Purchasing a 3D Printer

Other Hardware General Electronics
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I'm starting a new thread branching off from the one below. I believe having a stand alone detailed 3D printer discussion is in order. 3D printers can be an invaluable hobbyist tool.

OP asked about purchasing a bottom end printer. My reply is you get what you pay for. The Easythreed you suggested is very limited in print size, capable print material and support after the purchase. I'm not going to say no, don't buy that. It does create small parts using PLA or TPU (flex) materials. It's a small price to pay to introduce you to the world of 3D printing.

If I was in the market today I would seriously consider purchasing

However, having the hardware is half of it. You then need some sort of CAD and slicer software to create the files to print your own design. Otherwise, you are dependent to whatever you find on the web. There is several free software to choose.

I'm a fan of PETG filament, use CREO to design my parts because that's what I used at work for many years, and I print on a 6+ year old Prusa i3. I use Prusa Slic3r to generate my gcode.

I hope others will join in to discuss the details of everything involved in going from an idea, or need, to having a finished 3D printed part. I'm short on time this morning so I'm going to leave this here for now.

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General thoughts: if you have it, spend the money on a reputable model. You'll spend more trying to fix a lemon.

You don't have to go too big with the printer; it's often easier to print small parts and assemble later anyway.

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I use FreeCad yo do 3D modeling, Cura for slicing and Marlin controller, all free software.

I have hands on experience with 2 3D printers. A Prusa I3 and a HicTop.

The Prusas were purchased by the local library ($800.00 ea.) and I (and a few others) volunteered to assemble them. The instructions were very good and assembly was easy. Most tools were included. Set up and calibration was mostly automatic and, also, pretty easy. The Prusa has automatic bed leveling. There was no tweaking of the controller settings necessary.

The HicTop is my personal printer. I paid $180.00 for my printer. The instructions were OK. Setup and calibration was more hands on. The Marlin software is not as smart as Prusa so no automatic functions. Bed leveling is manual and must be done periodically. I did have to tweak the temperature settings in Marlin to get reliable printing without alarms. I spend less than $50.00 for improvements like glass for the bed.

The Prusa printed nicely as soon as it was set up. It took a little while to get The HicTop to print reliably, now prints very nicely. If I put prints that were done with similar settings from Prusa and HicTop side by side, I can't tell the difference.

In conclusion, the Prusa was more expensive but for a beginner would be better because the instructions and firmware make assembly, setup, calibration and use much easier. For someone that is mechanically inclined, patient, wants to know the printer from the bottom up and is willing to do the extra work, the cheaper printers like HicTop may be a good deal (I love mine).

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If all i currently need is one that can produce rectangular shapes no larger than an apple.
I know that higher-priced printers are generally better.

So I'm kind of bored trying to get feedback on how to determine if a cheap printer is just garbage VS weather its just tedious / annoying to deal with.

The printer in the link you provided seems good, but it's about 3x the cost as its in USD not CAD it seems.

So I guess this is more of a question on getting the cheapest thing you can afford now and be able to determine if it works at all versus waiting until you can afford better.

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Hello 2112

My advice:

Visit a local Makers Shop and have some talks with the users of 3D printers.

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That kind of is I guess the bottleneck for me at least, as users don't use the 3D printers at the maker shops you basically give them a memory stick with the file or email them the file and then they will let you know when it's ready to pick up kind of the way the old school rules of film worked in cameras. And I asked the guy that work there this kind of stuff for advice on buying and he said he only knows about the really high-end ones they have and he's customly modified them to be significantly uncomparable to any ready to go printer you can purchase for home.

As a worst case scenario if I was to buy one of the incredibly bottom of the barrel additions because of available funds and I was unfortunate enough to get one that just clocked out before the first print job even finished is there enough Hardware that I would have received so that I could only need to spend nearly nothing following the scratch 3D printer builds using Arduino boards in place of any circuitry that would have come.

Or is even this kind of idea as a backup plan in itself if required add the amount of extra funds which I should just not roll the dice and buy the 2 to 3x more costing one that 2112 said he's had some success with.

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There are enough parts available that you could repair of replace pretty much anything that might go wrong with your printer. You could build a whole printer from available parts. I bought one of the very cheapest printers available. I did not like the flimsy bed so i went to Ace hardware, bought a piece of 1/8" thick aluminum plate and made a replacement. I bought a piece of borosilicate glass to put on the bed to make removing prints easier. Worn nozzles and heat breaks are easy to replace. Fans, stepper motors, drivers, extruder parts, even the controller board can be sourced and replaced inexpensively.

Like i said, in my opinion, the el cheapo printers work fine if you take the time to carefully build them and massage the hardware and controller firmware. You dont get some of the fancy functions like auto bed level and filament sensing, but like the man said, you get what you pay for.

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I was hoping other consumer grade printer users would come in with their opinions and experiences.

Keep in mind the following are just my opinions. My experience comes from using $100K+ Stratasys printers, overpriced MakerBot printers at work and my personal 7 year old Original Prusa i3 MK1. My personal hardware and software has not been upgraded in 7 years so I'm not up to date on todays offerings.

As for the printer you posted, it doesn't have a heated build plate. This means you can only print with PLA and TPU. You will most likely be forced to print a raft as a base for it to level and adhere to the plate. My opinion is PLA is brittle, used mainly for modeling figurines. You can use it for mounts, standoffs and housings as long as you are not putting too much load on it. I have not used PLA in years. TPU is great for hinges, gaskets, spacers, phone cases etc. I use TPU when the job calls for it.

The printer you posted gets mixed reviews, mostly good. If it meets your needs, go for it.

As for the Ender I suggested, I have never used nor seen an Ender before. I have seen parts printed from them and they were comparable to my Prusa. Enders are considered the gold standard for < $300 printers. Prusa is considered the gold standard for $1000 range printers.

You also have to consider the other half of the task. Designing your part and creating a gcode print file. There are several free CAD software tools available for this. TinkerCad or SketchUp may be all you will need for basic geometric shapes. Fusion 360 or SolidWorks would be a step up but become more complicated. I started off using AutoCAD too many years ago, then went to Pro E, which became CREO probably 12 years ago. CREO is all I know so I have stayed with that. I Do Not recommend a beginner to start on CREO. I'm sure there are much easier tools out there.

CAD Google Search

The CAD software generates either a .STL or .OBJ file. With that, you need 3D slicer software such as Cura or Slic3r to generate the actual gcode the printer uses to print your part. Easythreed has this comment on Amazon:

"For beginners, if you don't know how to use 3D slicing software, you can directly download the model file (Gcode file) to the TF card, insert it into the printer, and start printing."

I have no idea what they are trying to say here. You need to use the 3D slicing software to create the gcode. There may be web sites that offer gcode. Web sites such as Thingiverse offer STL files and you run that through your slicer to create the gcode.

I say all this so you don't think you can buy a printer and immediately start printing your own custom designed parts. This requires the extra effort of designing the part and creating the proper print files with additional software. You might want to start by downloading various CAD software to see if you can create parts with it before you purchase the printer. The purchase is the easy part.

I hope this helps

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Thanks for all that, i actual have a diploma in 3d modeling and animation using 3ds max.
And took solid modeling for inventor in college.
So should not be to hard for me to adjust to blender if i wanted to get my 3d on again.

For now the printer is more of a why pay for a print if i can buy a entry level one to make these pcb enclosures that store wont budge off the 450 quote.

I got this for 25 bucks at gradge sale, but its pretty hard to use when your not a good artist.

So i have just used it to fill in cracks and coat cardboard shapes.

One thought i had was to use my pen thing shown above to glob over the treads of a bolt, where it would still slide in yhe mounting hole. Then krazyglue that plastic into the spot, cause ive done this a few times to fix my plastic toys that have screws snap off on me.

I cant wait till i have all my issues figured out in terms of storing these parts with no risk of esd or rattling about when on the bus or being pulled by my bike wagon. So i can start asking less situational questions and just post why my sensor wont work lol.

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I have Elegoo Neptune 2, it`s cheep and works great.

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Well that one looks pretty damn nice compared to the one I posted above it's only like 35 $40 more.
Is there any anything at all you can say about it that would be a deal breaker on buying it in hindsight?

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Dont know, its my first 3D printer, so I have no previous experience. I bought it 8 months ago and printed about 3 - 4Kg since then with no problems...

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Have you had to replace the build surface yet? It looks like it wouldn't take much abuse. I managed to dig a hole in a similar surface early on trying to free a print.. good adhesion though.

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No, the build surface is still good.

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Something like the Elegoo would be a better machine. It has a larger, heated build plate, the hot end goes up to 260°C. This means you have more filament options.

That type of design will be easier to work on and upgrade as well.

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If you had to make a sacrifice in terms of the heated surface you're talking about as not included could you kind of simulate this by creating a sheet metal Extrusion going downwards or maybe upwards if you want to sacrifice print vertical limitation. In a way that you could clamp in a hair dryer or heat gun and have it just run hot boxing this enclosure making the printing service heat up the way a frying pan would on a stove.

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You want to heat the surface you are printing on in a controllable manner.

You could possibly retrofit a plate heater such as this
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Replacement-Heated-Maker-Select/dp/B07NQV9R95/ref=asc_df_B07NQV9R95/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=241938907421&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2059736563106738435&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027801&hvtargid=pla-666780663038&psc=1

Get a piece of perfectly flat aluminum plate, mount this on top of that and then get a piece of borosilicate glass to print on. Then you will need a method to measure and control the heat.

All that may cost you another $80

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If you buy the glass also buy some silicon sheet for CPU heat sink. Put it between the heated bed and the glass to make up for irregularities and for more efficient heat transfer.

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I think I'm going to have to try that one out myself!

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Hey, about that Neptune.

A question of the filament that comes with it, in your experience.

How far would I get on the required amount of plastic for this type of quantity of Arduino mounts without having to buy more right away to do this file.

20230728_133247
20230728_1332471440Ă—878 150 KB

I bought myself a gigantic bag of rice that doesn't have a speck of English writing on it to eat for the month instead of groceries now I can afford that Neptune I think. LOL