Best 3d printer for teenager?

Would suggest the Ender 3 V2 as well; small enough and should just work out of the box for printing PLA. If he wants something a little more neater for his room (ie. enclosed in a case), look into a basic Flashforge unit

 

Yeh Ender 3 V2 is pretty much the entry level recommendation for PLA printing. From there he can figure out what he needs or if he wants to go resin instead etc.

 

Agg if you haven't purchased yet there's a deal listed on OzB

 

tangcla recently printed some case pieces for me that work a treat (even did some finishing on them for me too the legend)

 

prusa i3 mk3s kit if you want a little workhorse - its a bit steep there are some knockoffs on aliexpress- they arnt half bad actually- especially triangle labs stuff- but yeah id lean towards that if you have a bit deeper pockets than an ender

the mini is good also, however, i think there is alot of learning that can be had while making the i3 m3ks that is invaluable

also you start off with a really good bot that can print temps hotter than pla and itl grow with you

 

The Prusa is 1500 versus 400 for the ender

I’m happy to pay the 1500 if it’s going to give less dramas I’m not it savvy with programming soldering etc so want simple

 

phaser fpv might still have some mk3's in stock but thell prob be gone soon...

dont have to deal with VAT and import tax and shipping n stuff- just gst

https://www.phaserfpv.com.au/products/originalprusai3mk3skit?variant=28590843

also faster shipping

but yeah Huge price difference- but then again- better learning experience building + higher quality parts like allmetal hotend- nozzle crash detection- mesh bed leveling- skew compensation better support from prusa, quick diy printed repairs and upgrades such as MMU bear mod etc- huge community bla bla bla etc etc etc

 

Another vote for Ender (whatever variant) here. The massive community and amount of easy guides out there make it one of the best to kick off with

 

Worth keeping in mind for future... I just got my mk3s+ on Black Friday for ~AUD$985 (inc forex fees) direct from Prusa. The Black Friday sale included free shipping, extra 1kg filament (Orange PETG), and extra double sided spring steel sheet (Satin).

Prusa currently doesn't charge GST, so if you can get it under AUD$1000 you will not pay GST or customs fee (you may need to provide customs with proof of your AUD expense, personally I didn't have to).

To get the price under AUD$1000 I had to select payment in PLN which had a significantly more favorable price / exchange rate than the USD and EUR prices (being subject to exchange rates, this may not work next year). Currently Prusa only accepts PLN for wire transfers though, I used OFX (www.ofx.com) to handle the PLN wire transfer.

To get the best exchange rate via OFX, annoyingly you can't just type in the PLN amount as when you do that it adds an extra 1%-1.5% margin or thereabouts (ie. extra $10-$15). I stuffed around guessing the AUD amount (with live forex fluctuations) until I landed on the exact PLN amount which is not that easy for large amounts, it took me 12min of constant attempts. If Prusa has no issue with accepting a slight overpayment (eg. few cents / tens of cents) it would be quick and easy though. Some banks (eg. NAB yes, Suncorp no) will do this transfer for you if you phone them. You will pay a higher exchange fee at the banks though, that may be an issue if it happens to be this close to AUD$1000 on future Black Friday's.

 

This is a great Reddit sub for practical printing ideas that are not just toys:
https://www.reddit.com/r/functionalprint/top/?t=all

 

Ok thanks
I was just looking at aus shops for that price

 

Backing the Ender 3 v2 as well. Bought a second one, have been modding both of them ridiculously over the last two years. The hobby has also resulted in me learning a lot across various fields. Have picked up a bit of extra programming experience, as well as having taught myself CAD in a few weeks to the point I'm designing decently complicated things from scratch and printing them out where needed.

I've easily spent over $1K across both in mods alone (not including printed mods). Plus probably another $2K in various filaments. Just finishing up a build cabinet for mine now actually, hoping to have it ready tonight so I can put them both away in closed cabinets and making it possible to print ABS now, on top of PLA and PETG.

 

You're going to get infinitely less drama with the Prusa, you could even look at the Prusa Mini instead of the MKS3+.

I originally had an ender 3, by the time I leveled the bed (even with the beloved 'bl touch') I was over getting a print done and it felt more like a chore. I'd go to use it like a few weeks later and I'd have to repeat the process...slowly but surely it became incredibly unreliable there seemed to always be something wrong with it. Ended up spending a good $1k on mods to fix the issues and it couldn't produce a print even 1/2 the quality of the Prusa and thats if it finished. Thing with the ender was it started out great, then slowly went downhill, or at least that's my experience.

Bought a MK3S+ to replace it, didn't touch it for a month printed first go with PLA that has been sitting on top of the printer in a humid room.

You get what you pay for.

I got my MK3S+ from rising sun thought looks to be out of stock.

https://risingsunfpv.com.au/collect...ent-resin/products/original-prusa-i3-mk3s-kit

Though they do have a mini + 10 rolls of Prusament for an alright price.

https://risingsunfpv.com.au/collect...friday-special-2-bonus-rolls-of-prusament-pla

 

I wouldn't spend top dollar on something that is likely to be a fad.

 

Every hobby or fad has a cost

for business it won’t be a fad

$1500 seems cheaper then many other hobbies I just sold all my archery gear and got 9k back for 6 year old gear

 

Seems like an expensive hobby, how long was it sitting collecting dust?

 

Did archery for 20 years was sponsored for bows in the end and got three bows a year

A bare bow was 2500-3000 depending on the US dollar
Site 1k
Scope 300 plus and would have a few different ones
rest 300
Set of 12 target arrows 1k
Had arrows for field target and 3d animals
Bags quiver stabilisers peeps
Release aids were several hundred each and had a dozen accumulated over the years

stopped when I moved rural as couldn’t find a club near by

but standing there ready to shoot a comp with one bow could be 5-7k in equipment maybe more

 

just remember that printing nicknacks off thingiverse are cool for a short while but if your kid doesn't have the know-how or patience to learn to 3D model it'll likely end up collecting dust

there's heaps of robotics / R/C vehicle projects you can print the key structural components for, but don't be sucked into thinking the cost of the other components is negligible, just sayin

 

I would invest in

All metal hot end

filament cleaner as it feeds into the hot end.

perhaps an enclosure ?>

a box for filament rolls to keep out of the moist air Hell, make it a vacuum chamber okay, now i want to make one for myself