Basically title, but I can provide some information.
I’m looking to spend no more than $300 or so. I’m not well versed in different filaments (I’ll be honest, I know nothing) or really anything about 3d printing, but I want to be able to print cup holders for someone I know whose vehicle has none, I imagine heat resistance and strength would be important there. I also do robotics now and would like to be able to make my own small robot chassis and parts. I’m also a Linux user and like FOSS, which I believe is fairly compatible with 3d printing, so I would like to find a printer that doesn’t make me use proprietary software and that I can use with Fedora Linux without too much hassle. I know I’m new to this, and I know I’m in other hobbies where people post things like: “I want to spend no more than 6 dollars to get artificial superintelligence running on an Arduino Nano,” so I hope this isn’t that, and sorry if it is. Thanks in advance.
It is my time to shine! I’ve had 3 3D printers thus far: I started with an Ender 3 Pro that I modified extensively, converting it to direct drive, 3D printed belt tensioners, cable chains, fan ducts, upgraded board with quiet drivers, and a Raspberry Pi running Klipper. All of the modifications led to a decrease in quality over time.
I also had a Qidi for a while, and it was…fine. Not great, but serviceable. Not super repairable or upgradeable, and I had to use their version of the Cura slicer, which they did not do a good job of keeping up to date.
When the Ender 3 Pro started to become unreliable, I switched to the Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro, which is basically the final form of what I was trying to turn the Ender into, plus a bit extra. From the factory, it has direct drive, linear rails, runs klipper, has automatic bed leveling, filament runout detection, etc. It does NOT have wifi, but does have an ethernet port, which I prefer.
Using Fluidd is much better than Octoprint, and I’ve finally switched away from using Cura and am a convert to OrcaSlicer, which is EXCELLENT. It can send prints directly to the printer as well. It’s a great combination that I’m having a lot of fun with.
Full disclosure: I recently discovered that the version of Klipper this printer uses is out of date (2022) and does not fully comply with the klipper license, which I am NOT a fan of, but there is a very well documented way to “upgrade” to a “de-Elegood”, fully operational Klipper.