454
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #42,857 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
Great beginner printer at an outstanding price
As a beginner printer, the Ender 3 line is extremely popular right now. And for very good reason:
* Excellent price point puts the base model under $200 and the "pro" model under $300
* Outstanding print quality that rivals much more expensive printers
* Strong, growing community - just search Thingiverse for "ender 3 mod", or visit the ender3 subreddit.
Some things to note:
* Don't struggle through the build instructions in the box. I used the 3D Printed Tomb of Horrors build video on Youtube, but there are other build guides out there too. One thing I really liked about the build video I referenced is that he walks through not just how to set up each step, but clearly demonstrates it and explains *why* he is doing so. He also performs a couple of additional steps that are not in the included instructions, simply because they're easier to fix while building the printer than after it's already assembled.
* One of the nuts on my bed rollers came loose after a week or so, allowing the bed to become unstable and causing some prints to fail until I figured out why. Make sure to check all screws, bolts, and nuts periodically.
* The nozzles that come with the printer are great for general-purpose printing, but try other sizes too - the quality difference between the default (0.4mm) nozzles and a 0.2 nozzle are amazing.
* For your first few prints, practice by making some of the upgrades from Thingiverse.
December 2018 · Industrial and Scientific · verified purchase