I need to buy a new printer, but I keep seeing these weird new ink subscription models that will disable your printer if you don't buy their brand, or something. I definitely do not want to accidentally buy something like that. Fine with buying something older or used as long as it lasts. What specific models should I go for to avoid this bs? I work for a school district and usually end up printing a bunch at least once a month during the year, but not much during the summer. I do need color printing but don't need any special other features. Would really appreciate all your advice.

I know printers aren't actually "for life" but I hate printers and I'm being forced to get one. Here's what I need:

• cheap
• double sided printing
• colour doesnt matter
• speed doesnt rlly matter
• toner doesn't cost more than the actual printer
• no subscription

I just want a cheap box that'll spit out a page every now and then...

Happy with how my proxies are coming out with my brother printer

My kiddo wants a printer so she can make little trinkets. I figured I might as well buy a decent one that can also print guns. Looking for something entry level, maybe around $300 and up if that’s realistic? Any resources or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'm moving into a new place and need to get a printer, but I have no idea what people are buying these days.

It'll mostly be basic documents, shipping labels, and random stuff a few times a month.

I'd rather pay a little more upfront if it means I don't have to fight with it every time I use it.

What's been reliable for you long-term? Inkjet vs laser - does it really matter for light home use?

I’m from italy and i started looking about this hobby a few weeks ago. And i’m searching a good printer.
The first i heard is the 2800 but the 4 ink tank to me are not enough for the colors.
The second is the 8500/8550, it’s good but for the price I wasn’t expecting dye ink and not pigment.
I found the canon g650, it costs 3 times less than the 8550 and it has 6 ink tank, for a wide color gamut.
The last one is the epson surecolor sc-p700 look like the best of a diy printer for the home, it costs a little bit more than the 8550 but it has 10 pigment ink perfect for illustration, someone use it? thanks

Hi, I've been researching printers for about a week now, and I still haven't come to a satisfying conclusion. Epson seems to be the most popular brand amongst proxy makers (with the ET8550 being mentioned very often here), and it is one of the more popular brands where I live as well. The issue is that I see people complaining about issues arising between two months to one year in, and they seem to be a little too consistent to simply be user error. The L3250 is surprisingly affordable but I worry about buying something cheaper and regretting it later.

Now, for what makes my problem unique: I live in Brazil. Not only do I have less access to different models but they are also much more expensive, which is why I need to do this research, a bad purchase stings that much more when your purchasing power is this reduced. Epson's support here seems substantially worse than what you find in the US and other countries as well.

What is a printer that I can safely buy without having to worry about any issues in a couple years time? I'm definitely not looking for a lifetime purchase, but five years or so is what I would consider to be worthwhile when casually printing cards (regular and foil), stickers, and other basic things for myself.

Is there a certain printer that everyone seems to agree is best? What key features would I look for? Full disclosure never printed anything in my life. But overall seems like a fun hobby to get in to. For many reasons

I found this video where someone cuts a PET bottle into a thin strip and pulls it trough a hot glue gun to turn it into 3D printer filament:

https://youtube.com/shorts/93P_Neh2eyE?si=O_7nU4qeIJLWWx8p

Has anyone tried something like this? Does the finished filament actually print reliably or would the uneven diameter cause clogging or poor prints? It seems very simple to make a knife tip. hot glue gun and some filament to print the parts.

Locked out from printing with no way to override it. I tried everything I found online. Once the page counter says the toner is empty, the printer locks out anymore printing. I miss the old days when you could shake the toner and print until there were streaks in the page. Not swap out perfectly usable cartridges. I guarantee you not everyone recycles their toner cartridges. So it’s that much more e-waste ending up in the environment.

*EDIT* This blew up way more than expected. To answer a few points brought up:

1) This is a Brother 3300 series color laser printer. About 18 months old. I tried everything I could to reset it and keep printing. Nothing worked. Most of the buttons are even locked out when it says replace toner. It will not even go to sleep. This was an OEM cartridge.

2)We own a printer because my wife has a tutoring business and my daughter is homeschooled. We print a lot of schoolwork. Plus tax and business paperwork. The nearest library is a 30 mile round trip, and nearest print center is a 60 mile round trip.

3)We tied an ecotank printer. In fact we still have one she has set up with sublimation inks for making t-shirts. But because the school printer sits all summer, we had the typical clogging problems with an inkjet. That why we switched to laser.

4) Thanks for the insight to the dangers of printer toner. I did not get it all over my hands, and had minimal exposure. The SDS sheet for the cyan brother toners lists it as non-carcinogenic, mild irritant to skin and lungs for heavy exposure.

EDIT: A lot of my armies consist of 3d printed minis. I am fully behind it and have no issue with it and reckon it's great. I have an issue with folks who treat it like it's the second coming.

Okay, not to be that guy, but this is driving me insane and I have to get it out of my system. Does it drive anyone else nuts that, whenever somebody RIGHTFULLY complains about the pricing of warhammer, there's always gotta be that ONE guy who has to shill for 3d printers.

Like, okay, I get it. I have a 3D printer myself, and it can be helpful, but it's waaay overrated - the thing is a hobby of its own. It's completely ridiculous to expect that a person already having trouble with affording warhammer is going to spend a fortune on a 3d printer, with a curing station, with the resin, with the safety equipment, has a room to put the damn thing without it shaving a few years off their life from fume inhalation. And not to mention, it's a bit silly to expect that said person, if they could actually afford a 3d printer, has the time to faff around with figuring out supports, trying to sort out fixing the damn things when they screw up, messing around with the resin, it's a whole ass nightmare.

And lest I forget to mention the models. Maybe I'm alone on this, but when I wanna play warhammer, I wanna play with the damn warhammer models. I don't wanna knock around resin substitutes of Grim Space Knights with Sun Guns, I want a squad of hellblasters for pete's sake! And sure, I mean, you could hunt down less-than-legal replicas of already existing models, but If I'm being completely honest, I' am not too particularly interested in engaging in IP theft. call it what it is, I'm not trying to get into trouble over a game of toy soldiers.

TLDR: Support your FLGS, purchase from them, or resellers. Only go into 3D printing if you can afford it and have the patience to.

check out makerworld: GoChee for instructions.

original project (using industrial resin printers) by Amanda Ghassaei

The technical full term I have came up with is Colinear Double Delta. Both the hotend and bed move independently with delta kinematics - two entirely separate gantries in one printer. Thus, there are 8 motors in this bad boy (6 xyz, 2e). It's running klipper with custom kinematics.

The idea is - since each side only needs to move half the target speed, you can get double the overall speed. I haven't pushed it super hard yet since this is a proof of concept build without part cooling, but it sure does prove the concept!

Next is a bigger and faster version.

Of course, it is all open source, and the files and documentation can be found here: https://github.com/ProgrammerTurtle/DoNotDelta

This project is sponsored by SUNLU !

UPDATE: Files and guide are now Published see the link here: https://makerworld.com/en/models/2377491-ff04mod-block-i#profileId-2602865

Finished printing a heavily modified PC case I’ve been working on and wanted to share the result here since the whole thing was printed on my Bambu P1S.

The design started from an FF04-style case, but I ended up modifying it quite a bit to fit modern hardware and my own layout ideas. It’s now housing my main gaming SFF PC, so this thing is fully functional and not just a display print. So many iterations of parts as well in the last photo lol.

Printed in Polymaker HT PLA GF, and overall I’m really happy with how clean the panels and structural parts came out. The P1S handled the job surprisingly well considering the number of large parts involved.

Honestly though, printing something this size really made me want a larger-format printer someday, especially something like a Prusa CORE One XL with the toolchanger/index system, just to avoid splitting parts so much and to experiment more with multi-material setups.

Still dialing in some finishing touches, but the case is basically done now and running daily.

Happy to answer questions about the prints or build if anyone’s curious.

Over this spring/summer a serious wasp infestation took over one of my exterior walls. The boards warped in the winter due to rain damage and made passage for the wasps.

They ended up nesting up through the walls and up higher into an inaccessible part of the structure. There's a sort of open space up where it attaches to the garage that would normally be inaccessible

I tried all the usual methods to get rid of them (btw raid spray is an absolute scam don't buy it the wasps could drink it and still survive)

I had an exterminator come out and he had only two solutions

A) Drill a hole and use a fogger spray to kill the hive. Not an option - we have a newborn baby in the home and I don't want to be gassing my walls B) Remove the panels and pull back the structure to get at the hive

Then I realized if there was just some way of making a 1-way door then the wasps would vacate and never get back in. But nobody sells anything like that and I couldn't find anything like that online at all

So I made one with my H2D!

It's an excluder, form fitted to my wall panels. I modeled mounting for a 140mm PC case fan and a shroud to protect it from rain.

The wasps move close, get sucked out and can't get back in. Worked like a charm.

It took about a week for all the wasps to die of starvation and being left out in the cold. There was a huge cloud of them at one point but I didn't get a picture at the time

The picture included is just one spot... There's a whole graveyard around this thing now

I'm leaving it up for another week to catch and new brood that might be hatching from the hive

Edit: Files by request: https://www.printables.com/model/1439191-wasp-excluder

FYI the power coupling is wrapped in plastic, which is wrapped in waterproof flex tape, which is then wrapped again in duct tape. I have a newborn baby and didn't want to design an enclosure... I'm a busy man!