First, yes, I know this isn't necessarily the best forum for this question, but there is, I hope, some method in my madness.
I'm looking for recommendations and pointers on what I should be looking for (and avoiding) in a 3D printer.
The main reason for asking here, and not on a 3D printing forum, is I have pretty good idea of the reputations and interests of people here.
The main use I see for it will be custom enclosures and fittings (small rover chassis, servo brackets, sensor mountings...) for projects, and don't envisage any single large prints, so a print volume of 20x20x20cm should be adequate
I'm not looking to build from scratch - I don't have the metalworking tools or facilities - but I don't mind a kit.
Filament, not resin.
Budget is flexible up to, say £1000/$1500, and I'm also looking for software recommendations (is Fusion 360 any good?)
If these question seem naïve, well, yes, they are.
At least 24 volt PSU to give you more options in terms of heating and sometimes speed would be on my list.
Whilst you consider your needs in size as moderate you might quickly find that changes when you realise just what you can do so bigger is better (she says )
Ability to handle a variety of filament may also be a useful option especially the more elastomeric types (extra heat plays a large part here).
Whilst dual extruder is not a must for me it would certainly be nice to have to be able to swap filament colours.
Also consider fume extraction, but you could make something up and throw an Arduino at that ;D
Avoid the older style displays and the very small ones (especially at your age 8) )
At least twin fans on the extruder head too !
I am not quite into it as much as some in here but that's my pennies worth.
Software wise you are spoilt for choice but my GOTO is CURA as I can also use it to set up jobs for my CNC's too in terms of graphics manipulation and conversions with formats.
Glass bed for sure. I put this silicon heat sink sheet between the aluminum heated bed and the glass for good heat transfer.
Dual extruders are also good for if you do printing that requires support. You can print the support with water soluble filament and structure with a different filament. Makes it easy to remove support.
For the 3D design software I use FreeCAD. Cura for slicing.
My printer was a cheap kit (Hictop, $180.00). It took a bit of tuning but has been trouble free for more than 2 years.
My main uses are pretty much what you specified.
Also consider fume extraction,
A must for printing ABS and some others with toxic fumes.
My son bought 2 genuine Prusa I3 printers for the library that he works for. They were kits, but easily assembled with good instructions. They have auto bed level and many modern features that make them easy to use. A bit on the expensive side (my opinion) but in the end worth it.
Cheap seems to be fine
I have an Anet A2 printer. It was very cheap and it works very well. The enjoyment of assembling the kit almost justified the price in itself. I suspect the A2 is no longer available but my experience suggests that there is not much point spending a lot of money. (Interestingly the A2 was a more recent design than the A8 but the A8 seems still in production).
The liquid resin printers probably give a finer finish but I have no place to deal with all the messy and toxic chemicals.
I don't use a heated bed
The wiring loom for the heated bed seemed to me rather vulnerable because of the way it was routed and because of the flexing that must take place when the bed moves. Also I am not connected to the grid so leaving the bed-heater disconnected also had the attraction of saving energy.
I initially used a piece of polycarbonate for the bed (rather than glass) (and do NOT use acrylic as the prints stick to it too well). More recently I bought one of the removable flexible beds and I reckon that was a great investment. It makes it very easy to get the parts off.
I have only used PLA filament and using polycarbonate or the flexible bed I have had no problems with adhesion to the room-temperature bed. I clean it with methylated spirit before a print job.
Separate adjustment for nozzle height
One small modification that I made was to separate the business of setting the nozzle height from the business of levelling the bed. As standard the idea was to approximately set the nozzle height limit switch and then do the fine adjustment with the bed levelling screws and that was a real PITA.
I added a Wham Bam system to mine, made life so much easier for getting parts off the bed.
We had blue tape on aluminum, after literally chiseling a part off the bed, we added WhamBam bed, and I wouldn't use anything else now.
I bought a $200 kit a few years ago, learned a lot by having to assemble and maintain it. Would have been stuck if had to solve problems without having put one together from scratch.
(I've just got a terrible feeling I'll buy something, and after that it'll be like the scene in "Point Break" where Keanu Reeves' character is berated for buying crap gear, 'cos he's a know-nothing)
Mine is acrylic. It went together fine and I have had no trouble with it. A 3D printer does not need to be super stiff as the forces are low. It is, however, a huge pain to remove all the protective paper covering from the parts.
I am going to say Aluminium as it is more rigid and being mechanically minded I like the fact I can use "T" bolts for addon's without poking holes in plastic.
Mine is acrylic also, all homes came predrilled/cast in place.
You can also download and print replacement parts for the ones that wear out.
Mine looks a lot like the one at the top here, with the display opening in the top frame instead of looking like it sits on top.
The ones with extruded aluminum frames are now just a little more than I paid for mine in Dec 2015, and might be a little quieter with just a single motor on the z-axis and rubber wheels on the frame on the other side.
Maybe not much tho, as it's the extruder motor and the frame motors moving the bed in & out & back and forth with Z-layer not changing while a layer is printed.
I built an acrylic box around mine to keep the dust down, keep the noise down a little, and maybe keep the temperature a little more stable during a print. Not sure if that makes much difference for PLA.
Mine is only single color. Some feeds are better about changing color. Mine can be a pain in the butt at times.
pei surface is the best surface to print on. With a glass bed or machined aluminum. I use machined aluminum.
You are going to want a heated bed. It helps even with PLA.
I would suggest the prussa i3 for a starter printer.
It comes standard with the most common upgrades you’ll want to make from the cheap kits so why not skip all the upgrading and get a printer that is already upgraded.
I owned a cheap i3 a romax v2, and I built my own custom corexy printer.... they are fun!
I suggest starting with material. Each printer works best with a subset of materials. For example, a full enclosure is a great choice for ABS but a waste of money for PLA.
Then decide on volume. Delta printers are a bit more fiddly but have a good volume-to-price ratio.
The main reason for going for a kit is mainly one of familiarity and knowing what and where to tweak, but on the other hand, I don't want to get stuck with a single-source dead-end, where spares are difficult, impossible or simply too expensive to source.
Another problem is wading through the specs of the different manufacturers, to compile a matrix of features - Banggood is particularly bad at NOT being consistent in listing features and specs
TheMemberFormerlyKnownAsAWOL:
Another problem is wading through the specs of the different manufacturers, to compile a matrix of features - Banggood is particularly bad at NOT being consistent in listing features and specs
And Amazon, Ebay is worse.
I get better specs from Aliexpress.
You could always use them for that aspect and go back to whatever your model is elsewhere.
I have created all my models for 3D printing using OpenSCAD. With it creating a model is very like writing a program. I have written a Python program that IMHO makes it easier by allowing me to enter the dimensions and have Python create the OpenSCAD code.
I was almost tempted to use SolveSpace - for me it seems the 3D modelling program with the shallowest learning curve. The video in the link also has references to other videos making the same fidget spinner with OpenSCAD and FreeCAD
This place had the best price on PLA last time I ordered some
I bought 5 or 6 different colors.
And a large airtight tub (with a seal) off Amazon to store it in.
And a rechargeable dessicant box (plug it in to heat it up and dry it out).
The PLA comes in a sealed plastic bag in a box as pictured.
Spares - the parts are pretty common, I had no problems getting some - simple set screws, stepper wire connectors, temperature probe, fans for the extruder head. Some parts you can 3D print yourself even, www.thingiverse.com has tons of stuff folks have come up with.
Metal bits are also abundant - the brass nozzle, the heating bed the nozzle screws into, that's about the only wear parts.
Maybe a belt or two eventually. Mine has 2, one for the X and for the Y and two long worm screws for the vertical.
I have to admit that at my last job, I was spoilt - they had multiple machines - filament, powder laser sintering, and sixteen colour UV resin, capable of rendering machine finishes like knurling and clous de Paris, but I didn't really appreciate it all at the time (and I didn't have to worry too much about the cost!)
)
but I can’t see how I would use one :(.
