https://store.anycubic.com/products/kobra-2
I got mine from Amazon during a sale price, for $209. I just noticed it's back up to $299 on Amazon, but it's still $209 direct from Anycubic (linked above).
I've been loosely following 3D printing for a while now. I can remember when I first heard about it, something like 10 or more years ago. My initial reaction was that it was fake LOL. But after realizing that it's real, I've been keeping an eye on it. I can't remember the prices exactly, but I seem to remember them being in the upper hundreds at the cheapest when I first learned of them. But I can remember seeing some over $1,000. Over the years, not only has the prices come down, but the machines have become better and better. It use to be that the printers required a lot of tweaking, and while that's still the case to some extent, I feel like they're at a spot now that anyone who is at least mildly hand on can get into 3D printing with little effort.
I've eyed several different printers over the years, as the prices have come down. Most recently I had the Creality Ender 3 V3 SE on my wish list, which as I type this post I see is at a really good sale price right now. But when I did some Google'ing, the Kobra 2 is said to have a better build quality and possibly be better all around. And after seeing that the Kobra 2 was on sale, I decided to impulse buy it.
The great thing about 3D printing these days is that there's a ton of stuff to print without having to do any 3D modeling yourself. There's lots of sites like Thingiverse and Printables that host printable 3D models. For a few years now I've actually been saving 3D models I come across if it's something I want or might need in the future. In just the realm of retro game modding, there's a TON of stuff that is shared online. But now that I have a 3D printer, I think I will finally try and learn some 3D modeling. I've already learned Tinkercad, which is a free online app you can use to create 3D models. It's actually extremely easy to pickup and start creating basic shapes with. It starts to show its limitations the more complex of an object you want to create. Still, it's really easy to use. But I think I should try and learn a more complex modeling app. I'm kinda leaning toward Fusion 360.
I have the printer kinda haphazardly thrown on my desk in the basement right now. I have a table next to my desk that I always envisioned for a small 3D printer. The problem is that the Kobra 2 keeps the filament spool to the side of the printer, and not on top like most small printers do. So that really makes the needed footprint a lot larger, and now I don't think I can make it fit in the spot I had picked out for it. So I'll have to do some thinking where I can put it, but for now I guess I'll just sit on my desk in front of my second monitor LOL.
First print!
https://www.printables.com/model/3161-3d-benchy
There's this little tug boat thing that a lot of people use to test print or bench mark printers with. It's kinda like the "hello world" of 3D printing. And it not only came on the SD card supplied with the Kobra 2, the setup video actually tells you to print it LOL. I guess I've known for some time now that this would be the first thing I ever print once I finally got a printer.
And there it is, my first print!
Everything went extremely well. The printer was pretty easy to put together. And I didn't even have to adjust anything like the guide rollers or belt tension. I still have a lot to learn about settings to get the best quality and speeds, but turning the 3D model into a file that the printer can print was very fast and easy to do. And the first print came out very well, I think, without having to do any tweaking of settings or anything.
This boat took 38 minutes to print, which I know isn't as fast as some other printers. I'm not sure if there's anything I can do to speed up the printing (without sacrificing quality). But fastest printing speeds wasn't something I was looking for in an entry level printer, so I'm really not so concerned.
I printed a couple of things for my OG Xbox, but I'll talk more about it in my Xbox thread...
I also had a couple of fails, which is to be expected.
I went to print a Mario figure using the sample spool of white PLA that came with the printer, but it ran out like 85% through the print job LOL. Right now I only have black PLA and grey PETG filament, but I should have a spool of blue PLA coming today. I think I will try and reprint Mario in the blue. But I think I want to pick up a spool of white, and that would probably be the easiest color to paint.
And I printed a PCI bracket that ended up being a fail. It's a bracket that has a ledge to mount a PCB on, so it was the easiest thing to figure out how to print. I found the correct orientation and it required a lot of supports (since you can print stuff floating in the air). When I went to snap the supports off after it was done printing, I ended up breaking the PCI bracket. So I have to figure out what to do here. I might have to tweak some settings and/or be more gentle when breaking the supports off of it. The thing that sucks about this print is that something like 35% of it is supports that gets thrown away, so it's wasting a lot of filament. But the filament doesn't seem too expensive, and I only need one of these brackets right now. Still, I will probably waste more while I learn.
