I was thinking about this question today as someone used our work printer for some personal stuff.
As for me, I am printing little things that I would say make it worth it. I’ve printed lens adapters for my camera for example. That’s worth a good 14 to 30 bucks per print. My most favorite photo was with an adapted lens that came from a projector. I also printed IEMs and those things are worth it. Listening to music is second to none on those things. Plus I printed the same shell but for ear protection and again the fit is perfect and sure there’s post processing to get smooth surfaces but in the end it looks like a professional made it. So I think 3d printers are worth it.
Yes, I just finished printing a rudder core for my sailboat.
For all the headache its caused, its also saved me from several trips to the store to find cable ties, chip clips, a hair dryer holder, pencil cups, spice racks, etc.
I got an Ender 3v2 and for two years was trying to just get it to work properly, repairing it, and learning about printing. After all of that I’ve enjoyed having an okay printer, but I’m a bit jealous of everyone starting out now that won’t have to deal with all of the garbage I did. And I’m sure people who started years before me felt the same when the Enders came out. If not for those annoyances, yes it’s been worth it.
LOL we got an ender at work too. That thing is so going to be dragged down the freeway one day. It’s gathering dust these days. Yup they keep on coming up with more interest stuff. Like the only reason I got into it was because they came up with water soluble resins. Like no way I’m keeping gallons of alcohol at home.
I’d say definitely. The first useful thing I printed was during the pandemic where all the paper towels you could get were those z fold ones you see in office building bathrooms. Suffice to say, most people don’t have a container at home for those types of paper towels, so I mocked one up that was like a home tissue box and printed it out. Saved myself 80+$ on making one instead of buying one on Amazon (also they’re all wall mounted and I didn’t want to do that)
Since then I’ve printed toilet paper roll holders, plant pots, catch all bowls, insulated drink holders, tie racks, jewelry racks and boxes, all manner of things I use almost every day, and I’ve learned about 3d modeling as a result (not really good yet but still) so win win.
Edit: I’d say at this point I’ve definitely printed more than how much the printer costed in terms of things I use. Printing mini figures and scenery for tabletop games alone has exceeded the cost it would have been to buy that stuff.
Yes I have an fdm and a resin printer, but they’ve both got a lot of good use and yes absolutely worth it.
I built my own because they were quite expensive, lots of fun but very little real use at all. I’m planning on reviving it because it’s lots of fun to tinker with.
It would be worth it if I had an actual decent printer. As it stands now, I feel like I just wasted money because all I can print small, pla objects, after days of trial and error and adjusting settings. Saving up for a prusa, hopefully will make it worth it.
The Ender probably wasn’t. It was a lot of effort, and mostly not the interesting kind, and fairly little reward. Although when it worked, it was really good. In the end. Sometimes. And it’s way too big.
The Kingroon, very much yes. It’s cheap, kind of trashy, but compact. Just prints stuff. Parts detach great. Works just about every time. Quiet out of the box. Just kind of annoying to preheat at the start and end of the session to load and unload filament. Very annoying touchscreen. But those are minor things and I’m not tempted to fix it or upgrade anything. I have actual projects to do. Too many actual projects to do.
Oh, and why? Custom parts that are impossible to buy and a lot of work or impossible to machine or fabricate otherwise. Saves a trip to the local library or hackerspace or wherever things could be printed.
95% of my problems went away when I took the thing completely apart (like, further apart than what it comes in the box), and rebuilt it from scratch, making sure every bolt was tight, every moving part was free,corners perfectly cornered, etc.
I think it had just enough factory misalignment and loseness in a few key areas that compounded to cause me tons of headaches.
That, plus a few cheap upgrades (steel bed and better bed springs) really erased almost all the mechanical issues.
Not really. I purchased one with pretty significant maintenance/process requirements, had I gotten one a little more seamless (self leveling/etc) I think I’d use it far more often than I do now.
Tried! Added one of those white barrel self leveling poke tools (can’t remember specifically what they’re called). It was a huuuuuge pain in the ass and only works about 50% of the time oddly, lol.
Yep. So much so that we have 3. One cheap resin, one older FDM, and a Bambu FDM. The only regret…sorta…is the resin. Shoulda got a better one. I mean, it works, but it is super fiddly and finicky. I think a better model would have been worth spending on. We print costume parts, but I also design and print all sorts of stuff for things like headset hangers, cup holders, toolbox organizers, parts bins, etc.
I would put it in the same class as lathes or mills you probably aren’t saving money by buying one but it may open more avenues for you.
I will say though with the price of printers vs mills & etc, a cheap printer will get you much closer to breaking even. You might save more than you spend if you can use an Ender 3 judicially but overall it’s mostly for those odd projects or when a custom part is needed.
For me yes definitely, I’ve used it to fix a half a dozen things around the house, people love 3D printed tchotchkes, seasonal decorations, and just yesterday I actually ended up printing some stuff out for my RC rock crawler.
Absolutely. The experience has been a blast, but I also print miniatures for tabletop games and the printers have paid for themselves multiple times over if I had bought all the minis I have printed. Granted, I wouldn’t have bought that many, but that’s not important.
Learn to model things in CAD. That’s what is limiting me from getting real use out of my printer. It’s fun to print models you find online, but the real value is in printing your own designs.
For many, it’s a hobby. For many more, it’s an adjunct to whatever hobby they do have. Hobby’s don’t have to save you money; and I’m militantly opposed to monetizing hobbies as a way to “justify” them.
Personally, I’m mostly 3d printing custom components (that I’ve designed), for R/C aircraft of various sorts. (Like, my cyclogyros, or the flying saucer powered by a 3d printed ducted fan; which is, more or less, a scaled model of the saucer from the OG Day The Earth Stood Still. or the thermal airship using toaster wire that has taken on a lot of different forms, ranging from 20’ star destroyers to whale sharks to a robot named Buoyant Bob that hands out candy on Halloween.)
I also enjoy 3d printing as a hobby, in of itself, too. (and spend waaayyyyy too much tinkering on the printer. its fun.) But it doesn’t have to save me money, and I feel no need to compare it to other forms of hobbies. It’s what I enjoy.
edit: lets put this in perspective. This would be like asking a golfer if they found golf worth it. the only real questions are “Do I enjoy it” and “can I afford it”. not “can it save me a buck”.
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Yes, I just finished printing a rudder core for my sailboat.
For all the headache its caused, its also saved me from several trips to the store to find cable ties, chip clips, a hair dryer holder, pencil cups, spice racks, etc.
financially worth it?
Probably not.
Did it give me brief respites of light against the clawing, ever encroaching abyssal darkness of life and misery?
Yes.
I got an Ender 3v2 and for two years was trying to just get it to work properly, repairing it, and learning about printing. After all of that I’ve enjoyed having an okay printer, but I’m a bit jealous of everyone starting out now that won’t have to deal with all of the garbage I did. And I’m sure people who started years before me felt the same when the Enders came out. If not for those annoyances, yes it’s been worth it.
LOL we got an ender at work too. That thing is so going to be dragged down the freeway one day. It’s gathering dust these days. Yup they keep on coming up with more interest stuff. Like the only reason I got into it was because they came up with water soluble resins. Like no way I’m keeping gallons of alcohol at home.
I’d say definitely. The first useful thing I printed was during the pandemic where all the paper towels you could get were those z fold ones you see in office building bathrooms. Suffice to say, most people don’t have a container at home for those types of paper towels, so I mocked one up that was like a home tissue box and printed it out. Saved myself 80+$ on making one instead of buying one on Amazon (also they’re all wall mounted and I didn’t want to do that)
Since then I’ve printed toilet paper roll holders, plant pots, catch all bowls, insulated drink holders, tie racks, jewelry racks and boxes, all manner of things I use almost every day, and I’ve learned about 3d modeling as a result (not really good yet but still) so win win.
Edit: I’d say at this point I’ve definitely printed more than how much the printer costed in terms of things I use. Printing mini figures and scenery for tabletop games alone has exceeded the cost it would have been to buy that stuff.
Yes I have an fdm and a resin printer, but they’ve both got a lot of good use and yes absolutely worth it.
I built my own because they were quite expensive, lots of fun but very little real use at all. I’m planning on reviving it because it’s lots of fun to tinker with.
It would be worth it if I had an actual decent printer. As it stands now, I feel like I just wasted money because all I can print small, pla objects, after days of trial and error and adjusting settings. Saving up for a prusa, hopefully will make it worth it.
The Ender probably wasn’t. It was a lot of effort, and mostly not the interesting kind, and fairly little reward. Although when it worked, it was really good. In the end. Sometimes. And it’s way too big.
The Kingroon, very much yes. It’s cheap, kind of trashy, but compact. Just prints stuff. Parts detach great. Works just about every time. Quiet out of the box. Just kind of annoying to preheat at the start and end of the session to load and unload filament. Very annoying touchscreen. But those are minor things and I’m not tempted to fix it or upgrade anything. I have actual projects to do. Too many actual projects to do.
Oh, and why? Custom parts that are impossible to buy and a lot of work or impossible to machine or fabricate otherwise. Saves a trip to the local library or hackerspace or wherever things could be printed.
I am also in the ender boat.
95% of my problems went away when I took the thing completely apart (like, further apart than what it comes in the box), and rebuilt it from scratch, making sure every bolt was tight, every moving part was free,corners perfectly cornered, etc.
I think it had just enough factory misalignment and loseness in a few key areas that compounded to cause me tons of headaches.
That, plus a few cheap upgrades (steel bed and better bed springs) really erased almost all the mechanical issues.
Not really. I purchased one with pretty significant maintenance/process requirements, had I gotten one a little more seamless (self leveling/etc) I think I’d use it far more often than I do now.
It’s almost definitely a pain in the ass, but you can probably add self leveling to your existing printer.
Tried! Added one of those white barrel self leveling poke tools (can’t remember specifically what they’re called). It was a huuuuuge pain in the ass and only works about 50% of the time oddly, lol.
Sounds like you’re talking about a bltouch or a clone, they were in the market super early, I think they were one of the first.
There are more options out there now, but most do work on the same concept.
Yep. So much so that we have 3. One cheap resin, one older FDM, and a Bambu FDM. The only regret…sorta…is the resin. Shoulda got a better one. I mean, it works, but it is super fiddly and finicky. I think a better model would have been worth spending on. We print costume parts, but I also design and print all sorts of stuff for things like headset hangers, cup holders, toolbox organizers, parts bins, etc.
I would put it in the same class as lathes or mills you probably aren’t saving money by buying one but it may open more avenues for you.
I will say though with the price of printers vs mills & etc, a cheap printer will get you much closer to breaking even. You might save more than you spend if you can use an Ender 3 judicially but overall it’s mostly for those odd projects or when a custom part is needed.
For me yes definitely, I’ve used it to fix a half a dozen things around the house, people love 3D printed tchotchkes, seasonal decorations, and just yesterday I actually ended up printing some stuff out for my RC rock crawler.
Absolutely. The experience has been a blast, but I also print miniatures for tabletop games and the printers have paid for themselves multiple times over if I had bought all the minis I have printed. Granted, I wouldn’t have bought that many, but that’s not important.
I print warhammer for friends for money. So that plus the money I saved on models for myself, I’d say it’s worth it.
But it’s also a hobby, learning how the things work and how to model is a lot of fun!
Learn to model things in CAD. That’s what is limiting me from getting real use out of my printer. It’s fun to print models you find online, but the real value is in printing your own designs.
Define “worth it”??
For many, it’s a hobby. For many more, it’s an adjunct to whatever hobby they do have. Hobby’s don’t have to save you money; and I’m militantly opposed to monetizing hobbies as a way to “justify” them.
Personally, I’m mostly 3d printing custom components (that I’ve designed), for R/C aircraft of various sorts. (Like, my cyclogyros, or the flying saucer powered by a 3d printed ducted fan; which is, more or less, a scaled model of the saucer from the OG Day The Earth Stood Still. or the thermal airship using toaster wire that has taken on a lot of different forms, ranging from 20’ star destroyers to whale sharks to a robot named Buoyant Bob that hands out candy on Halloween.)
I also enjoy 3d printing as a hobby, in of itself, too. (and spend waaayyyyy too much tinkering on the printer. its fun.) But it doesn’t have to save me money, and I feel no need to compare it to other forms of hobbies. It’s what I enjoy.
edit: lets put this in perspective. This would be like asking a golfer if they found golf worth it. the only real questions are “Do I enjoy it” and “can I afford it”. not “can it save me a buck”.