What is the best 3D printer for under 200 USD?

DeltaPi said:

My budget is 200 USD

That's a tough budget to hit, especially if you're wanting it before tax.

You're basically looking at an Ender 3 pro.

DeltaPi said:

Able to print strong sunlight resistant materials, so maybe needs a heated bed? (for PETG and ground up carbon fiber)

I'd say all filament printers need a heated bed these days, and there aren't many that do not come with one.

DeltaPi said:

2. decent volume size (200x200mm?)

The ender 3 is 220x220, etc.

DeltaPi said:

3. Good print quality

Depends on your settings, for the price of the printer you're going to be tweaking it.

DeltaPi said:

4. Quick-ish printer (no more than two days for one print)

Entirely depends on your 3D print settings, infill, speed settings, size of print, etc. If you want fast, you're looking at paying for fast.

DeltaPi said:

but don't want to have to deal with a lot of print problems after I get the print settings figured out.

Unfortunately that's a mixed bag because any 3D printer has the potential to print spaghetti depending on the filament, and you always have to dial in the settings, fan speed, bed levelling, speed, temperature, etc.

DeltaPi said:

(My needs might be too much for under 200 USD)

Almost.

Thank you, I am rather new to the 3D printing world, this is very helpful.

Well, $200USD is not much to play with ... you're probably going to have to compensate a bit by tweaking and upgrading as you need. The Ender 3 Pro is often recommended as it's rather "open" in design and has many customisations - but it's effort and tweaking that you need to have the time to put in. Others get entirely frustrated and claim it to be the "worst" experience in ironing out prints that don't come out straight (because of incorrect assembly) or problems with under-extrusion (due to damaged/worn parts), etc. If you want it to just work for a more commercial purpose, you're probably looking to spend at least 20x as much ...

Carbon fibre-based filament is a difficult thing to print. It's going to need a hardy nozzle - the brass stuff that's normal for low-price printers is going to wear out, so stainless steel or better is recommended. That in itself is not a massive expense but it is a little hassle. The next issue is that you need to get your bed to about 80c, which open printers like the Ender 3 Pro may not be able to maintain especially in a room with some airflow going - so building a "hood" or "box" around the printer to retain the heat is highly recommended. Add to this that you also need a print temperature of about 250c or so means that you're probably pushing the upper limit of the cheaper printer's all-metal hotends.

PETG is a little more forgiving of print temperature, but the bed also needs to get to about 75-90c, so again, it might be a bit of a push for the printer especially in colder climates.

Quick printing is very much dependent on a few factors - the size (volume) of the model, the complexity of the geometry is a big one. For the most part, cheap and quick definitely don't go together and many of the cheap designs aren't rigid enough nor well designed enough to print well at high speeds, even if it can. For example, my printer is advertised with a print rate up to 100mm/s, with a recommendation of 60mm/s. What I find is that anything above about 40mm/s causes noticeable loss of fine details because the head isn't following the path just right as the play in the belts and frame start to also induce "shimmer" or ripples in the walls. How many "days" a print takes really depends on a lot of factors - download some slicing software (e.g. Ultimaker Cura), select your intended printer, change a few settings and run your model through that to get an estimate of print times.

- Gough

 RE: Ender 3 Pro continual issues after initial successful prints I'm not sure of you technology experience but this post has less than positive outcomes on the printer recommended. Do a search and you will find other Ender Pro related posts.

What would be a reasonable budget for a 3D printer GL?

Be aware that the Ender 3 is an incredibly popular entry level 3d printer, you will have a LOT of people who have never used a 3d printer before getting started with an ender 3. I'm not saying its perfect or that the feedback isn't valid, but you have a very large user based of users who are likely to have issues due to inexperience, which may skew feedback positive vs negative.

It's definitely a tinkerer's printer.

I'd say $400-600, and then at least you can consider resin printers as well as filament.

Thank you for the insight. I plan to build a hood/box out of some polycarbonate I have, because I plan to print inside and have heard the fumes are bad. I also have realized that I would need a hard metal nozzle if I were to print with Carbon fiber and am willing to get that after the original purchase of the 3D printer. I was mostly hoping to find a printer that with the right modifications would be able to print those filaments in the future, so I wouldn't have to get an entirely new printer. In your opinion do you think the Ender 3 would be able to be changed do this after purchase? 

Thank you, I have been following the progress of this discussion, and it has made me worry about the integrity of the Ender 3. It sounds like it would require a lot of tinkering to get right.