Seems like an interesting hobby I literally know fuck all about.
Talk me into it. Or talk me out of it. I'm good with either.
Seems like an interesting hobby I literally know fuck all about.
Talk me into it. Or talk me out of it. I'm good with either.
I have a print farm making stuff for Etsy, so I've seen some stuff.
It's not plug and play, not even the Bambu labs stuff that claims to be. Just understand that you're getting into a hobby that will require that you at least some maintenance and repairs on electro-mechanical components. That's especially true if you buy cheaper stuff, which is more like a hobby kit than a reliable printer.
If you DO have the time and inclination to fix stuff, you can typically get something decent for sub $100 that is having some issue that the current owner can't be bothered to fix. There are tons of broken down Ender 3's out there who's owners would be happy for you to just get it off your hands.
The other half of the hobby is designing stuff, and it is worth learning how to do 3D modeling to make custom stuff. Honestly, just even very basic shapes can be useful. For parametric modeling, I would recommend trying out Onshape. For direct modeling, use Blender.
Then main thing with the 3D printing is: it's not magic, and you gotta use your brain. But if you do, you can manifest your imagination into real, physical objects.