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20 They can be as little as $200 and upward of $2000..just like buying a automobile.. the more bells and whistles u want the more ur gonna pay.. you can get a ender 3, assemble it itself.. for a base price.. or u can buy say a Dremel or flash forge dreamer that u can pretty much be “plug and play”.. depending on the filament ur using.. TPU (flexible stuff) is a world all its own.. that being said.. no matter what 3D printer u get .. there is a learning curve.. just like fpv…if u think fpv is a deep rabbit hole, 3D design, slicer, printing makes fpv look like a golf divot.
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778 I personally consider having a 3D printer to hand in my office a convenience more than anything else, although it is quite an expensive convenience. From my own point of view it's just another "power tool" that forms part of my collection of DIY tools. I don't use mine for any type of creative artwork type purpose, but as a means to create/print or just print items already created by someone else that will serve a particular purpose rather than ornamental or artwork pieces. Other than TPU items for quads, I've created and printed a number of items such as clips, brackets, hooks etc. for things around the house, or to repair parts for something where the original part has broken (i.e. my most recent project was to create/print some replica trim panel clips for my gas boiler to replace some of the broken ones with, and to create/print a replica knob to replace the original that had a broken shaft).
Quite often my printer will just sit idle and unused for more than a month at a time until I next have a specific use case that requires me to design / print an item. For the money I spent on the printer along with all the spools of filament I have purchased, I am still a very long way from getting any return on my investment even after 2.5 years of having owned a 3D printer. But sometimes that is the price you pay for having the tools and the ability to be self-sufficient when you need to be.
As Rob said, there can be a reasonably big learning curve with some of the CAD and slicing software as well as tweaking of the printer itself, especially with the low end / budget printers. If you want something that "just works" out of the box then you need to be prepared to spend more than just a few hundred dollars on one.
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0 All of the above... but if TPU is your main material you want to print, forget the Bowden drive setup. Save yourself a lot of hassle and choose (or convert it to) a direct drive system. A decent heated bed and some method of auto bed levelling (BL-touch is cheap and works well) makes it much easier aswell.
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