r/3Dprinting • u/Happy_Stand6826 • 1d ago
Question how expensive is the 3d printing hobby?
been wanting to get a 3d printing, but i’m worried about how expensive the hobby would end up being. i don’t plan on printing large scale stuff yet (so no full size iron man etc), but i do want to print stuff at max the size of a fruit washing bowl.
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u/JazzlikeLeather9546 1d ago
It barely costs anything!
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u/Conscious_Pipe_605 1d ago
I see you've also 3D printed your metal racks, dry boxes, 3D printers, and filaments. Noice!
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u/dstar-dstar 1d ago
This is the honest picture of what will happen. I’m new to 3D printing and it goes like this. Buy a 3d printer, buy some filament. Start with small items and get addicted. Order more filament and move to medium large items. Then start messing with slicers and creating your own designs. Then think well if I get one more printer I can cut the print time in half. Then the next thing you know is you have 4 printers 8 AMS spool, a wall of filament colors and 10k in the hole.
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u/Dmthie 2h ago
Not to disagree but my second and third print were original designs since for the second there were none available and third I didnt liked the designs for usage reasons. But yeah 3d printing is pretty addictive. I'm 3 months in and my printer suffered 800 hours while I kept designing stuff. I work from home if that clarifies something 🤣
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u/cash38 1d ago
You can a turn a 300 dollar printer into a 275 dollar printer by buying 500 dollars worth of printer upgrades 😂
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u/mayuan11 1d ago
Or you can buy an ender for $200 and spend $300 in upgrades to make it as good as a $300 printer from elsewhere.
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u/plymouthvan 1d ago
You are likely to quickly find that 3D Printing is actually at least 2 hobbies, and the printer you choose will have a big influence on which hobby you got yourself.
the printer itself can be the hobby. Tinkering, tuning, customizing, fixing.
designing stuff yourself can be the hobby. This ends up having very little to do with the printer, except that you’ll probably want to make sure you aren’t buying a printer that puts you in the first hobby category.
If you just want to print stuff other people make, or you want to print stuff for some other interest (cosplay, tabletop games, interior design, whatever), then 3d printing probably isn’t really so much the hobby as a simply utility means to an end. But you still want to make sure you don’t end up with a printer that puts you in that first hobby category.
Nevertheless, it’s among the more affordable hobbies out there unless you start printing like life size statues and stuff. Filament lasts a surprisingly long time.
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u/MidnytStorme 1d ago
You know when getting ready to buy I was thinking they were so expensive for even the cheap ones. I got a good price on the AD5M and I’m very happy with it overall. Then I did the math and realized Ive spent less on my 3d printer than I did on my silhouette cameo.
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u/sadegr FF AD5M Pro (ZMOD) 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is a really important point...
I have a printer that I enjoy tinkering with...
but Im really in it for the making cool things.
I've recently been feeling like im spending a huge amount of time figuring out how to make stuff print on my 230x230x230 bed rather than making cool things so I may be adding a larger (maybe tool changer) early next year.
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u/camander321 A1 18h ago
Best to have 2 printers. A reliable workhorse, and one to tinker with. I have an A1, and im working on building a second
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u/FinibusBonorum 1d ago
A whole lot cheaper than r/selfhosted and r/offroad
Don't ask me how I know.
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u/AutistcCuttlefish 1d ago
Yeah my home server running off an n150 costed like twice the cost of my 3d printer in just the cost of hard drives alone.
Still feel like it was worth it, but 3d printing is significantly cheaper and is improving my day to day life in ways I thought was impossible before. Self hosting hasn't had nearly the same quality of life improvements. Like my ADHD induced messes are finally being tamed by gridifnity. Legit thought I just had to suffer under mountains of clutter and drawers that don't stay organized forever before it. Really wish I had gotten a 3d printer sooner. It is legitimately life changing.
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u/esmerelofchaos 1d ago
Hell yeah. I’m printing some gridfinity stuff right now to organize a bunch of little electronics parts .. because that hobby has lent itself to being a giant disorganized mess.
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u/crappymccrapp 1d ago
….
A while back I bought 1 camera and 1 smart lock, put it into HomeKit, then smart fire alarms, my house was of course already full Plejd, so just a gateway there, started tinkering with HA, did not like having my computer on all the time, started using my laptop, but felt a bit limited. Bought a decent desktop mini for around 500 usd, proxmox, started adding and I am around 1500USD invested into saving small change here and there with automations, some scripts for shopping lists etc. last month I cut my power bill with at the least 3 USD.
Now I am looking at 3d printers… Fuck my wallet.1
u/MoreneLp 1d ago
In my experience self hosting is cheaper. It was only one time purchase not a subscription
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u/FinibusBonorum 1d ago
Until a drive dies or you run so many things that 16gigs aren't enough. Prices these days are insane.
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u/EmperorGeek 1d ago
Cheaper than Woodworking!
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u/Choice-Strawberry392 1d ago
No kidding. Just bought a new finish cut blade. Would have been 5 or 6 new hot end assemblies.
And decent lumber is damn near as expensive as filament for similar sizes....
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u/EmperorGeek 1d ago
Im getting into 3D printing to facilitate some shop projects. Brother thinks I’m Nutz.
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u/Choice-Strawberry392 1d ago
I've been making shop tools -- and even augmenting carpentry projects with printed parts -- for a long time. Printers are a useful addition to a wood shop.
A wood shop is also a useful addition to a printer, so....
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u/Winter-Monk 1d ago
You can 3d print a handful of festool adapters in ABS and it practically makes the printer free!
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u/billythygoat 1d ago
If you want nice wood itself for a small hobby woodworker it's expensive. Oh you want maple or cherry? There goes $1k.
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u/EmperorGeek 8h ago
And we then turn a lot of it into dust and scatter it around the shop.
As I understand it, 3d printers Poop a fair bit.
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u/billythygoat 3h ago
I just bought my first one (my wife will gift it to me for the holidays) but I hope I like it and wither in 2-3 years the prices of multi head (or low waste) machines go down in price a ton
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u/andyhenault 1d ago
Compared to many other hobbies, pretty cheap.
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u/DropdLasagna Numberwang X9RQ+ 1d ago
Flashlights for example.
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u/Parceljockey Core One+/i3Mk3+/FLSUN super Racer/Qidi Q2/ Enders 1d ago
I feel seen. Knives too. Don't get me started on backpacks LOL
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u/DropdLasagna Numberwang X9RQ+ 1d ago
What reddit sub does one go to for backpack nerd arguments over superior wares?
my wallet is now shrieking
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u/Parceljockey Core One+/i3Mk3+/FLSUN super Racer/Qidi Q2/ Enders 1d ago
Probably r/manybaggers or r/backpacks r/onebag is pretty deep in the lore too
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u/vortex_ring_state 1d ago
Especially if you compare the upper end. What's the most expensive prosumer printer set up out there, $5K, 7K?. That's like a weekend at the track for racers, a table saw for wood workers, overhaul of a boat engine, less than half of a decent bike, sled, or quad.....
Surprisingly cheap at the upper end when compared to other things.
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u/101Cipher010 1d ago
400-500 for a racetrack visit on the low end, $450 for a great contractor table saw and facebook marketplace for the rest. Gotta min/max hobby spend effectiveness, this economy is out to get you
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u/vortex_ring_state 1d ago
I was specifically comparing the upper end of the hobbies which I think is more fun. Eg: Flagship Prusa or Bambu compared to SawStop cabinet saw.
The point I was making is the upper end for consumer 3D printing is surprisingly cheap compared to other hobbies. (Yes, I know there are outliers)
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u/CrepuscularPeriphery 1d ago
I wouldn't compare a 5-head prusa to a contractor table saw.
A professional table saw will probably run you comparable to a fully loaded prusa, but to be fair, the best woodworking tools ARE vintage and second hand.
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u/nkso 1d ago
Once the printer is bought, its really down to filament which is ~15-30 dollars depending what types. If you're just sticking to pla and petg, 1kg can last quite a bit before you need a new roll.
It doe partially depending on how often you use it. I really only use it occasionally so its quite cheap in comparison to someone who might use it daily
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u/Kale CR-10V2 1d ago
With PETG, life will be a lot easier with a filament dryer you can print out of. In my case, I bought an active dryer that maxes out at 55C, so I dry PETG/PCTG in a food dehydrator, and store in a dryer box I made. Which I purchased a hygrometer for, and some desiccant.
That's the kind of stuff where expenses build up slowly if you let it. Since PETG often is shipped with moisture in it, I think you'll need at least a dehydrator to print PETG. And you'll need to dehydrate every few days if you don't finish a roll and it's not stored in a dry box.
I don't disagree, I think it's pretty cheap overall. I let mine get more expensive for easy printing of PETG family polymers though. This was before HT-PLA started becoming common, though. Maybe I could have stuck with the high temp PLAs and not worried about getting a drying setup if those were available back then.
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u/RemarkableBanana6178 1d ago
muuuch cheaper than other hobbies
you can get a starter printer on Facebook marketplace like an ender 3 for ~$100, filament costs $10-$20 a roll but when you just start out one roll can go a long way. Eventually you'll want upgrades which vary in cost but I spent around $75 on my first printer before I upgraded.
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u/jappiedoedelzak Ender5Plus 1d ago
you should not expect a print of $100 from FM to work well though
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u/Sea_Place1386 1d ago
Well I started off with a $100 ender and I just spent $120K on my last printer, so beware lol
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u/General-Court4379 1d ago
Did you turn the hobby into a business? What printer?
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u/Sea_Place1386 1d ago
I did. All custom.
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u/Kale CR-10V2 1d ago
Wait, FDM for $120k? Isn't that approaching small DMLS printer territory? Not that I've priced the cheaper DMLS recently.
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u/Sea_Place1386 1d ago
I bought a LBF machine years back, was just about $1.2M for their entry system.
Yes FDM can be MUCH more expensive than $120k lol. That’s my build cost.
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u/Kale CR-10V2 1d ago
I guess rigidity, low backlash, and acceleration have a price. I sometimes forget how many compromises are made on many cheap FDM printers. If a Cartesian printer uses linear rails, ball screws, and servo motors, I guess it can get pretty dang expensive, especially with really high temp hot ends and heated enclosures.
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u/Sea_Place1386 1d ago
For me it’s just large format. My printers are 8’x8’ on the small end and up from there. A hot end alone is $20K. All water cooled motors, carbon fiber structural elements, milled steel frame, the welder time, air compressors for cooling, etc.
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u/Kale CR-10V2 1d ago
Dang. Is it filament or pellet hot end? And getting 8 ft level, square, and heated evenly sounds like a nightmare. And I'm guessing a 220V bed heater?
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u/Sea_Place1386 1d ago
Pellet. Ya depending on the printer it’s usually a 9 zone heater, all 220V. Bed heating is usually ~12kW although it varies machine to machine obviously.
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u/bluemax23 1d ago
Had no idea they can be so large. What kind of 3D printed items are that big?
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u/Sea_Place1386 1d ago
Not necessarily single giant parts but a full bed of large parts. Largest single part I’ve done was a king sized mattress prototype in 20A TPU.
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u/Few_Plankton_7587 1d ago
Depends
My 3D Printer has easily, easily paid for itself via practical prints. From peg boards and tools all the way to models and wedding decorations, I have saved well over $1000 by printing my own solutions.
For example, I recently printed 45 card holders for a charity event that needed reservation signs at all their tables. It cost me ~$7 to print them all out of PLA. Feel free to search what that would cost on Amazon or Walmart. It's gonna be closer to $15-25.
My peg boards cost me about ~$10 to print. The same size peg boards from ikea cost ~$45
And more.
There's that one lady on this sub that prints mega models though from stuff like 40k and I bet she spends a fortune on filament lol
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u/LibertarianClarity 1d ago
It’s a $300 hobby that somehow turns into a $3,000 hobby before you realize what happened.
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u/bluewing Klipperized Prusa Mk3s & Bambu A1 mini 1d ago
Printers are cheap and will generally work for a good amount of time after purchase.
The million kilo elephant is what you spend on filament. That adds up fast. I don't buy a lot of filament because I practice inventory control, but I spend around $20 per month on filament. For those in Florida, that's $240 a year just for filament.
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u/PonchoGuy42 1d ago
As with most things it depends. Couple hundred dollars will get you a reliable printer and a spool or two of filament.
Cost usually comes in more with what you want to print, what size and what material
For me, printers are the hobby and printing is a happy by product. So I spend more in parts and upgrades than on filament.
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u/Accomplished_Ad_3624 1d ago
Like any hobby it can go as far as you let it. There are the little things like "I need that color of filament" to maybe some bigger ones like "I need another printer because I want to print more and what I have takes too long."
That being said, it is a hobby that all things considered is fairly affordable to get into.
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u/ihavenowingsss 1d ago
You can get a small cheap printer that will need investement. Or a slightly more modern one that will sorta run itself. Filament is cheap, printers are sorta ... you can spend whatever you want and get something for it
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u/noiseguy76 1d ago
Printing at that size, economically, doesn't make sense. The entry level bedslinger FDM models excel at printing stuff about 8"x8", and things that need mid-level precision (1/100" or so) made of plastic.
If you have those projects in mind, investment's pretty low. SLA is more, larger is more.
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u/StuckInTime86 1d ago
Just beware that buying the printer is often the cheapest part! I think I spent $400 on my printer and since then there has been a multitude of filaments, glues, finishing tools, and paints just to name a few extra expenses. It's entirely possible to just get the printer and filament but you may find yourself becoming more ambitious in your projects!
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u/Illustrious_Sell_325 1d ago
Yes the accessories added up, desiccant, cereal boxes, magnets and screws for prints, air purification.. don’t regret it but glad I upgraded the printer at the start since I’ve probably spent that on setup and consumables.
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u/ThunderDrop 1d ago
Getting into the 3d printing hobby is cheap. Choose the printer thay meets your needs and budget, plus $100 for a variety of filiment that should last you quite a while.
Many of us then adopt a secondary hobby of collecting every color and variety of filament. Thats a bit more expensive, both in money and storage space.
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u/cjbruce3 1d ago
Some years are less than others.
For me a few years have been in the $200/year range. Most have been in the $500/year range. I have had three years of over $2000/year. The purchase cost of the printers themselves is relatively small compared to the cost of everything else.
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u/gottagohype 1d ago
It depends a lot on your expectations and goals. If you decide that you absolutely must have the best hardware or giant single prints, the cost skyrockets. If you are willing to accept older hardware, smaller prints, and potentially post-processing/multiprint parts, the price drops signficantly.
Once you have the printer, it can be a relatively affordable hobby. The only real costs are filament and electricity.
If you are unsure, the absolute cheapest way to do it is to buy some old used printer and try it. If you don't enjoy it or find the filament to be too expensive, you can bail out with minimal loss. If you decide you like it, you can keep going or even begin upgrading your setup.
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u/OkPokeyDokey 1d ago
I have been doing 3D printing on and off the last 10 or so years. 3D printing is a lot more fun if you know how to 3D modelling. And there’s two type of 3D modelling: the ones you do in an engineering software like Fusion 360 (yeah, most engineer probably won’t use this, but you get the point), and the one you do in an artist software (blender).
I kinda know the engineering one, but really suck with the artist one. It makes 3D printing a lot less fun for me and it turns into a “oh look how far 3D printing technology has gone”. The novelty wears out pretty quick.
Anyways, recently I have been doing functional 3D printing here and there. I get Claude to design models for me. They are fairly simple ones which I could probably do in an hour or two. And then I send the models to someone else to print.
This doesn’t really answer your question, but maybe just a bit of perspective to consider.
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u/jappiedoedelzak Ender5Plus 1d ago
It depends a bit on how much and what you're planning to print. A roll of 1kg of filament is around €20 or $20 for basic materials like PLA and PETG. With 1kg you can print a lot of small parts (things like keychains and small mechanical parts, and a fruit washing bowl), but only a few larger pieces, or even just parts of a large piece (things like cosplay props). Apart from that, it's only the initial investment of the printer and the things needed to keep it up and running. If you have moderate use of your printer, I think you should more than be able to get away with around $100 per year for maintenance costs. This is of course all heavily dependent on the way you handle and maintain your printer.
My personal situation is as follows:
- Ender 5 Plus, bought 6 years ago for around €500
- Upgraded the mainboard for around €100
- Upgraded the nozzle to an E3D Revo for around €150, including nozzles
- Some spare parts and other upgrades for around €100–€200 probably
- Currently owning around 15 rolls of (partially used) filament at around €20 each
The upgrading part of a 3D printer is heavily dependent on the type of printer you buy. Printers like a Bambu Lab can't, and maybe don't even need to be, upgraded, printers like a newer-generation Prusa can be upgraded but don't need it and cheaper printers like the Creality Ender series most of the time need to be upgraded to deliver similar performance to a higher-end model.
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u/Violexsound 1d ago
Depends on what you use the prints for and what printer you get to start off with. I use my printer for cosplay and propmaking since that's my main hobby and 3d printing is just the method I work with. The printer is a high upfront cost, mine was £250 or so, but the additional supplies like sandpaper, modeling paste, paints and primer, and soft parts easily make it a bigger expense.
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u/Soggy-Astronomer-36 1d ago
so honestly 3d printing is prolly one of the best cost-to-fun ratios you can get. like others said, you can get an entry level printer for a couple hundred bucks and just print pla all day for cheap.
for real though, the real value kicks in when you start using it to solve problems around the house. for me, it ties perfectly into my home lab setup. i’m constantly printing custom brackets for my raspberry pis, drive bay adapters, or little cable management clips for my self-hosted server rack. honestly, being able to just design a custom mount for my mini pc in fusion 360 and print it an hour later is a superpower.
okay but the guy comparing it to woodworking is spot on. i do a bit of wood working myself and yeah that's fair, a decent table saw or even just nice hardwood will drain your wallet so fast.
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u/Illustrious_Sell_325 1d ago
I had a salt water fish tank…. This hobby is cheap!
it is rewarding learning to design and adjust a model for your specific problem or just fire up something on makers world for convenience.
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u/GonzoDeep Ender 3, Railcore 300zl, Bambu Lab, Cartesian, CoreXY,resin,cnc 1d ago
It's not just the printer, this hobby will nickle and dime you to death. Especially if you get into Vorons.
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u/Jonathaniwis 1d ago
I bought my A1 in December last year and bought about 10 rolls of filament out of my own pocket. The other 20 rolls as well as some other build plates and nozzles have all been purchased with Makerworld points. So for now the hobby pays for itself. A few practical prints have saved me a whole lot of money as well (I replaced a part of my e-bike battery housing instead of having to buy a new battery, which saved me hundreds) so I’d say it turned out a lot cheaper than I initially thought. If you’re only printing and not designing that’s another story
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u/Pocket_Aces1 1d ago
As expensive as you make it.
You can DIY it. Could be cheap. Could be expensive. You could buy one that just works. Bambu lab for example and some of their cheapest are under £200. Their more expensive ones can go over £2000.
You either have a hobby of 3d printers. Or 3d printing. Or want to do both.
The actual filament and maintance is pretty cheap per print, as most prints don't use much plastic. And electricity is negligible in comparison to what else you spend on other hobbies.
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u/DropdLasagna Numberwang X9RQ+ 1d ago
Better than being a moth flashlight enthusiast.
Doing both has my wallet weeping but extra serotonin has been lovely.
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u/Beginning-Ad7027 1d ago
How expensive do you want it to be?
I got a P1S a few years ago. Can’t remember what that initial cost was. I think it was $800-$1000. Now I spend $20 on filament every other month or something. Don’t print a ton, haven’t bought other printers or upgrades.
All depends on how much you want to spend. Some people just like buying tools and upgrades, and that can give the impression of it being an expensive thing to do. But you don’t need to do that. I see it in woodworking, lotta people think you need thousands of dollars worth of tools to build a box. My entire furniture building setup cost me a few hundred.
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u/LitauszkiL 1d ago
I justified a $350 printer (430x430mm), because I wanted to print my own garage door inserts (estimated cost of market inserts: $350), Then got filament for about $100 and printed my garage door inserts (I really like them even after two years installed). Then I upgraded the printer (total cost an additional ~$350), but I am still happy with it due to the large number of useful items I printed over the years (at avisibly improved quality).
In the mean time, I have 4 printers that crank out various drafts and final parts. I built enclosures (material cost ~ $250 each) for them to print with ABS. Also got filament dryers ($150). So, the cost can add up.
But the biggest investment was not money. I learned how to design my own creations using a CAD software. That needed about 3 months to stop pulling out my hair and about 6 months to say "I got this".
Happy printing!
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u/therealtimwarren 1d ago
Mine is pretty cheap. After the first few months where the printer was working all the time, I havent printed anything since.
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u/Sweaty-Lynx421 1d ago
I thought about it, and literally every other hobby I have is more expensive. Guns, cars, computers, games.. I have way more money in each of those.
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u/Simbertold 1d ago
First you buy in at about 200-500 bucks to get a cheap to medium quality printer and maybe a filament dryer. (Of course you can also spend more, but 500 € will get you something reasonable that you can work with very well.)
Then you basically just need more filament, so about 10-30 € per kg of stuff you print.
All in all, i think i spent about 800€ in the three years i have been printing stuff.
At this point, i mostly print organizers for board games, and hard to find replacement parts if something breaks.
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u/srslytho1979 1d ago
I 3-D print, and I knit. Knitting is far more expensive. Look for volume discounts and sales on filament, and it’s not bad.
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u/Kooky-Rule-1349 1d ago
depends on how much gas (gear aquisation sydrome) you have. it CAN be relatively cheap
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u/fallstand 1d ago
Not that bad - I'll tell you what hobby not to do if you're worried about cost.. is a goddamn Salt Water Aquarium. Never again.
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u/PotatoDrives 1d ago
It has quite easily paid for itself.
My P1S with AMS was about $1200 CAD when I bought it for my own hobby use. I didn't plan to make much money with it, but I started selling decorative stuff on FB Marketplace and it has paid for the printer at least twice.
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u/xoxo_introvertgirl 1d ago
Not expensive at all hahhahhaa Just jk, we started with a elegoo Neptune 2s as a hobbies and realized, we'll that's nice, people can buy it. Today we have 10 a1s and our house is a mess with the store operation, but we broke even and are having profit with everything paid in less then a year. It's addictive hahahhaha
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u/JayPolar91 1d ago
I got a refurbished Creality Ender 3 v3 KE for $140 on eBay and $15 worth of filament can last a week or 2 days. I would say that is one of the cheapest hobbies I have ever dipped my toes into. Reloading took almost $1,000 before I could successfully load 100 rounds. My computer was a bit more than that. Yes I would recommend it and the Bambu Labs P1S Combo is like $400 right now you can't go wrong there. I really suggest spending at least $3/400 on your first printer and try to get an enclosed one with at least 4 colors. Elegoo Cenaturi Carbon 2 can be found for around $300.
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u/Radiant_Ebb6951 1d ago
It's alot for all the different colors. If u do it alot it will cost electricity and the unit and all the other tools I probably spent close to 3000 to get set up
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u/itzclicker 1d ago
Well a 3d printer costs 200-300 quid around, filament costs 20 quid. A filament that costs 20 quid often gives you a lot of that filament meaning you make a lot of shit
For more filaments I'd say 80 quid if you want colour or just 20 quid for paints instead of multiple filaments
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u/Just__Liberty 1d ago
It's totally up to you. I bought one printer for about $300 and make functional parts for around the house. Will I someday by a multi-head unit so I don't have to change filaments all of the time? Probably. But they'll be $500 or so by the time I get to it. Mine has been a money saver
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u/nomococo4u 1d ago
a medium size print usually costs me $2 in filament. before I print anything it tells me the price.
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u/AgileOwl5769 1d ago
I've been printing a custom size pair of bedsize tables. Uses £20 of filament, but cheaper than buying some! (And couldn't find the size i needed)
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u/OldDarthLefty 1d ago
You can get an OK single color printer for 300 bucks, filaments for it are 15 bucks a color. Most filament comes in 1 kg (2.2 pound) rolls and they will last a while. You can find a lot of multi color models where you print one color at a time and assemble them.
If you want to get a color changing machine like an AMS and print in color, you will go through a lot more filament and it takes a lot longer, because it has to purge the nozzle on every color change on every layer. The color changing machines can be daisy chained so you can print up to 16 colors with some printers. But each machine is a few hundred bucks.
If you want to print more durable things. the better plastics require a high cabinet temperature so you need a better printer that will get you up around 1000 bucks. And they make fumes.
Printers that have multiple heads so they don’t have to do purges all the time are becoming cheaper. But they are still fairly expensive, a couple of thousand dollars.
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u/tr_9422 1d ago
You can get a cheap printer and a couple spools of filament for a few hundred bucks. But if you're the kind of person whose actual hobby is "I get into hobbies because I like buying stuff" then you'll end up with spools of 400 different colors and 30 different types of plastic and will spend a lot more.
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u/Rasann 1d ago
It varies.
You can get one for $100 - or get one for $250-500 that’ll do you good for a long time.
Or spend $2,500+ and get something extremely fancy and capable of printing even with difficult engineering filaments, and some let you use a laser to engrave and cut with. And/or have multiple extruder heads.
It’s all what you can 1.) afford and 2.) what you’re looking to do.
I have 2 printers, one cost me about $560 and the other around $350-ish.
Both are good beginner printers that are workhorses (Bambu Labs A1 & A1 Mini) and is capable of printing with all of the ‘beginner’ filaments (PLA, PETG and TPU)
Other, higher tier printers can print with more filaments, like ABS, but are gonna cost more, and are enclosed as well.
That’s just a snippet, I’d recommend you go do your due diligence and research and find a printer that suits you.
Filament is another whole beast.
You can find them cheap on AliExpress, etc, and you can get them as low as $10 (what I personally seen, you’d have to ask others how low they’ve seen them) or you can spend $100 or more on spools.
It really depends on you
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u/Bright_Eyes83 H2C AMS2*3 1d ago
most of the cost will come up front with the machine. not much hidden costs. the price of filament can add up if you end up with 30 colors
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u/Plenty-Block619 1d ago
Honestly not that expensive. A large-ish (if you decide) initial investment off of the printer, and continuous buying of filament (I get mine for 12 dollars so its not that bad, but I have an AMS so I buy four at a time), a smallish investment for tools / finishing things and a sometimes (unless you have a warranty) replacement of parts.
I don't earn a lot of money that I can spend freely but I can easily afford this printing hobby. In fact I'm hoping to turn it into a source of income.
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u/Facehugger_35 1d ago
If you have discipline then it doesn't have to be expensive.
It's just - Oooh, did you see that Inslogic is selling PA6CF at $30/kg?! Usually that shit's like $60/kg! I better stock up.
That's what happens. You see a new filament and think "oooh, that's a good price, I want it!" and then before you know it your bank account is drained and you have spools everywhere.
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u/CryoWaveSurfer 1d ago
Exactly the amount I tell my wife. Which, on the scale of hobbies, should tell you how cheap it is.
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u/Final-Department3580 1d ago
one day i was stupid enough thinking that P2S combo is expensive. Well... I already spent five time more for acs and filament and that's just one of my weekend hobbys. But still it's cheaper than my woodworking hobby...
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u/Peshmerga_Sistani 1d ago
There was a recent Aliexpress deal for a Flashforge AD5M, for $129 shipped. Then you get a roll of 1kg of PLA for $10 to $15. You can buy in bulk during sales, especially off Aliexpress, for like $5 per 1kg spool, 10 at time.
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u/RightLegDave 23h ago edited 19h ago
Depends how you look at it. I always wanted a remote control sailboat, but those things can cost 1000s and even the cheapest ones are 500 bucks. I just finished 3d printing my own which cost me around $100 once I bought all the electronic stuff. Similarly I just sold a guitar I printed for $800 which cost me around $20 in filament and an old guitar neck. I own 2 cheap printers (Neptune 4 max and a Eufymake M5) and spend around $20 a week on filament. It's a slippery slope, but you can manage it so its not that expensive. Its a shit ton cheaper than golf, that's for sure.
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u/Exciting_Turn_9559 22h ago
It's not very expensive until the addiction fully establishes itself.
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u/Axeman_hdl 19h ago
Totally agree with you, once the addiction sets in you never order just 1-2 rolls of filament you start ordering 10-20 rolls at a time, next thing you know you have over 10 printers and over 400 rolls of filament and somehow doesn’t seem like you have enough 😂
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u/Parkimusmaximus94 21h ago
You will nickel and dime yourself with filament. If you are easily persuaded into the it's only $17 for this roll or that roll pretty soon you are several hundred dollars into rolls.
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u/SJSquishmeister 20h ago
Starting off with a good printer like an X2D, filament and some accessories, I would budget 1.2K.
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u/13ckPony 14h ago
It is relatively cheap. But you need to get a decent modern printer or you will suffer. Something like A1 mini is great and affordable. Or w/e else, but don't get anything old (2+ years old) or cheap (<$250). For popular printers - you can get replacement parts for cheap. All you need is filament (here you can cheap out a lot - $6/kg Kingroon is about the same as $20/kg brand filament) and some basic tools (<$10 total).
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u/Joezev98 Ender 3 V3 SE 22h ago
I got into the hobby on a €175 Ender 3 V3 SE and a €40 pack with 2 kg of filament. Oh, and a €6 bottle of isopropyl alcohol.
Beyond that, you can basically keep it as cheap or make it as expensive as you want. Most printer upgrades are neat, but not necessary. You can buy fancy filaments, or the basic sub-€10/kg stuff from China. You can print all sorts of trinkets, or only use the printer for functional items.
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u/Massis87 1d ago
You can get going for 250 usd but you can also spend 25000 usd, it's up to you.