I do not have a home printer. I have looked at a lot of them and watched some in use and discussed them with others that own them. That is why I don't have a home printer!
Let me expound on that.
What do you get for your money when you buy a home printer? You get a machine. Period.
Now you need to buy raw materials to have the machine extrude it somehow (melt a filament to ooze out, cool and leave a portion of the item being printed, or squirt a liquid out and use a UV light to "cure" the liquid to a solid to form a portion of the item being printed, or squirt out two liquids that react with each other to form a solid portion of the item being printed. The raw materials are an added expense and I know of none of them that are reusable once dispensed by the machine. Various types of the material have various prices. That is one thing that your budget needs to take into consideration.
Another thing to consider is the durability of the material for your intended purpose of the items you wish to print. (Is it food safe? Is it UV stable? Will it melt on a hot day in the sun? ...? ...?)
Note, that home machines can usually only print using one material (possibly two or three similar types). So you may be stuck without the ability to print all the delightful items you imagine due to the type of material the single machine can use.
There are other accessories that are needed. Some materials require post processing. Additional cure time under UV light (more expense), or washing (possibly with some chemical, such as a high percentage alcohol [more expense]). Other things might be a material to help the item being printed to stick well to the base/table of the machine (some form of masking tape?). As well as carving tools to remove excess material needed for support while printing.
Okay, now you have a machine and raw material and tools and accessories. Now you need to power the machine, so put it on a table near a power outlet. Cheap home machines are probably not a problem to supply power, but be careful of fumes from the machine. You might need to supply ventilation, even if just to remove the "stink" of the melted plastic or UV curing liquids (not all are stinky, but some are, and some might be toxic).
The location of the machine needs to be solidly built and LEVEL. A tippy machine will not work well. Vibration can upset things. A non-level machine will produce leaning items. There needs to be a uniform temperature, free from stray breezes that can alter the temperature and solidification/cure time. (A friend swears that if he opens the door to the room the machine is in, while it is printing something, it will ruin the print, because the item will not solidify at the same rate due to the change in temperature caused by the air disturbance!)
Note that if something goes wrong during the print, (such as the whole item being printed breaking loose from the table and being drug around with the printhead, or the material not sticking at some point or a string of material stretches across a gap that then later gets tangled in the printhead, also dragging the part around after it), there is no pausing the print while you make adjustments; you kill the print job and start over. And once the material is used in a failed print, you can't re-use it... it is wasted dollars.
Small items (and the first few items made) are fun to watch the machine "grow" them, but it takes time to make items and so larger items are boring to watch. So you start the machine and leave the room to eat, or sleep (or nature calls), and the breeze of your movement can cause problems and the print has to be stopped before the glob of material being drug around the table breaks something on the machine while you are gone... another $$ problem!
There is something to be said for the joy of watching the machine produce the item you drew in your 3-D software. Something gratifying to see it "now" (well, maybe a few minutes to several hours, depending on the size of the object and the speed of the machine, which must be adjusted for the particular material in use, which might vary, based on the supplier/brand of the raw material).
Note also, that it is not just "draw something and print it". There is some pre-processing to take your drawing and convert it to layers and then calculate the route of the print head to print those layers, and possibly add some support structures for portions of the item being printed. That can take time for the software to process (more boredom!).
And if something breaks on the machine, YOU are the repairman. Do you know how to troubleshoot the electronics and/or hardware? Can you fix things?
I realize I have pretty much presented the bad side of owning a home machine. But one more consideration needs to be mentioned. Just how many items do you REALLY, honestly, think you will make over the lifetime of the machine? Prorate the cost of the machine, tools, expendables, and the raw material, (including wasted material from failed prints in your learning curve) across how many items you might make as acceptable products. I know a fellow that really wanted to make some multisided dice of his own design. So he bought a machine, learned how to use it (wasting a couple of reels of ABS filament, he is the one that said opening the room door caused a breeze that ruined prints!), got the die made and then had trouble thinking of something else to make Those TWO die cost him about $275 EACH! He did make a couple of other items, which reduced the "per item" cost, and he sold the machine and all the accessories, at quite a loss, such that what he did make, each item was still a bit under $100.
But he did get the dice he wanted and has the prestige of having "made them himself!".
I am NOT an employee of ShapeWays and I do NOT own any stock or have any financial interest in the company. I do have several complaints about how they do things and what it costs, but I still think I am ahead financially by using ShapeWays for my 3-D printing. I wish they lowered their prices, I wish they had a faster turn-around time, I wish they did a lot better in packing delicate parts, and I wish they had cheaper options for shipping.
But I think I am ahead financially by paying them to make items for me, instead of having purchased a home 3-D printer and all the accoutrements needed. I do miss the "fun" of seeing the things being made and a 2 or 3 week delivery time is 30 to 40 times slower than using a home machine (and I do get antsy waiting for my stuff!
).
But if they screw something up, or the machine fails (even unbeknownst to me) they eat the cost of the fail, they start over and I get my product anyway at no increase in cost.
Although I mainly print in just one material (Versatile Plastic [Nylon-12]), I have access to dozens of materials that a home machine would not have.
Sorry to be so long-winded. I hope someone will come along soon to offer some opinions of what 3-D printers are good.