Used 3D printer buying tips??

[icb]

Can anyone give me a condensed version of things to look out for when buying a used 3D printer? I want to print small discontinued plastic Porsche parts like the brake wear sensor connector clips pictured and also some of the files available here.
I've got my eye on a Creality ender 3 but I'm not sure if this model is up to this task, what mods, if any it would really need, etc. I run OpenSUSE Linux exclusively and would be using Ultimaker Cura to drive it.

20231110_145648_scaled.jpg (103.62 KiB) Viewed 564 times

[Tom]

What is your budget? For most car parts, you want to print in ABS or better. ABS is much easier to print in an enclosed printer. It can be done with an open printer, especially if you make and enclosure for it, but one of the enclosed Bambu Lab printers like the P1S would provide reliable hassle-free prints (or its knock-of (?), the K1C if you are a Creality fan). I'd be pretty leery of buying a used printer unless you can run some test prints first. Absent physical damage, you can't really tell healthy printer from a bad one ust by looking. Most printers can use any slicer, like Cura, but most printers use a default slicer tailored to it, so I wouldn't go in with one slicer in mind -- use the one best suited to the machine you get.


P.S., since you run Linux, you may also have the hacker mentality to build your own. The first printer I ever used was a DIY kit, and the building process really helps you understand what's going on -- which is harder to do when you buy a modern printer that just does everything so effortlessly. See, e.g.,

https://reprap.org/wiki/Build_A_RepRap

https://www.cnckitchen.com/blog/buildin ... 22-ldo-kit

[icb]

Thanks Tom. Why enclosed? is it a draft thing?

[Tom]

Thanks Tom. Why enclosed? is it a draft thing?

It's really the heat. When you print ABS at room temp, it's much more inclined to warp and lift off the print bed. With a heated bed inside an enclosure, the temp inside can get up over 100, which dramatically reduces that problem. The high-end printers have actively heated print chambers for even higher-temp plastics.

[icb]

Interesting, thanks!

[TerrorBytes]

Unless its basically free I wouldnt bother with an ender especially a used one, youre likely to have to do alot of tinkering just to get it to print decent. I would recommend a bambu P1S or Bambu X1C depending on your budget