Hi guys!
I'm having a hard time choosing what I want.
I love open source, I like tinkering with the machine, but sometimes I need a part to be printed. I like when something is future proof.
Right now I have 12pc Prusa Miniis and 3pc Mk3s printers, and 3pc Bambu Lab A1 Mini printers (I already sold 14 of them). I bought all them used. I repaired them, each of them is working properly.
I'm not a shop nor a printfarm, I'm a uni student (my major is electrical engineering).
Recently I realized I don't use out the potencial of them. But they are my passion...
The problem is it's a hassle when I want to print Abs, Asa or Nylon I need to put them to a tent. It makes it, but sometimes the only thing that is missing is the heated chamber. Even if I use glue it bends the plate. Sometimes (very rarely) I need to cut the parts in the slicer (when it's not designed by myself), because they are too big.
I was thinking on a few routes. I have 1200 euros for a new printer.
I have the money to buy a Prusa Core One + kit right from the Prusa shop. I could control almost all of them via Prusa Connect. At this point I would keep all the Prusas and sell all the Bambu Labs. Like this, it would be a small printfarm, and maybe in the future it could function as one also. But my concerns are, even if I pay the prusa "tax" for future proofing, the upgrades are also pricey in the future. And one more thing, Prusa locked the usable framerate for monitoring under paid subscriptions, what?! The once fully open source now put features under paid walls. What will be the next? (This is also a question from other brands... becauseif they can make why others can't?)
The second option would be to sell all the Prusas and buy a Bambu Lab machine. It works out of the box, makes great prints. I didn't used any Bambu Labs other than the A1 Minis. They are user repairable but not serviceable. They are the machines what you use and if it doesn't work you throw them away. They are not future proof. But for the price, I don't know... In this case I would sell all my Prusas and keep the Bambus.
Right now for my projects somehow I better love the Prusas but it's very rare when I use all at the same time. They just pull me back in. Somehow I have a more flawless experience with them. The A1 minis work well with pla but I sometimes need more. Right now the X2D is on a very good price. But In Aurora tech channel, she mentioned that the side panels bended a bit when the chamber heater was on. Bambu Lab is on the market for years now. But you can find still this day that the A1 (not the mini) melts it's own case... what if it makes a fire?!. I don't know, I can't trust them for a 100%.
Third; a guy recently put up a voron 2.4 350 on Facebook marketplace for a bit less then 700 euros. This machine checks almost everything what I need. A big, open source printer, user serviceable, but it's not plug&play. Back in the days when I had an Anet A8 like Zonestar printer this was my dream. When the ender clones came I couldn't justify the cost besides my anycubic mega 2.0... I tuned them, fixed them, but they never been trusted.
Lastly there is also Qidi. Chamber heater, good for technical filaments, open source software, but not hardware. What if it breaks down in five years? They don't have as much support. The problem that i have with them (also Creality, Anycubic etc...) they abandon their machines in a few years. If now I buy a machine I want it to be serviceable after 5 years also...
I’m trying to be rational, but I’m stuck. Given my background in EE and my current collection, what would you do?
(Btw, this is my first Reddit post, so be gentle! 😉)
Thank you for your advice!