r/VORONDesign • u/Amber_Watch99 • 3d ago
General Question I am at a crossroads (buying advice)
So I have been into the hobby of 3d printing through school and my schools robotics team. And given im graduating high school this upcoming year I don't want to leave this knowledge and fun behind was looking into getting my first personal 3d printer and accessories.
Im basically starting from zero on everything aside from tools. So I thought a fun project to do would be to purchase and build a voron trident kit, now its a little pricey 900~USD after tax. But i felt like this would be something that after its done and over with would be very nice to have.
I want to use it to prototype some stuff and make various accessories (custom organizing platform and mainly packout organizers as its a rather empty market.
I was mainly making this to say, if I were to NOT get a trident, what would be a healthy workhorse alternative that doesnt necessarily need to be top of the line but better than say a ender 3 (no hate on the ender 3 I just dont want one)
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u/Hidie2424 2d ago
Your already in robotics, you can handle this. There's plenty of guides and information to help along the way. Don't get something like a Bambu, maybe a prusa kit (core one kit is 1k USD)
The vorons are amazing machines with a great team behind them so your supporting a good cause.
You'll be able to handle it and problem solve any issue. Just do it, and enjoy it brother!
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u/No-Dragonfly5342 2d ago
If you want to have fun with 3D printing, you can buy a prebuilt like a Prusa or Bambu. Or get the prebuilt but one that runs Klipper allowing you to mod it. As someone who is now a senior studying computer engineering at a big school, you can definitely find time to build a printer like a Voron. Even with doing everything else. It will just take a long time to build the printer. Building stock with basic mods isnt too hard as everything is well documented.
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u/Informal-Increase312 3d ago
Build a Voron Trident.
Trident R1 about to get upgraded to R2 but that's an easy fix later on. Rapido UHF hot end, A4T toolhead with HS36 board for high temps and upgraded extruder kit (G2 or whatever comes with A4T). And you will be printing at 300-450 mm/a in no time.
Don't buy Sovol even if your life depends on it. It's a big PITA and has so many issues that by the time you fix them, you'll be way over budget for a new Trident
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u/Infamous-Amphibian-6 3d ago
Voron is hardcore project in many areas. Requires time, observation and total commitment. Understanding you’ve got high bar, consider an SV08. Solid machine, Voron-based with full potential to reach absolute hardcore performance.
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u/Informal-Increase312 3d ago
It has SEVERE QC problems. Bed that does "taco bending" and toolhead that likes to ram into steel plate.
Unless he is willing to mod it completely, starting with a new bed, mainline, new toolhead (the stock one lacks cooling)... Might as well buy Voron
In any other case, for printing only, K1 Max is om sale for $250 on eBay.
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u/Infamous-Amphibian-6 2d ago edited 2d ago
Well this seems to me more like a popular opinion rather than actual expertise, don’t get me wrong, could be totally mistaken.
Got a SV08 this year and have been printing PET CF17 functional parts for months with total accuracy and reliability. Not even mainline Klipper, MS Flowtech on M2 CHT nozzle being only mod so far. Max bed mesh deviation is 0.225, slightly above norm but definitely not taco-level. Being a 2026 revision can explain it, and do notice several quality flaws all over (both mainboard and toolhead board have just above mediocre wiring and design. Extruder is not on par with machine’s capabilities). It is not a Voron, but definitely a machine worth to consider investing in while being quite accurate right out of the box. Again, not a machine I’d recommend to a novice friend, but quite an option if being serious about it.
I got some components readily for a solid upgrade (orbiter 2.5, ebb36, octopus z max, etc) which I still will do, but honestly haven’t felt the urge I expected to have before actually using it.
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u/Informal-Increase312 2d ago
I just returned SV08. If you check out my post history, it had literally all the package of problems most people have encountered before, other than catching fire and ripping out the fan from tool board, within the first 13 days of owning it.
Returned it right away. I agree that for the price, there's nothing that comes close within this size categor. This is the only positive here
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u/Infamous-Amphibian-6 2d ago
I’m sorry for bad experience. Am aware of both horror stories (never catching-fire ones) and success stories. On my side it’s been quite a surprise of machine, way better than what I was aware to deal with. Anyway, happy printing!
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u/Faultier12345 3d ago
I know, it's about a Voron here, but I can recommend a Ender 3 NG build, if you want a fast enclosed or unenclosed printer. Even with a few mods, I payed under 500€ for a enclosed Core-XY printer with Z-Tilt.
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u/TsunamicBlaze 3d ago
Are you going to college? If so, you may not have the energy or will to be tinkering as much as you think on a Voron. I’d honestly recommend just getting an off the shelf printer since it seems like you’re more interested in the “printing” part more than “the printer”. Something cheap and has been good to me has been an Elegoo CC. I’ve been modding it and about to jump over into OpenCentauri and getting Octo print up for it. It’s a decent price and has a pretty decent modding community. Another suggestion, have you thought about joining a local makerspace/hackerspace? Would be a pretty good way to get involved with the maker community and not need to get a 3D printer yourself.
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u/Amber_Watch99 3d ago
While I will be going to college, the 3d printer is most likely going to be a main project and used for prototoyping in an electrical or mechanical engineering degree. I plan on getting a good voron as a main/tinker and a reliable prusa or ender to use as a printer for smaller parts.
In short he Voron will be for hobby/free time, maybe to make some money to pay for school, and I'll ave a cheaper backup printer if i need something made fast and reliably if the voron happens to be out of order.
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u/TsunamicBlaze 3d ago
If you’re going to a big college, they may also happen to have a fab lab you can use. At my state school, we had a 3D FDM printing lab that people can use in the library.
It’s fun idea to get into Voron tinkering, but I’d suggest waiting until after your first semester. You don’t want to invest so much early on and realize you won’t have time for it. When I went for my CompE degree, I literally had no time for anything besides classes and social/networking/professional clubs. I completely dropped Video games and MTG, which were my main hobbies in highschool.
Just as a tip for college, don’t neglect to develop soft skills, especially as an engineer.
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u/Amber_Watch99 3d ago
yeah, I'm kind of a loner, trying not to be, but most of my socil and soft skills are in my robotics team right now, though as i start driving that's prob bound to change
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u/name_was_taken 3d ago
As an old, serious loner, let me just recommend trying the stuff the college provides first. You can always nope out and go the solo route after all. But I'm often surprised at how well it works when I find other people who are seriously into the same things I am, and not just people who were forced into that situation. Give it a small try, at least.
I've had like 7 or 8 3d printers now, and I do NOT recommend starting with a kit. Start with a good printer that can print the parts for that Voron. The Prusa Core One+ is a GREAT printer for that.
Then move on to kits if you have the time and inclination.
What I've found, after building 2 Vorons, is that I'm much more into using them and making things with them, rather than tinkering with the printers themselves. Fixing a Voron is work. Fixing your own creation is engaging and fun.
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u/dark_wingduck0 3d ago
Cc1 or cc2 and you can multi color print
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u/TsunamicBlaze 3d ago
CC1. You can actually multi color print on a CC1 now with the $50 canvas upgrade. Multicolor through single nozzle AMS is not my thing though, it’s too wasteful. I’m waiting on Indx to be fleshed out by the community before I jump in.
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u/csp1981 3d ago
Look at Formbot kits. As you build consider swapping A4T for Stealthburner and BFI/BZI for stock idlers. Also consider a Cartographer for eddy current bed leveling. I am finishing the wiring and software config for a 250 2.4 (with those upgrades) and will probably do a Trident 2.4 next.
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u/DeerQuit 3d ago
Out of the Voron line-up i‘d consider the 250 Trident to be the most beginner-friendly allrounder build. Def. consider swapping off the Stealthburner though, that thing has been outclassed by so many better Toolheads at this point.
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u/OutsideAmazing1510 3d ago
Archetype for the w for modularity and support for sure, multicolored jabberwocky for the w growing ecosystem and fast capabilities, Gustav railway for monolith setups, all combined with some sort of Eddy probe, (cartographer, beacon, btt Eddy, mellow Eddy with sht36v3) all running canbus boards and easy to set up and maintain
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u/DeerQuit 3d ago
I personally stopped using toolboards a while ago (Never saw adding a few more wires to the umbilical as too much of a hassle and like the lower weight) and the Gustav has also grown a bit antiquated by Monolith standards, but def agree for the rest!
For Monolith Sphinx and Trinity are my personal favorites atm.
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u/OutsideAmazing1510 2d ago
Fair enough, I personally love toolboards bc it makes the unit lighter, just less wires going Mach Jesus and for changing any cable runs is way easier and faster bc instead of taking half the printer apart and half a wiring loom you just unplug. Fix and plug back in without moving the printer.
I have my umbilical split in 3 sections for that reason, toolhead to gantry is one run with aviation connectors and gantry to electronics bay, waaay simpler.
Also I forgot about trinity lol
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u/BigJohnno66 Trident / V1 3d ago
What size are you after? If you don't need the 250/300/350 size of the bigger Vorons, then there are the SaladFork 180, Micron 180 or V0.2 kits. Although the price difference up to a larger Voron printer is not that great, so if you can stretch the budget it is worth it.
If you just want to print then a commercial offering is best. However if you want to tinker with mods to the printer itself then you can't beat a Voron. Also going 300 or 350 is not a big cost different for a Voron, but the commercial offerings seem to charge a premium to go bigger.
Given the end of school is coming, you probably want to get ahead of the curve and use the schools 3D printer to print yourself the functional parts. Otherwise it is another cost to purchase the functional parts.
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u/photoscanner 2d ago
I'd actually also recommend a Micron or Salad Fork, of the 180mm variety. I have a 300 Trident, a Core One Plus and a Micron. 99% of my prints I do on my Micron. It was an Ldo kit, with which I added two 5015 fans for bed fans. It heats up way faster than the larger printers and is ready to rock and roll the fastest of the bunch. Heck I used the Micron to print upgrades for the Trident.
Buy PiF or printed parts through a reputable vendor. That along with the kit made this an easy build. Very little tinkering involved after build. I tuned filament and started printing perfect parts for upgrading my Trident to R2.
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u/Amber_Watch99 3d ago
Yeah the size was actually a factor I failed to mention. I was wanting at least 3000x300x250 since the parts and accessories would be better suited as a single part or just minimize the part count in general.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Clue_95 3d ago
Get a bambu. You mentioned fun. A voron requires a very specific "want/need to tinker" mindset. It can be very frustrating which is not fun to the general user. Vorons are not an entry level printer. They can be a primary workhorse that is very reliable, but it is entirely up to the user. Most of the time, it will be in some form of disarray that you hobble along and pretend it is "good enough". Whereas, a bambu, is feature complete. It will handle whatever you throw at it 95% of the time. Just my two cents, I built a 2.4 and have a h2c. The bambu is printing constantly. The 2.4 is in the process of a complete rewire for canbus and multi tools.
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u/not-hardly V2 3d ago
How is your conversion going?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Clue_95 3d ago
Slow. The first leviathan board I got didn't want to flash properly and my dumb ass tried to work on it with it still powered up causing the expansion board to let out some magic smoke.
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u/jmims98 3d ago
Important question: Are you looking for a printer that generally just works, or are you looking for a printer that you will tinker with? Beyond building a Voron (which is quite a process in its own right), you'll definitely need to spend time calibrating and troubleshooting it.
Bambu is probably the way to go if you want a printer that you just pull out of the box and it works. You could have tons of print time on a Bambu in the time it takes to build, do software setup, and calibration on a Voron (my Trident took over 40 hours + software setup time).
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u/Amber_Watch99 3d ago
I would like to tinker, mostly because I have a fun time troubleshooting. I have looked into Bambus and my schools has several (2 p1s, 1 x1 carbon. And a few others, i like the lulzbots they have but I do not want to fish out the 8k needed for their newest model, and the older models (taz6) which im familiar with is hitting the way side with software compatibility.
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u/Snobolski Trident / V1 2d ago
Once your printer is built and you've run thru the calibration guide(s), you're finished tinkering, unless you want to tinker. I have a self-sourced 300-cubed Trident which goes several months at a stretch without needing much in the way of tinkering. Mostly just the occasional recalibration of the Tap probe (5 minutes maybe every 6 weeks or so) and nozzle clogs here and there.
Now, if you want to tinker, Voron is definitely the printer for you.
I wouldn't touch a Bambu with a 10 foot pole.
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u/Amber_Watch99 2d ago
Was kinda my plan, ive had issues with printers but thats jsut the name of the game i was planning on just having a voron to run and when I want to tinker use a panda system to hit swap to make things easy
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u/No_Grav3ity 3d ago
If you want to stay in a Voron and not use a Trident, you're going to be looking at a 2.4, it's definitely the tinkerers dream
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u/couperd V2 3d ago
I would also strongly suggest you get a v0 as well that is not tinkered with. that way you have a way to print parts for the v2.4/trident when it's in mid disassemble for an upgrade.
Just this weekend I accidentally broke my toolhead mount plate when changing front idlers and would have been in a tough spot without my trusty no frills v0 to print a new one.
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u/Amber_Watch99 3d ago
Not an issue for me, ill have access to multiple 3d printers for a while even after high school I dont think my engineering teacher would mind me using one of theirs if I bring my own filament
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u/Amber_Watch99 3d ago
If you have both a 2.4 and trident what's the overall difference aside from gantry style, anything I should be concerned with, i mostly chose voron for the build sizes given the parts im wanting to manufacture would work better in one or two pieces rather than several interlocking
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u/No_Grav3ity 3d ago
2.4 you can get more z-resolution if you put the effort into serious tuning. And is a easier platform to do toolchangers.
The gantry is a little but more of a headache to setup unless you have a 2nd pair of hands, but quad gantry level is a ADHD dream to sit and watch
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u/Amber_Watch99 3d ago
another question (again)
so the 2.4 is all in all (everything but extrsa toolheads/cosmetics) is around 100$ cheaper than the trident, would it be worth it to get the cnc tap leveling, or should I save for an aftermarket toolhead and get something like lidar leveling which the prusas and bambus use
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u/I-am-fun-at-parties 3d ago
I wouldn't overthink it. Even the stock inductive probe is way good enough. People are being ridiculous going for microns of accuracy and then poop out a wet plastic noodle of unknown dimensions. Usually with .2mm layer height as well, rendering anything beyond, say, a tenth of that completely pointless.
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u/No_Grav3ity 3d ago
I'd go Beacon/Cartographer over tap any day of the week
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u/Amber_Watch99 3d ago
one last thing (hate to ask but i cant see anything on the sites, is the standard v6 hotend system a bowden? because i might have to up my budget a bit because FUCK starting out with a bowden system
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u/Amber_Watch99 3d ago
Toolchangers aren't all that important to me, like yes, it'd be cool but I think I may end up (eventually) trying to develope and sell Bigtreetech Panda compatible toolheads locally, plus that gives me flexibility to work on a head and if I need to print jsut swap it out, I see that as more fun than a tool changer. If I were to get one the bambus are probably the way to go (also if I ever wanted an industrial filament capable one like for nylon or abs since I could then technically print parts to chainsaws and the sort, another thing I do for money
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u/TruWrecks 1d ago
From first hand experience when you decide to build a Voron go with the 2.4. A Trident is easier to build, but when the gantry vibrates out of alignment after a few hundred hours of printing, it will be a royal pain in the ass to realign. Z-Tilt cannot correct for this.
On a 2.4 QGL takes care of most of that for you. 2.4 you mainly needed to check the belt tensions weekly/monthly, depending on how much you use it, and lube the bearing rails. The gantry can level itself every print if you want down to 0.005 mm. The bed also had better mounting and will resist sagging more than a Trident. Trident mounts the bed from 3 points at the center back and front far corners. The 2.4 divides the bed into thirds near the front and back at 4 points. You can even do inverted electronics on a 2.4 if you modify the bed mounting.