New Printer?

Most of Printer does not require the price of a printer for upgrades. Usually you can print most of the upgrades that can greatly improve the print quality/stability of the frame. People spend the price of a printer for upgrades just because they want to, not because they needed to. And people spend the price of a printer for upgrades don't necessary achieve better quality than others that run printer at stock form. and many people break their printer during the upgrade process and have to buy more parts to fix it.

Among all low end printers listed in my signature, I recommend MonoPrice Maker Select Plus and iNSTONE Inventor Pro for people with minimal experience. Not that they are plug & play problem free printer, but they require less knowledge to get start and maintenance, they also have no required expensive upgrade unless you really want to, like many other printers. They came with decent print quality, and you do need to learn some skills to keep it that way.

while i agree with the "you get what you pay for" thing, I have other thoughts about modding.

Any printer should be run in its stock form to start with - get a baseline on what it can or cannot do in stock form.
Perform the proper calibrations first - E steps/mm is number one.
Make sure the machine is set up properly - frame is square and tight, all fasteners are tight, belts are properly tensioned, etc.

run a couple of test prints - the basic single wall cube for verifying extrusion width, temp calibrations, etc.

Then, and only then should you attempt a "real" print to see where things stand.

After all of that, IF you think you still need to mod the printer, the mods should address specific issues and/or expectations.
Modding for the sake of modding is a waste of time and money.

Yes, my SD4s are modified - very much modified - BUT - each and every modification was done for a very specific reason.
None of them were done "just because".

There is something to say about "You get what you pay for" the question is how do you want to pay.
The fact is a really good well engineered,designed built and supported printer will run in the Thousands of dollars.
A prusa MK 3 is $ 1000   A lulzbot mini $1500 utimaker 2+ and Taz 6 $2500, RAise 3d pro 2 plus and the ultimaker s5 will both run Close to $6000. These are just some of the offerings and price points. These are arguably proffesional/ indusrial machines meant for professional proto typing and educational use. So the first way to pay is in cash and get a real printer.

Another way to pay is in plain hard work . buy a kit and build it. And IMHO many of the Chinese prebuilt units are assembled kits they are built but not tuned.
Here is a well engineered premium kit.
https://www.projectr3d.com/products/rai … -pre-order

Or you can purchase cheap and take your chances and pay the consequences. Some of the cheap Chinese printers have even caused fires. And often these cheap printers often NEED upgrades.
In the race to the bottom corners are cut to keep the price low and make it attractive to the hobbyist. The spec are often meaningless hype.

I can not agree with this statement.  A good printer is built with good quality components . A knockoff is built with cheap knockoff components. and one often needs to replace these components to make the printer work well or even work. This is why heartless need to upgrade her machines in the race to the bottom the manufacturer  designed some flaws into the printer. these needed to be corrected. The second part of the statement i will not say it does not happen but i do not think epidemic some of this "Damage " is due to poor design some carelessness some lack of preparation but if one has the knowledge skill and ability to work on a printer collateral damage will be minimum.
So bottom line is either you put out a chunk of cash for a nice printer. you spend a bit less for something that prints decent but has some flaws or you buy cheap and pay in frustration cash for upgrade tinker time etc. Ther is no money for qualty control , no time to test no time spent adjusting the machine and no factory support.

Another thing there is out of the box experience then there is longevity and reliability. A great out of the box printer may have issues after two years . This one is a bit harder to measure.
Again hope this helps.

Sure one can buy a cheap knockoff printer and repair it with knockoff parts. but the weak link will likely fail. Why not replace the weak prone to fail parts with real parts and avoid the aggravation.

Can we say Peachy Printer? I was one of them who lost $100 on that sham.

Because beginner break high quality parts due to human error. The quality of the part often doesn't matter. I see people ask for help because they clear nozzle with metal brush with printer power on (short heating element and therefore main board), turn motor driver pot with metal screw driver (poke somewhere else on mainboard that they can remember), replace heating element and heated bed because new fancy PSU is set to 220V. (reason for upgrade PSU because upgrade to microswiss full metal hotend and filament don't melt well.)

It's like for new drivers, start with used low cost car first. If he knock out a trash can or scratch the paint, he will not feel terrible. On the other hand, beginner driving with a car that may stop working at any minute is terrible, especially when break is not less say "easy to use".

That's why I recommend MonoPrice make select plus and iNSTONE Inventor Pro to beginners, they are kind of like Toyota corolla with 7k mileage on it, cheap to buy, problem free for a short while, you were happy with the fact that you can drive. How fast this car can accelerate or how well the alignment is are not your primary concern. And one day, you found yourself stop bump or scratch into anything in any kind of parking situation, not involved in any kind of small accident, time for a better car.

I never liked the cheap open single span design 3D printers that just hang out there where it can be bumped while printing and no easy way to enclose or vent/filter fumes when in an environment too cold, dusty cramped etc since I prefer ABS. PLA is more forgiving on ambient temps but still. lots of people are using their printers on kitchen counter areas with kids romping around etc with varying climate dust fumes, sun light or water even near by. this was why I bought my Solidoodle 2 and though I have removed the enclosure I paid extra for due to hard to take off for fast access when needed for print, (wish they had used plexiglass panels with magnets mounting them).
so it also depends greatly on material/s you plan to print with if that design will work for your needs. and Price is NOT a good meter for better/worse 3D printer as we have learned the last decade. quality manufacturing is much more important and support in the long run if/when the maker closes like Solidoodle did, which is why We have this forum still.
there are plenty of Ex's in 3D printing but few Experts like those found on this forum.

was talking about bumping into print arm mid print as it has nothing around it to keep things out of its path

Peachy, Tiko, and many others..

Yes, a few actually got their Tiko, but many more did not (my other half for one) and those that did get one quickly found out it was not as good as was advertised.

Do you have to have a come back for every post and prove every post wrong?

None of those sites mention any printer that ships with a wire brush. The reason? Because then they would be responsible for your use of it.

They mentioned needing one but no where did they say any printer ships with one other than XYZ as I said.

my point is these guide are the reasons why people break their mainboard with metal wire brush, and you guys have to misunderstood my post in every possible way. no wonder this forum become quieter and quieter.