The development of 3D printer technology has an influence on the ease of making 3D objects. Digital printing this one is able to print 3D objects exactly the same as soft files. This printer makes it easy for art workers to develop their ideas and designs in making toys, prototypes, miniatures, and projects.
Digital Printing from time to time continues to progress. Initially the printing machine was only able to print writings or drawings on paper. However, nowadays the printing machine has been able to print soft files in the form of 3D images into an exact same 3D object.
Seeing the unimaginable prospect of this printer, people are now massively looking for this new technology. But surely, there are some things you need to understand first. One thing you need to understand first is there are actually different types of 3D printer.
There are printers that are using the FDM technology. FDM is an additive process, which is made by heating and extruding plastic, uniting layer by layer. This type of printer is most widely used by the industry.
Stereolithography also uses an additive process but instead of extruding plastic, the process in this printer uses ultraviolet light to harden the model of a pool of photosensitive fluid. This process will allow for higher print quality. The price of this printer is more expensive than FDM.
SLS is similar to stereolithography, except that the process involves lasers and powders, rather than UV light. Lasers are used to melt powder, creating a layer of printed materials. This makes it possible to print metal objects, which is impossible in the other two processes.
| Prusa i3 MK3S | Ender 3 | |
|---|---|---|
  |   |
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| Product Dimensions | 21.06 x 20.08 x 18.7 inches | 8.7 x 8.7 x 9.8 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 28.51 pounds | 17.64 pounds |
| Best offer | Check price | Check price |
For professional 3D printers, the price can reach tens of millions. These prices should be considered and tailored to your needs. If you’re new to the 3D printing industry, you can try a 3D printer for thousands of dollars. But on the other hand, you could get a nice affordable 3D printer that’s even sitting around 500 dollars or even less. Yes, that’s highly possible.
Seeing that there’s an actual market for budget 3D printers, many brands were brave enough to introduce their more affordable version of quality printers. An example of this is the classic Ender 3. Today, it has its price around 289 dollars, which seems to be reachable for a wider market. On the contrary, we have the Prusa i3 MK3S that’s around 1,129 dollars, which certainly is not pretty cheap for some people.
With the fact that the price gap is as wide as 800 dollars, some questions might surfaced. Is the way more affordable can surpass the value of the one that’s more expensive? Or the wide price gap is actually worth it? Let’s find the answer below:
Prusa i3 MK3S – $ 1,129
The price might seem frightening at first. But we think that Prusa i3 MK3S can be one of the best all-around 3D printers. Higher price will be nicely traded with a good consistent performance that you might looking for.
It adds another value to the upgraded Prusa i3MK3 with several significant upgrades that are more advanced than before. MK3 was already a great printer that carried on with some upgrades that added from the older Prusa i3. However, the “S” version has now come with easy extruder assembly, better sensor on filaments, and also the quietness in extruder. They got rid off the vibration that previously existed in the MK3.
What people love the most and what seems to be a true identity of Prusa i3 MK3S is the consistency. It could perform really well even though put in long work hours. It also makes the whole process seem to be easy and convenient. Once the printing process is fully done, the prints will be popping off automatically from the steel plate.
However, during long-distance printing, users might find several eros and troubles. Seems that this printer somehow just won’t work properly if wireless connection is used. Troubles vary from unfinished prints and sometimes layer shifts. But sometimes, the machine will put itself down if an error is detected, so you won’t be out of filament pretty soon.
Even though it comes with few minuses, we still believe that Prusa i3 MK3S is still a capable machine for long printing processes. Prusa i3 MK3S could work pretty well without any troublesome issues.
Ender 3 – $ 289
Ender 3 has now been included as a classic device. But back then, people were swarming this thing like an army of ants surrounding a block of sugar. The terms “budget printer” seemed to be somewhat blurry with the arrival of Ender 3. Affordable price that is fitted with remarkable performance sounds too good to be true at first. But everyone was pretty delighted when it finally happened.
Ender 3 entered the market with interesting premises. Small and portable dimension, heated build plate, power recovery mode, and compatibility with wide ranges of materials on top. All you can get just below three hundred dollars.
But of course, not everything in Ender 3 is specially remarkable. For example, if most 3D Printers now adopted the auto bed calibration, a function that seems simple but definitely helpful, Ender 3 still sticks with manual bed calibration. Plus, you can feel the traditional mechanics through the operation of the knobs.
With such a low price, it’s not a strange thing to say that Ender 3 is absolutely great for long-term investment in this creative industry. It should be a humble opening for beginners who want to enter the gate of 3D Printing world for the first time. Read also: Qidi Tech Shadow 5.5 vs Elegoo Mars.
Prusa i3 MK3S Vs Ender 3
Verdict
With remarkable performance, Prusa MK3S has proven to be a quality 3D printer with the factor of consistency on the top. It works pretty fast, pretty well, with less to none quality being cut off during a long printing process. It certainly is a great printer for producing mass models in commercial industries.
Meanwhile, Ender 3 can deliver good quality printings at such a reachable price. With willingness to work some more and probably upgrading it a little, Ender 3 will be an entertaining and interesting learning experience.