Best 3d Printers For Beginners of January 2024
For people who don’t know much about the field, 3D printing may seem like something from the future. But it’s actually been around for more than 40 years. Three-dimensional printing was created by a number of different individuals, such as the American inventor Charles Hull and the Japanese creator Hideo Kodama. However, the four-decade schedule stays the same. It makes sense that you want to know about the best 3D printers for beginners if you are ready to start 3D printing.
Here are a few 3D printers that are great for people who have never used one before. But don’t worry—each one can be used to make detailed and artistic items that can be used or just for fun. As you read through the list of 3D printers for beginners, keep things like use case and cost of operation in mind. Before you even look at the printers, you might want to read our Frequently Asked Questions and “Things to Consider When Buying a 3D Printer for Beginners” sections. Get ready to learn more about how it was all made.
Our Top Picks
Best Overall 3D Printer for Beginners – Creality Ender 3 V2 Neo 3D Printer
Pros:
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Very affordable price tag
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Rapid heating
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Resume print function after power loss
Cons:
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Filament feeding issues during long prints
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Requires some assembly prior to use
While the Creality Ender 3 V2 3D Printer is priced like a 3D printer for kids, it can do a lot more difficult tasks. The Ender 3 V2 is a fully open-sourced printer that lets users post any kind of design they want. This means that it can be used to make anything from toys to useful hardware.
The printer can be fully fired up and ready to use in five minutes. If the power goes out during a print, it will automatically start up again. This lets you turn off the printer at night or when you have to leave the house. It also keeps you from losing part of a print job if the power goes out by accident.
When the Ender 3 V2 first comes out, it needs to be put together, but any reasonably handy adult should be able to do it. Creality says that customers can get technical support for life, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This means that you can always get help if you need it.
Specifications:
| Printing material: | PLA filament |
| Printer size: | 17.3 inches by 16.5 inches by 18.3 inches |
| Preloaded designs available: | No |
| Automatic leveling bed: | No |
Best Budget 3D Printer for Beginners – Entina Tina 2 Mini 3D Printer
Pros:
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Great price
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Arrives fully assembled
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Solid customer service
Cons:
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Limited to printing small objects
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Slow operation
Get this cheap and highly rated Entina 3D printer right out of the box if you want a printer that is ready to use right away. There are no screws, hex wrenches, bolts, or other parts to deal with. The Tina 2 Mini 3D Printer is a real desktop-sized machine that’s great for both kids and adults who like to do hobbies. It has a clear LCD screen that makes it easy to use, and it works with different kinds of software so you can choose from a wide range of styles.
You’ll need a different printer if you want to print something bigger than 3.9 inches by 4.7 inches. This one can only handle that size. Even though it only holds small files, printing something can still take hours. But the Entina Tina 2 Mini is so cheap and easy to use that it’s easy to forget about those problems.
Specifications:
| Printing material: | PLA filament |
| Printer size: | 11.4 inches by 8.3 inches by b.3 inches |
| Preloaded designs available: | Yes |
| Automatic leveling bed: | Yes |
Best 3D Printer for Kids – Toybox 1-Touch Kid-Friendly 3D Printer
Pros:
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Reliable and durable
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Kid-friendly app
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Quiet operation
Cons:
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Calibration can be finicky
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Prints often have glitches
Is there ever a 3D printer that is really good for kids? The Toybox is it. The material, drawings, and print start are all easy to do. With thousands of ready-made drawings in the Toybox library, it can be hard to decide what to print. But that’s a good problem to have. It can also be hard to get this 3D printer to work right. To do this, you need to use a thin Allen wrench to raise or lower the bed, which can be tricky, but an adult who is patient can do it and then hand things back to the kids.
Even print jobs that take an hour or more won’t bother anyone because the Toybox is small enough to fit on a desk or on a shelf and doesn’t make a lot of noise while it’s working. This is a great way for kids to start 3D printing and make gifts, figures, and fun toys that can be used, like puzzle cubes and disk rockets.
Specifications:
| Printing material: | PLA filament |
| Printer size: | 7.4 inches by 7.4 inches by 9.1 inches |
| Preloaded designs available: | Yes |
| Automatic leveling bed: | No |
Best Multifunction 3D Printer – Snapmaker A350T 3 in 1 3D Printer Laser Engraver CNC Machine
Pros:
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Three machines in one
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High-precision printing
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Auto pause function when filament runs out
Cons:
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Very expensive
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Involved assembly prior to first use
As far as beginner users go, this 3D printer is just about good enough, but if you’re generally handy and tech-savvy, don’t pass it up. It takes some work to put together, but the instructions are pretty clear and easy to follow. Once it’s done, it’s a very accurate machine that doesn’t need much tuning or upkeep.
It’s more than just a 3D printer; it’s three things in one. Depending on the module you connect to your Snapmaker, you can 3D-print objects up to 12.6 inches by 13 inches by 13.8 inches, use a CNC module to precisely cut objects out of materials like wood, acrylic, and jade, or use its laser module to engrave designs into materials like leather, wood, or decorative paper. If it were just a 3D printer, the price would be hard to understand. But it’s a pretty good price for having three machines in one.
Specifications:
| Printing material: | PLA filament |
| Printer size: | 18 inches by 18 inches by 20 inches |
| Preloaded designs available: | Yes |
| Automatic leveling bed: | Yes |
Best Resin 3D Printer for Beginners – ANYCUBIC Photon Mono X2 Resin 3D Printer
Pros:
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Highly detailed prints
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Supports uploads in myriad file types
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Bright crisp LCD screen
Cons:
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Resin pricier than PLA filament
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Cannot sense when resin runs out
This ANYCUBIC 3D printer is a great choice if you want to make 3D items with smooth, paint-ready surfaces that are detailed and accurate. Since it doesn’t use PLA filament, but liquid resin instead, it can print out very detailed images with fewer mistakes than printers that use PLA filament. To get a print this good, you’ll have to spend more on the plastic. Also, be careful not to touch the stuff before the printer has released and hardened it. It’s dangerous. Also, make sure the printer’s case is always on when it’s being used, since the system cures the plastic with UV light that could be harmful.
The Photon Mono X2 3D Printer is easy to use and doesn’t need much assembly when it comes out of the box. It’s great for starting to intermediate 3D printer fans who want to make precise objects, like figurines with lots of details or spare parts for a machine that works. It can also work with a lot of different slicers, which are programs that make files that are ready to be printed. This means that there are plenty of things that can be made with it.
Specifications:
| Printing material: | Resin |
| Printer size: | 13.8 inches by 13.4 inches by 20.5 inches |
| Preloaded designs available: | No |
| Automatic leveling bed: | No |
Best Multicolor 3D Printer for Beginners – Bambu Lab P1S 3D Printer
Pros:
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Can create 16 different colors in a single print
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Internal camera for monitoring prints
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Initial setup takes just 15 minutes
Cons:
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Very expensive
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Interface sometimes lags
One of the main issues from 3D printer users is that they can only print one color at a time, or they use multicolored filament, which makes the printout one color or the item printed in various colors. This is not a problem with the Bambu Lab P1S 3D Printer because it lets you put in four different rolls of fiber at the same time. There are 16 different colors that can be made from these different materials when they are mixed together during the printing process. The machine may look hard to use with all those rolls of filament, and the price tag may also be scary. But it’s actually pretty simple to use.
When you first take it out of the box, this 3D printer will only take about 15 minutes to 30 minutes to set up. This means you can start printing in multiple colors right away. The P1S also has a smart feature that you don’t see very often in these kinds of devices: an internal camera that lets you watch your print job in real time. This way, if there are any mistakes, you can quickly find them and cancel the print from your phone instead of having to sit there and watch the 3D printer in person.
Specifications:
| Printing material: | PLA filament |
| Printer size: | 15.1 inches by 15.3 inches by 18 inches |
| Preloaded designs available: | Yes |
| Automatic leveling bed: | Yes |
Best 3D Pen for Beginners – 3Doodler 3D Pen
Pros:
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Extruder nozzle safe to the touch even during use
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Great price point
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Suitable for kids as young as 6
Cons:
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Some kids will find use frustrating
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Filament refills are pricey
The 3Doodler 3D Pen is a great way for kids, teens, and even adults to start 3D printing. It’s not meant to make exact copies of anything, but even the youngest beginner users can have a great time making jewelry, robots, bugs, rockets, and anything else they can think of.
The 3D pen can be charged and doesn’t need wires to work, so it can be taken anywhere. The tip stays cool enough to touch even when it’s being used.
Not only can 3D tools be used to make completely new things, they can also be used with other things. You can print out a new part for a broken toy car, for instance. However, the fiber refills can be pricey. The 3Doodler pen itself is very cheap, so that pretty much makes up for it.
Specifications:
| Printing material: | PLA or ABS |
| Printer size: | 9.6 inches by 2.56 inches |
| Preloaded designs available: | N/A |
| Automatic leveling bed: | N/A |
The Bottom Line
As lots of people think, 3D printers aren’t that pricey or hard to use. Now, that doesn’t mean you should buy something right away. If you’re a beginner, think about who and what you want to use a 3D printer for, then look for a unit that fits those needs, not the one with the most features or the lowest price. This 3D printer from Creality is the best choice for most people.
What does “use case” mean? It simply means who will be using the 3D printer and why. Is it mostly a toy, or is it meant to be used to make useful hardware? Michael Bourque says, “A good 3D printer for home use should be safe, easy to use, and dependable.” “For beginners, the most important things are ease of use and a well-known brand.” Even though all of these units are easy for someone who has used a 3D printer before, some are more advanced than others. So really think about why you want one of these devices. If it’s just for fun, stick to the easiest ones.
The price of a 3D printer can range from $50 for a simple pen to $1,500 or more for a more complex machine. Most of the time, a higher price doesn’t mean better quality. Often, it just means more features, and a 3D printer may have more features than you need. Bourque says that the cheapest FDM printers are usually the ones that use extruding polymer material.
Ease of Use: Rick Neff says that making a part with many 3D printers can take “quite a little fussing.” And for a beginner, that can be annoying.” If you want to avoid having to do the tuning yourself, he says to look for units that have features like automatic bed leveling. Before you buy a 3D printer, you should also check out the software that comes with it. For many, you can download and try out free apps that are just for that purpose. You should always do this to get used to the design.
Other Things You Might Need: You might need more than just a 3D printer and a reel of filament (or bottle of glue) to make 3D prints work well. Bourque also says that you will need “like a putty knife for scraping” extra material off the printer’s bed, tweezers or a wire brush to remove filament from the extruder head, and cleaning tools to keep the bed and the rest of the machine clean and working. Even a cheap 3D printer should last for many years if you take good care of it and keep it in good shape.
Before John started looking for specific 3D printers that were good for first-time users, he talked to a few people who work with 3D printers. Some of these people were
Rick Neff, a marketing and 3D printing expert from RICK NEFF, LLC, and Michael P. Bourque, a digital manufacturing pioneer with more than 20 years of work experience in software and technology.
Neff and Bourque both gave general advice on what to look for in 3D printers that are good for first-time users as well as specific brand and product suggestions.
With their advice and Steven John’s own understanding of the type of product in question, he was ready to make a short list of contenders.
Next, he looked into what each printer could do by comparing what the companies said about their products with what real customers said and what experts said. To make his final list, John thought about a lot of important factors, such as the material used to make 3D prints, the main purpose of each printer, and how easy it was to use.
For over 30 years, Nicolas Fonte has explored the great outdoors and tested all manner of gear. Through tireless adventures hiking the most remote trails and climbing the biggest walls, he has become the expert on rugged, reliable equipment. Now in his late 50s, Nicolas’ gear reviews are the most trusted resource for outdoor enthusiasts everywhere.
