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Getting Started Guide 1 – 3D Printer Shopping Guide
So you want a 3D printer. We can help.
If you’d rather skip over the details, here is the short list of printers to consider.
Best Price vs Performance – Ender 5 S1

On the scale of performance per dollar this printer is hard to beat and will serve your gat-lab well.
Pro
- Not very expensive
- Most stable design
- Common replacment parts
- Easy setup and tuning
Cons
- Slow print speed
- Not the cheapest printer
Purchase Links
Best for the Budget – Ender 3 V3 SE

You could spend a little less money on a similar printer from other brands but their firmware has proven less stable than Creality’s. I’m sure this will improve over time but for now this one reigns as king of the cheap printers.
Pro
- Increadibly cheap
- Easy tuning and setup
- Common replacement parts
Con
- Slow print speed
Purchase Links
Top of the Line – Bambu Lab X1 Carbon with AMS

Bambu Printers have taken the top seats since their release of the X1 Carbon with AMS. At $1500 its by far the most expensive printer (5x as expensive) but you print 2x as fast on a fairly plug and play printer. (Not at all saying its perfect and flawless, its got some issues of its own, but it is as good as it gets right now)
Pro
- 2x as fast printing vs E5
- Almost no configuration required
- Easy multi-material setup
- Decent customer service and a good troubleshooting wiki.
Con
- Expensive
- Like – a months rent expensive
- Several car payments expensive.
- Proprietary Chinese send all your data to the cloud slicer. (You can use orca slicer as an offline alternative)
- Some
Purchase Links
Generally speaking, 99% of printers on the market are capable of printing a firearm. That said we do have a few minimum standard features to look out for when shopping.
The Essential: – If you have a printer with these specs you should be good to proceed. Dont chase the trendy meta of what’s popular. See if you like printing with what you have first.
- First are foremost. A price under $400. Some folks wont like printing. A $400 mistaken investment is a lot less painful than a $1500 mistaken investment. Start small. The fancy printers will still be around later.
- A minimum factory print area of 220x 220y 240z – Most of GunCad was designed with the Ender 3 machine envelope in mind, It also has the most common bed size for a 3d printer.
- Minimum 230C Hot End – PLA+ commonly prints around 215-200.
- Minimum 80C Bed – PLA+ usually requires 55-60 to adhere properly.
- Stable firmware – If the code running your printer is unstable then the printer cannot be trusted. Some of our prints take 2 or 3 days to finish. Having a firmware crash in the middle of it is not acceptable.
- UI level step calibration – Plugging a computer into your machine to do something trivial like machine calibration is unacceptable. (web based UI calibration is acceptable.)
- Removable Build Surface – You shouldn’t have to tear your print off the bed when its still attached to the machine. Were not cavemen any more.
- 1.75mm Filament – The most common dimension for filament.
- Cartesian controls – Cartesian g-code is more commonly used and easier to understand than other forms.
- Active part cooling – Your hot end must have a controllable part cooling fan. Period.
The Optional:
- Automatic Bed Leveling/Probe – Leveling is annoying, its nice to make the machine do it.
- Multi Material Support – Just so. Very nice for complicated parts. Certainly not required
- Filament Runout Sensor – Can often save a print if youre trying to use the ends of spools.
- Enclosure – Good for temperature control.
- Direct Drive Extruder – Great for printing fast.
- Easy to find replacement and aftermarket nozzles – Nozzles are wear items.
- Networkable – Not having to get up to check the machine or start a print is nice,
- Steel nozzles – Filament can be abrasive.
- All metal hot end – Better temperature control, higher temps, nicer extrusions.
If you really want to be the vanguard, I cannot stop you from going onto Amazon or AliExpress and building your own printer like they did back in the day (my first printer was a DIY RepRap). It is a path plagued with headbrake, heartache, and woe. It is not for the faint. Far better to stick to the list below until you know what you are doing.
CTRL Tested, Pew Approved
These printers have seen use in the Pew Print Farm or broader network, have preformed well and currently represent good value to a new printer as well as meeting all of the essential requirements listed above.
Recommend | MFG & Model | Estimated Price | Purchase Link | Brief Review |
---|---|---|---|---|
Y | Sovol SV06 | ~190 | https://amzn.to/3M8TmVx | Ender 3, with qol upgrades |
Y | Creality Ender 3 SE | ~$200 | https://amzn.to/44hqmTP | Base model 2024 Ender 3 with direct drive extruder, dual z |
Y | Creality Ender 3 SI Pro | ~280 | https://amzn.to/3L23EXc | S1 with an all metal hot end. |
Y | Ender 3 V3 KE | ~$300 | https://amzn.to/3y2qCtO | E3V3SE with 300c Print temps and linear rails. |
Y | Bambu X1 Carbon | ~$1000 ~$1500 with AMS System | https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/x1-carbon | As close to an out of the box experience as you can get. Expensive though. |
Y | Creality Ender 5 Pro, Discontinued | More stable than the 3 due to its frame design. Still the minimum. | ||
Y | Creality Ender 3 Pro | ~$160 | https://amzn.to/4da31rr | The bare minimum acceptable printer bur for the money look at a V3. |
Anycubic Kobra 2 Pro | ~$260 | https://amzn.to/4dro8FQ | Its a nice entry level printer but I think its outshined by the new E3V3 | |
Y | Ender 3 S1 Plus | ~340 | https://amzn.to/3XJD5xi | S1 with a not substantially larger print volume. Not an S1 pro upgraded. |
Ender 3 V2 Neo | ~180 | https://amzn.to/3XJD6RS | Fails on value. Released as a cheaper alternative to the E3S1. Loses value compared to the Ender 3 V3 series printers. | |
Ender 3 Max Neo | ~340 | https://amzn.to/3XLnttk | Creality went a little mad with the side versions of the Ender 3. This one has some utility, but why? | |
Ender 3 Neo | ~180 | https://amzn.to/4cFpfQN | Fails on value – At launch it was the value option. It has been superseded | |
Creality Ender 3 S1 | Fails in value Ender 3 with auto bed leveling and direct extrusion. | |||
Y | Ender 3 V3 | ~360 | https://amzn.to/4chyhno | Fails in value unless you have developed a dependency on networked printers like I have. |
Y | Creality K1C | ~$600 | https://amzn.to/4be5CPb | Its a nice alternative to the Bambu Printers. |
Y | Longer LK5 Pro | ~285 | https://amzn.to/46j845R | 300x300x400 print area makes this an easy and cheap way to unlock the larger 3D2A print jobs. |
Failed Testing
Even though they failed by my testing they are still capable printers and more likely than not very capable of any type of 3D printing you need to do.
MFG & Model | Test Date | Failure Reason | Price | Purchase Link |
---|---|---|---|---|
Creality Ender 5 Plus | 10/2022 | Could not calibrate e step from control panel and its abl failed to compensate for the factory bed warps. | ||
Sovol SV07+ | 4/24 | Multiple firmware level printer failures. Hardware faults. bad qc, bad design. | $350 | https://amzn.to/3WhhKe8 |
Under Review
MFG & Model | Purchase Link | What I’ve Heard | |
---|---|---|---|
Elegoo Neptune 4 Max | A solid speedy printer once calibrated. |
Additional reading:
- Save time. Start quick – Getting Started Guide 0 – How to Start 3D Printing Quickly
- If you’re still waffling on what printer to get – Getting Started Guide 1 – 3D Printer Shopping Guide.
- Choose your slicer – Getting Started Guide 2 – 2024 Slicer Showdown
- Now you need filament. Get good ones. – Getting Started 3 – Filament deathmatch
- Tune up your printer – Getting Started Guide 4 – How to Setup and Tune Your 3D Printer
Comments
5 responses to “Getting Started Guide 1 – 3D Printer Shopping Guide”
[…] Now get your printer and get started. For a deeper dive into printers and tech read through – Getting Started 1 – 3D Printer Shopping Guide. […]
[…] you haven’t gotten a printer yet head to Getting Started Guide 1 – 3D Printer Shopping Guide for a rundown of the market and our recommendations. Otherwise head to Getting Started Guide 2 – […]
i have the ender v3 ke and im not shure how to use a diffrent slicer for it will the one that comes with it not be able to print the lowers some one nplease help @ poppawheeliee@proton.me
Is the K1 Max a recommended choice? I assume so based on above and given the larger footprint, but would like to confirm.
Your guides are great by the way. This is my first foray into 3D printing so I’d be lost without this excellent work!
The K1 max is good from what I hear..once you get it dialed in. And it will take some dialing.
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