Mail order 3D printing is just extremely expensive.

Honestly, I’ve enjoyed designing custom pieces for board games.

Gridfinity is an awesome organizational system you can print yourself, customized to your needs. I’ve also printed watch charging stands, a bottle drying stand, games, and gifts for other people. Will you save money? Probably not, but it’s fun.

Many public libraries have 3d printers these days. I don't see the appeal of owning one unless you're a serious hobbyist or cosplayer.

Board game organizers are my source of interest. Kickstarter-type games, especially, often need more efficient organizers than the designers included in the box. And it’s very difficult (in my experience) to get useful off-the-shelf organizers, particularly if you want everything to fit snugly in the original box.

How useful a 3D printer is depends entirely on how you use it. My recent projects were:

* Some prototype compressor wheels and housings for an RC vehicle

* Wargaming terrain

* A small enclosure for an oddly shaped LCD panel that I'm using as a dash in my racing sim rig

* A micro ATX PC case

They're useful if you've got complimentary hobbies, but if your reaction to a 3D printer is "I'd probably never use that", you're probably right. If you're not planning on designing your own parts, then mail order is fine for occasional use.

Lots of things! See the functional print subreddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/functionalprint

(There is a new community on lemmy or madtadon, I'm sure its nicer but I don't remember the address)

Emitting microplastic dust into your home.

I had kinda the same feeling before I got my first 3d printer too.

The first real thing I printed was a case for holding camera batteries to prevent them from just rolling around in my luggage. It was in PETG and it felt super high quality, and not chintzy as all.

I'm currently holding a 3NM torque wrench, where the handle and torque mechanism was 3d printed, and it feels like something you want to use on a day to day basis. It's smooth and feels good in the hand.

The chintzy probably comes from low density printing/ low quality materials. I've printed out parts that were carbon fiber infused PLA and PETG and just look and feel absolutely awesome.

Depends on what you want to do with it. For small hobby projects, I like my Ender 3 Pro. There are some better ones with more features, but this one is cheap.

Honestly, it depends on your budget and the features you want. My main workhorse right now is a Sovol SV06, one of the "it girl" printers of 2022. I own the Sovol, an Ender 3 v2, a Mingda Magician X and an AnyCubic Kobra Go. All of these printers work for me now, but that's because I've suffered the frustrating learning curve of 3D printers. For a newer 3D printing hobbyist I would latch onto a brand that offers a 90% or 100% assembled printer -- with a large community for aftermarket add-on buys or prints. Ender, Sovol, AnyCubic, Elegoo -- just look for the brands with massive communities. They tend to keep manufacturers accountable and creative.

So many companies are putting out "out of the box" wonder printers right now that I would just engage in a few weeks of YouTube watching. A printer release could come out tomorrow that completely changes the value proposition of whatever you were looking at. Funny enough, size matters -- if you want to print helmets in one piece, you have to look at larger printers.

A Prusa is more reliable but more expensive than the entry level printers you'll see.

If you want a great DIY printer then VORON is the one to beat.

Lots of people love the Bamboolabs printers.

I have an Elegoo Neptune 2 because it's basically the cheapest decent printer you can get. Main complaints are lack of auto bed leveling, noise, and lack of direct drive filament feeder. Overall I have gotten quite a lot of value from it though. Printed tons of 40k figurines as well as functional stuff, including some stuff like handles and brackets I modeled myself.

One that doesn't create millions of bits of floating microplastics in your home and lungs.

I've had a Prusa Mk3s+ for four years. I bought the kit and assembled it. The only problem it's ever had was the result of a mistake I made during assembly, which I was able to correct. Sometimes I use it a whole bunch for a project and it gives me no trouble. Sometimes it sits untouched for six months. The moment I need it, it works.

I did modify a Ikea LACK table to sit it on to reduce vibrations. I also modified it by removing the power supply where it typically sits and placing it beneath the table. I did this because I cover my printer with a pop-up photo tent to keep heat in and enable printing in ABS. It also keeps dust from collecting on my printer.