No problems synchronizing with LAN only mode in Orca Slicer for me.

Dunno, I just log into the website. Don’t need another app clogging up my phone.

Yup, you just need somewhere in your local network to install it. I’ve been using it on my P1S since I changed it to LAN only mode a couple weeks ago.

Octoeverywhere

Hard to make a good recommendation right now. Prusa really didn’t impress with the core one because they are still using their old bed size (z height isn’t important at all for me) and the MMU just isn’t as good as the AMS. Creality still has OQC issues that enough people encounter even on their high end printers.

There aren’t really even sls printers in that price point yet despite there being somewhat cheaper ($20kish) options for awhile. I wouldn’t expect anything for at least 5-10 years.

That isn’t a paperweight, that is a board in need of minor repair. If you don’t have the skills to do it yourself then find an electronic repair shop, they should be able to fix it for you pretty easily. Soldering on a new connector is like the most basic repair to do.

As someone that uses the exact same comparison. I do try to make it clear that they are both valid hobbies but you need to be honest which your hobby is when picking a printer. For a lot of the Ender and similar printer owners they really do have a 3D Printer hobby specifically.

This fixation isn’t new at all. One of the most popular modifications to Prusa printers for years has been the Nylock mod to make your plate as flat as possible.

It does make sense, while most parts don’t take up the whole bed area, when you do need to utilize the entire space of a printer you dont want to have to struggle with it. Having a good first layer maximizes the chance that your print will be successful.

If you are new and don’t know much I highly recommend staying away from the Ender and similar cheap printers as they require much more tweaking and are less reliable.

Bambu is the best choice in the price range but the printers themselves aren’t very open. No problem running on Linux though, Bambu Studio is available as a Flatpak and Orca Slicer can be compiled.

If you want the reliable, open option in that price range I’d recommend a used Prusa, you should be able to get a MK3S era machine in that price range.

Yeah I looked at a pack of these on amazon recently and had a good laugh at the tolerance they provided for one of the measurements.

This post turned out to be a bit of a rant about what drives me to model my own designs most of the time. In short, it isn’t required, but I highly recommend it.

I’d say that most people who own 3D printers have little to no skill in modelling and are happy printing whatever they can download online. Maybe they hit a point where they want more, but until then learning modelling isn’t a useful skill for them.

Personally, I’m a designer at the end of the day. 3D modelling is a crucial tool in taking my ideas and bringing them to life in a way that can be passed to a manufacturing process and made into a physical object. 3D printing just happens to be the manufacturing tool I use most often for personal projects because it is what I have the easiest access to. If I had a machine shop, I’d use that too. When working on high volume products I’ll design for injection molding, die casting, sheet metal, compression molding, etc.

I’m not against utilizing models people have already put online that solve the problem I want, that is just efficient use of resources. But I agree, most models out there are very poor quality so I pretty rarely use downloaded models. Heck, I just re-modelled Gridfinity bins because I couldn’t find a parametrically adjustable model for SolidWorks that I was happy with (on that note, the dimensional documentation for Gridfinity is straight garbage and I’m still not sure I have it right) and those are some of the most widely available models out there.

I also absolutely despise STL and other non-parametric file formats for sharing designs. They are terrible, inefficient formats that make files very hard to edit. Most people don’t export them in high enough resolution resulting in horrible looking faceted models. The community needs to fully accept STEP as the file format of choice now that any slicer worth using can import them properly.

Yup, all the Bambu printers are pretty good. I’m quite happy with my P1S + AMS. Definitely a better choice for a beginner than the Enders and similarly cheap project printers that many people start out with.

You can always buy an AMS later if you don’t want to now, but the utility of it for me is more around having multiple filaments to choose from without having to load a new filament rather than multicolour printing which is very slow and wasteful.

I wouldn’t bother with a filament dryer. I live in a pretty humid climate and between work and home I’ve been 3D printing things for over a decade and have never felt the need to dry my filament. I’d only really consider it if I was starting to print Nylon or something similarly hygroscopic.

Nah, 3D printing as a hobby actually involves printing things. What you are describing is 3D Printers being the hobby. That is fine too, but too many people can’t seem to make the distinction that they never actually make anything.

I don’t like this at all. All the force of typing going into bending the front edge of the laptop. I know from my Framework that holding it by the front corner causes enough deflection that the touchpad no longer can be clicked so even more force causes concerns about damage.

PTC doesn’t care about being a counterbalance to fusion360 or they would have a less restrictive free version. They only care about making money from subscriptions from corporate customers. They amen way more money from Creo and Windchill than they do with Onshape.

Not uncommon but lots of printers on the market (especially hobbyist ones) are kits that you need to assemble. Bambu printers are pretty much remove the printer from the box, remove some brackets, tape and protective packaging before installing the build plate and spool holder and turning it on.

I’d recommend going for the P1S if you can swing it over the P1P for the enclosure.

I agree with the suggestion, Bambu A1mini is the only printer in that price range I would be willing to purchase and expect for it to work properly. While there are plenty of people happy with their Creality and Sovol printers, they often end up being project printers that require a lot of tinkering to keep them running well and those that aren’t prepared for that shouldn’t buy them.

I like to say there is two different hobbies here, if you want 3D Printing to be you hobby, then spend the money on a known reliable printer, if you want 3D Printers to be your hobby, then buy a cheap printer and get ready to tinker.

A couple other people have recommended resin printers, which are probably better for that you want to do. But be aware that resin is pretty nasty stuff and you need to have the printer in a very well ventilated area and should wear all the recommended safety equipment. You shouldn’t get into resin printing unless you are aware of safety requirements which are often downplayed by people who own them.

I have a couple tips if you don’t mind.

When sketching a line attached to a circle, using a tangent contraint will make the transition between the curve and straight smooth.

Rather than sketching the inside wall and cutting it away, you can just do a shell/thickness command. Alternately, you can offset a sketch from the outside geometry rather than drawing all the features manually again.

Consider how the part is made, you have two very sharp corners on the centerline where the nozzle cannot create the geometry, these areas will be rounded by default, it is better to add fillets so you control what the machine does.

That is because the holders go around an injection molded part and you need to add draft to injection molded parts to ensure they can eject out of the mold. Every CAD software worth using will have the feature. You just model the part with straight sides and then add the drafts in a later step (before you add rounds/fillets). The features generally work by picking some references to define where the draft starts from, which direction to pull the surface, and the surfaces or edges you want to draft.

Honestly, the parts you show are super basic. If you sat down for an hour and read documentation on the basics in Fusion360 you would be able to replicate parts of that complexity no problem.