3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or !functionalprint@fedia.io
There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml
Rules
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No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
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Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
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No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
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No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing
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Do not create links to reddit
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If you see an issue please flag it
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No guns
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No injury gore posts
If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe/ may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)
Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible
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Saw that you're already considering the Prusa Mk4, and that was pretty much what I would have recommended for your price range. Prusa machines are not cheap, but once assembled they just work. But since Prusa has an open ecosystem and open-sourced pretty much everything, you have complete control and choice on what software you want to use to accompany it, and you also can mod the printer to your liking if needed.
The Bambulabs printers some others mentioned are different in that they are a closed ecosystem. You get the printer as-is with very little playroom for modifications and the software side (slicer) is AFAIK also pretty locked down to what they ship with the printer.
For the slicer, as mentioned it depends on the printer. If you go with Prusa, pretty much any slicer will work. To name a few, PrusaSlicer, SuperSlicer, Cura...
If you go with Bambulabs, (AFAIK) you're restricted to using their slicer.
For designing your own models, there's also a plethora of programs available you can use for free. Be it CAD programs like Fusion 360, SolidEdge, OpenSCAD, FreeCAD, modelling software like Blender, or many many more.