3d printer can anyone recommend one

[roseinagarden]

I have no idea what's what and want one. For the sake of wanting one

I honestly wouldn’t bother.

They’re loud, time consuming, and if the bed isn’t completely level they’re likely to fail halfway through something which has taken hours and hours to print.

My DS bought one in lockdown, and the novelty didn’t take long to wear off.

Oh that's good to know. I wondered if the novelty might wear off. Where did your dd get his from?

Your local library may have one when you decide what you might need to print, ours does, I haven't ever needed to use it.

Oh wow thanks @SageRosemary I haven't been to a public library for a rather long time this sounds amazing.

I am going to check that out. Be good to use one before bothering to purchase one if they're not that good.

What magical process do you have to use to create the file you want to print? Something idiot proof preferably.

I was going to get one for christmas, but have delayed it. I was looking at the Prusa mini. There is a good subredit r/3dprinting which has lots of info. Thingiverse is fab for files of things to print.

My adult son has a couple and he absolutely loves them. The print has failed a couple of time because it was too cold (they are in an outhouse) but other than that they have been a great success.

He has the yellow and green ones from amazon Elegoo I think they are called. They had excellent customer service when we needed help too.

Interested to know what people use them for

Ultimaker. We use ours for making all sorts of useful thingummies for around the house. DH does use it for work though so it's not entirely frivolous - not sure we'd have one just for personal use!

DD has one and it is fantastic. She has a flashforge which is all set up in a box so no worrying about level bed or putting it together right. She is printing presents for friends, personalised decorations. You don’t need to design things yourself go to thingiverse.com and there are endless things to print. She designs simple things on tinkercad but mainly uses other peoples design.

Yes I just want one 'to play with' rather than create by awe inspiring designs. I'm quite creative and was hoping to hone in on my creative side by seeing how it all works and buying one to have some fun with.
What one does your dd have @Zebee sounds better for a novice like me?

She has the flashforge adventurer 3. It is more expensive but seemed simpler and she was 12 when she got it. (Combined birthday party and present in lockdown).

@Zebee , I'm pondering one for MrM - the flashforge 3 looks good, can I run it from a windows 10 laptop? Do I need a usb to transfer files or does it work on wifi? Sorry, am a novice!

And he's not that great with tech so basically I will need to make it work ;-)

Yes you can just transfer the files wirelessly (you can use a usb too). Dd runs it from her laptop so should be fine.

Great, thanks

Thanks I will take a look at the flashforge 3 sounds like a good one

Another talk board has recommended prusa...I really am a novice at this

Xyz Pro here. Wasn't cheap though, about £500 from memory but you do get what you pay for.
Easy to set up, no issues with bed levelling etc. Reminds me I need to print a few things this weekend with it.
This is a haunted mansion plaque I printed and painted for DD for Halloween.

Oh wow @RemorselessNorsemen I think I may be sold, that's amazing!

We’ve got an ender 3 pro

It’s great but you do have to put it together yourself.