What Are You Buying Right Now? (non-OT version)

Canugghead said:

@WeberWho About a month ago they were 50% off at CAD $15, I ordered the last one at the store closest to me for in-store pickup. Unfortunately it was badly twisted/deformed. I'll be watching out for the next half price sale 

kl8ton said:

ColbyLang said:

XXL or bust @Kl8ton

I'll take it under advisement. Ha ha. That thing is huge. There is a dealer about 12 miles from here that has one. I'll wander around the store and see what happens. My lovely wife has been informed. She said whatever. But I know "whatever" does not grant as much latitude as one might think. 

poster said:

Debating between a Prusa mk4s or a bambu p2s 3D printer. Does anyone have either?

poster said:

Debating between a Prusa mk4s or a bambu p2s 3D printer. Does anyone have either?

ColbyLang said:

Just ordered my soon to be 11 year old a FlashForge Adventurer

paqman said:

poster said:

paqman said:

poster said:

Debating between a Prusa mk4s or a bambu p2s 3D printer. Does anyone have either?

It depends on what you are planning to print.  I am partial to Prusa.  However, The Bambu p2s at the current price and features is hard to beat.  

I just purchased a Prusa Core One.

I am in it for more functional parts. I had my mind made up from what I read about support for the Prusa, but then saw the  p2s had an enclosure which may be useful for ABS and nylon. I will likely design with 3d software I already have access to at work, then import, slice and print. Software is also another reason I looked at the Prusa. It seems to be open source, so maybe more friendly to use when importing objects, but im not sure on that. On the other side the p2s is much cheaper for something that I will not use daily or even weekly. Did you go for pre-assembled or the kit?

Warping, especially with nylon, will be an issue if you don’t have an enclosure.  You will also 100% need a filament dryer for nylon regardless of the option you chose.  For PLA and PETG, this is not required but very nice to have.  I print almost exclusively with PETG and composite materials.

Flexible filaments (ex TPU) don’t work well with bowden tubing but it worked fine in my Core One and no problem at all with the MK3/MK4.

Printing with reinforced composite materials filaments (carbon fiber, glass fiber) REQUIRES a hardened or other abrasive resistant nozzle.  One roll of abrasive filament can destroy a regular brass nozzle.  The P2S comes stock with a hardened nozzle; you will need to upgrade the nozzle if you go with any of the Prusa with the exception of the Core One L.  I personally use Diamond Back nozzles (200$+++) but there are other less expensive options.

I feel like the Prusa Slicer and Bambu Studio software are pretty much equivalent.  I think that Bambu Studio is based on Prusa slicer.  The problem with Bambu is connectivity to foreign cloud; printers being bricked/crippled doesn’t sound like a far fetched idea.  A couple of years ago, a Bambu server issue caused a backlog of print start messages, which were sent out at once after the fix, triggering printers to resume old jobs, even on top of new ones; I don’t want my printer starting printing while I am away.  Prusa doesn’t depend on the cloud and their remote management implementation fully work without any need for the cloud within your local network.  I compiled the firmware with modifications on my first MK3/S+ because I designed my own extruder; something you could not do with Bambu, their firmware is closed source and likely leaks out data to the mothership.  Not everyone needs their own custom firmware though…

The P2S has a built-in camera that does nice looking timelapses.  No built-in camera in any of the Prusa printers, you need to add their Buddy camera which sucks at timelapses if that’s your thing.  Prusa says that timelapses are coming in a future update.  I personally don’t care about timelapses, I just want to be able to look remotely to make sure everything is going well.  I purchased a Buddy camera for my Core One but I made my own with an ESP32S3 for the MK3/S+ (10$).

The P2S comes with a textured plate good with PETG.  The Prusa comes with smooth PEI place good for PLA.

I assembled two MK3/S+ and purchased my Core One already assembled because I was in a rush.  In retrospect, I would purchase as a kit and assemble it myself.  I am a thinkerer and I like to understand how things work.  It is a huge benefit when time comes to fix something.  All Prusa are upgradeable/repairable; Bambu, not so much.  If you need to fix/repair something on a Prusa, everything is fully documented and you will get support from Prusa and the community, good luck with a Bambu.  I messed up the print head on my first printer and they sent me a replacement despite me clearly being at fault.

When I got my first printer, I did not expect to use it that much.  It is a highly addictive hobby, my printers have pretty much been printing non-stop since I got them.

It is nice that you have access to design software at work, what are you using?  I used OpenSCAD until now but just purchased a 1 year subscription of SolidWorks xDesign Maker license for 24$US (using a discount code).

Multi-material may look like a gimmick for functional parts but you can print support with PLA and print with PETG to make separation easier/cleaner.  I am waiting for INDX system to be available next year.

I would stay away from the cheaper options, the P2S and MK4 are two solid options for you but the enclosure is likely needed for larger nylon prints.  I think that cost wise, the P2S is the clear winner but Prusa Core One from a long term support perspective is the better choice IMHO.