element14 Community
element14 Community
    Register Log In
  • Site
  • Search
  • Log In Register
  • Community Hub
    Community Hub
    • What's New on element14
    • Feedback and Support
    • Benefits of Membership
    • Personal Blogs
    • Members Area
    • Achievement Levels
  • Learn
    Learn
    • Ask an Expert
    • eBooks
    • element14 presents
    • Learning Center
    • Tech Spotlight
    • STEM Academy
    • Webinars, Training and Events
    • Learning Groups
  • Technologies
    Technologies
    • 3D Printing
    • FPGA
    • Industrial Automation
    • Internet of Things
    • Power & Energy
    • Sensors
    • Technology Groups
  • Challenges & Projects
    Challenges & Projects
    • Design Challenges
    • element14 presents Projects
    • Project14
    • Arduino Projects
    • Raspberry Pi Projects
    • Project Groups
  • Products
    Products
    • Arduino
    • Avnet Boards Community
    • Dev Tools
    • Manufacturers
    • Multicomp Pro
    • Product Groups
    • Raspberry Pi
    • RoadTests & Reviews
  • Store
    Store
    • Visit Your Store
    • Choose another store...
      • Europe
      •  Austria (German)
      •  Belgium (Dutch, French)
      •  Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
      •  Czech Republic (Czech)
      •  Denmark (Danish)
      •  Estonia (Estonian)
      •  Finland (Finnish)
      •  France (French)
      •  Germany (German)
      •  Hungary (Hungarian)
      •  Ireland
      •  Israel
      •  Italy (Italian)
      •  Latvia (Latvian)
      •  
      •  Lithuania (Lithuanian)
      •  Netherlands (Dutch)
      •  Norway (Norwegian)
      •  Poland (Polish)
      •  Portugal (Portuguese)
      •  Romania (Romanian)
      •  Russia (Russian)
      •  Slovakia (Slovak)
      •  Slovenia (Slovenian)
      •  Spain (Spanish)
      •  Sweden (Swedish)
      •  Switzerland(German, French)
      •  Turkey (Turkish)
      •  United Kingdom
      • Asia Pacific
      •  Australia
      •  China
      •  Hong Kong
      •  India
      •  Korea (Korean)
      •  Malaysia
      •  New Zealand
      •  Philippines
      •  Singapore
      •  Taiwan
      •  Thailand (Thai)
      • Americas
      •  Brazil (Portuguese)
      •  Canada
      •  Mexico (Spanish)
      •  United States
      Can't find the country/region you're looking for? Visit our export site or find a local distributor.
  • Translate
  • Profile
  • Settings
3D Printing
  • Technologies
  • More
3D Printing
3D Printing Forum What is the best 3D printer for under 200 USD?
  • Blog
  • Forum
  • Documents
  • Events
  • Polls
  • Files
  • Members
  • Mentions
  • Sub-Groups
  • Tags
  • More
  • Cancel
  • New
3D Printing requires membership for participation - click to join
Actions
  • Share
  • More
  • Cancel
Forum Thread Details
  • Replies 14 replies
  • Subscribers 323 subscribers
  • Views 3532 views
  • Users 0 members are here
  • help
  • 3D Printing
  • 3d_printing
  • 3d_printer
  • 3dprinting
Related

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

DeltaPi
DeltaPi over 1 year ago

Hello, I have recently been looking into getting a 3d printer for hobby engineering projects but am unsure of which printer is the best for my needs. My budget is 200 USD (+-

Qualities most important to me are:

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

2. decent volume size (200x200mm?)

3. Good print quality

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

I don't mind having to put together the printer, but don't want to have to deal with a lot of print problems after I get the print settings figured out. If there is any printer in my budget range close to these perimeters, please let me know. (My needs might be too much for under 200 USD)

Thanks, - Delta Pi

  • Sign in to reply
  • Cancel

Top Replies

  • cstanton
    cstanton over 1 year ago +8
    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…
  • Gough Lui
    Gough Lui over 1 year ago +5
    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…
  • ntewinkel
    ntewinkel over 1 year ago +3
    This thread reminded me of the Digistump BuildOne $99 3D printer on Kickstarter. Unfortunately, it looks like that project failed, as it hasn’t had any updates for nearly 2 years.
Parents
  • Gough Lui
    Gough Lui over 1 year ago

    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

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +5 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
  • colporteur
    colporteur over 1 year ago in reply to Gough Lui

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

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
  • cstanton
    cstanton over 1 year ago in reply to colporteur

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

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
Reply
  • cstanton
    cstanton over 1 year ago in reply to colporteur

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

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
Children
No Data
element14 Community

element14 is the first online community specifically for engineers. Connect with your peers and get expert answers to your questions.

  • Members
  • Learn
  • Technologies
  • Challenges & Projects
  • Products
  • Store
  • About Us
  • Feedback & Support
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal and Copyright Notices
  • Sitemap
  • Cookies

An Avnet Company © 2025 Premier Farnell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Premier Farnell Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no 00876412), registered office: Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds LS12 2NE.

ICP 备案号 10220084.

Follow element14

  • X
  • Facebook
  • linkedin
  • YouTube