Saw this deal is back on at $559.20 but delivery not till end of May.
Review looks good for it
Teaching Tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4y1iIRW-9I
Dylan Kowalski: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9y9DTIuZuk
Ben Eadie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9QR0D-6-o8
Mods:
Touch Mi vs BLTouch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3zEJGOcz7s&t=146s
That's good to know, I was hopefully it wasn't 20 days after the end of may
I've been holding off for a bit, and cant make up mind.
Its like:
Creality Ender 3 (do all the mods and not sure total cost)
Anycubic Mega i3 or S (Cheaper but smaller)
JGAurora A5S (Similar price)
Creality CR10S-Pro (About $200 more then this)
I'd go Ender 3 if you're happy with print size it offers. Having said that by the time you pay for some of the upgrades on the Ender 3 (some of which that are already stock on the Sidewinder X1), the price level would be very similar to the Sidewinder in this deal. CR10S-Pro just doesn't make any sense anymore price wise compared to this deal. If the Sidewinder price wasn't so good I would have suggested the non Pro CR10s instead.
If this is your first printer, you can't go wrong with either the Sidewinder or the Ender 3. Upgrading the Ender 3 is going to teach you more about the nuts and bolts of the printer as you get your hands dirty. Of course there are upgrades you could make to the Sidewinder too also but is already really good as is.
I first went Ender 3 then Anycubic Mega S.
The Ender 3 was good but not great due to the V-slot wheel design whereby the rollers eventually wear away from use or overtightening. The bed also has a similar V-slot wheel roller system too. Also it's a bit more of a hurdle to flash a firmware onto the Ender 3. On the plus side there were a ton of mods and tips and tricks for it and the community is great.
So I sold that and went for an Anycubic which uses linear bearings on smooth rods (never need to adjust those) and was able to be flashed from the get go. The downside is that the bed is smaller but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make. The Mega S also came with a Titan clone extruder allowing me to use TPU and flexible filaments from the get-go. Finally it had a much stiffer frame to prevent ringing.
Would you go that over this one?
@asa79: They're both a bit too dissimilar from each other to draw direct comparisons. The Mega S is about half the price of the Artillery and about 2/3 the size so it will depend on your budget and use case.
Auto bed leveling?
Nope you need to go to the CR10S-Pro for that, which is currently $770.10 https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Creality-Auto-CR-10S-Pro-3D-Prin…
You can add a BLTouch or Touch Mi tho
Thanks I am looking for a cheap one with auto bed leveling as I am sure I would bugger it up =P
Maybe need to wait till it becomes default technology with a bit more time.
I'm no 3D printer expert, but watching the youtube reviews above it doesnt look too too hard when you install things like Bltouch etc
@Vyviel: Get the genuine BLtouch and not a 3rd party knock off one. The Genuine one is more $$ but is really one of those things you buy once and done and not muck around with one that could have problems if you get a bad copy.
Honestly bed levelling is not that hard unless your bed is really messed up. It's one of those great learning experiences that everyone should go through so they understand what to do if presented with a machine without auto bed levelling.
@Vavoom: Why would I encounter a machine without it if I purchased one with it? Its not like my job will be 3d printing stuff =P
I have seen how to do it and it seems like a pain in the ass and waste of filament when I could just do it automatically =)
@Vyviel: Well hypothetically, what if the ABL breaks? Would you just not use your printer while you wait for a replacement? I get that it's easier and I would love to have one on my printer as well (I'm onto my second one now) but if you're gonna learn how to use one, it's one of the core lessons.
Usually you would only do it once in a while too unless you take your printer apart for a mod or somehow something else goes wrong.
@Vavoom: Ok good to know I did see a few guides that said you should level it after every 4-5 prints so it sounded like a pain.
Just a general question about these 3d printers. Have these reached a stage where I could just download a "image" and press print? Or is there more to it?
Thanks!
Almost but not quite there yet. Pretty much have to spend a bit of time to calibrate printer, getting to know the materials and print parameters, and upgrading it. Sure you can print out of the box immediately but print quality may not be super great until you have learnt a bit more about it. Original prusa will have less tinkering time associated with it, Chinese printers need more or complete teardown/rebuilds. Alot of public libraries have commercial 3d printers. Library staff dont really care about proper setup/calibration they just hit print and the print quality can be questionable. The more time you invest, the better the print quality. Check thingverse.com you can download heaps of 3d objects.
Yeah well said. I will also mention for the record that the Original prusa is like at least $1200 and the Ultimaker (which requires even less tinkering time, though that is targeted more towards businesses) starts at $2000 with their top model 10k. So yeah, these are the price point compared to Chinese printers which starts from like $250.
Oh! Didn't know libraries also had them. Thanks for all the info!
Edit: oops accidentally replied the post
Out of curiosity what are you guys printing you need these big platforms for? Cosplay?
Trash bins and vases look popular big prints
Radio Controlled planes if its not already sliced for a smaller footprint
wow ok interesting hmmm do i need one :P
That sounds cool I saw a helicopter stl
So I pulled the trigger and got one lol Thanks for the post :)
I ordered a day ago! I sent an email to the store, and they replied that the ETA is actually sometime this week!
This is by far the most complete out of the box experience compared to any other brand out there that is sub 1k right now.