3D printers, which range from affordable (under $300) to high-end (over $3,000), are awesome gifts for a creative person or the 3D printing enthusiast in your life. Even better, they’re great for you to craft your own personalized designs. Also, 3D printing technology is getting better and better, meaning the print quality of whatever it is you’re making is starting to look like it was made by a professional 3D printing service. Like I said, it’s a really cool hobby, and it’s getting easier to find a great 3D printer to facilitate it.
Anycubic Vyper: Best for out-of-the-box printing. The new Anycubic Vyper FDM printer attempts to be both an affordable 3D printer and easy to use. It’s a tricky needle to thread. Plenty of 3D printers offer automatic bed leveling and calibration to make sure prints come out even and firmly anchored to the print bed. This, however, is the first time I’ve seen a 3D printer run its bed leveling once, with zero manual input from me, and be totally good to go.
Monoprice Select Mini V2: Best 3D printer for beginners. Despite the low price, this is a pretty damn full-featured 3D printer that supports any type of filament including plastic filament. It is my favorite affordable 3D printer first step for testing the 3D printing waters. Print quality and printing speed are excellent, but there will be a good amount of trial and error in your first few prints. Just be sure to purchase extra filament since you’ll use up the included sample roll very quickly.
XYZPrinting da Vinci Jr. 1.0 A Pro: Best for multifunction printing. The ambitious da Vinci Jr. 1.0 A Pro is a step-up printer with a big 6.9-inch square build surface and optional add-ons for both laser engraving and using specialized material like carbon-fiber filament. However, the lack of built-in Wi-Fi is a major hassle, and for this price a nonheated print bed is a serious omission. Some of the company’s printers are locked to proprietary filament, but this model is not (which is good, because the sample roll of PLA filament included in the box wasn’t great).
Anycubic Photon: Best inexpensive resin 3D printer. If you’re set on a resin printer, this is the best 3D printer for you. Resin printers are the next step up in rapid prototyping design technology when you want your printing to look as high quality as anything assembled in a factory. Just be warned: The liquid resin is harder to work with, and it requires both good ventilation and a portable UV light to properly cue.
See the other printers on the Cnet website.
