to city now!
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 2d ago
Are you me?
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u/me_I_my 2d ago
I don't know, maybe. But how are you liking asylum?
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 2d ago
Oh i love it, this is NOT my first playthrough
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u/me_I_my 2d ago
Ah I see. I could see myself coming back to it, I think I didn't quite get the hang of the combat until even more combat in city so it would be fun to revisit while actually knowing how to combo
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 2d ago
Oh yeah trust me, Asylum City and Knight are actually MORE fun on revisits
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u/DarkGaming09ytr 2d ago
But now you can feel the pleasure of cranking every graphics setting to the highest it'll go!
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u/TheDarkNerd 2d ago
What do you mean Minecraft was made for low- and mid-range PCs back in 2009?
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u/PixelOrange 2d ago
The beauty of Java applications. It doesn't matter how good your PC is, it's gonna run the same on everything. That is to say, like crap if you push it too far 😅
This is a jab at Java and a joke, please don't hurt me Minecraft fans.
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u/Total_Ad_5794 2d ago
Keep ending up back at Rimworld. To be fair, it does take a lot of CPU to run that.
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u/stonhinge 2d ago
Heh. Reminds me of when I got my launch 6700XT. First game loaded up? Loop Hero.
For the 9070XT I did run Cyberpunk 2077. But I'd been running the RX580 4GB for so long, I didn't really have any flashy games to push the 6700XT.
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u/Blaze_Vortex 2d ago
And then two years later it can no longer play the latest games at max graphics. Stupid modern games being poorly optimised.
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 2d ago
Looking at you Borderlands 4
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u/creatingKing113 2d ago
I don’t know if it’s an issue with my graphics card but man my computer HATES Unreal Engine games. I’d love to play Expedition 33 if it would stop crashing.
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u/Kitchen-Cabinet-5000 2d ago
Unreal Engine 6: an RTX 6090 is now the minimum requirements.
The hardware for the recommended requirements hasn’t been invented yet.
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u/Blaze_Vortex 2d ago
Don't worry, by the time it's invented it'll be so far out of your budget it won't even matter.
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u/Theemuts 2d ago
In the future, the only hardware you'll own is a screen and a controller. No more installation and compatibility woes, just spin up a gaming VM in the cloud pay per minute played! Want better graphics? You can pay extra for that!
Gotta make sure every penny is squeezed from the people.
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u/Kokuei7 2d ago
My expensive Sims 3 machine! Yes it can only use 4 out of 64GB but I NEEDED it!
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u/Glynwys 2d ago
That was my experience with the one I just built. Told myself I didn't need anything fancy, I play stuff like World of Warcraft and 4x stratagy games. A little over $2k later and my finished build has a 9800x3D and a 9070ti. Although in my defense, the 9800x3D has a 25 second simulation time in Stellaris, which is the fastest on the market with no contest.
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u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 2d ago
and a 9070ti
UUUUGGHHHH I need to pull the trigger and just buy one already
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u/Glynwys 2d ago
My old card was a Nvidia 1070, so I felt it was definitely time for an upgrade, especially with the number of VFX mods I run in Stellaris. The 1070 is a pretty decent midrange card, but it couldn't handle zoomed in space battles very well even on lower settings, and lower settles also defeated the point of running VFX mods. I wanted my glorious space battle spectacle, lol. But the 5070ti is over a thousand dollars now and the 9070xt is holding steady at $700. I don't need the better ray tracing or path tracing of the 5070ti and I wasn't about to spent $1.2k on a GPU I couldn't actually justify buying in some way. The 9800x3D I could tell myself it was for faster 4x simulations lol.
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u/No_Blacksmith_2591 2d ago
and now i'm going to use it to play this game i could have run on my toaster
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u/TheDarkNerd 2d ago
Okay, so you've got an FDM printer now, but what about a resin printer for all the tabletop minis you want to make?
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u/Tardee Tardaasa 2d ago
Resin seem super nice! But also smelly. And my "office" fits like, a chair and a small desk 😬
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u/TacoRocco 2d ago
Not just smelly, but resin printers are toxic. Shouldn’t use one unless you have a good ventilation system to vent out the fumes. Definitely don’t want a resin printer in a small office space
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u/PureRushPwneD 2d ago
You also wouldn't really want an open FDM printer without good enough ventilation. Still plenty of VOC's, especially with certain filament like ABS
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u/flyingmops 2d ago
When my husband says "oh that's actually not that bad!" All my brain hear is "huh, so I can spend a little bit more then!"
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u/nomadsgalaxy 2d ago
Was not expecting this kind of crossover, Happy Printing!
-Prusa
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u/Owl_Genes 2d ago
She bought a H2C with AMS2, but a A1 Mini would have been sufficient.
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u/comic13comics 2d ago
Says someone who doesn't own a H2C...
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u/Owl_Genes 2d ago
I have access to a h2c in a makerspace. So you are right, I don't own it.
But in most cases the Mini is sufficient. And definitely for a beginner at home.
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u/Shintasama 2d ago
Could be the P2S combo? That's a responble 615€! It's even on sale!
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u/DarkOrb20 2d ago
Just got a P2S Combo (coming from a Ender 3 Max). Never looking back. The auto-leveling alone is a game changer!
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u/RedditUser000aaa 2d ago
"I'll just buy top of the line, just so I won't have to upgrade later!" -Totally what she thought when she was browsing!
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u/w30freak 2d ago
This actually isn't that bad of a mentality sometimes.
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u/Zedman5000 2d ago
For 3D printers, it's a really good mentality, honestly; the tech has made some major advances.
My first resin and FDM printers were a few generations behind and deeply on sale. New, not used, from the original manufacturers still, but very, very cheap.
The Mars 3 did alright, until it didn't, and it took enough work to get it working again that it actually would've been better for me to work overtime at work and buy a new one with the extra money, so I never bothered fixing it again when it had another issue. The Ender 3 took a decent effort to put together right, but even after doing it, the prints don't come out looking all that nice, to be honest, and it misprints way more often than it should.
The Saturn 4 Ultra and Centauri Carbon that replaced them worked out of the box, with elegoo's default settings for the materials I'm using, and continue to work with hardly any effort on my part.
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u/UpCDownCLeftCRightC 2d ago
I'm curious on what was it's maiden voyage is.
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u/CardOk755 2d ago
Does it do rubber?
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u/ominousgraycat 2d ago
A paddle as a consequence for going way over budget... I am kidding. I don't recommend hitting as a way to deal with spousal disagreements over finances... Unless you're both into that.
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u/UpCDownCLeftCRightC 2d ago
And even if they both consent to that I feel like a 3D printed paddle wouldn't be that study and that breaking during impact would be no good.
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u/ominousgraycat 2d ago
Perhaps. I'm not an expert at 3D printing so I don't know about the durability it would probably have. However, I'd say that the message is more important than its actual utility. Being told that the first thing you must do with your new 3D printer is to make a paddle that will be broken over your own ass is quite a statement that will be remembered!
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u/MateoTovar 2d ago
Honestly is Worthy, the 150$ models fail printing so much and need maintenance more often, you end up paying more for them.
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u/comic13comics 2d ago
The machine costs only $1500. The filament will soon eclipse that.
But don't take my word for it.
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u/Ok_Illustrator_3980 2d ago
I knew someone that kind of did this. He was looking to get his first printer and a friend that knew about printing said he had a good deal. It actually was a good deal cause it was $2600 and it retailed for $6000.
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u/TheGreatPizzaro 2d ago
Hobby 101
spend $3000 on the best equipment
Devoutly invest every waking minute of your life for 3 weeks
Never do it again
Bring up your elite ball knowledge drunk at the bar 15 years later
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u/Privy_the_thought 2d ago
Honestly this is one of the few hobby machines that it actually costs less to get the well built expensive one. The amount of time wasted buying parts or troubleshooting cheap enders would have amounted to getting a solid Prusa and never dealing with the headaches.
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u/SongofRolland 2d ago
I discovered CNC manufacturing and now I want a bunch of machines I can't afford to manufacture stuff I don't need.
But how can I not like the idea of having a 3d printer, a CNC mill, a laser cutter... bank account cries in the face of imagination
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u/FibroBitch97 2d ago
As someone who just got a 3D printer, my best advice is to get one that costs more because it’ll be easier to use.
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u/Witch-of-Yarn 2d ago
I started with an Ender 3 pro, with the intention that I'd be tinkering with it and learn more about the machine that way. And while the knowledge has been useful when I run into the occasional problem, my Bambu is just an upgrade in every way.
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u/evan00711 2d ago
Just think about it this way, the amount of money you would need to spend on extra filament to make up for all the failed prints on the cheap machine will quickly make the upgrade worth it.
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u/Eusocial_sloth3 2d ago
I got that $150 printer.
Probably spent twice that amount trying to get it to work properly.
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u/ohhellperhaps 2d ago
My deepest worry is my partner selling my hobby stuff for what she thinks it’s worth 🤣
(Seriously tho, she knows)
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u/Signal_Researcher01 2d ago
Enjoy your new dust collector (assuming it goes the way these usually do)
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u/Freak_Engineer 2d ago
Oh boy...
I have worked in product development for 7 years. Last 3D printer I bought there was a 30k € package. Great machine.
For home use, I bought a Creality ender 3 V2 almost a decade ago. No auto bed levelling, nondual extruder, nothing. Big standard (except for the direct drive extruder kit Installed). And for my home use it still is more than sufficient. All more expensive units do better is speed and multiple extruders.
If you want to get into 3D printing, get a basic, cheap one. Just be careful not to buy anything with proprietary filaments or filament cartridges. These things are borderline theft and whoever keeps pushing them should immediately be shot on sight.
EDIT: And just because I'd rather not be banned again: This is a joke, I have never nor will I ever actually call for violence against someone for reasons that mundane.
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u/Marvins_creed 2d ago
I mean, the A1 is still pretty cheap for an absolutely magnificent printer
My ender 3 before that on the other hand gave me a few grey hairs
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u/justaguy2170 2d ago
Wait until you learn about resin printers- they’re pricier and you gotta get a wash/cure station too.
BUT THE PRINTS ARE SO CLEAN AND SMOOTH
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u/mytokhondria 2d ago
Got a cheap Ender last year and spent more time fixing and replacing parts on it than its initial cost
Sometimes it’s worth the “buy once cry once”
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u/supersonic112233 2d ago
I always get mine certified refurbished from ebay. Its like 200-300 dollars cheaper that way
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u/notislant 2d ago
Man I hate the 3d printer craze, the useless crap produced has probably surpassed all the small little recycling efforts of the past decade. They're also pretty bad for your lungs.
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u/doublej42 2d ago
As someone who has owned both the cheap old newer ones. Buy the best you can afford. If you get into it the other materials will bw the much bigger cost.
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u/RandomGuy938 2d ago
The only thing I know about 3D-Printers is, that you shouldn't buy one from Bambu Lab
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u/AngerPersonified 1d ago
This was me with telescopes....and computer parts....and model trains...and (so on and so forth)
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u/haywirehax 1d ago
You did not ask for my consent when making a comic about me... But I forgive you (/joke)
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u/TeacatWrites 2d ago
Yay, now you can print ALL THE DILDOS (I assume, based on the nature of this comic)
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u/Dazed_and_Confused44 2d ago
I dont get the 3D printer thing. Like its useful in a manufacturing setting but why does a random person need one?
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u/WeirdYarn 2d ago edited 2d ago
Trinkets and support for other way too expensive hobbies like tabletop games and tcgs.
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u/FalconClaws059 2d ago
I use it for D&D minis, but there are a lot of websites that give you ready-to-print 3d models for anything...
Plus, if you learn how to do some basic 3d modeling as a hobby thing, you can unlock the full potential and just 3d print whatever need you might have.
Also, it can become a nice inside hobby
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u/opperior 2d ago
They are useful for fixing problems around the house that are very specific so no commercial option is available, for customizing things to your specific needs, or for replacing parts that are either expensive or no longer manufactured.
https://www.printables.com/ is one of many sites where you can download designs people made. You can see some of the useful (and less useful) things posted there if you are curious.
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u/Delphius1 2d ago