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3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io
There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml
Rules
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No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
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Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
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No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
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Do not create links to reddit
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If you see an issue please flag it
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No injury gore posts
If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)
Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible
If you are just starting out. It is best to go with something cheap, but with the important features, which is bed-meshing. It does not really matter who you are buying it from, because unless it is a Prusa, after-sale support will all be spotty or non-existing.
Personally, I got the Ender 3 S1 as my first printer, for $300. The hardware works well and simple enough. But it is the kind of thing you have to tinker with before it can become reliable. Within the first 3 days, I had to switch to Prusa Slicer; because Creality’s slicer does not have the features I need. And, by the end of the week, I had to update the firmware to the open-source “pro” version; because the built-in firmware does not allow me to easily tram the bed or adjust the bed mesh, which cause me hours of troubleshooting and tons of failed print. After that it is all good.
The next big thing right now is not the CoreXY motion system, it is auto-z-calibration (or auto-first-layer), which meant you don’t need to do the weird paper trick every 2-5 prints. The cheapest machine that have that is the Bambu Lab P1P. The next one up (in term of price) is the Prusa MK4. The trade-out between the 2 is that the Prusa have a good track record of support, while Bambu Lab is cheaper and faster.