I'm considering buying a 3D printer for the house, just something for me & my boys to play with, and get them motivated in the engineering fields. I am also a youth football coach and so I have this idea of printing cool figurines that I can hand out to players like trophies throughout the season. I don't have much of a creative mind and so I'm guessing there are some good AI image generators that I can leverage to help create some badass designs. Right now i'm eying the Prusa Core One printer mainly because it looks cool but i've heard they have a good knowledge base for support and all of the replacement parts can be printed themselves.

Does anyone know of any AI image generators that I can use right now to come up with a design before buying the printer? What design software do yal use? (thinkerCAD, Inventor, etc?) Do yal agree with my selection of the Prusa Core One?

Any advice is appreciated!

If I were going to buy a printer in the $1200 price range it would be the BambuLabs X1 Carbon.

I personally use FreeCAD b/c I want a free parametric CAD program that allows me to update a spreadsheet and it will adjust the model accordingly.

For AI tools, look at Meshy.ai or Dzine.ai. I've used neither of them.

I love Prusa printers, i have 2 of them myself (Prusa Mini & MK3.5), but unless you're a Prusa loyalist i don't know if i'd go for the Core One.

Like lb3 said, i'f you're willing to spend $1,200 the X1 Carbon is probably the way to go, but if this is your first venture into 3D printing you can get a VERY capable printer for ~$300.

Bambu Lab A1 - $359

Bambu Lab A1 Mini - $219 (Don't know that you'll get better value than this)

A1 Mini w/AMS - $369

Also, Elegoo just started taking pre-orders for their Core-XY printer, the Centauri Carbon. $299 for that one, which is insane for an enclosed core-xy printer. Reviews are just starting to hit youtube, so check those out for yourself.


No advice on any AI tools though...

How much do you want to learn about 3D printing?

If it's "I just want to print out stuff" the Bambu line of printers is the way to go - specifically the one lb3 mentioned is a great printer - as close to 'fire and forget' as you can currently get. Their support and slicer are pretty top notch. However, you will have to deal with the occasional 3D printer issues (clogged hot end, tuning, etc.)

If it's "I want to understand/teach how 3D printing works AND print out stuff", PRUSA isn't a bad choice there as you get a lot more 'hands on' involvement (especially if you buy one of their self-assembly packages) on 3D printers themselves and how to troubleshoot/fine tune/deal with filament peculiarities, etc.

I personally use Orca Slicer and 3DFusion, but there are a lot of great tools out there that you can find Youtube videos to help you pick based on your tinker level.

That Centauri look like a great value. I have a $99 Reality Ender 3 Pro (with about $350 in upgrades) that is performing like a champ at the moment so I'm not sure I can justify a new printer right now.

I'm also wanting to get into 3D printing and have been looking at the Prusa CoreOne and Bambu X1C as well. That Centauri Carbon looks awesome for a fraction of the price though.

Thanks guys, that Centauri Carbon does look like a steal.

I bought a Bambu P1S with the AMS and it has been great. A little cheaper than the carbon with a few missing features like lidar for some advanced options. I've tweaked a few things but for the most part it's very much a printer designed for someone who wants printed things vs someone who wants to spend time learning about the printing process.

As for models to print, you can check thingiverse.com or thangs.com and find most of what you need for free. Getting into modeling stuff in F360 or something else is probably in the future but you don't have to do that to start.

I bought my kids a Bambu A1 Mini for Christmas and the whole family has been having a blast with it.

Just bought the bambu lab p1s as my first with the AMS. I have no time or interest in tinkering with a printer and this works right out of the box. Been printing things for the shop like a mad man. Been so easy.

I have been fighting and upgrading and tinkering with my old duplicator i3 and I'm thinking of moving to one of the Bambu printers so it just works well and I don't have to tinker constantly to get a good quality print.

Will have to look into the elgoo one though. Seems lieka super great deal, but I'm wondering what all the skimped on to get it to that price.

Ok I have really dumb question. We got my son a Bambu A1 and have it set up and working. There are only like 8-10 preloaded prints on the machine. Where do I get more? How do we expand what we can do?

There appears to be a bunch of websites where people post their designs for others to download. Just google 3D prints and you will see

Thingiverse is a huge one, printables.com is another one that is managed by Prusa, I think.

As others have said find stuff that others have done on some of the main repository sites.

If he wants to make his own, and use real drafting software Solidworks now has a makers license. They have 50%off sales so it's only 24 dollars for the year. It's the full main 3d cad software that professionals use, you just don't get some of the advanced simulation portions.

CowtownAg06 said:

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Ok I have really dumb question. We got my son a Bambu A1 and have it set up and working. There are only like 8-10 preloaded prints on the machine. Where do I get more? How do we expand what we can do?

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I don't have a Bambu Lab, but i believer MakerWorld is partnered with Bambu Lab and is integrated with Bambu Lab printers/slicer directly.

Thingiverse has a ton of stuff. I have moved more toward Printables these days. Cults3D is another i have used in the past.

Yeggi is a search engine that pulls from all the major 3D model websites and puts them in one place. In my experience, it tends to be a little slow and clunky.

Printables is my go-to

I appreciate, and again, I'm dumb and new to this. So the idea is to find the files I want to print on one of these sites then load onto the micro sd card to put back in the printer?

I have only used the Bambu Handy app to look for models but it has a ton and if you link the app to your printer you can print them directly from your phone.

I think it's a matter of downloading the stl file types and uploading into the printer software, then I think there are conversions that are done from there

The Bambu app has had everything I've wanted so far. With the P1S I just find what I want and start the print from anywhere.

lb3 said:

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That Centauri look like a great value. I have a $99 Reality Ender 3 Pro (with about $350 in upgrades) that is performing like a champ at the moment so I'm not sure I can justify a new printer right now.

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I can't really justify it either, but i went ahead and pre-ordered one anyway last night.. Unfortunately it won't ship until the end of June though.

$300 just seems too good to pass up. And i really want to start printing some ASA/ABS, and my Prusas just aren't able to do it reliably.

Looks like BambuLabs has jumped the shark with their new dual head printer with integrated laser engraver/cutter and pen plotter.

https://bambulab.com/en/h2d/tech-specs

I'm so glad I'm at risk of losing my job or I think I would be looking to drop $3500 on this beast.

On a side note, I have gotten hold of some vehicle cad files and some of the .stp are 1+gb each and FreeCad is crawling if it can open them at all.

Memory isn't a constraint. Do I need a file converter to extract the individual pieces? Do I need a better graphics card? Do I need to ditch FreeCad? What's free (or low cost) that's up to the task of modeling hundreds of sheet metal parts and all the nuts, bolts, and clips that go with them?

I have a P1S for my wife's cookie business and some miscellaneous stuff (replaced a broken fan knob yesterday, score), minis for my brother, etc.

For a newbie it's a Godsend. Super easy to use, nearly idiot proof. A couple of things to work through when I got a bad spool from Amazon, but nothing super difficult or technical.

Highly recommend based on my limited personal experience of about a year.

lb3 said:

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Looks like BambuLabs has jumped the shark with their new dual head printer with integrated laser engraver/cutter and pen plotter.

https://bambulab.com/en/h2d/tech-specs

I'm so glad I'm at risk of losing my job or I think I would be looking to drop $3500 on this beast.

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The dual print heads are interesting, but the laser cutting looks like a nightmare for cleanup and maintenance. You can buy an X1C and a separate 40W laser cutter for less than this thing costs.

boy09 said:

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lb3 said:

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Looks like BambuLabs has jumped the shark with their new dual head printer with integrated laser engraver/cutter and pen plotter.

https://bambulab.com/en/h2d/tech-specs

I'm so glad I'm at risk of losing my job or I think I would be looking to drop $3500 on this beast.

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The dual print heads are interesting, but the laser cutting looks like a nightmare for cleanup and maintenance. You can buy an X1C and a separate 40W laser cutter for less than this thing costs.

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The cost is only $2799. There is also a base version without the laser for $1899, or the base with the new AMS 2 for $2199. I'll probably pick up the latter one.

boy09 said:

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lb3 said:

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That Centauri look like a great value. I have a $99 Reality Ender 3 Pro (with about $350 in upgrades) that is performing like a champ at the moment so I'm not sure I can justify a new printer right now.

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I can't really justify it either, but i went ahead and pre-ordered one anyway last night.. Unfortunately it won't ship until the end of June though.

$300 just seems too good to pass up. And i really want to start printing some ASA/ABS, and my Prusas just aren't able to do it reliably.

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Centauri Carbon arrived last week. Pretty impressive machine for $300. It seems to be faster than my Prusas, but holy crap this thing is loud. The Prusas are damn near silent, and the fans on the Centauri sound like a jet engine taking off.

Overall i'm very happy with it so far though.

FYI Bambu is kicking off their anniversary sale on Tuesday

Recommendations / Comparisons on:

Bambu Lab A1 3D Printer $339.00 USD

-Vs-

Elegoo Centauri Carbon $299.99 USD

Same build volume, Carbon has 20,000 max accel vs 10,0000 max accel which I am not sure matters too much as both are way fast.

Carbon is enclosed, while A1 is open. Does being enclosed help with ABS warpage?

I built a Prusa about 5-10 years ago and used it for about a year or two, but spent a lot of time just maintaining and trying to keep it printing well with lots of help from Google. Seems like ABS prints were hit or miss with lots of redo from warpage. Seems like PLA was the way to go back then, but somewhat brittle.

Parts popping off the build plate during print were a problem back then too. Tried heated bed, which helped. Tried ABS dissolved in Nail Polish Remover sprayed on build plate which was supposed to be like a temp glue.
Treated Glass build plate, lots of pain dealing with all of it and lots of re-prints.
Auto bed leveling was just becoming a thing as well.

Now I just want a printer that works out of the box (for the most part, don't mind assembly, and setup), but beyond that don't want to constantly fiddle with the machine to get the prints to work, have all the headache listed above.

Use case is basically small parts, brackets, etc for stuff at work out of ABS or another hard plastic.

I am guessing there are lots of improvements from the Prusa.

Recommendations from those that have them?

How is that Centauri Carbon working out?

I'm still pretty happy with the Centauri after about a month. I don't have any Bambu Lab machines though, so i can't directly compare. I can only compare to my prusas (MK3.5 & Mini). While the quality of prints that come off the Prusas seems a bit better, printing time is cut literally in half on the Centauri. The thing flies. I'm sure i could do more tuning and really get the quality dialed in, but i am lazy, and i'm perfectly happy with the quality it's spitting out. I found a video on youtube that walks through some basic tuning that took about an hour when i first set up the Centauri, and i haven't had to touch any of the tuning settings since.

I've really only printed PETG on the Centauri so far, haven't gotten around to ABS/ASA yet. But i can tell you, the chamber temp only gets to ~32 C while printing. From reading other people's experiences on reddit, they say getting the chamber temp to about 40 or above will make your life a lot easier with ASA. I bought this heater to throw in the chamber, with a temp sensor, for when i do finally decide to dip my toe in with ASA

Bambu Lab does have a BIG advantage if multicolored prints is something you're interested in at all. Especially considering the Centauri ABS isn't even available yet..


While i don't regret my purchase at all, if the P1S had been $499 back when i pre-ordered the centauri, it's definitely something i would have had to think about..


UPDATE: Finally ran my first print with ASA and it turned out fantastic. Didn't need a chamber heater, zero warping, and the print came out great. Didn't think about the bed temp being 100C with ASA vs only about 60C while printing PETG. That got the chamber temp to ~42C.

Putting this on my bookmarks - I would love to get my 8 year old a 3D printer and see him test it. I think he would love it.

I ended up with the QIDI plus 4. Not where I thought I'd land when I first started looking, but seemed pretty solid for the price. Have already printed PETG and ABS with success. Now I can't stop watching videos of mods to do.

Polymaker is running a really good sale, but I think today is the last day. They are one of the best filaments I've used, and they have some really awesome colors.

https://us.polymaker.com/collections/hot-deals

Just ordered a Core One L. Going to get the Bondtech Indx system when it comes out. I'm excited.