Hi! New to the community, new to 3d printing, new to all of this.
I am heavily considering the Prusa Mini as my first printer.
- Want a brand that is a good citizen in the 3d printing community and Prusa seems to be on this list.
- Want a high quality printer to begin my adventure with that doesn’t leave me guessing if it’s my lack of skill or a lack of quality hardware.
- Want open design to enable to tweak and improve the hardware/software as I see fit.
- Linux user who wants full Linux support in the software stack.
- I want to spend as little as possible on my first printer (still want high quality) because I see myself spending a lot more fairly quickly if I enjoy this as much as I suspect I will. Fortunately I can spend what I need to meet my current requirements but keeping cost down as much as possible is the goal.
- Enjoy tinkering with hardware and software. Have a background in electronics and Linux system administration.
Would you agree that the Prusa Mini is a good starting spot considering the above?
The pricing I see in reviews etc seems to be lower then what is currently being offered on the Prusa site. Do they often have sales or specials or is this just because the cost of production has gone up? I see reviews that indicate a price of $349 but it’s going for $429 on the Prusa site currently.
Should I consider adding the filament sensor and any extra build sheets? Filament from them or elsewhere?
Anything I am missing or not considering?
Any and all feedback is welcomed! Thanks ahead of time!
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Not sure about the sale price, but the Mini seems like a perfect fit considering your wants/needs. There are some cheaper options that still allow for tinkering but they may not have the same reliability as the Prusa. So unless budget is a huge concern and you really really like tinkering, I’d stick with the Prusa.
Personally, I would add the filament sensor and build sheets. My philosophy is that it’s better to have them and not need them, than need them and not have them. Especially when shipping takes a while.
I have a Prusa Mini original launch edition, and can’t say enough good things about the printer - we run a low volume Etsy shop with the Mini and it’s been a reliable work horse.
One thing I learned that is not on your list is that Prusa has great customer support; live people that you can talk to on your questions or issues. This in my opinion separates Prusa from most other consumer printer companies.
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I totally suggest the satin sheet if you’re only going to buy one upgrade for a prusa printer, I have a textured one that I do use sometimes with petg but the satin one is frankly amazing, abs and petg go down perfectly and self release when cold. No messing with glue sticks or anything, just set the z offset and go.
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I don’t have a Prusa, but I do use a textured PEI sheet with PLA and it works great. Leaves a great finish depending on what you’re printing too. Alternatively, I bought a separate PEX smooth build plate and have had good luck with that as well so far (again with PLA).
Can’t talk for the price but you won’t find an other company that match as much your requirements, only issue with prusa mini is the small print area but depending what you want to do, it can be enough.
I have no experience with the Prusa mini, but as a first timer, I found the Ender 3 (pro, I think) perfectly good quality. It might be due to lack of experience with anything else, so if definitely defer to folks who have experience with a few different models, but I’ve found it good for all of my printing needs (Cases, utility objects, and the occasional figurine/trinket). If that success is anything out of the ordinary, I think I’d attribute it to a few things…
- I followed a really detailed setup/assembly guide from a YouTube channel about 3d printing miniatures ( I can probably find it again if you’d like, it was highly recommended)
- I got firmer springs for the print bed (sometimes I go hog wild printing things, sometimes it sits for months, I can’t remember them last time I had to level the bed)
- I got a glass print surface.
I was generally in the same boat as you; Liked to tinker, and wanted the best quality but didn’t want to pay out the ass for it. I typically tend to “overspend” when getting into a new hobby out of the fear I won’t stick with it if I struggle with low quality gear, bit also have an aversion to parting with my cash. These upgrades seemed to be the consensus reached at the time for how to get good consistent results out of the Ender 3.
I find the Ender 3 to be occasionally too small for things I want to print, but generally a good size, and look forward to being able to tinker further with an upgraded/quieter main board.
So, all in all, I can’t help with anything specific to the Prusa mini, but can vouch for the Ender 3 as fitting my needs when I think I had the same general quality/cost criteria as you. Hope you found this helpful! Good luck in your printer search!
The Ender 3 Neo comes out of the box with a bed leveler - that’s pretty much my go-to recommendation for someone getting started.
A couple of months ago I bought an ender 3 neo as my first printer. I haven’t been disappointed with it.
I spent ~200€ on my neo. I didn’t go for the v2 neo, as I didn’t feel like the extra features were worth it. Tensioning the belts by hand is not difficult and the glass bed has super good adhesion so far. If the prints are stuck to the bed, I usually put the glass into a freezer for 15min and the prints pop off easily.
The setup before printing was like 1h of assembly and 20 minutes to level the bed and set z offset.
Yeah, if you actively like to tinker, the Ender 3 series will give you every opportunity. And sometimes will require it. xD (My 3V2 hasn’t really required it, but holy shit is it not stock anymore and I have learned a lot making it that way.)
Seriously though, the Ender 3 community and mods availability is unsurpassed. These things are truly the Model T of printers for both better and worse, and I’m glad I started here, it’s been educational as hell and that’s part of what I wanted. And it’s a bit of a hotrod at this point! Because I made it so. :D
I think I’d recommend either buying a larger prusa printer, or a cheaper starter printer. The mini has a small bed that you will probably want to upgrade at some point.
You can regularly find an Ender 3 for ~$100. It is one of the most used printers out there. Tons of information available online about them. You won’t feel bad about wasting a bunch of money on a printer that sits unused.
I bought the Prusa Mk3s+ as my first printer, but I wish I had gone with something cheaper. I didn’t know what I wanted because I hadn’t had a 3x printer yet. Now I really want to build a Voron, but I can’t justify retiring a perfectly good $800 printer to build a new one that’s faster.
For $100 more you can get the P1P. There’s really no contest there, it’s superior in every way. People will tell you that the support is better when you buy a Prusa. But the Bambu labs support combined with the community support is good as well.
I think this video sums things up nicely.
I have a very similar list of requirements and was looking at the mini but after adding up the textured build plate, filament sensor, taxes and shipping it was like 560 for the kit - the shipping cost to the US was a big chunk of that, not sure where you are located.
I ended up ordering a sovol sv06 with 1kg of filament for like $250 on Amazon (there was a coupon for $50 off plus a free roll of filament).
My thought process was if I like printing I will want to upgrade to something bigger and better and that’s easier to do with a cheaper starting cost. Also the sv06 has some common known issues but it seems popular enough that there are plenty of guides to address them.
It hasn’t arrived yet so I may regret it but we’ll see I guess
We got one a while back and love it.
