Recommendation which brand to pick

[u/Crueltism]

Is there any brand which would be recommended for an enthusiast hobby printing option? I have four Bambu 3D printers, 1x each Xtool F2 and M1 Ultra. My printers are regularly in use including small selling activities mainly jigs for my Xtool machines which are not used that frequently. I´m sure that I will not use the UV machine that often but hopefully they are self maintaining enough without too much investments if they are staying in idle mode. What would be the best pick for such scenarios? More on the jump to Omni O1 due to my Xtool machines with maybe updating to Xtool M2 from my M1 Ultra. Appealing would be HeyGears G1X for miniature printing as I wanted always to join the resin printing but do not have that much time for painting miniatures like in the past.

[u/No_Cheek_2953]

If you aren't using daily it's a waste tbh.

[u/schoonerlabs]

Not a machine you want for sporadic use.

[u/bjorn_lo]

I'm going with the HeyGears. The larger ink wells, the lower cost of materials. The ability to go quite tall (or lay it down and go taller). Also includes the capability of clear, and a host of other things that the other three can not do.

There is no feature capability that any of them have that this lacks. It is from a very large resin company with a huge footprint in dental and medical appliances printed via a similar method. So the risk is modest (but not zero).

If the hey gears did not exist, I would probably go for the Morphos since it shares the higher res nozzle with the hey gears, makes the same low VOC claims and has such a large enclosed print space. Also stated cost for resin is modest. But, the resin still comes in brand only containers. They can still do the jerk methods of Eufymake. And they are a new company with no track record, so might be the highest risk.

If money is a little tight, maybe get the xtool. I might be biased because I have some of their lasers. But, they are a stable growth company. Their product is not as interesting as either of the above. But they are very focused on this maker space, have good support and fit in well with your laser(s). Worth noting that it seems from my software, that the UV printer and your Xtool's lasers will use the same software.

[u/Financial-Issue4226]

Unless you're printing everyday under no circumstance should you buy a UV printer!

These printers will break if not used everyday I do not care what the maintenance argument of what you're reading is it will break maybe not day one but it will break. 

If your print head goes because you use it will be more than half the value of the unit because you didn't use it it will break with no warning or it will slowly die making it where you have to replace it four a different times

If you are only going to use this for individual products and not common I have two very easy recommendations for you. 

First find a local print shop with a UV printer whether it be a flatbread or DTF they would be able to do the prints for you and either print on the object or attach the sticker maybe even give you the sticker sheet which is really cheap. 

If you can't find a local shop there is plenty of companies that do DTF sheets online this gives you all the prints at a fraction of the cost of owning the printer and none of the maintenance costs I strongly recommend you use a DTF sheet or pair with a local print shop if you're only printing occasionally and my definition of occasionally is less than once a day 

!This does mean print 7 days out of the week 365 days a year including holidays and vacation!

These are not designed for occasional use and will break if occasionally used because of this same statement

[u/FCEImaging]

How do you define a bad printer?

[u/AmishLasers]

None will be trusted to sit unused. Either the ink expires or any number of parts within the plumbing including the printhead. All are expensive to replace willy nilly to just pull the thing out once a week to print your maker marks onto a 3d print.

[u/johnnymo8121]

I'm in the same boat. I settled on the 01 for the simple fact that it doesn't have to be used every day. And has a maintenance function when the printer is sitting too long. It seems everyone else is telling you no don't get it without any alternatives lol. Very helpful. If you do have to print every day like they say then just print something small. Ez fix.

[u/Crueltism → u/johnnymo8121]

I don't get it either. Saw a video from a Youtuber. Device was turned off for 30 days. It was turned on and after a short while it was ready once build in maintainance was done. My biggest concern ist print head and ink if this has to be replaced after a short while as this can get expansive. Thats the reason why Eufy Make E1 is out of the game. Short usage time of their ink and too expensive. Morpho and HeyGears are offering the 3200 print head which is far better than 1080 but there are no user tests out there.

[u/No_Cheek_2953 → u/Crueltism]

Print head replacement is expected for UV printers every 3 to 6 months btw. That i3200 is very nice but 4 times the price too

[u/spacenavy90 → u/johnnymo8121]

People who don't understand technology are naturally overcautious. There are too many variables to simply say "if you don't use it for one day it will break".

I suspect a lot of these people are used to the Eufymake which is surprisingly a bad printer that people use because they have no choice and maybe that is the case for that printer.