Oh I could of done wood, wood shop in the garage. I have to print out the baffles for it. I have the handles and washers printed. Awesome tech. Getting easier to use but there is a learning curve. Cost varies as most things do. Personally I would not suggest a budget under $300, BF $500-800 probably more the range of a 'better experience'.. Anyway ..
I have 3 rigs and a 4th on the way. The one you see in that picture is a
Creality Ender 3 V3 KE. (they need to seriously work on their naming convention) I actually won this printer last year two weeks after I purchased a
Elegoo Neptune 4 printer (and I think that was the year I won the graphic contest here) It was a good year for me. The lottery ticket didn't win though. I also won a
Ender 3 V3 SE. That was a couple months ago. I know. I need to play the lottery again.
Now I pre-ordered a K2 Plus Combo
Now the only reason I pulled the trigger on that was because I had a nice discount. That being said, enclosed bed, and it was the minimum 'bed size' I wanted at the time. (I want bigger!)
(**Not saying this is what I would purchase now) My creality btw has 100% been the workhorse.
My initial investment was $300 on Black Friday. I wanted the elegoo plus but it was not out yet and I pulled the trigger. I was not willing to pay the extra for the max without knowing if it was worth it. Soon as I opened my neptune 4 box though, I knew the bedsize was too small for what I wanted to do. That being said all depends on what 'you' would like to do with it.
Post investment. More than likely the need for a or DIY dry box or purhase one (40-100$) to keep the humidity low. Pretty sure safe bet around here there though there is quite the knowledge about controling humidity. I 100% need one. My humidity varies upon the season but it can go from fricking 70+ down here to 30's in the winter when the furnace is running (no furnace humidifer). It will 100% effect the filament. Called 'getting wet' and it's made growing in the tent a pain in the ass. (just bought a ac infinity humidifer, thats going up after this post).
Filament depending on the type you use the most, but everyone starts with PLA. Will range between $10 or 11 a 1kg roll on a good sale, or average 17 -22$. It really varies on brand, and type. How long that will last would depend upon what you're printing. You want to print for say something to help with plants outside, or inside the tent. I would not use PLA. Granted, I did use pla for some of the items you see in my pics that's more me testing proof of concepts and not having a stack of petg or better here lol. Long term you will want to use PETG or another filament that is made to be tougher, take the UV, weather etc. I've printed a lot for the tent and ideas always pop in my head. I'm going to design little storm windows for the basement windows as well. Either just snap right into the frame outside with magnets or just press fit. Haven't made up my mind yet.
Don't need anything over a 300mm bed? An enclosed CoreXY that is capable of printing the type of filament you think you would use the most.
DONT FALL FOR THE MICROCENTER $99 OR LESS 3D PRINTER.
Want one of those you can find them all over craigslist or facebook market. (not a bad place to look for a used printer though)
There is a learning curve. It's not plug & play (yet).
You will need to use software *slicer software at minimum.
Lot of people think you need to know advanced design in cad or 3d modeling software. You don't.
I've used the slicer itself to do very basic shapes and designs.
99% of the time you can find what you're looking for on one of the sites like
MakerWorld: Download Free 3D Printing Models or
Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects and modify if necessary.
