3D printer for absolute beginner

[Cromulent]

I'm interested in 3D printing because I'm doing some electronics and would like to print parts to build a robot. It must be usable with a Mac and all the software needs to be for macOS as well.

I'd like to be able to make custom parts but I have absolutely no experience and have no idea what is required. My budget is flexible if it can do everything that I need.

 

[Cromulent]

i'm sure most popular slicers have macos versions
building robots would require something a bit more robust than PLA .. all harder plastic need enclouser to print.
i think depending how big your parts will be i would recoment bambu p1s

Thank you very much. Is there some software out there I can practice with to see if I can do what I want to do before I shell out the money on one?

 

[Cromulent]

Cura, Slic3r for slicing/and getting a feel for turning STLs into GCode and what the various settings are.

For design, Fusion 360 is my go-to. They have a hobbyist license, and it's fairly straightforward to get started with. Watch a couple of YT tutorials to familiarise yourself with the UI and the terminology.


Holding your own design in your hands is a satisfying moment.

Cool. I downloaded Cura and that seems to work but I couldn't find the hobbyist license for Fusion 360. I'm probably missing something stupid.

Edit: Found it. My bad.

 

[Cromulent]

Thank you all. I guess I need to watch some YouTube videos but the K1 Speedy seems to be a reasonable price although I do like the sound of the P1S from what I have seen.