Greetings. Day 1. Looking for guidance

[Thirtywest]

Hey folks, first post, just registered.

I'm looking to get started in 3D printing, but rather than sift through piles of "2022's best printers!" articles I wanted to give some specs and see what you all have to offer.


1. budget: less than $600 preferably
2. size: 6x6" to prototype things and do hobbying.
3. materials: no clue. I'd like things to be durable; food grade could be neat; don't want it to melt or breakdown
4. software experience: I've done some work in blender. Most of my coding has been Swift, php, mySQL, javascript. (yeah, you don't PHP a model together, but I felt if you needed to toss vocabulary around I wouldn't be helpless)

5. painting; yeah, i'd like to paint

Thanks for being patient. Looking forward to reading the site archives here and catching up.

[LePaul]

Check some of our comments from a similar post

http://www.3dprintingforum.us/viewtopic.php?t=2649

[Thirtywest]

Thanks for the link.

Lots to read now.

[Lez0]

Another thing to consider is, do you want to just print, or do you want to work on the printer adding and improving.
I want a printer to just print after I built my first one that took quite a while.
You have the likes of LePaul who is a bit of a nerd and likes to work on 3D printers, no offence LePaul.
I'm at the opposite end of the scale, I just want to use my 3D printers to make parts for prototypes etc. switch on and print.
There will be a learning curve no matter what printer you get, that's the fun part.
Lez

[LePaul]

I agree with Lez, I love machines that just work!
Problem is I keep getting sent this review units that are a mess yet have potential

[Roberts_Clif]

Do not misunderstand me, really like my machines to work also.
Though really learn more when they misbehavior a little once in a while...