Some 3D printer companies tried enshittifying, like DaVinci. Fortunately, they got out maneuvered by companies making printers that were almost cheap garbage, but just good enough, like Creality.
A lot of that has to do with open sourcing the designs, and that it doesn’t take a major research arm to design a 3d printer. Getting a 2d printer to align ink to 300dpi is pretty difficult, and even more so with color. 300dpi isn’t even that impressive. That industry is tied up in patents and trade secrets, and it’s difficult for a new competitor to emerge. Conversely, I know people who designed top notch 3d printers out of their personal workshop.
hey, leave my ender 3s alone. they’re trying their best. honestly, these machines are unstoppable if you’re willing to spend money on spare parts every once in a while. my 3 pro can print TPU with the stock bowden setup and an upgraded extruder.
People often shit on the cheap Creality printers, and sure, the quality control is not great (and don’t expect any customer support), but I’m having significantly fewer problems with my Ender 3 V2 at home than we are at work with our Snapmaker 2.0 A350 (costs about 5-10 times at much).
I’ve had my V2 for a few years, and after getting a textured PEI spring steel build plate and changing the bed springs, it’s been super reliable and consistent. No other upgrades needed so far.
Ender 3 is great (though new people looking at printers now should maybe look at something else). What I’m getting at is that if it was slightly worse than it is, you shouldn’t touch it at all. But it’s not. They worked on that thing to hit a price point while still being good enough. It actually takes some good engineering to pull that off.
When I bought my pair of Ender 3’s, they had no thermal runaway enabled in the firmware, and an “XT60” power connector that didn’t meet spec and was loosey-goosey. Those needed to be fixed to make it safe. Then add a 32-bit controller, calibrate the steps on everything, do linear advance, some kind of automatic bed leveling, replace the cheap blower, and you had an excellent printer. Hell, just doing the calibration steps that only cost you time will get you something pretty good.
Some 3D printer companies tried enshittifying, like DaVinci. Fortunately, they got out maneuvered by companies making printers that were almost cheap garbage, but just good enough, like Creality.
A lot of that has to do with open sourcing the designs, and that it doesn’t take a major research arm to design a 3d printer. Getting a 2d printer to align ink to 300dpi is pretty difficult, and even more so with color. 300dpi isn’t even that impressive. That industry is tied up in patents and trade secrets, and it’s difficult for a new competitor to emerge. Conversely, I know people who designed top notch 3d printers out of their personal workshop.
what did davinci try doing, I think I’ve heard the name like one or twice and never again
Sold the printer at a loss, then sell filament with a bigger markup. Had a chip in the spools to keep other filament brands from working.
hey, leave my ender 3s alone. they’re trying their best. honestly, these machines are unstoppable if you’re willing to spend money on spare parts every once in a while. my 3 pro can print TPU with the stock bowden setup and an upgraded extruder.
People often shit on the cheap Creality printers, and sure, the quality control is not great (and don’t expect any customer support), but I’m having significantly fewer problems with my Ender 3 V2 at home than we are at work with our Snapmaker 2.0 A350 (costs about 5-10 times at much).
I’ve had my V2 for a few years, and after getting a textured PEI spring steel build plate and changing the bed springs, it’s been super reliable and consistent. No other upgrades needed so far.
Ender 3 is great (though new people looking at printers now should maybe look at something else). What I’m getting at is that if it was slightly worse than it is, you shouldn’t touch it at all. But it’s not. They worked on that thing to hit a price point while still being good enough. It actually takes some good engineering to pull that off.
When I bought my pair of Ender 3’s, they had no thermal runaway enabled in the firmware, and an “XT60” power connector that didn’t meet spec and was loosey-goosey. Those needed to be fixed to make it safe. Then add a 32-bit controller, calibrate the steps on everything, do linear advance, some kind of automatic bed leveling, replace the cheap blower, and you had an excellent printer. Hell, just doing the calibration steps that only cost you time will get you something pretty good.