I’ve been waiting to finish up with some major life stuff before diving into the world of 3D printers. Now that is finally behind me, and I am currently trying to find out which printer I want so that I can place an order.
So far I’ve set my eyes on the new Prusa CORE One. It ticks a lot of the boxes that I think I am after, including:
- As open as I can get (before going into that Voron-stuff, which I think I’m not ready for). I don’t want to be bogged down with having to run proprietary slicers through Wine and things like that. I am not sure how big of an issue that is with e.g. Bambu or Creality (if at all), but I’ve seen enough rug-pulls and enshittification processes that I don’t really want to risk that. I want to be sure that I can use FOSS tools such as Blender and FreeCAD for design, and similarly open slicers, and the whole workflow will work just fine.
- As future-proof as I can possibly hope for. I think the upgrade path from the MK4 to CORE One shows that they are serious about sustainability and longevity of their devices, and as far as I can tell, I should have no troubles sourcing replacement parts. I also want to support companies with this philosophy.
- Has a decent print volume (I know there are bigger, maybe I will be constrained by this at some point?)
- Enclosed - a major reason I did not want the MK4S was that it was not enclosed (but maybe you can get an enclosure?). It will be placed in my study where I spend most of my computer time (which often times is a lot, so I imagine I will be in the room while it is printing). I imagine, with the additional filter, that it will be better with an enclosure. Also, it will be easier to keep good temperature control during prints, as it can get cold here during winter.
- Locally produced (I’m EU based).
I understand that other manufacturers provide more “bang for the buck” and that I in that sense will be overpaying feature-wise. I am fine with that given my emphasis on the above criteria.
However, I am a complete newbie to 3D-printing. I am sure there are some limitations I have not thought about, and I was wondering if there are any major things I have not thought about that would actually affect me negatively and should make me reconsider this model?
I just realized that there are some important questions that none of us are asking (it sounded like you’ve already done some research, and have an idea of what you want (or at least what you think you need), but just so that everyone’s all on that same page):
- What are you looking to get out of the hobby?
- What is your tolerance for tinkering? Or in other words, are you willing to learn and fiddle with the machine or would you rather it “just work”?
- What kinds of things are you looking to print (not necessarily mutually exclusive categories: big things, small details, multi-color, outdoor/ automotive, etc)
- What’s your budget?
- What are you looking to get out of the hobby?
In general, I want to build my skill set to include CAD-modelling and printing things that could help me around my home and for other non-helpful, but fun, things. Some examples below. I am not looking at adding this to my professional skill set.
- What is your tolerance for tinkering? Or in other words, are you willing to learn and fiddle with the machine or would you rather it “just work”?
In general, I would like to tinker some. But I don’t want it to be prohibitively difficult to get started. I am new to this, and am not looking for an incredibly steep learning curve. For instance, I have understood that the Voron might suit my desire for openness more, but my impression is that it would be too much tinkering at this stage.
- What kinds of things are you looking to print (not necessarily mutually exclusive categories: big things, small details, multi-color, outdoor/ automotive, etc)
The immediate projects I have in mind are cases for various Pi/Pi Pico-based projects. Some indoor climate monitors for instance. There are several other smaller projects I have in mind, which could be for instance some custom mounts for my devices. So not too large things to begin with, and these things are what is most important to me now. But I want a multipurpose printer, that could handle both smaller figurines and larger sculptures also (not that exceeds the print volume of the Core One as of now). I know for instance that miniatures would probably be a lot better with a resin printer, but for now I don’t have a space that is properly ventilated for this. In the future I will consider getting more specialized printers if I find that I need it and have space for it.
- What’s your budget?
The Core One is in the higher end of what I had envisioned spending on this, but I can go a little higher if necessary
Tbh it sounds like the core one is a good choice here. Look at tinkering as something you use the printer to do and less as something to do to the printer itself.
I’ve got 2 prusas and while the XL has required a bit more work than my mk3s+ they both are excellent machines that I’ve run for thousands of hours with very little effort.
Welcome to the hobby! CAD modeling is the absolute best way to make your printer useful. A good pair of calipers are all you need to solve myriad issues around the house.
Thanks! Yes, a good pair of calipers are long overdue in my household. Now I will finally have a reason to measure everything!
I think you have it down pretty well.
It’s not perfectly open Source. Upgradeability can be reasonably expected, it’s not the cheapest, but a very good option.
One more thing that could be considered is if one believes Prusa may die as a company. That would of course reduce the aspect of upgradeability. Personally I believe they are fine, and just growing slower (more organically? Than Bambu for example).
Also Bambu will bring out another printer in a similar timeframe as Core 1 will come out. Depending on priorities it can make sense to wait to compare the offerings.
But I don’t think, given your reasonig you’d be making a mistake if you could buy now.
Thanks :)
One more thing that could be considered is if one believes Prusa may die as a company. That would of course reduce the aspect of upgradeability. Personally I believe they are fine, and just growing slower (more organically? Than Bambu for example).
Yeah, the thought had crossed my mind. From what I’ve gathered, Prusa has been playing catch-up in terms of functionality and price competitiveness and for many, the CORE One did not fully meet their expectations. I know nothing of their financial situation, but I can only imagine the general 3D-printing market growing more and more, so hopefully they can maintain a sufficient market share to keep a sustainable business going.
If Prusa went under, I still think I would have a better chance of maintaining a functional printer than if e.g. I had a Bambu printer and they went under (although that does perhaps not seem so likely at the moment?).
so hopefully they can maintain a sufficient market share to keep a sustainable business going
When the market grows, one can lose market share and still have a sustainable business ;).
You don’t even need a growth in revenue for sustainable businesses either.If Prusa went under, I still think I would have a better chance of maintaining a functional printer than if e.g. I had a Bambu printer and they went under (although that does perhaps not seem so likely at the moment?).
That seems reasonable. Let’s not forget that Bambu only increased their Firmware-Feature update promise from 2 years (march 2025) to 4 years (march 2027) after community outcry.
btw (I do not know either way) did a bambu printer ever get a firmware feature like Input Shaping, Phase Stepping, Crash Detection etc. as an update? For example does their LIDAR now work on textured plates? (I think it didn’t in the beginning)
I’m not so sure Prusa will go out of business. But I can see them switching focus from consumer machines to “pro-consumer” machines due to the race to the bottom with consumer machines. It’s impossible for Prusa to compete with Chinese manufacturers on price. The XL and the HT90 already appear to be moves towards that focus.
While I have recently added a Bambu A1 mini to sit along side my trusty old Mk3s+, that Prusa ain’t going nowhere. You will get my Mk3s when you can pry it from my cold dead hands…
But I can see them switching focus from consumer machines to “pro-consumer” machines due to the race to the bottom with consumer machines.
Yes, that has been my impression during my research as well.
One thing that people neglect to mention when they debate “Bambu vs Prusa” is the level of support. And support costs money. Prusa’s level of support is why I chose their brand over other far more expensive printers I was looking at the time. That support level matters to a business. And they are willing to pay for it. So Prusa is well situated to enter the commercial market as a known name.
In my opinion, the only disadvantage is the cost.
But even the cost difference might get recouped later on, if Prusa continues releasing upgrade kits the way they’ve been doing it for the i3 line. Support is also excellent. I broke a thermistor while upgrading a printer, and they sent me a free replacement because it was unclear if it was my fault or not.
Another disadvantage might be that you’ll become a militant Prusa fanboy, and never look at another brand again ;)
Yeah, I’m OK with the cost of it. I don’t only consider a feature vs. price picture, but also factor in things (like you say) support and longevity/sustainability.
The militant fanboyism surprised me a bit (maybe it shouldn’t have?) - looking at some of the comments below YouTube-reviews was… interesting…
Honestly, militant is probably not the right word. But I work with Prusas at my workplace, and the idea of buying a non-Prusa printer actually irks me.
I think you’ll be happy. Coming from someone that’s had a prusa mini for 3 years.
I also use FreeCAD, and I don’t think you’ll have a problem with that with any modern slicer, you can export in step to let the slicer do the meshing, or you can use the mesh workbench to get more control over the resolution of the mesh.
Don’t worry too much about print volume. Can always break stuff up into multiple prints, and that’s often a good idea even if the whole thing would fit inside the print volume.
I have killed a couple build plates, one from the TPU print sticking too well to PEI, and pulling chunks off, one from crashing the nozzle into it after I switched from a bare metal build plate to a PEI one without changing the Z offset.
Other than that, I’ve only really replaced one fan that was getting noisy.
As for filament, I use mostly PLA and ASA, because I don’t need to do anything special to keep those dry enough to print. Probably around 60% PLA, 25% ASA, 15% TPU. PETG is fine, but I need to dry it to keep from getting steam bubbles in my prints, and can’t really be bothered when I can just use ASA or PLA instead.
As for TPU, it will string like crazy if you don’t dry it, but you can mitigate this with some parts by turning on “avoid crossing perimeters”. Also try to avoid support material with TPU. I now print TPU on the back side(bare metal) of a third party build plate, using a very thin layer of glue stick.
I’m pretty sure everything about Creality is Free Software, including both firmware and their self-branded slicing software (which I think is a fork of Slic3r, just like everybody else’s?).
I just bought an Ender 3 V3 SE and have been using it with FreeCAD and PrusaSlicer (on Linux) and sometimes controlling the printer with Octoprint – I haven’t even bothered downloading anything from Creality yet.
I picked the printer because it’s supposedly currently the best cheap 3D printer (mine was an open-box from Microcenter for $135). It doesn’t tick your last three boxes, but you can’t beat the price!
Depending on how much you value open source vs domestic production, part of me thinks that you may want to consider the Sovol SV08. Sovol is based out of China, but that printer is basically a Voron 2.4 modified for mass production (ie much of the printer comes preassembled), and because of it the printer is very open source, as in here’s the GitHub repo. My only major concern would be that the machine ships with a non-standard hot end, however I recently learned (Here) that the community already has a mod to fix that. You also gain a much bigger build volume, for a fraction of the upfront investment. (Edit: That said, it may not be the most beginner friendly machine in existence (see replies))
I’m also somewhat hesitant to recommend a machine that isn’t out and doesn’t really have any reviews yet. With any new product launch like this, I’d almost guarantee that there will be a teething period as the bugs, glitches, and hiccups all get worked out (as goes the early adopter tax). Which means that you may face a slightly steeper leaning curve as someone new to the hobby (Prusa has been around for a hot minute, so I don’t expect it to be too bad, but it’s still worth mentioning). That said, if none of that scares you and if you’re already prepared for the pricetag, Prusa’s are known to be absolute workhorses, there’s no reason they can’t be entry level machines.
The SV08 has been out since at least summer. I’ve had mine since September and I’m super satisfied with it. It is not a beginners machine however, there are a couple of mandatory tweaks and upgrades to make it usable. Nothing unsurmountable but having modded the shit out of my Ender 3 helped a lot.
I have had a SV08 for a few weeks. Had a K1 Max for the same time period. I had 2 or two failed prints on the SV08 and about 3 dozen failed prints.
I returned the K1 Max (with huge struggles with support)
Previously I had a Labist ET4 that only worked for a out 5 prints total before giving up on it.
I will agree with your statement. If you are willing to put in a bit of research on YouTube and GITHUB and swap a few parts and spend a few hours you’ll have a hilarious large printer that just spits out almost anything you throw at it, besides ABS and ASA… For now…
I don’t personally own one, so that’s really good to know! I mostly thought of it since it checked most of what OP was looking for, without being a full on Voron. That’s said, I’m not sure how much of a beginner machine the Core One will be either. Regardless, I’ll add a proceed with caution on my recommendation.
Out of curiosity, what upgrades did you have to make to sv08?
(I also graduated from the Thessian Ender 3 program and went to a v2.4)
I had to swap the stock fan for a Noctua since it was unbearably loud, adjust the volumetric flow and spend some time adjusting the Z-offset. I should also tension the belts a bit but it looks super non-trivial.
Get a BambuLab P1S without AMS.
I don’t want to be bogged down with having to run proprietary slicers through Wine and things like that. I am not sure how big of an issue that is with e.g. Bambu or Creality (if at all), but I’ve seen enough rug-pulls and enshittification processes that I don’t really want to risk that.
You can use PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, Cura or some other slicer with them. They run perfectly fine in LAN-mode removing the Bamub Lab server stuff/question from the equation.
While not every replacement parts are also made by third party companies things like nozzles, PEI-sheets or fans are available from third parties.
As future-proof as I can possibly hope for.
I would argue money in the bank account is far more future-proof than any 3D printer can be and Bambu Lab costs a fraction of what a Prusa core one costs. So when the future arrives use the saved money to buy a next-gen printer.
Locally produced (I’m EU based).
Bambu Labs are well made so not a safety hazard but I can understand this point.
The Prusa core one looks very promising but at the same time, it isn’t for everybody and the general consumer is likely better of by buying the P1S. For the price of 1 Prusa One you could buy 2 Bambu Lab P1S and 10-20kg of good PETG.
regarding Support: Difficult question. Prusa has excellent support but the last experience I had with their printers before dropping them wasn’t that great and was riddled by issues/bugs. BambuLab on the other have the it just works magic but the support needs to improve. You send them a bunch of log files as requested. They probably only look at the oldest file (that might be months old) and provide a “wrong” reply based on that as a solution without looking at the text you wrote.
