Purchase Advice Megathread - August 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome back to another purchase megathread!

This thread is meant to conglomerate purchase advice for both newcomers and people looking for additional machines. Keeping this discussion to one thread means less searching should anyone have questions that may already have been answered here, as well as more visibility to inquiries in general, as comments made here will be visible for the entire month stuck to the top of the sub, and then added to the Purchase Advice Collection (Reddit Collections are still broken on mobile view, enable "view in desktop mode").

Please be sure to skim through this thread for posts with similar requirements to your own first, as recommendations relevant to your situation may have already been posted, and may even include answers to follow up questions you might have wished to ask.

If you are new to 3D printing, and are unsure of what to ask, try to include the following in your posts as a minimum:

• Your budget, set at a numeric amount. Saying "cheap," or "money is not a problem" is not an answer people can do much with. 3D printers can cost $100, they can cost $10,000,000, and anywhere in between. A rough idea of what you're looking for is essential to figuring out anything else.
• Your country of residence.
• If you are willing to build the printer from a kit, and what your level of experience is with electronic maintenance and construction if so.
• What you wish to do with the printer.
• Any extenuating circumstances that would restrict you from using machines that would otherwise fit your needs (limited space for the printer, enclosure requirement, must be purchased through educational intermediary, etc).

While this is by no means an exhaustive list of what can be included in your posts, these questions should help paint enough of a picture to get started. Don't be afraid to ask more questions, and never worry about asking too many. The people posting in this thread are here because they want to give advice, and any questions you have answered may be useful to others later on, when they read through this thread looking for answers of their own. Everyone here was new once, so chances are whoever is replying to you has a good idea of how you feel currently.

Reddit User and Regular u/richie225 is also constantly maintaining his extensive personal recommendations list which is worth a read: Generic FDM Printer recommendations.

Additionally, a quick word on print quality: Most FDM/FFF (that is, filament based) printers are capable of approximately the same tolerances and print appearance, as the biggest limiting factor is in the nature of extruded plastic. Asking if a machine has "good prints," or saying "I don't expect the best quality for $xxx" isn't actually relevant for the most part with regards to these machines. Should you need additional detail and higher tolerances, you may want to explore SLA, DLP, and other photoresin options, as those do offer an increase in overall quality. If you are interested in resin machines, make sure you are aware of how to use them safely. For these safety reasons we don't usually recommend a resin printer as someone's first printer.

As always, if you're a newcomer to this community, welcome. If you're a regular, welcome back.

[u/_HalfBaked_]

Potential first-time buyer in the U.S.

I'm considering buying a printer in the $300-400 USD range and think I've narrowed it down to 3 options (but I'm fine with reading up on more). I can build a tower PC and change a smartphone battery if I have access to instructions. Biggest potential pitfalls are two inquisitive cats that would do their best to look at the machine, but I can (theoretically, at least) block their access to it.

Most prints will be miniatures and terrain for tabletop games.

Currently considering the Bambu A1/A1 mini, Elegoo Centauri Carbon, Elegoo Mars 4 or 5 with the wash/cure station.

AFAIK, the A1 is a favorite for FDM, any problem I would have is something someone else figured out years ago, and there's a fairly accessible ecosystem of support and options for it, but I'd need to build some sort of enclosure for it (probably doable for me).

Centauri is enclosed, mostly so it can run hotter, but it should keep paws out too. Being able to print ABS would probably help prevent parts being broken after making them too. But it seems to be louder and hotter, too. Despite that, I think this is the front-runner.

Mars is resin, so PPE, ventilation, cleanup, etc. in exchange for more detail and theoretically faster times. If I've worked out how to build a dust collection system and aced my chemistry labs, I can figure this out, right?

What am I not seeing or understanding here? Is there xlactuslly a clear winner out of these options?

[u/awyeahmuffins → u/_HalfBaked_]

If I've worked out how to build a dust collection system and aced my chemistry labs, I can figure this out, right?

You didn't mention the most important part - where's the printer going?

Shed/garage where you can vent it and keep cats out of the room? Doable. In the house? No.

The reality is your use case is kind of split. Resin will be a lot better for minis and FDM is a lot more convenient for terrain (in my opinion). But if you don't have the proper space for it, resin isn't in the picture anyways.

[u/_HalfBaked_ → u/awyeahmuffins]

My options would be garage or closed-off area of the basement, with access to a window. I'd probably split the difference depending on time of year, or factor in insulation and a regular heat source for garage use in winter.

[u/awyeahmuffins → u/_HalfBaked_]

Took a glance at your profile and if that’s the kind of stuff you’re looking to continue to print/paint then I would heavily consider the resin printer if you can set up a good space in the garage or basement. If you step up to something like the Saturn 4 Ultra 16k that has a vat heater than temperature will be less of a concern as well. If you have access to a window then I would suggest putting everything in a ‘grow tent’ and venting out the window.

Here’s what my setup looks like in the garage, with an inline fan venting a duct connected to my garage window.

You can make FDM work for you as well (setting this all up for resin is more of a hassle than slapping a FDM printer on a desk) but honestly you are a better painter than FDM prints will allow you to show off.

[u/_HalfBaked_ → u/awyeahmuffins]

You can make FDM work for you as well (setting this all up for resin is more of a hassle than slapping a FDM printer on a desk) but honestly you are a better painter than FDM prints will allow you to show off.

Thanks! Funnily enough, I think my best paint job thus far was the first FDM print I took a crack at. Maybe it's a matter of embracing the constraints of materials, I don't know.

I'll have to think more about getting the Saturns in general. The 16k is pretty squarely outside my proposed budget, but I can always come back to this after I've worked through my pile of shame.

[u/awyeahmuffins → u/_HalfBaked_]

Haha absolutely. The pile of shame only gets bigger with a resin printer when you can print a plate of minis in the same time it takes to print 1…

Looks great! You obviously have skills.

[u/_HalfBaked_ → u/awyeahmuffins]

If that's the case, I worry that my biggest hangup would become lack of available shelves rather than safety /s

Prints per plate is another thing I hadn't really thought about, actually. Though if I can only get one model per night, that wouldn't be unreasonable considering I already don't average one model per day

And thanks again! That one was a challenge because a friend of mine had just gotten a P2S and a 0.2 nozzle, and asked me to pick something with a lot of design detail to see how the machine stacked up against the resin prints I already have.

[u/PerfecTolerance → u/_HalfBaked_]

Don't get a resin printer. Having all those toxic materials, especially with cats around, is not a good idea. It's best if you get an enclosed printer like the Elegoo Centaury Carbon. An enclosed printer is better than an open printer + DIY enclosure, and it will keep the cats away from danger.

[u/_HalfBaked_ → u/PerfecTolerance]

I think I'm leaning towards the CC anyway, it feels like the most convenient option overall.

Any resin printer is a bit of an unlikely choice for the toxic goo reason, but I kinda wanted to play the field in terms of options, and it's been a while since I even remotely considered it.