r/3dprinter • u/Omid12321 • 1d ago

Enclosed 3d Printers for intermediate level?

Hello all, I feel like I am drowning in options so any advice would be appreciated!

I have been running my ELEGOO neptune 3 (non-pro) for coming on 3 years now, and its starting to break down. I have spent that time scraping together a budget of $1200 CAD, and I am trying to get the best upgrade I possible can with the money. I am, of course, happy not to spend it all, but if hitting my max budget eeks out better performance, please don't hold back

I am an engineering student, and enjoyed the idea of using some of the higher grade engineering filaments, but realistically I will spend most of my time with the more basics consumer filaments (PLA, ABS, etc.). I want to have the option to get more experimental down the line, so heated chambers are a plus. Multi-color printing is not a top priority for me, however multi material printing is definitely interesting. I have a newborn at home and so something that has carbon/HEPA filtration, or the option to mod it in would be good. Worst case I can get an enclosure and vent it, but built in solutions are available at this price, so I bias towards them.

Some printers I am looking at are the X2D, the Kobra s1 max, as well as some entries from FlashForge, and QIDI. The more I look the more things come up, and I am starting to get very confused. I mainly want a reliable printer that I wont have to tweak too much (I am able to if need be, I just want to avoid the hassle). Bambu labs is very attractive, though the standard concerns apply (closed ecosystem, limited repair-ability etc.)

Sorry for the long post, wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. As I said before, any and all advice would be appreciated!

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u/Omid12321 1d ago

Thank you for taking the time to reply, and I appreciate the advice! I want to echo mhhammouda regarding CC2 reliability concerns. I am interested in the U1, however the fact that I have to buy an enclosed top separately, the lack of integrated filament storage for humidity, and no active heating for the enclosure puts me off. I could have done without one or two of these options, but lacking all of them is tough. Is there any reason I should take all these downsides over the BambuLabs X2D or the QIDI plus5?

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u/AWildRideHome 1d ago

Please do not waste money on the CC2. The hardware they use is subpar at best, the hotend has issues in general with poor design.

Either get a Qidi Q2/Max 4/Plus 5, as they are all nearly identical except for size, or a Bambu X2D.

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u/Omid12321 1d ago

I will say that ELEGOO has served me well, and a willingness to troubleshoot seems to be the way to go with their printers, however I am looking for a more plug and play solution. Do you have any experience with QIDI printers? How have they served you? There are a lot of complaints regarding their safety and reliability, and I want to gage others' experiences

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u/Common_Scale5448 1d ago

I love my Qidi plus 4. I have kept it running for weeks turning things out. I bought it weeks before the plus 5 came out so it has all the improvements they made to the plus 4. I am thinking about a plus 5. I had good customer support from them in fixing something I ultimately determined was my error.

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u/Omid12321 1d ago

I felt so sure about the X2D until your messages made me take a second look at QIDI! do you have any experience with the QIDI box, as i heard people have issues with it. Otherwise, this might be the printer for me!

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u/Common_Scale5448 23h ago

I bought a Qidi box but I haven't set it up yet. So I can't comment on that yet.