r/3Dprinting 3d ago

Purchase Advice Purchase Advice Megathread - September 2026

8 Upvotes

Welcome back to another purchase megathread!

This thread is meant to conglomerate purchase advice for both newcomers and people looking for additional machines. Keeping this discussion to one thread means less searching should anyone have questions that may already have been answered here, as well as more visibility to inquiries in general, as comments made here will be visible for the entire month stuck to the top of the sub, and then added to the Purchase Advice Collection (Reddit Collections are still broken on mobile view, enable "view in desktop mode").

Please be sure to skim through this thread for posts with similar requirements to your own first, as recommendations relevant to your situation may have already been posted, and may even include answers to follow up questions you might have wished to ask.

If you are new to 3D printing, and are unsure of what to ask, try to include the following in your posts as a minimum:

  • Your budget, set at a numeric amount. Saying "cheap," or "money is not a problem" is not an answer people can do much with. 3D printers can cost $100, they can cost $10,000,000, and anywhere in between. A rough idea of what you're looking for is essential to figuring out anything else.
  • Your country of residence.
  • If you are willing to build the printer from a kit, and what your level of experience is with electronic maintenance and construction if so.
  • What you wish to do with the printer.
  • Any extenuating circumstances that would restrict you from using machines that would otherwise fit your needs (limited space for the printer, enclosure requirement, must be purchased through educational intermediary, etc).

While this is by no means an exhaustive list of what can be included in your posts, these questions should help paint enough of a picture to get started. Don't be afraid to ask more questions, and never worry about asking too many. The people posting in this thread are here because they want to give advice, and any questions you have answered may be useful to others later on, when they read through this thread looking for answers of their own. Everyone here was new once, so chances are whoever is replying to you has a good idea of how you feel currently.

Reddit User and Regular u/richie225 is also constantly maintaining his extensive personal recommendations list which is worth a read: Generic FDM Printer recommendations.

Additionally, a quick word on print quality: Most FDM/FFF (that is, filament based) printers are capable of approximately the same tolerances and print appearance, as the biggest limiting factor is in the nature of extruded plastic. Asking if a machine has "good prints," or saying "I don't expect the best quality for $xxx" isn't actually relevant for the most part with regards to these machines. Should you need additional detail and higher tolerances, you may want to explore SLA, DLP, and other photoresin options, as those do offer an increase in overall quality. If you are interested in resin machines, make sure you are aware of how to use them safely. For these safety reasons we don't usually recommend a resin printer as someone's first printer.

As always, if you're a newcomer to this community, welcome. If you're a regular, welcome back.


r/3Dprinting 16h ago

Project Thermoformed happy ghosts - sweets container

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2.0k Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 10h ago

Project I’m ALMOST done with my 8yo son’s “driller gun!”

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420 Upvotes

My son asked me to make him a driller gun about 6 month ago. I frequently make my kids wooden toys that they ask for, which we design together. My son asked me for a driller gun, and said we should make it with wood. I finally decided to build this thing and commit to learning a little blender. I modeled all of the parts to fit inside of a short length of 4” PVC. I wanted to show y’all “the guts” before it is assembled in the housing. I’m going to upgrade the motors with a couple that have more torque. But as a proof of concept, I’m super happy!!!! (The noise isn’t so bad inside of the PVC).

Thank you for everyone who helped me with settings adjustments when my gears and whatnot weren’t working!!!! I have also designed and printed a grip with a push button “trigger,” which turns the drill off and on.


r/3Dprinting 4h ago

Project My 3D printed Archaeopteryx in a 3D printed frame.

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114 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 13h ago

Free Model I made a 3D printed pencil pouch

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506 Upvotes

I made this chainmail pencil pouch that fits full sized standard pencils and baaaarely squeezes onto a typical 250mm printer. It uses magnets to click closed satisfyingly.

Check it out here: https://makerworld.com/en/models/3258291-chainmail-pencil-case-pouch


r/3Dprinting 7h ago

Discussion First time using a higher end filament - Fiberon PA6-CF20

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165 Upvotes

What an awesome material to print with. Zero warping, no issues. The first print was flawless. I'm finally getting around to trying new materials that aren't abs, PLA, or petg lol.


r/3Dprinting 17h ago

Free Model You should know that the McMaster-Carr website has a ton of 3D models to download.

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938 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 17h ago

Print (model not provided) Prop I edited for my Tommy Vercetti outfit for Halloween (for the bars)

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831 Upvotes

Took a phone model, resized it, added accessibility to it and converted it into a secret hidden vaporizer. Silicon food safe straw so you’re not sucking PLA. I know people say “don’t vape” but it’s always been a social thing when I go out lol


r/3Dprinting 6h ago

Question Buildup on PLA parts due to water?

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36 Upvotes

I 3D printed parts for a hydroponics tower last year with PLA from Overture and now the parts seem to be having some buildup on the edges.

The tower is indoors in an apartment in the Midwest.

I use tap water mixed with liquid plant food to flow through the tower to water my plants.

The plants I tried to grow kept dying, probably from the buildup contaminating the water or something like that.

The parts are still strong and not easy to break compared to some videos I’ve seen of PLA being in water for a long time.

I’m going to reprint the parts with PETG from based on some posts/comments I’m seeing about how PETG is better for gardening. The question I had was is there a scientific term to what’s happening to my PLA parts as seen in the images? Is this happening because I was using PLA? I initially thought this was like salt buildup from salt in the air during the winters from salting the roads but wondering if it’s like the PLA is corroding from the water instead.


r/3Dprinting 3h ago

Project Light Fury! 🤍🐉

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19 Upvotes

I made a Light Fury! 🤍🐉
After sharing my Night Fury and getting such an amazing response, quite a few people asked if I could make a Light Fury as well.
So… here she is! 😄
Really happy with how she turned out. What do you guys think?
And of course, I’d love to see your prints if anyone decides to make her!


r/3Dprinting 13h ago

Print (model not provided) Maltese Falcon made of dreams (and PLA)

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101 Upvotes

The Maltese Falcon from the movie of the same name. It's the stuff dreams are made of, and PLA, and filled with concrete to give it some heft. Printed on my Bambu A2L, primed, wood fill in the gaps, sanded, couple coats of textured black spray paint. Think it's about the same size as the movie prop, very happy with how it came out!


r/3Dprinting 16h ago

Project F1 Helmet Replica

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204 Upvotes

My daughter loves F1 so I asked to some friends at Ferrari to receive the autograph of one of their drivers on a helmet for her birthday. I had no idea of the price of a ballistic helmet... That was unfortunately a no-go. So I got the autograph on a tear on mask and 3D printed a replica (as close as I could with the material in my possession) of the helmet.
Here the result...


r/3Dprinting 11h ago

Project Programming 3d printing Robot

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77 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 1d ago

Discussion I was Blessed by the Filament Gods

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846 Upvotes

I ordered 1x 4-pack of black PLA but received 4x 4-packs!


r/3Dprinting 7h ago

Project Working on RC'ing my floating beverage holder stern

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27 Upvotes

Hey all!

Just wanted to show off a bit of my current project. Some of you might have seen my floating beverage holder on here recently (The Edmund Fizzgerald). Well I have a new boat out as well (I won't post link since it's in a Makerworld contest), but I'm close to the hull integrity and speed testing phase! I'm starting off simple, just 2 motors and 2 props using differential steering. I'm feeling like a 20% chance this will actually be able to maneuver the boat. Next step is to try a different gearing (currently 1:48, might drop down to 1:21), then add a rudder if needed. This thing isn't meant to break any speed records, I just want it to move! This is for my battleship styled drink holder, next I'll work on the Edmund Fitzgerald and then the original CanTainer ship!


r/3Dprinting 12h ago

Project My first anime figure project

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49 Upvotes

I've decided it's a crime that there were never any official figures for the gacha game "Magicami" so I'm taking matters into my own hands.

This is my first attempt at making any kind of anime style figure, but I'm pretty proud of how she came out. (Forgive the low quality photos, I'm using a shitty phone camera and don't have a good backdrop yet.)

I'm planning on making all 12 main girls in their standard dresses and maybe moving on to others once I've gotten through them all.


r/3Dprinting 18h ago

Print (model not provided) Darth Revan Helmet I've recently finished.

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154 Upvotes

Please excuse the beard 😄. Made this helmet with a 3d-printed base, sanded, filled, sanded, filled again, sanded again, painted and weathered. I'm pretty proud of how it came out, and the layered weathering was quite fun.


r/3Dprinting 1d ago

Free Model 400 piece 3d printed roof lamp. No glue assembly

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450 Upvotes

My daughter broke the glass of an Ikea Hyby ceiling lamp. So I designed and printed a new one . 400 individual 3d printed parts Assembled by snapping in place, no gluing required. Parts are easy to assemble /disassemble/swap .

Upon request, I have uploaded the lamp to makerworld. A boost would be highly appreciated if you like the print!

https://makerworld.com/en/models/3256522-400-piece-3d-printed-hyby-lamp-no-glue#profileId-3691270


r/3Dprinting 12h ago

Paid Model I made mini soda can opener keychains for long nails

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24 Upvotes

I designed and 3D printed these cute mini soda can openers because I was struggling to open cans with nails. They've been a game changer! The nail community on here seem to love them, they're always looking for ways to protect their manicures and this has been helpful for them.

I have STL & 3MF files for them on my site. I figured out how to make the supports easy to remove compared to others. And if you want to print and sell them too you can do that, as well!


r/3Dprinting 6h ago

Project I build the machines that print ceramics. Ask me anything

9 Upvotes

Hi, I'm May — an engineer at ADT 👋
I've spent years building DLP ceramic 3D printers, from the
first lab prototype to machines now running in universities
and factories around the world.

So let's talk: printing challenges, materials, picking the
right machine, or what it's really like building a deep-tech
company.

I'll answer every question


r/3Dprinting 13h ago

Print (model not provided) DJI mic 2 handle

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28 Upvotes

r/3Dprinting 19h ago

Project Coffee Grinder powered by kitchen aid

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85 Upvotes

Selfmade Grinder, using 74mm flat burrs from Eureka (because of cheap).
It consist of around 20 different printed parts took 23hrs print time total and let’s not think about hours in CAD.. :,)
There will be no stl, just because no one will Print this or spend close to 60€ on hardware and I am not sure if I want to to anything commercial with it in the Future.
It grinds okay, better than expected and far worse than hoped, some fines and many corse parts that slip trough. But i don’t know how to maximize the alignment. I hoped the 3 planetary gears (they are connected via a threaded rod to the grind wheel) would be enough to evenly align everything, but there is some play in the many components and fittings.
But for a first try (with a lot of trouble shooting) i am quite happy with the result.
A Video will be posted on my Account for all who care too much about this.

Regarding food safety why this case is safe:
(Link to Research by Utah Valley University below and also a great YouTube Video for everyone like me who doesn’t want to read sientific papers. I would recommend the paper though, because it begins with a nice summary of all important information)

1.Harmful substances from 3Dprinting process
2.Microplastic
3.Bacteria Growth in Layer lines

The first and weakest concerns are harmful substances from 3d printing, exspecially lead and ptfe:
The theory used to be that trough extrusion parts of the nozzle and ptfe tubes would be abraded and land in your prints. Brass nozzles contain a tiny amount of lead and the nozzle is abraded over time. But only after kilometers of filament go trough them. But it is non measurable in your prints.
“Furthermore, mass spectrometry readings indicate that no contamination from heavy metals, or other toxins are present in PLA+, and PETG before and after printing.” (1)
PTFE in its solid form is not dangerous, but the gas is when heated over 360 degree C. That is why you shouldn’t overheat your non stick pans.

Microplastics:
The PLA+ that I use I food safe, which lowers the concerns for me. And also even if there is some abrasion in the grinder (which there shouldn’t be because of no rubbing plastics) the grinder coffe goes trough a filter in the brewing process, which would filter out all the microplastic. I would never use a printed (or plastic in general) cutting board, but in my case I don’t see a concern.

Bacteria growth in between layer lines:
It used to be “general knowledge” that bacteria can grow in between layer lines and it is impossible to clean it.
However Research shows:
“indicate that 3D printed parts of PLA/PLA+ (Polylactic Acid), and PETG (Polyethylene terephthalate glycol) can be cleaned to safe levels using warm water (120 °F), and non-concentrated dish soap” (1)
Dish Soap or cleaning alcohol can fully clean 3d printed parts, which eliminates the bacteria concerns for my Case. I would still never use 3d printed parts in contact with highly spoilable food. I.e Eggs, milk, raw meat etc.
But we are talking about coffe beans. Roasted Coffe beans do not spoil, there is no contamination possible. The roasting process eliminates all of that. And Coffe get’s brewed, so even if there was some minor form of cross contamination, the brewing process would eliminate all bacteria. Like boiling water to make it drinkable.

[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373174194\\_Sanitation\\_Effectiveness\\_of\\_3D-printed\\_Parts\\_for\\_Food\\_and\\_Medical\\_Applications\](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373174194_Sanitation_Effectiveness_of_3D-printed_Parts_for_Food_and_Medical_Applications)

[https://youtu.be/lFtMIo00tfY?is=\\_NsT7K4sEcyRH1lb\](https://youtu.be/lFtMIo00tfY?is=_NsT7K4sEcyRH1lb)

(PS: if you reached this far down your attention span is too long for today’s world)


r/3Dprinting 4h ago

Project I’m designing a 3D-printed Hasselblad-style waist-level finder for my Canon 650D

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6 Upvotes

Hello there!

I recently made this LCD waist-level viewfinder thing for my Canon 650D on Tinkercad because I really wanted to experience a waist-level viewfinder but couldn't afford one; I'm still a HS student lol.

Anyways, so how this works is that I put the lower adapter that connects to the the screw-hole of my camera, then I slide the body frame (the one that has the mirror seated at 45 degrees and a Fresnel lens), then put the top of the adapter that connects to the hot shoe. After that, the folding hood is connected to the body frame.

Thoughts on this?

Credits to:
Rayfor_456131 on Printables for the folding hood thing (he might not even see this, but ok)


r/3Dprinting 16h ago

Troubleshooting Why do my coins bulge?

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40 Upvotes

I made shown coins double with the plan to glue both parts together and use them as gift card for my Brother in laws shop.

But after after a few weeks all my prototypes started bulging out in the middle of each coin, only held together by the glue on the sides. Although i glued the whole surface and kept them under pressure for several hours.

What did i do wrong and how can i make it work?

My setup:

Anycubic kobra S, 0.25mm nozzle

0.1mm layers printed veeery slow at 210°C

Anycubic PLA, dried in an ace pro

For glue i used normal UHU extra glue on both sides of the parts.

Thanks for your help.


r/3Dprinting 21h ago

Discussion This rainbow filament is amazing

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107 Upvotes

Decided to print some mahjong centrepieces using a rainbow filament. The results were incredible. Also perfect size so that no one is alike.

EDIT: Forgot to share the filament.

Polymaker Panchroma Pastel Rainbow: https://a.co/d/0ii2nM00