For some time I’ve been thinking of buying a 3D printer, I work in IT, studied it and had the opportunity to use one a few times in my life but I don’t really have a good idea on what to look for in ones. I’m making this thread to primary find help for myself but if anyone else feels like they need any advice or you just from experience have any pro tips for others feel free to put them here!
Anyway I’m looking for a filament/plastic printer so I can print some props as well as minis for TTRPGs, so far I’ve been looking at Anycubic Kobra S1 (possibly the Combo variant) but since I have no real knowledge on what I should look at. So if anyone could help choosing something that will last I’d be really thankful. The budget is something around the price Anycubic Kobra S1 Combo (let’s say can go up to 1000 PLN higher) though the combo functionality is not a must for me.
Thank you from the mountain for any help and advice!
Hello Tina Berry Quail it is me (aless) (your, Pal and Bestie) (Alessandra)
I asked the family this question such as you requested. Creality thats the brand of 3D printer we have. It is enclosed 3D printer. Apparently enclosed is more expensive but my dad also says he’s not really expert on it. He says he just bought it and then plugged it in then download the software then do it and thats all he’s know.
Probably at some point I can take photo of it for you but not tonight am too lazy rn. I hope this is help, very nice to be here, big fan of the Pro File Pict Your
My first 3d printer was a first-gen Ender 3. I really liked it! They’re wildly popular, so it’s really easy to find parts to upgrade it with. I think the current version of the Ender 3 comes with all the stuff I’d have upgraded it with anyway, like auto bedleveling and quiet motor drivers.
The one big upgrade I’d still recommend is a PEI build sheet. You can buy them pre-sized. It helps a ton with first-layer issues, which in my experience are some of the first issues you run into.
My first printer was an ender 3 clone. It was fine, a lot of work and tinkering went into it to make it functional though, so be aware it’s absolutely going to be a hobby project in itself.
Minis are a real tricky one, I absolutely agree an SLA (resin) printer is probably the best option – but those come with health risks (and so might PLA, there’s not really a ton of data on this kind of stuff just yet, and mix ins can be all sorts of things!)
You can do minis on an FDM (filament) printer, but you’ll want to get it tuned, possibly get a small nozzle, and make sure you get high quality filaments. The smaller the nozzle, the easier clogs are to get, so if the roll is dirty or even collects too much dust, you might experience problems. The finer, slower, more quality prints you do, the more risky it is for it to actually finish nicely. It’s a fickle thing to work out sometimes.
SLA on the other hand is going to have relatively good quality for most options out there, but it’s a lot more work to go from a printed part to an actual usable item, and resins can be quite a bit more fragile. I had some chess pieces that just kinda cracked over time without ever actually even using them for a game of chess. That all depends on the material though, I’m sure there’s better quality than whatever I had.
But yeah, the health risks are worth looking into before purchasing one. at the very least you’re gonna want a well ventilated room to place it in. The specifics of what kind of filtering you’d want kinda depend on material and I’ve seen a lot of claims going all sorts of ways on that one so it’s worth doing some research on. I’ve had mine for a few years and print (fdm) stuff near my bed, and I haven’t died yet, so I expect more long term damage. Maybe be smarter than me at least
I’m going to second what caaz wrote, resin is best for minis but you REALLY need to look into proper ventilation. I’m also not sure if resin is the best choice for a beginner because it’s pretty messy in comparison.
I got myself a Bambu lab A1 a while back and am fairly happy with it. However Bambu has had a couple of controversies around implementing firmware that goes against the open/sharing mindset of 3d printing, if that had happened before I bought mine I probably wouldn’t have chosen them. On the other hand the A1 is extremely beginner friendly in that it does all the calibration on its own, it’s easy to take apart even as a newbie and the smallest nozzle of 0.2 can indeed print minis, but not at a super professional quality. It printed my DnD character but her face was muddy. Printed a Large creature and was fairly happy with that in comparison.
When I bought the A1 it was talked about as basically the iPhone of 3d printers because of all the automation but I looked at a couple of reviews in 2025 and it looks like maybe the competition has caught up? In any case it’s a fun hobby and I hope you enjoy!
