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Choosing a 3D printer

Which type, which size, how much to spend, and how to tell a real discount from a badge.

• 3D printing for beginners: start to finish
  The whole path in one place: which printer to buy, what to order with it, which filament suits your first project, what to print first, what to watch for when buying, and the mistakes nearly everyone makes.
• How to choose your first 3D printer
  Start with what you want to make, not the spec sheet: the few features that decide whether a first printer is a joy or a weekend-eater.
• How much should you spend on a 3D printer? UK price bands explained
  What roughly £150, £250, £350 and £500 buy you in a 3D printer today, where the big jumps in usefulness are, and why the cheapest printer is rarely the cheapest to own.
• FDM vs resin: which type of 3D printer should a beginner buy?
  Filament printers make tough, practical parts; resin printers make astonishing detail and a lot of mess. What each is genuinely good at, what living with resin involves, and how to choose.
• Auto bed levelling: what CR Touch and BLTouch do
  What an auto bed levelling probe measures, what it cannot fix, and whether you still need to level the bed by hand first. Plus how flow and vibration calibration differ from it.
• Bed-slinger vs CoreXY: what a printer’s motion system means for you
  Why some printers throw the build plate back and forth while others lower it gently, what that does to speed, print quality and desk space, and which suits a first printer.
• Enclosed vs open-frame 3D printers: do you need an enclosure?
  An enclosure matters enormously for ABS and ASA and barely at all for PLA. What a printer box really does for warping, fumes, noise and safety, and when an open frame is the better choice.
• How big a build volume do you need?
  Most prints fit on a far smaller bed than listings suggest. What fits on 100, 180, 220 and 256 mm printers, the hidden costs of going bigger, and why splitting a model is often the better answer.
• Is it really a good deal? How to judge a 3D printer discount
  Big percentages, countdown timers and "was" prices tell you little. How to check a 3D printer discount against what it has really sold for, and what to look for in Warehouse and used deals.
• Multi-colour 3D printing: is it worth paying for?
  Automatic filament changers make multi-colour prints easy, and waste plastic and time on every colour change. How the systems work, the real costs, and the free alternatives.
• The real cost of owning a 3D printer
  Filament, electricity, nozzles, build plates and failed prints: what a 3D printer costs to run in the UK after you have bought it, with a worked example you can adapt to your own tariff.

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