I'll tell you how I'm doing it.

Edit>Preferences>Add-ons
* Enable Import-Export: STL format
* Enable Mesh: 3D-Print Toolbox

This adds a Sidebar item in the 3D Viewport (press N) with 3D print-related tests. This helps a lot in finding bad meshes. I've been using Clean Up>Make Manifold lately and it often solves piddly problems without hassle.

At the bottom of 3D-Print Toolbox is Export. I select the model I want to send out and click this - very quick. I leave the options unchecked.

In Properties editor on the right:
Scene Properties>Units
* Metric
* Unit Scale 0.001000
* Length Millimeters

This is my standard setup. Your slicer may require a different scale; I'm using PrusaSlicer.

Load Blender, change settings, File>Defaults>Save Startup File to make changes permanent.

Seems like you could spray clearcoat over a non-ABS print and get the same appearance.

Filament drive gear needs to be loosened compared to regular plastics. I'm new to TPU and I'm finding it rather stringy. What's your machine doing?

Hard to go wrong with Ender 3, it is the leader in sales volume, low price, performance per dollar, and retail availability of parts in the USA at Micro Center. Not the greatest build quality, but you can buy two and keep both of them running most of the time. Good choice if you just want to dabble without a big investment.

But I'm still going to say Prusa MK3S+, no contest. The price looks out of line with the Creality lineup until you see they use name brand bearings, belts, and even connectors, instead of price conscious imitations. Hardened machine rods for alignment instead of Delrin rollers on the frame. Auto bed leveling and magnetic PEI sheet, which should be minimum standard features, not upgrades. After 4 years of MK3 production, they are still maintaining and improving the firmware. Prusa is committed to an upgrade kit to the next model (if that's important to you), just like the last 5 in the series.

Ender is the Wal-Mart Black and Decker special that will get you through projects. Prusa is the DeWalt or Milwaukee. I saved up for the better 3D printer, and I am glad I did.

Another recommendation for PrusaSlicer; it is shaping up to be an industry leading slicer, and comes with both Creality and Prusa printer profiles.

Just FYI, there are only a handful of legitimate Capricorn dealers on Amazon.

https://www.captubes.com/resellers.html

Wow, you got lucky there. I'm seeing $100 off of a $300 Ender 3 Pro. $200 is still good, plus you're supporting local retail.

Was at the local store last week and they had about 200 of these in stock. Either this has been a smashing success of a promotion, or someone fat-fingered an order for 100,000 printers instead of 10,000 and they are still getting rid of them...

There's no one best answer. To get your feet wet and to understand the principles of 3D printing, get an Ender 3. It costs less, replacement parts are dirt cheap and widely available, and there is tons of advice on how to use it. It will do the job, but it is made to the price point and there is lots of room for improvement. Read toyotaboy's reply above for examples of improvements.

I went with the Prusa because it already comes with all the improvements that I would have made to an Ender 3. It is $800 delivered (if you build it yourself) or about $1100 plus import duties for the fully assembled one. It isn't the most convenient choice. There are no consumer distributors in the USA, except for some replacement parts. At the moment, it takes a month to get, give or take.

Went straight from almost zero experience to a >97% print success rate. (It would be >99% if I had chosen to buy the smooth PEI sheet, but I wanted the textured one. They now sell the printer with both, if you want them.) It needed only 1 adjustment (the Z-height), and I did that twice because, well, zero experience. All other adjustments are automatic.

toyotaboy is correct about the hot end. It's surrounded by part-cooling vents and even just seeing it is awkward. People accidentally break wires trying to remove and replace the nozzle. If it needs major maintenance the hot end has to be broken down piece by piece. So far I haven't needed to do that. In almost two years I've lubricated the bearings, replaced one nozzle, tightened the extruder screw (my fault for loosening it too much for flexible TPU material), cleared one filament jam (through the door on the side of the extruder) and repaired the filament sensor (factory production flaw; I took a razor blade and trimmed off a millimeter or so from one plastic piece and put it back). Very little hassle.

How is the Omtech? Does it need any mods for sensible users? I spoke to someone who has one a couple of weeks ago, they said they were afraid of it and it's in the garage. With any luck they'll think of me if and when their fear wins over their project ideas. LOL

The Prusa textured build plate gives an excellent texture. Small PLA parts don't stick very well to it, though, so you'll need to add a brim.

Both Cura and PrusaSlicer have the fuzzy skin texture feature that isn't the same but looks nice.

This helped me.

Prusa crash troubleshooting in a nutshell:
◦ If all or part of print came loose, impact with loose plastic is likely the problem
◦ Check error count to see which axis, X or Y
◦ Belt too loose/tight? Belt should sound like a bass string when plucked
◦ Belt Status number is an indication of motor current—too high and it’s assumed there is an obstruction. Ideal number is 240-300, but can go outside range so long as it works. Under 240: loosen the belt. Over 300: tighten the belt
◦ X-axis? Make sure motor mount on left side isn't cracked
◦ Sticky or underlubricated bearings and dirty rods
◦ X-axis bearings may bind if you overtightened the screws on rear extruder housing (where the bearings are)

Well, yes. Bambu Studio is forked from PrusaSlicer, which is based on Slic3r. https://github.com/bambulab/BambuStudio/blob/master/README.md

They pushed some of the in-progress Prusa features out early, so for a long while it looked more advanced than PrusaSlicer did. They also added the Bambu cloud features, while PrusaConnect is still in beta and has only a handful of users - including themselves, of course.

Well that's interesting... Ethernet, network security, no-cloud support, build chamber temperature management, and air filtering, $2500 with AMS. "For additional [network communication] customization details, please contact your regional reseller." By (I presume) going ahead and paying to license the heated chamber patents, they tackle the "engineering department" desktop corporate market. Prusa machines can make the same parts but don't have the single purchase out-of-the-box experience.

No wonder you're frustrated- that's about the worst ringing I've seen.

Was thinking of you at Micro Center last night. I saw they had a stack of replacement doors and thought this must be a very common complaint for Bambu to have asked them to stock doors alongside the bed plates and window kits.

No need to use OnShape, F360, Blender, etc. to apply SVGs. You can right click the objects list in PrusaSlicer (or Bambu's version) and select Add Part>SVG, and set position, thickness, angle, etc. You can leave it as an object or sub-object, or bake the SVG into a design. Click on an existing object to use an SVG as a modifier or negative volume. It will even wrap an SVG around the curved surface of an existing object.

Sweet, having another go at it? Best of luck with the new gear!