Aye folks, im looking for a 3d printer and i saw some people with one on here, so ill ask, is there like a model that is universally good? Or a manufacturer or something. Budget is 350$ tops.

I bought myself a Prusa i3 off some random Chinese website about 2 years ago for under 300 bucks. It's been working pretty well, but you have to be willing to tinker at least a bit at that price point. I also recommend you get a printer with a metal frame and not an acrylic one (the latter is more fragile and bends over time, I learned that the hard way).

Lulzbot. Just Lulzbot.

@RiderExMachina Not sure 1250 USD is under 350 lol

@nicoco007
Shhh. Don't math, just do it.

We have a Creality CR-10 which we bought with the money won in a competition (a bplan competition so lots of monies).
It's pretty good. Though slightly over your budget I think.

Otherwise, I've used Fracktalworks printers (okay), a Lulzbot (good, ElectroBOOM endorses them too), and a delta printer, I think that was a lab prototype though.

@RememberMe I've heard good things about the CR-10, and delta printers are often a pretty good bang for your buck but can be a pain to get calibrated properly in comparison to cartesian printers.

Another thing I just thought of - if you're buying in this price range, you'll have to be careful of what firmware comes pre-installed on the printer. I know many Prusa i3 clones have disabled failsafes that caused major damage (an example that comes to mind is the Anet A8; search "Anet A8 fire" for horror stories). You'd be better off just completely reinstalling the firmware yourself instead of risking running the stuff that's on there. Most standard cartesian printers use Marlin (http://marlinfw.org) and there's a huge community there to help if you have any issues. This video by Thomas Sanladerer gives a good idea of how to deal with safety: https://youtube.com/watch/...