New to 3D, Have some questions  

RE: New to 3D, Have some questions

My suggestion is to purchase a printer from a good company with a good reputation. When I was looking at getting into 3D printing, I knew I had to have an enclosure from my experiences at work and failed prints. I did look at many printers and came across many YouTube videos on how to make the printers as good as a Prusa.

Second. Expect to spend lots of time to learn. I bought a Prusa from recommendations and bought Prusa filament at the time. This saved many of the issues about "tuning in filament" until I was ready and experienced. Purchased the filament at the same time to save shipping.

If I was purchasing a new machine without knowing much, I would purchase a Core one+. I would go for the kit since I am handy with my hands. Gave me a chance to know what to look for when I had issues with my present printer, which I did. Warranty was useful as I needed a new print head and satin plate.

I purchased a Mk3S+ and the the next revision came out while mine was in transit. Prusa gave me a credit for the price difference which I could have spent on the upgrade or on filament. I went for the filament. I was still learning at the time.

I have a friend that is new to 3D printing and they are having all kinds of issues as they are rushing into it. They purchased a Core one+ kit. Their issues are not taking the time to learn and refuse to come to the forums for help.

I have looked at the Bambu and have read many good things about it. I won't use it because of the closed source aspect. Any printer I have cannot connect to any outside server. I have read that in order to make the Bambu printers work fully, you do need to access the Bambu cloud. I will stick with my Octoprint.

If there was a Core One L kit available today, I would be ordering it. With no kit, I will wait for the INDX unit to come out. I do need the larger build area.

End note. Where I used to work, since I retired, they have purchased a couple of MK4's, and and XL. They also have many other brands of printers, including some high end commercial printers where you need service contracts to even talk to a representative. They like the print quality of the Prusa's.

RE: New to 3D, Have some questions

Hi Robin, truly appreciate it. I have to say the last 3 weeks alone unfortunately due the challenges with the QIDI machine, i feel each day more a technician than a customer which in principle is fine, but the machine itself is just not great. So learning and spending the time and tuning is less of an issue for me. I feel overall the quality of the QIDI is just poor or mediocre at best. That aside. I actually happy to learn as long as I have trust in the quality of the machine itself. That being said. multi color is for me really key. What concerns me with most systems except the INDX is the purge and waste which is created in the standard models. AS i would like a machine for the future, i do not want really to invest in outdated tech. Adhesion problems is really something i feel i am very "burned" through ther QIDI machine. I understand it is a principle problem of 3D prints but i really wonder are all machines as bad as the one i have? Not sure if you have any thoughts from your experience with PRUSA machines. 

RE: New to 3D, Have some questions

The Core One+ is a great machine - agree with the above - get the kit. Before doing so, see the build guide in my sig and you'll see how relatively straightforward it is to build! You'll learn a lot about it in the process.......When the INDX system drops, it's another user based install. No details yet, but I'm sure it'll need a good level of tinkering to set up and maintain reliability. 

I do like my H2D/H2C as well though, just because of sheer simplicity. Although I have mine connected to the cloud I only use it as a hobbyist and have nothing top secret to hide, so I'm not too fussed - but you can still use the printer in LAN only mode should you prefer, which keeps it local to your network (albeit without some remote features of course). For beginners, a Bambu is a great option. 

RE:

I purchased my first Prusa printer in the fall.     (I did have a Ender 3 I took apart and rebuilt as well as wrote the programing for using git hub. Loved it but it was time to move on.) I bought the Kit version of the Core one. My grndson and I assembled thekit in 2 days. It was a great learning experiance and fun build. We did have a couple issues from not following directions close enough Called Prusa help. That is the real difference with Prusa from any other is the help. The walked me through everything for a couple hours lots of suggestions and questions they are super. When I say called its a chat line not a phone call. I would do it again in a heart beat. Printing is a learning curve. and a tinkerers dream. Just a heads up enjoy the fun it is very satisfying to print your own ideas etc.

RE: New to 3D, Have some questions

I had never owned a 3D printer, but was reading online forums and new articles and reviews for a year or two when time permitted.
Six months ago, I purchased the Prusa Core One as my first printer.  I purchased it assembled.   I do agree with others that purchasing
the kit and learning to build and calibrate it will save you time later on when something eventually needs fixing.  But I was impatient,
and just purchased the fully assembled Prusa Core One.

For me, it has worked really well.    My very first print worked fine.  And in the last six months, I have not had a print fail.
I did experience some stringing, and learned about buying and using a filament dryer before doing 3D printing.
(I happen to live very close to the ocean, so the average humidity at my house is ~90%.  A filament dryer is your friend here.)
So far, I only print PETG and PLA, but it has been a really fun learning experience for me.

While learning, there are really helpful people on this forum that provide all types of help and pointers.
There are also endless useful (and useless) videos on YouTube.  So learning was really easy.

Don't worry too much about a few problem forum posts.  You will find them for every brand of any consumer item.
When 100 people buy something, the 98% where it works fine don't have any reason to spend the time posting, and
the 2% that have some problems with their (purchased assembled) printer, those are the people who will post.
This is very normal.  But if only reading the forum before purchase, you will get a distorted view, and think that 
everyone has trouble.  It made me hesitate at first, but once I thought this through, I went ahead and purchased.

Over this first six months, I have taught myself FreeCAD software, and designed and printed precision functional
parts for electronics projects that needed screw hole and case alignment accurate to within 0.25mm.  I am very
impressed with the Prusa Core One.

Also keep in mind that some people who complain about the Core One (wrongly in my opinion), have simply grown
in their skill level and want to now print technical filament types that require capabilities that the Core One printer
was not designed for.  That is not the fault of the Core One printer, it just means that this person now needs to buy a
more expensive 3D printer that can use the higher chamber temperatures and higher nozzle temperatures  needed
for their new needs.     (To me, this is just as silly as buying a shovel, and then after 6 months complaining that the
shovel is not a tractor.)

I expect, for what I am doing with functional parts and projects for my hobby use, that the Core One printer will be
all that I need for a very long time.  But if you are going into business with a printer, then yes, depending on what
material you need to print, and how large, you may need to soon start looking at $5,000 and $15,000 and more  $$$
printers.  But you can learn 3D printing very well on the Prusa Core One.

Neal

RE:

I want to really thank you guys. I got now for leas than 400 an used mk4 (only ran like 11 days and 2.5 years, mint condition with invoice everything and tbh, did firmware update but perfect. Ran directly a print and omg the first layer and how smooth. I cannot evem compare to the qidi. Compared to it the qidi is just something poor, so many problems z off set, etc. Like a dimensional difference. Now running prints and will first get used to the prusa slicer erc but super happy.  I feel this is for me for learning a better intermediate step and once the indx is here i can evaluate. Owner i bought it from was using prusa for almost 10 years. Quality has a price