TLDR: thinking about getting a new printer with a budget of maybe €1200, mostly for toys and hueforge. Preferably FOSS

I got an Ender 3 Pro three years ago as my first printer. Over the years I’ve printed plenty toys and some occasional functional parts, and it’s been mostly pretty good. It’s developed problems now and then, but I’ve been able to fix them.

I’ve recently played a bit with HueForge, it’s this software that allows you to print really nice multicolour images by blending filament colours. This is doable by printing in super thin layers. It worked really well on the prusa mk4s at work, but not so much on my printer. Extrusion is just not consistent enough after swapping colours, or when there’s a lot of retractions/deretractions.

I’ve gotten a bit tired of all the limitations the Ender 3 Pro has. I was looking at a Prusa mk4s with mmu3, since I enjoyed assembling the mk4 at work, and it’s been working so well, even for the colleagues who don’t know much about 3d printing. Although, for personal use, do I really want to pay the premium price for that level of reliability and longevity? A lot of budget brands do offer multi colour capable printers these days.

But I also feel pretty tempted to try building a Voron, and while I was looking at those I saw some IDEX printer that look so cool lol. And there’s also the Enderwire that can make use of my old Ender 3 Pro…

Please help.

Update: I went and ordered a QIDI Q1Pro. My partner and I agreed to get a Voron kit and build it together for Christmas, I’ll figure out what multi-mterial system to go for after that. Hopefully the Bondtech INDX

  • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    5 days ago

    I’d highly suggest QIDI if you’re not building from scratch. I got my X pro back in 2018 and not only is it still stupidly detailed, but it’s an absolute workhorse. On top of that, they’re the best customer service I’ve ever had. I’ve made a ton of mods to mine over the years and they’ve done everything from helping me flash custom firmware to recording video guides for reversing the spin on the motors. I really cannot stress how great they are and how well they understand the DIY nature of this hobby.

    • Panties@lemmy.ca
      OPEnglish
      3·
      5 days ago

      Thanks! I’ve only heard about Qidi recently, but they seem to have a really good reputation. I saw someone mention that they’re planning a multi-color system, if i decide for QIDI I will probably wait for that or look into Box Turtle.