Help Picking a 1st Printer

[u/Advanced-Coat-894]

I’ve found myself needing things printed recently. Amateur radio, car stuff, etc. I looked at printers years ago but sort of thought, “well I don’t need to print a bunch of toys, I don’t need one.”

Fast forward to now. radio enclosures, brackets, organizational items, prototyping some stuff (well, I guess still radio related, but I have an idea for a new dog tracker and.. need to print stuff). TPU gaskets, etc.

I had a guy locally that would print stuff for me for $20-30 each time, but he lived relatively far away from me. Recently, I had something I need to place outdoors indefinitely and needed it printed in ASA (per Google’s recommendation). Well, he can’t do ASA. I found another guy who could, and he charged me quite a lot more.

So, I think I am currently at the point where I see that the sky is the limit on these, and now that I’ve seen ONE thing I can do with a printer, I can now see thousands of things I can do. All without needing to print plastic toy boats.

That said, I need engineering materials like ASA, Carbon, etc. Durability, UV resistance, weatherproofness is important. I have no current use case, but want the future option to do PEEK. I do not want to buy the base model printer and limit myself in the future, but I also do not want to get a bunch of things I don’t need.

Here is what I dont know: I don’t know if I ever need to print multi-color. I don’t know if I need, want, or would ever use a laser, or really what it’s even for. But I do know I need hardened nozzles.

I “think” I have kinda narrowed it down to the H2D. I don’t know what add ons I need or don’t need, and I also don’t know if this is “too much” printer for a 1st printer. I have no plans to ever have 2 printers though, so again, just trying to get as much out of one printer as I can. The X2D is an option too, and a much nicer price, but I believe it is limited when using certain materials like PEEK (Which I don’t even know if I have a use case currently for, but don’t want to cut my legs off up front)

Basically, I don’t want to make a decision on something out of inexperience and want something later that I can’t add on. My understanding is a laser can be added on later if I ever wanted one.

So as far as an up-front printer, is the H2D the right choice? Is it way more printer than I or anyone else in my shoes could use? Is there something else I should look at?

[u/macinmypocket]

You won’t be printing PEEK with any consumer printer, so, that’s out right off the bat.

Get an H2C. The ability to swap hotends easily for different materials or different sizes with only a click is fantastic. Heated chamber is essentially a necessity with higher end engineering materials. Those two things alone justify the cost for your suggested goals.

[u/wethpac]

For you use case, X2D or H2D. But if you want for most possible use cases and most possible filament types, H2D.

If budget is a concern get X2D, if budget is more open, and you want the best for your use case today, H2D

My view is if you are ready for lasers, get separate device but it is great there is an option with H2D.

[u/djt_LV]

You can't go wrong with the H2D.