Just like in yoyo right… problem is I’m the guy who bought a 120$ bimetal for his first metal yoyo, destroyed his knuckles, and nearly broke his hand. 
As a woodworker though I definitely respect the value of a decent machine and try to avoid the super cheap stuff to avoid frustration.
Grateful for you and everyone’s help here in getting started.
I would say minus 500 is one level and plus 500 is another level and then 1200 plus.
Do you have a favorite in each level?
I think you should check some youtube comparisons to dive deeper.
Things you should know for example are like:
All companies have philosophies and printers in all price categories.
I think your first decision should be what companies approach u like best.
Then you can look in the price categories and differences.
But still core is that you get your skills down with the software tools to get what you want.
That is the printer I use most: creality-cr-10s-pro-v2
Gonna dive deep for a couple weeks then order one. Can I download the software for free that the Ender series would come with or would I have to purchase the unit and the software separately. It be fun to go ahead and start playing with designs if possible.
You need modeling software and a slicer software.
Both exist as free and paid versions.
Again it boils down to preference which to pick.
Most common modelers are autoCAD, freeCAD, fusion 360 and many more
Most common slicer is definitely Cura which I am not a fan of. If you search for slicer u will find a lot of to select from.
I already have AutoCAD, but it is a Civil Engineering package so probably not the best for 3D printing. I assume fusion 360 is similar since it’s an autodesk product, so I’ll give that a try.
What’s your favorite slicer?
I find Simplify3D by far the best. But I use MatterControlle just to learn pros and cons of them all. Really good also imo.
But anyways start with cura since is de facto standard and you have plenty of doc you need to start off.
+1 for using cura at the beginning
In order to know for sure, I think you’d have to ask the folks who printed their own yoyos.
Most folks only have one kind of 3D printer. They invest in that one methodology and stick with it because it is what they end up knowing best and are most comfortable with. FDM has been the affordable hobbyist category for a lot longer than MSLA, and so odds are that 3D printed objects you see posted online are going to come from FDM machines. Ever since the Elegoo Mars (and its clones) hit the market two years ago, prices for resin printers have plummeted, making them just as affordable as FDM printers. It’s just that there is a slightly steeper learning curve involved, and more post-processing required on the models. Resin printing can also be more expensive overall because of the need for cleaning solutions, curing stations (if you don’t want to have your models curing out in the sun for several hours), ultrasonic cleaning tanks (if you want the cleanest models and don’t want to toothbrush your models to death), nitrile gloves, and so on and so on.
I printed a quick n’ dirty yoyo design on my Elegoo Mars and it was plenty sturdy. It might not survive a hard impact on concrete quite as well as something printed from a really durable filament, but since that practically never happens to me, it isn’t a concern. The smoother results are worth the small difference in durability, as far as I’m concerned.
Here some examples from the folks who posted a lot of FDM prints the last year. I have a SLA printer but I am to lazy to use it. It smells horrible imo and is more work as @zslane already described. But SLA makes def impressive prints if you into figurines and hi res stuff.
Looks great!
Wow! How do you change colors mid print?
You can have multiple nozzles or just pause and switch spool.
The same trick can be done with a resin printer by pausing the print and switching out for a tank filled with a different color resin:
I got the idea for this technique by seeing what others were doing with their FDM printers.
So I have AutoCAD Civil 3D, but have never used the 3D modeling workspace. WoW, I’ve got soooo much to learn about working in the 3rd dimension without the use of point elevations and topos. It’s another world in this workspace! Been watching tutorials non stop to get a grasp on the basics and am having fun playing around! Feels like I’ve just entered a massive rabbit hole!!! Good times.
This is crucial to get it under ur belt. Most people stop the 3D printing hobby because they are limited in their building skills. Most people just download resources from other people and print them.
The printing itself is imo the lesser part since if you wanna have better quality you just send your stuff to a company which will create your stuff in industry quality.
Yeah the 3D modeling is the part I’m really interested in actually. Printing what I model is a bonus really. Just finding stuff others have created and printing it isn’t very exciting to me. Seems like so many people get off on just printing Star Wars characters and groot.
I do enjoy fine tuning and really getting to know a machine, so that’ll be fun to. The more stuff I watch on the Ender 3, the more I’m leaning towards getting the Ender 5 Pro or maybe even go ahead and get the CR-10.
Cool same for me. I worked many years in the video game industry so it was an easy step for me since modeling and coding was already 100% my thing.
If you like fiddling around with machines you will definitely love the hobby.
I use the Creality Ender 3. It’s a good budget option for a fdm printer.
