I am interested in getting a 3D printer but I have no idea where to even started. Is there such thing as a multi-purpose printer? What’s a good source to read up on printers, software, filament?
I am thinking small replacements items like drawer guides, funnel for espresso machine, essentially little parts and pieces that break around the house and farm. Also maybe some device cases (including outdoor ones) etc.
Ideally I don’t want a closed system. I have a Cricut for 10 years or so and I hate being locked into the app so much. Unless there is a really, really good reason.
Edited to add: Thank you all! What an amazing community!
All your points are valid, but I’m not going to put in 3rd party hardware and their default slicer seems great to me. There’s a group of users for who this is all more or less not an issue.
My Bambu had also been soooo easy. So there’s that.
Bambus do print great, but Sovol, Qidi, Prusa, etc. also seem to print great while not doing any of the Apple/HP-esque anti-consumer practices.
What about software? Locked in? Can you design anywhere and load to print or do you have to design in their software?
All slicers, including bambu-studio (which, as a fork of prusa-slicer, is open source) work by loading .stl files from any source, so yes. You can also techniclaay use any slicer, and no network at all, if you put .gcode files on the printer’s sd card. Not convenient, but functional. But again, bamu-studio works great