3D printer advice
11-22-2016, 01:41 PM
#1
Thread Starter
3D printer advice
Hello all, so I am trying to decide what Santa will bring me and was
Thinking a 3D printer may be a nice item to have for making stowage and other bits for the tanks :think: I have just begun to research and I know several of you 3D print your
Own parts. Any suggestions? I am looking to keep it under $500 and just a basic
Unit , just incase I am horrible at it :haha: XYZprinting da Vinci Jr. 1.0 3D Printer
Was one I saw on Amazon. What you you think ?
Cheers Mark
Thinking a 3D printer may be a nice item to have for making stowage and other bits for the tanks :think: I have just begun to research and I know several of you 3D print your
Own parts. Any suggestions? I am looking to keep it under $500 and just a basic
Unit , just incase I am horrible at it :haha: XYZprinting da Vinci Jr. 1.0 3D Printer
Was one I saw on Amazon. What you you think ?
Cheers Mark
11-22-2016, 03:15 PM
#2
Okay, big subject.
First, manage expectations: anything in a hobbyist's price range will not give you Shapeways type results. I'm not saying it's not useful, but you're not going to print off jerry cans, etc without a lot of post printing prep.
I looked in them for a long time before pulling the trigger. Now that I have one, I use it all the time, but nowhere near the way I expected. I'm printing off tools, brackets, armature for sculptures, etc, but not anything that you could stick on a model without a ton of work. My hardest thing so far was a scale Japanese diving helmet, but it required a lot of texturing and filling.
My recommendation, especially at that price point is to buy a kit from a US based company like RepRap Guru on Amazon. These things need constant fiddling and calibration, so it's better to learn it all from the start instead of just staring at a paper weight. If you can't assemble one, you certainly won't be able to run one, trust me. My riprap kit went together in a few hours and gave me an understanding of the process that made printing much easier.
The Gurus have great customer service and offer all the parts which is very important. Mine was $330 shipped, but I think they're cheaper now.
It's a lot of messing around and you'll need to get proficient with Design 123 or SketchUp Make to get anything out of it but in the end it's well worth it.
First, manage expectations: anything in a hobbyist's price range will not give you Shapeways type results. I'm not saying it's not useful, but you're not going to print off jerry cans, etc without a lot of post printing prep.
I looked in them for a long time before pulling the trigger. Now that I have one, I use it all the time, but nowhere near the way I expected. I'm printing off tools, brackets, armature for sculptures, etc, but not anything that you could stick on a model without a ton of work. My hardest thing so far was a scale Japanese diving helmet, but it required a lot of texturing and filling.
My recommendation, especially at that price point is to buy a kit from a US based company like RepRap Guru on Amazon. These things need constant fiddling and calibration, so it's better to learn it all from the start instead of just staring at a paper weight. If you can't assemble one, you certainly won't be able to run one, trust me. My riprap kit went together in a few hours and gave me an understanding of the process that made printing much easier.
The Gurus have great customer service and offer all the parts which is very important. Mine was $330 shipped, but I think they're cheaper now.
It's a lot of messing around and you'll need to get proficient with Design 123 or SketchUp Make to get anything out of it but in the end it's well worth it.
11-22-2016, 05:21 PM
#3
Thread Starter
Ausf, thanks for the reply. From what you said maybe I'm not ready or patient enough for 3D printing yet 
perhaps I should stick to shapewaus etc. I can see it driving me mad if I can't get it going.
Cheers Mark
perhaps I should stick to shapewaus etc. I can see it driving me mad if I can't get it going. Cheers Mark
11-22-2016, 06:30 PM
#4
I didn't mean to discourage you, it really is a great tool, but it certainly isn't a plug and play level yet, no matter what they claim.
Its not rocket science and all the info is out there for the grabbing, but it takes patience.
Its not rocket science and all the info is out there for the grabbing, but it takes patience.
11-22-2016, 10:40 PM
#5
Thread Starter
I am fascinated by the technology but maybe not quite ready
11-23-2016, 03:45 AM
#6
It's great time saver for scratch building. If I need a support for a prop shaft in a circular hull, a couple of measurements, a couple of minutes on 123 and in an hour or so I have the exact part.
Flip side is I wanted to print out a model of the Discovery One from 2001. Just the round piece of an existing design online, scaled to 50% which means it was a 5" ball. I had to split that in half to avoid all the support material, then print. To print a half 5" ball with detail at 100 microns....11 hours. That's what I mean about being realistic. 11 hours and at anytime it could go south if one layer doesn't adhere or the filament gets hung up unspooling. And I guarantee it doesn't screw up in the first 8 hours, but waits until it's almost done. And on top it that, the finished print will still need a ton of work to get it smooth.
Flip side is I wanted to print out a model of the Discovery One from 2001. Just the round piece of an existing design online, scaled to 50% which means it was a 5" ball. I had to split that in half to avoid all the support material, then print. To print a half 5" ball with detail at 100 microns....11 hours. That's what I mean about being realistic. 11 hours and at anytime it could go south if one layer doesn't adhere or the filament gets hung up unspooling. And I guarantee it doesn't screw up in the first 8 hours, but waits until it's almost done. And on top it that, the finished print will still need a ton of work to get it smooth.
