3D printer recommendations please

[aidan.f]

Always thought one could be useful, I now have a project that could justify getting one.
My budget is in the low to mid hundreds, most important thing is ease of use, I don't want to spend days working out how to make my first widget.

[rusky]

There's 2 different types. Fused filament and resin. Each has its uses but most people will go with fused filament.

The creality range is very good. If you can stretch to it, a Prusa MK3

Just don't think these are plug'n'play, they do need a little bit of fettling like need adjustment

[gibbo]

My son has an Ender 3 (I think that's right), at work we have a Ender 6 both from Creality. These are fused deposition modelers (FDM) which may or may not suit your application? You may already know but internal structure and orientation with respect to external loads/ forces make a huge difference to how the part performs.

Costs may be obtained from the Creality web site.

[SoreTween]

Another vote for an ender 3.  Some minor assembly required but nothing taxing. In use it fits plug & play very well, switch on, print, switch off & ignore until next use. Resin printers produce much finer results but there's a world of faff before & after each use.

[Phil Hears A Who]

Resin printers produce much finer results but there's a world of faff before & after each use.

+1. Used a high end resin unit in an old job, the things it could print were incredible but an ungodly amount of faff and mess compared to FDM

[quixoticgeek]

Ender 3 series is a reasonable entry point.

But remember, you know all the faff that are normal 2d printers. Now add a 3rd dimension...

Unless you are ok to pay prusa money, it's gonna be a hobby keeping it running.

J

[Keef66]

When I arrived in my DT Technician job 3 years ago we had an expensive XYZ DaVinci 3D printer which is a proper faff to use so it mainly collects dust. And because it's enclosed in a cabinet, replacing a broken drive belt nearly drove me to (more) drink.

Last year the school splashed out £150 on an Ender 3 Pro.  After a bit of assembly it was working faultlessly with no adjustments required.  We download STL files mainly from Thingiverse, run them through the Creality slicing software then save to the micro SD card the printer runs from.  Because it doesn't need to be attached to a PC the thing can be moved from room to room easily.

Best thing about the Ender is the flexible magnetic mat.  Excellent adhesion with no preparation, then when finished you just peel it off the bed and bend it to free the print.

Just change the nozzle if it starts getting blocked.

[Kim]

But remember, you know all the faff that are normal 2d printers. Now add a 3rd dimension...

This, and my irrational aversion to CAD, is why I've managed to avoid them so far.

[aidan.f]

But remember, you know all the faff that are normal 2d printers. Now add a 3rd dimension...

This, and my irrational aversion to CAD, is why I've managed to avoid them so far.

Ah CAD - I was just about to ask...

Kim, I know what you mean, but tho' my cutting filing gluing and sugru skilz are fairly good I always think - 'could do better' and the ability to make a small batch of custom boxen appeals.

So does anyone have a top pick from my list ...just a few from this linky: https://3dprinting.com/software/

FreeCAD
DesignSpark Mechanical
BRL-CAD
Blender
Tinkercad
OpenSCAD...
...and many more

Most are supposed to be free, yeah, but. I suppose I could just try one, then the next and the other until I get bored.

[Kim]

Kim, I know what you mean, but tho' my cutting filing gluing and sugru skilz are fairly good I always think - 'could do better' and the ability to make a small batch of custom boxen appeals.

I'm watching the thread with interest for exactly that reason.

[jiberjaber]

I find it cheaper to buy enclosures rather than print them, esp if it is for outdoor use, trying to weather proof a 3d printed part is quite hard without the use of some form of treatment (painted, varnished, acetone bath etc).

I tend to then use the printer for mounting stuff within...

Probelm with FDM is trying to calibrate to get accurate dimensions, if you can design to remove that issue, then there not bad.  If your application is outdoors, material also factors in too

[Kim]

It's panels with square holes in them, brackets and miscellaneous plastic pingfuckits where 3D printing really appeals to me.

[D.A.L.E.]

Everything I've 3D printed (which isn't much) I've used Fusion360 to design then Cura to slice.

[jiberjaber]

Everything I've 3D printed (which isn't much) I've used Fusion360 to design then Cura to slice.

Same here, just need to keep on top of the free personal licence each year for f360

[SoreTween]

Ah CAD - I was just about to ask...

Kim, I know what you mean, but tho' my cutting filing gluing and sugru skilz are fairly good I always think - 'could do better' and the ability to make a small batch of custom boxen appeals.

So does anyone have a top pick from my list ...just a few from this linky: https://3dprinting.com/software/

FreeCAD
DesignSpark Mechanical
BRL-CAD
Blender
Tinkercad
OpenSCAD...
...and many more

Most are supposed to be free, yeah, but. I suppose I could just try one, then the next and the other until I get bored.

My top pick is openSCAD. By a couple of lightyears.  This may be due to the way my mind works, it's a programming language rather than a drawing tool and to my mind it's just obvious. To paraphrase

Code: [Select]

Difference{         # Subtract second shape from first shape
    Cube(10,10,10);
    Cube(9,9,9);
}
My syntax is wrong as I'm working from 6 month old memory but hopefully you can see the above would make a hollow box.  That's how openSCAD works, add a bit, take a bit away.
After that...
Blender - holy learning curve batman.  Almost certainly worth it.
Tinkercad - Why sell your soul to the devil and only get a noddy product?  Might as well go for:
Fusion 360 - Looks very, very good but my soul is not for sale.
FreeCAD - Not too hard but really surprisingly limited.  Does a single shape very well but isn't set up at all well to model multiple shapes. For example I spent quite some time with help from the support forum trying to replicate this Fusion 360 design in FreeCAD.  It just doesn't seem achievable.  Any one of the parts yes, a composite of multiple separately designed parts yes but multiple objects in a single design sharing parameters did not seem possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o4Fj8OxkB8

[BrianI]

I'm pretty happy with my Creality Ender 3 S1, with it's direct drive extruder.  Ideal for printing flexible filaments like TPU. 

CAD wise, I seem to get on best with Blender, as I was into that in a big way in the early 2000s, mainly using it for 3d rendering etc.

I can't get my head around FreeCAD.

So far I've designed and printed a few functional parts using my 3D printer.

Replacement buttons for my shower handle.  A bung for my airbrush cleaning pot, and spare tool clips for my Henry Vacuum Cleaner (which probably need a different design to make them stronger)..

https://www.printables.com/@BrianInnes_732013/models

[quixoticgeek]

I use openscad. But then I'm the sort of weirdo that's used postscript written by hand to draw stuff out.

Most of what I print is stuff from thingiverse, but occasionally I need some custom gubbins, and I throw some openscad at the problem.

A friend has a Prusa printer of some kind and takes the view of more printing makes it more cost effective, so is happy to print things for me occasionally when I need stuff done that my own any cubic resin printer doesn't do well. The only downside is I don't get much choice of what colour it is. It's what ever filament is already loaded.

Note if you do decide that 3 dimensions of printing chaos is too much like it's simple, resin printing takes it to an extra level by being both wet, and smelly. Involving copious quantities of IPA, and resin that stinks the whole house out if you put the used filter in the bin without putting it in a zip lock bag first. DAMHIKT.

J

[Wombat]

Not content with indulging in resin 3D printing to make detail parts for my garden railway rolling stock and locos, I then decided to buy a FDM printer for other functional but much less detailed bits and bobs.  The FDM one is an Elegoo Neptune 2, which I'm moderately sure is a somewhat cheaper clone of a Creality Ender 3.  The first resin one was an Elegoo Mars Pro (currently lurking in a cupboard unused) and the second is a larger Elegoo Saturn.  they both work just fine, but I cannot deny that getting supports right for resin printing is quite an art.  I tend to produce initial shapes in 2D in turbocad, then import the DXFs into Fusion360 (free license for hobby use), and then into the relevant slicer.

For general purpose widget making, the FDM printer is more useful, and easier to get to grips with.  Detail is pretty so-so, though, compared to resin printers.  Resin printing is foul, stinky and toxic, but the detail level is wonderful.

Having sort of mastered (haha!) that, I've now bought a laser cutter, for cutting plywood parts for model wagons etc. Cue yet another learning curve.