If anyone is looking to get into 3D printing, or looking to add another printer to your stable to combine with your GF projects, I just picked up one of the Creality Ender 3 printers, which is an excellent printer. You can get them off of Amazon for $239 US, or on sale from GearBest for $179 US (make sure to select free shipping).
There are a few mods to make the printer work better, but this thing is fantastic.
[Note: Those are NOT affiliate links, if anyone is concerned.]
Do you know of any good reviews for it? I’ve been eyeing a prusa for a while, this is way less expensive so if it’s in the same class I might have to consider it.
Tom Sanladerer has a build video live stream.
RCLifeOn has a very complete discussion on his review.
Very tempting for a third printer for me, but I need to keep my existing toys going.
I watched a lot of reviews of it on YouTube before I ordered it. Apparently there were some problems with the early iterations, but those have been solved since June. I’m getting some of my best prints off of this so far. My other printers are a Replicator dual extruder clone and an FT-5. The Ender 3 was about an hour to put together and got great results almost immediately.
Here are a few more:
I thought I saw you had a CR-10 (or 10S) at some point, or am I mis-remembering that?
Yes. I keep my CR-10S and Prusa pretty busy. I do like them since I can set it and forget it instead of having to baby sit the laser. But the laser gets a lot of use. Finally finished the large LED sign order, so back to my own projects.
I’m debating adding a CR-10S to my collection, and based on my Ender 3, it seems like a good deal (especially since they’re also on sale on GearBest right now). Have you had any problems with yours?
No issues at all. Everything arrived just fine. I’ve printed the happy cat a couple times on different filament and am just in awe of how fine that print can come out. I got it for the large Z height mainly. I need a bigger nozzle to fit, but then thinking about different hot ends. It never stops.
I use Slic3r and Octoprint and am pretty happy. The Prusa fork of Slic3r slices models that work great on the Prusa. I’m still tweaking the settings in the normal Slic3r version for the CR-10. I’ve used Cura but I am just more familiar with Slic3r.
This is so tempting. You “people” convinced me to get my first printer to help with the wait for a laser. I got the monoprice mini delta. It is a good little machine which I really don’t have anything to compare it to. But I have come across a few things that are just too big for my 110mm print area. Very tempting…
This is why I started looking at larger printers. And, the pricing on the Ender 3 is hard to resist; even at the Amazon pricing.
Thanks for sharing… I’m tempted! Seems like a good choice to pair with the GF.
Have you made the mods to yours?
I’ve 3D printed many of the mods already. I’m going to make some additional mods just because I can. For instance, I’m going to replace all of the wheels with better options, I’ll replace the PTFE hose couplers, and switch to an all-metal hotend from Micro-Swiss. Since the machine uses v-slot, it’s easy to leverage parts from OpenBuilds for modifications.
Ok, well thanks for my totally unexpected impulse purchase today. Hopefully my marriage survives my gadget obsession. 
And now I guess I should learn something about 3D printing before it arrives. I can obviously search around, but if anyone has favorite resources for info (and favorite spots for buying filament - affil codes welcome), I’d love to check them out!
Talk about rabbit holes!!!
It’s definitely not plug and play. You want a perfectly level, rock solid vibration-proof surface in a place free from drafts and hopefully with a pretty steady ambient temperature, to start with. (I had all that worked out perfectly, and then my GF arrived and booted the 3D printer out of the space!)
There are some really cool filaments that look like wood, metal, etc. They are awesome but can really make you tear your hair out (the wood especially) by hopelessly clogging your nozzle just when you’re thinking the print is going to turn out amazing.
I’ve had mine for 3 years and still feel hopelessly stupid when I use it, and totally amazed whenever I manage to get something to turn out right.
All that said, the best advice I ever got was this:
It gets tedious and boring, but if you get the first layer down (even all the way across, not too squished onto the bed, but not coming unstuck anywhere, measuring the correct thickness, etc.) you’re 'way ahead of the game.
Good luck, and have fun!
There are several youtube channels we followed for ages before buying the latest greatest Prusa.
I like Joel the 3D printing nerd. @Jules came to us from 3D printing forums.
And as always, a search through this forum will get you some pretty good information and leads.
People say to me, “What? you have a 3D printer, too?”
The Glowforge is a gateway drug.
And @geek2nurse reminds me of the one annoying thing about my 3D printer…
Once hubs started putting that kit together, I lost most of my rock solid antique oak library table of a work space and now use the kitchen table for assembly and finishing of laser projects.
The 3D printer was supposed to go somewhere else entirely… but, well. Hmm.
Finding a spot is going to be the issue, mostly because my office looks like a bomb went off and I already took the library over for the GF (because the hedgie and the GF have different room temp requirements and the hedgie lives in my office in the winter).
Thanks for the advice!
I never even wanted a 3D printer. I’m still not terribly impressed with the print quality of any machines that are in my budget (which, having just bought a GF is really, really small). BUT now that I have the GF, I can see a lot of practical uses for pairing up the two.
It is completely against my character to buy something without researching obsessively for months. I knew how to use a GF before I ever touched one and was able to answer most of the basic support questions before I purchased one of my own. I imagine my work productivity is about to take an even bigger nosedive as I start reading everything I can find. 
Some other stuff:
The Simplify3D Troubleshooting Guide is an invaluable reference, whether you use their software or not…
Here’s a Lulzbot forum post expanding a little more on the discipline of getting great prints
I use the Simplify3D slicer, and I like it a lot, but their forums are not friendly, or weren’t last time I ventured there. Mostly everyone there is just waiting for newbies to post questions without screenshots so they can pounce and yell at them. If you try to search the forum for an answer to your question, all you get in the search results are other people asking the same question and being told to search the forum. So that’s kind of frustrating. The Lulzbot forums are much more helpful, and can be a good resource even if you don’t actually have a Lulzbot printer.