3D printers



Daks said:
Safc coasters or similar
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One of the best in home printers seem to be the Prusa ones (google Prusa i3). A workmate has one of these and its prints are very high quality, though you pay more for it. I think if I replaced mine then I'd be very tempted to go for the Prusa.

I got the Wanhao i3 v2.1. I'm not sure if that one is still made. It is a cheaper copy based on the i3 design (there are many clones). At the time, this was one of the best clones on the market, but it has taken a fair bit of tinkering to improve print quality or debug why the quality suddenly degraded. I have liked learning about the tech and doing bits to improve it, so I have not minded. Home 3D printing is a very young technology still, so if you want to just be able to send a job and get a great printout (like you do with a modern inkjet printer) then you will likely get frustrated.

There is also the quality aspect to consider. Prints are built by building layer upon layer, and you can see the layers between them. A popular test print is a 'Benchy'. This small boat prints in an hour or so and has a number of features to challenge a printer. If you look at a google image search for 'benchy 3d', you will see the range in quality you get from printers and what to expect from the best.

There are a number of places you can send your model files off to and they will print them. Try designing something, sending it off to someone as a small print run and then see if you like what you get back.
 
DaveH said:
One of the best in home printers seem to be the Prusa ones (google Prusa i3). A workmate has one of these and its prints are very high quality, though you pay more for it. I think if I replaced mine then I'd be very tempted to go for the Prusa.

I got the Wanhao i3 v2.1. I'm not sure if that one is still made. It is a cheaper copy based on the i3 design (there are many clones). At the time, this was one of the best clones on the market, but it has taken a fair bit of tinkering to improve print quality or debug why the quality suddenly degraded. I have liked learning about the tech and doing bits to improve it, so I have not minded. Home 3D printing is a very young technology still, so if you want to just be able to send a job and get a great printout (like you do with a modern inkjet printer) then you will likely get frustrated.

There is also the quality aspect to consider. Prints are built by building layer upon layer, and you can see the layers between them. A popular test print is a 'Benchy'. This small boat prints in an hour or so and has a number of features to challenge a printer. If you look at a google image search for 'benchy 3d', you will see the range in quality you get from printers and what to expect from the best.

There are a number of places you can send your model files off to and they will print them. Try designing something, sending it off to someone as a small print run and then see if you like what you get back.
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Cheers for that. Just watched a few vids and it's way more complex than I had visioned !

Oh and benchy capsizes straight away 😀
 
Daks said:
Cheers for that. Just watched a few vids and it's way more complex than I had visioned !

Oh and benchy capsizes straight away 😀
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You can print floats that clip on the side to make it float properly.

It does get a bit silly. From all the changes I have made, I have a fleet of ships building up. I stuck a number on so you can see the gradual improvement.
 
I know an engineer who owns one, because of his field of work he uses it all the time, designs and prints bespoke light fittings for his house, etc. He also downloads designs for all sorts of stuff online.

If your handy and like designing and making things I’m sure they’re great fun. I’m no where near that skilled so I’d never use one.
 
anth said:
yes and no. I am no expert, but I understand that you have to think about how it's printed. It starts from the bottom and goes up, so for example if whatever you're making it small at the bottom then wide at the top, the print will fall over as it's printing, or you need to add in supports that can easily and cleanly snip off. Also, most are single colours, you can get more expensive ones that do 2.
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Could you not just print it upside down?
 
I really fancy a 3D printer. there're sites where you download plans and you can print stuff such as bird houses, vases, light fittings, film character helmets etc...there's tons of different things. it doesn't matter that they print in one colour as the idea is that you paint them as well. I could fancy airbrushing stuff.

site with loads of plans
www.thingiverse.com

Search Thingiverse - Thingiverse

Download files and build them with your 3D printer, laser cutter, or CNC. Thingiverse is a universe of things.
www.thingiverse.com www.thingiverse.com
 
bobster999 said:
I really fancy a 3D printer. there're sites where you download plans and you can print stuff such as bird houses, vases, light fittings, film character helmets etc...there's tons of different things. it doesn't matter that they print in one colour as the idea is that you paint them as well. I could fancy airbrushing stuff.

site with loads of plans
www.thingiverse.com

Search Thingiverse - Thingiverse

Download files and build them with your 3D printer, laser cutter, or CNC. Thingiverse is a universe of things.
www.thingiverse.com www.thingiverse.com
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Watch out for the size though. Most popular 3D printers have a build plate of about 22cm. If you are wanting to make a bird house or a helmet then it will need to be done in parts.

Also, 3d printers work by putting down melted plastic in strips 0.4mm wide and either 0.2 or 0.1mm high depending on the level of detail. That makes it a very slow process. I printed an enclosure for a outdoor project that looked like a mini birdhouse and it took nearly a day to print. Don’t set your printer up in the bedroom.
 
We’ve two in my design department.

In theory they are great bits of kit for prototyping and modelling designs.

In reality they are slow as fuck, often fuck up the prints and aren’t practical at all for a group of 20 A level/Gcse kids to use. Can take up to 6 hours to print a small product.

We’ve two decent ones as well. A makerbot and Flashforge creator
 
mcq10 said:
We’ve two in my design department.

In theory they are great bits of kit for prototyping and modelling designs.

In reality they are slow as fuck, often fuck up the prints and aren’t practical at all for a group of 20 A level/Gcse kids to use. Can take up to 6 hours to print a small product.

We’ve two decent ones as well. A makerbot and Flashforge creator
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The f***ing up is a big consideration. Fine for people who like to tinker. Not great for someone who just wants it to work flawlessly each time.

Most people print with PLA, which is not a great plastic for outdoors, but prints easily. I recently tried PETG. From one manufacturer it just would not print. Benchy is a small boat designed to be an ideal print test. I ended up with a fleet of boats that had a good hull and messy/failed upper decks. Each attempt took over an hour before failure, so there was a lot of messing about spread through a few weeks. I even tried a new nozzle, with a more expensive one at £25. That didn't work. In the end I tried another PETG supplier and it worked perfectly. But, it took ages to get a print I was happy with.
 
DaveH said:
The f***ing up is a big consideration. Fine for people who like to tinker. Not great for someone who just wants it to work flawlessly each time.

Most people print with PLA, which is not a great plastic for outdoors, but prints easily. I recently tried PETG. From one manufacturer it just would not print. Benchy is a small boat designed to be an ideal print test. I ended up with a fleet of boats that had a good hull and messy/failed upper decks. Each attempt took over an hour before failure, so there was a lot of messing about spread through a few weeks. I even tried a new nozzle, with a more expensive one at £25. That didn't work. In the end I tried another PETG supplier and it worked perfectly. But, it took ages to get a print I was happy with.
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The consistency is why they aren’t good use of funds in my place tbh.

I go through a ridiculous amount of wasted plastic. It actually gives me anxiety at times watching it get to 60% through the print only for one layer to mis print and fuck up the rest of the models. :lol:
 
mcq10 said:
The consistency is why they aren’t good use of funds in my place tbh.

I go through a ridiculous amount of wasted plastic. It actually gives me anxiety at times watching it get to 60% through the print only for one layer to mis print and fuck up the rest of the models. :lol:
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True. They are good for things you cant get off the shelf. A couple of weeks ago, I made a new part for a broken music stand, with ridged bits that had to match the broken part. I was over the moon with that. A birdbox, I’d make with wood or buy.
 
anth said:
yes and no. I am no expert, but I understand that you have to think about how it's printed. It starts from the bottom and goes up, so for example if whatever you're making it small at the bottom then wide at the top, the print will fall over as it's printing, or you need to add in supports that can easily and cleanly snip off. Also, most are single colours, you can get more expensive ones that do 2.
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Could you not just print it upside down? Then again some things may be pointy top and bottom so I see what you mean.
mcq10 said:
The consistency is why they aren’t good use of funds in my place tbh.

I go through a ridiculous amount of wasted plastic. It actually gives me anxiety at times watching it get to 60% through the print only for one layer to mis print and fuck up the rest of the models. :lol:
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Might be a daft question but can it not be reused, like melted down again, sorry I don't know a lot about them but I am interested now.
 
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legend7 said:
Could you not just print it upside down? Then again some things may be pointy top and bottom so I see what you mean.

Might be a daft question but can it not be reused, like melted down again, sorry I don't know a lot about them but I am interested now.
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yea you do have to think of the shape, but there is things you can do in the design.

No you can't melt just it down, it's a roll of filament that is fed in, it would cost more to get the tools to melt it down and reform it into the correct filament shape.
 
anth said:
yea you do have to think of the shape, but there is things you can do in the design.

No you can't melt just it down, it's a roll of filament that is fed in, it would cost more to get the tools to melt it down and reform it into the correct filament shape.
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Ahhh right gotcha, didn't know if it was a bit like a glue gun or worked on pellets or something.
I'll have a proper read up now
 
offshore said:
I'd love a small CNC machine to build guitar body's instead of the time it takes me with my band saw and lots of sanding!
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There are a number of people who have made their own CNC machines and there are plans online. They use GCODE, same as printers.

Got any good links to guitar building websites? A big tree in my garden has died and I wondered if I could make some of it into a guitar
 
DaveH said:
There are a number of people who have made their own CNC machines and there are plans online. They use GCODE, same as printers.

Got any good links to guitar building websites? A big tree in my garden has died and I wondered if I could make some of it into a guitar
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All depends what you want Crimson Guitars on YouTube is always good for tips on how to build them. I've downloaded template pdf's just with a Google search!
 

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