samnavy

iTrader: (7)

Is it time? Has the tech achieved a point where it makes sense having one of these in my living room? In doing some homework, I actually checked the wikipedia for "Replicator", as in Star Trek. Can make you anything you want... even serve real alcohol after Worf enters the security code.

In owning one, I'm not talking about having a stupid hobby where I make little elephants and ****... I want it to be an actual useful tool for making my life easier. Often, something will break in the house and I end up throwing away an "item" because some small thing on it broke and it's too much trouble to jury-rig something to keep it in service, so I just buy a new one.

The biggest problem I'm having is keeping pace with YT and the various asian vendors (Banggood, etc) because a YT review that's 6 months old is completely obsolete, and there are literally HUNDREDS of these things for sale under dozens of recycled Chinese brand names that all look exactly the same with minor variations on color or size or neon lighting.

https://usa.banggood.com/search/3d-p...e-0-0_p-1.html

Anyways... thoughts?

gooflophaze

IMHO, there are two types of 3d printer enthusiasts - those that make elephants, and those that actually learn the toolchain. The toolchain knowledge is 3 basics - Design (CAD), CAM (translating design to g-code), and finally the printing itself. In my mind it's like cooking - if you know how to cook, do you really give a damn about what brand your stovetop is?

As far as the state of 3d printing - mine has sat unused for a few years now, largely because I now work with aluminum and steel.

Lokiel

I started with a Chinese Wanhao Duplicator i3 V2.1 3D printer, it was cheap-ish and had a large user-base.

The large user-base was extremely helpful because I was constantly needing to upgrade components and there was plenty of information on how to do this - the motherboard actually caught fire once because wiring to the bed wasn't rated to heat the bed over 60*C.
I was constantly repairing the damn thing and upgrading parts until it reached the point where I realised I needed to spend another A$300 on it because I could no longer level the bed due to the fact that the brackets mounting the 4 corner bed-levelling screws were bending - they were too thin.
If you're prepared to constantly address issues with a cheap 3-D printer, you'll eventually end up with a machine that works well but you'll end up replacing about 40% of it.

I threw mine out and bought a "flat-pack" Prusa i3 MK3S and assembled it myself (cost less and saved on S&H).
It cost about the same as my original 3-D printer and all the "modz" I needed to make the damn thing work, and I know that all mechanical/electrical components are some of the best commercial-grade components available rather than the cheapest knock-off version of them.
Prusa often tweaks their printers and you can print the new components when they're updated (or buy the new 3-D printed components).

BOTTOM LINE: Buy a quality 3D printer from the start, you'll save yourself a LOT of time, $$$ and frustration.

I use mine for making prototypes and small components and use OpenSCAD to design them, it's free and simple to use if you've done any programming and use Cura to do the slicing.

Beware that some filaments are toxic (eg. ABS) so you shouldn't print in your bedroom.

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

I do a lot of 3d printing. Mostly for prototype parts smaller than 10 x 10x 10. I have used a lot of them, but only buy PRUSA. His machines are way ahead of others in its price, upgrades are cheap, they make their own slicing software and works very well with Fusion 360. Fusion 360 is a free caad program with about 99% of the capability as solidworks.

Our machine works around the clock and has probably brought us close to 60k In revenue over the last 2 years, on a thousand dollar machine.

If I make any step up from PRUSA (currently using a multi filament (4) machine) it would be to a MarkForge machine.

As far as making parts for around the house that break...How much time are you willing to invest? How much modeling practice do you have? How good are you at hunting on Thingaverse for items you need and are already available ready to print?

I am very average with my modeling skills, but things around the house? I just had a drawer guide, in the kitchen junk drawer break. Can't buy it, it's too old. Took me an hour to draw and 45 minutes to print. Works like new.

Guardiola

iTrader: (1)

I've been using FDM machines for 15 years. The more expensive machines, like Stratasys, simply work better, but cost a hell of a lot more. If you are running continuously and your income depends on it, invest in one of these. For hobby level printing, I have been unimpressed with all the ones I have been exposed to. I have heard good things about some of them, but have yet to experience a decent one myself. I have read good things about PRUSA.

Here is a short list of the garbage brands I have used: Makerbot, Fusion HFR, 3D Platform. Stay away from these.

Make sure whatever you get has a heated bed. Lots of filament just won't adhere properly without and it. I would also highly recommend getting a machine that can handle 2 spools of filament. One for model and one for support. Having a break-away support material lets you print almost any shape. Otherwise, you will have limited shapes and profiles available.

If there is a particular type of plastic you know you want to use, make sure you get a printer that can handle it. For example, I print mostly ABS, Soft PLA, and PC. Most all printers can handle the first two, but can't handle PC. Knowing what material you want to print can help narrow your machine choices down.

Software is software. Once you dial in the settings for your machine and filament, you are good to go.

Schroedinger

You might want to check to see if there's a maker space around you. Many cities have them; you can pay a monthly subscription, learn to do it on their machines, and figure out what you like and don't like. Prepare to meet lots of very pale young dudes who are really into LARP'ing, Cosplay, etc.

I got into it about a year ago at the local maker space. I was interested in doing some projects for my business; anatomical bone models, etc. Good equipment matters a lot, but 90% of the end result comes from user experience. Doing your 3d models with the end result in mind, figuring out how to slice correctly, bed adhesion, different material properties, extrusion temperatures, etc. I'm making really good stuff now, but the learning curve was long. Shitty materials like PLA are easy to get results using the pre-determined settings. Good materials like ABS and nylon require a lot of tweaking and custom settings, especially as your parts get more complex. Since it was a business expense I went baller and got a Lulzbot TAZ 6, which is a commercial quality machine. Even that requires constant maintenance and tweaking to get good results. These machines are still far from "set and forget".

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

I've had a prusa for a year or so. Run it several hundred hours. It's ok, I wish more of it was made of metal and not plastic, but I've pushed it hard and had to remake a few plastic parts and make a few of them in metal to fix reliability problems. For the money, it was a good deal. Slicer and fusion as mentioned makes it easy. If I did it again, I'd probably buy an all metal printer, or build my own to improve reliability.

y8s

iTrader: (8)

Second the heated bed. You can run any machine you want. Just about every detail and parameter can be tweaked to get decent parts. Better machines just do better at consistency.

We've been running a Lulzbot Taz 5 for a long time. I was recently bequeathed a Taz 6 from an office that was consolidated.

Best thing I ever did for them was to hook up a raspberry pi, webcam, and run octopi / octoprint.

I need to do something about my installation of the Taz 6...




Honestly, find out what the community support is like for the cheaper machines you like. That'll be where the heroes are made.

Also I recently taught myself the basics of Fusion 360. You can get a free 3 year license for being a maker. It's a sketchup-like, accurate, 3D modeling program made by a legit CAD company that has the ability to generate and disseminate 3D models to various making technology. It even has built in CNC capabilities. Did I mention it's free?

Chiburbian

iTrader: (1)

I have a Prusa MK3S with multi-material upgrade. (theoretically able to run 5 different colors or combinations of filament).

When it was a MK3, it was dead nuts reliable. With the MMU2S it is a tiny bit of a learning curve. Pretty much all my fault.

If you can spare the coin, I highly recommend it as the MK3S non-assembled kit. Knowing how to assemble/disassemble is a benefit and makes you better at figuring out any problems going forward. Plus, if you have an interested wife/girlfriend/kid, it's a nice way to spend some time together.

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

My Original PRUSA was slowly upgraded, 2, 2 with mods, then 3, thing has probably had 300 lbs of filament through it. Still kicking out parts.I am currently running the MK3 with 5 filaments. A little fiddly for the first couple days, it's good now so far.Pretty neat to be able to change materials mid print, Been making some interesting stuff

y8s

iTrader: (8)

That's pretty impressive to run 5 filaments at once. Can it do different materials with different melt points (e.g. ABS + Flex + dissolvable support)?

Oil Leak

CR10 Owner checking in- Had it for about 6 months and love it, about to start some upgrades like a better hot end and a direct drive extruder.

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

so you cant physically print with all 5 simultaneous, it still has a single print head. It will switch between the though, as needed. yes, it will swap out print settings based on current printing filament.

samnavy

iTrader: (7)

Looks like Kauai does have a Makerspace... guess I need to pay a visit. Also looks like the tech needs another couple years (or a decade) before it's ready to do what I want.

But, my kids seem interested... so just out of curiosity, let's say I had $300 to play with? What to buy?

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

Dont buy a 300 dollar printer. It will suck, imo, and is the equivalent of an ebay turbo kit. 80% complete and mostly junk. You will spend more in the long run.. For about 600 you can get the PRUSA kit. Heated bed, flexible easy release table, good software, a very refined tool for the price.the kit will also be a fun project for the kids. Might take 8 hrs. To complete at kid pace.

I think this is a great learning tool for kids. Mostly because of the problem solving, in design and to learn CAAD / modeling. A 10 year old can learn to use fusion 360.

Guardiola

iTrader: (1)

For learning and making hobby level parts, expect to spend around $1k for machine, parts, and material.
What they refer to as "enthusiast" level builds, expect $5-10k.
The professional/industrial set-ups start at $20k (small platform) and go up to $500k+

Renting time on a machine is going to be way more cost effective than buying a piece of ****.
When you get shitty resolution and slow build times, you're gonna have a bad time.

Lokiel

+1 on the "Don't buy a $300 3-D printer", if you're lucky it will work initially but it wont work very well after that and will just frustrate the hell out of you.

It might help you decide on your next 3-D printer though since you'll appreciate what features a 3-D printer needs to have and be prepared to pay for them.

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

Going to go out on a limb and assume you do not have personal experience with PRUSA. I will put my 800 dollar machine against anything up to 8k. They have made radical improvements in the last year. Mark Forge was just at my office and did not have much extra as far as performance, for 13 grand.

renting, IMO, is like barrowing a community mill or lathe. they always work, kinda, but are set up like ****. because the slightly below average person is a moron and cant set things up proper.

Guardiola

iTrader: (1)

I have not used the PRUSA. It looks like good bang for the buck, for a hobby printer.
The Lulzbot and Ultimaker look like you get more for your money, but again, no experience.

I'm a little spoiled. I've almost always had access to Stratasys machines (in college and 3 of my last employers).
I understand technology has come a long way, and what you get for the money is getting better and better.

I have seen better prints from budget SLA printers than budget FDM printers. Both machines coming in around $1k.

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

Some neat stuff we did with our PRUSA. 6-32 nuts encapsulated within the printed part. This is the bottom of the part, will be assembled from the other side. Steel threads in plastic? Yes please.