Giveaway 2 - Ender 3
My second, and main printer, is an Creality Ender 3. I have been using it for close to two years now. I have had nothing but positive experiences with the printer and it's community. I have steadily upgraded the printer over time to reduce the amount of "fidgeting" I need to do in order to get a quality print. My upgrades are in the order I have done them -- Microswiss hotend; Capricorn PTFE Tube; CHPower all metal extruder; BigTreeTech SKR mini 3 1.2; Makerbase touch probe; Creality ultrabase glass bed. I have used Zen Toolworks filament, Amazon filament and just got a roll of Hatchbox (haven't tried it yet). When I create my own models, I tend to model in Fusion 360. My slicer of choice is Cura, but have used the Prusa Slicer and Repetier/Slic3r. I run my printer through Octoprint on a Raspberry Pi 4.
I like that I have tuned my setup and processes to the point that I am confident in my ability to successfully print most models that I desire to print. It has definitely taken a level of tinkering to get to where it is today. When talking to people about my printer I let them know it is a good value but isn't plug and play. You have to be willing to put the time into fiddling and/or upgrading.
Most of what I have been doing lately are lithophanes for family gifts (the photo included is of one I am doing for Mother's day). If you are trying to sell a significant other on purchasing a 3d printer, lithophanes are miracle workers. I have included a link to the lithophane website I use to generate the model from a photo.
Links to product:
https://www.creality3dofficial.com/products/official-creality-ender-3-3d-printer
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079JZ374W
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33042895478.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32890485972.html
https://www.zencnc.com/shop/3d-filaments/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D699XT5
https://ultimaker.com/software/ultimaker-cura