3D Printers

Flashforge Finder 3D Printer

Price: $339

This is a printer designed for students. As such, it’s a smaller size, but setup is reported to be very easy. It uses a non-standard size filament spool, so be aware of that when ordering replacement filament (or 3D print a new spool holder that can hold bigger sizes). It’s a little pricier than the other options, but I think the tradeoff is the ease of setup and the ability to start printing right away.

XYZprinting da Vinci Mini

Price: $220

Another printer designed for beginners, so it is quick and easy to set up. I used the predecessor to this model to print iPad stands for elementary classrooms for the district, in case you want to see examples of the kind of prints you can get. I thought the software was easy to use, but some people have reported glitches with it. You need to buy proprietary filament to work with this printer.

Monoprice Mini Delta v2

Price: $179

This is extremely cheap for a 3D printer, but has a very small print area as a result. The print quality is also not as high as the other models, but it’s probably fine for beginners/students. I own a similar printer from the same company and have used it for a variety of projects very successfully. Might require a little more initial adjustment to the setup to get working than the other two if it’s similar to the one I have.