Not sure if this type of product exists -

But looking for a 3D Printer for my 7 year old that is some middle ground of accessible for a kid but not cheap/cheesy. Again, no idea if this is even possible.

For what it's worth he is pretty intelligent and is tracking toward some design/engineering interests and hobbies. Or maybe we stick with Legos. Thanks in advance.

Basic A1 or A1 Mini is about the best entry level and problem free as you can get. Get a used AMS unit if you want to experiment with multiple color prints without manual swapping every time. Anything lower end than that and you will likely be troubleshooting more times that not for him why something isn't working right. Other things you will want is desiccant beads (Cheap on Amazon) and atleast a single roll unit dryer.

A Toybox may be a little more accessible for younger kids. An A1 or A1 mini is probably doable though, they are great printers.

Tinkercad is a great start for some simple 3D modeling.

boy09 said:

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A Toybox may be a little more accessible for younger kids. An A1 or A1 mini is probably doable though, they are great printers.

Tinkercad is a great start for some simple 3D modeling.

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Yeah if you want something for them to tinker with for a few years Toybox is a good option. The A1 is a great choice if you want it to be something that is relatively easy and will stay with them into high school.

Bambu A1 is amazingly easy to use with their app. Wife and 10yo set it up and went to town while I was away this summer.

I have a P1S with AMS and it is very simple and is plug and play right out the box. An A1 or A1 mini would be a good starter that doesn't break the bank.

Thanks so much everyone. We're looking at Toybox or A1. I really appreciate the help.

tacking onto this.. I'm noticing the Bambu A1s aren't enclosed.. every other printer I see on amazon in that price range is enclosed.

Why is this? I'm reading enclosed is far away better for a protected, temp stable environment.

62strat said:

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tacking onto this.. I'm noticing the Bambu A1s aren't enclosed.. every other printer I see on amazon in that price range is enclosed.

Why is this? I'm reading enclosed is far away better for a protected, temp stable environment.

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Its a bed slinger, so enclosure would have to be huge. Most of those cheapo brands are junky made coreXY types. Nothing bad about coreXY, they just make terrible versions of it and their control software is garbo. Temps inside the enclosure wont make a difference for your most basic filaments like petg, pla, and many others. Bed temp for adhesion and nozzle temp are the 2 most important ones. The biggest advantage to enclosures comes when printing higher end filaments like abs, nylon, asa etc. where you don't want to breath in the fine particles and you want to prevent shrinking while still printing. You can always get a popup growing enclosure used for plants to put around it if you ever want to print with those.

https://store.creality.com/blogs/all/corexy-vs-bed-slinger