There’s a reason why PETG/PLA are used as interface materials for supports in multi-material printers. There’s no molecular bond and so the parts will snap off very easily.

I’m going to go against the grain here and say you should get a Prusa. I had an Ender 3 V2 as my first printer and it was an endless series of headaches with all of the little adjustments and tweaks I needed to make every other print. I nearly gave up the hobby and took a break for about a year because I was so sick of it. Furthermore, an Ender absolutely did not teach me everything there is to know about how 3D printers work, even with all the fiddling.

Eventually I got an i3 MK3S+ kit. The kit helped me to actually learn everything about what goes on inside a 3D printer. I would recommend staying away from preassembled printers, at least at first. Ever since building it, it’s basically been a fire and forget type of machine, barring routine maintenance and a shorted thermistor that was my own fault. It’s my main workhorse and I now use it to run a small 3D printing business.

On top of all that, Prusa’s designs are all open-source, their printer profiles are extremely well-tuned using PrusaSlicer, and getting official replacement parts is a breeze. It’s definitely something I would get if you want or need something that can’t have a lot of downtime.

As for your question regarding PLA, it should be okay, but if you’re really concerned about it, you can get an enclosure to help contain the fumes. I have the official Prusa enclosure with all the add-ons. I think you can get it bundled with a printer for a discount.

Would it be possible to embed harder plastic bumpers/reinforcements from PETG or PLA inside the walls? I feel like that could make something like this even more useful

English is the language that most western countries speak, and most education systems in other countries teach English as a second language.

I went back and forth and have both, but ultimately I’ve ended up enjoying FDM a lot more. It really depends on both what you want to accomplish, and how much you’re willing to spend.

I started off with a cheap Ender 3 V2, used it for a little while, then stopped using it as it was a nightmare having to level it and calibrate it constantly. After that I got an Elegoo Mars 2 Pro as I wanted to be able to make prints without all the mechanical complexity of a FDM printer. It was nice for a while, but I ended up not using it as much because I realized that I enjoyed making functional parts a lot more than art/display pieces like miniatures.

I ended up biting the bullet and getting the best printer I knew of at the time: the Prusa i3 MK3S+. I got the kit version so that I could save some money. While I wouldn’t get another kit, I do think that everyone should get a printer that they need to build from scratch at least once. I learned about every single piece of the machine in detail as I went along, and I now clearly understand what people mean when they use terms like “gantry”, “idler”, “heat break”, etc.

After assembly, the MK3S+ was effortless to use in comparison to the Ender 3. It completely changed my mind in regards to what FDM printers could be. I was even able to get some incredibly detailed sculptures out of it (though, of course, not at the level of a resin printer, but still). This printer has been my main workhorse ever since, and I’ve been using it basically nonstop for all kinds of different projects. It’s even paid for itself with a side business I’ve been running by selling parts to people on FB Marketplace.

Overall, I’d personally advocate for FDM. It is far more versatile than resin in terms of print durability, functionality, cleanliness, and size. It’s even cooler if you get into some light CAD design for making your own parts. Even if you want to make detailed models with it, you can always just swap to a smaller 0.2mm nozzle, print at a lower layer height, and get very detailed prints.

I am into woodworking, custom keyboards, gaming, and a whole host of other hobbies (including 3d printing, haha) FDM is definitely the most useful for my personal hobbies, though I have been interested in Warhammer 40K lately, so maybe a new resin printer is on the horizon for me, who knows.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide, but if I had to suggest a good start, I’d go with FDM unless you really want to make minis.

Consumer 3D printing. I still can’t get over the fact that I’m able to get a device for only a few hundred bucks that lets me manufacture almost any kind of simple widget on-demand in a matter of hours. It feels like I’m living in the future.

Up to ~$3k

He is the chosen one!

date-fns for saving my sanity when working with dates in JavaScript.