I want a 3d-printer so bad!

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cha0skn1ght

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So my wife and I are about to close on our first home and I'll have a workshop and I thought, "You know what would go great in my shop? A 3d printer!"
Any recommendations or warnings for certain brands?
I'd love some feedback from the members out there that have them.
 
Several questions:
What's your budget?
What kind of prints do you want to do? Small models? Weapons? Full armour?
How willing are you to learn calibration and repair techniques?

I'd personally recommend staying away from Solidoodle printers out of my own experience(s).
As for what I'd suggest straight off the bat, I always start with the ord-Bot Hadron.
From there down are the various and numerous RepRap style printers all varying in quality and accuracy.
Then there is always of course the Makerbot Replicator 2.

Oh and something I spotted recently at the top end of the home user spectrum is this: The DWS labs Xfab.
http://dwslab.com/xfab/
Seems to have fairly amazing resolution for the cost, although it's Laser Stereolithography as opposed to Fused filament fabrication like most home printers.


Welcome to the madness! :D And the potential future of manufacturing!
 
Several questions:
What's your budget?
What kind of prints do you want to do? Small models? Weapons? Full armour?
How willing are you to learn calibration and repair techniques?

I'd personally recommend staying away from Solidoodle printers out of my own experience(s).
As for what I'd suggest straight off the bat, I always start with the ord-Bot Hadron.
From there down are the various and numerous RepRap style printers all varying in quality and accuracy.
Then there is always of course the Makerbot Replicator 2.

Oh and something I spotted recently at the top end of the home user spectrum is this: The DWS labs Xfab.
http://dwslab.com/xfab/
Seems to have fairly amazing resolution for the cost, although it's Laser Stereolithography as opposed to Fused filament fabrication like most home printers.


Welcome to the madness! :D And the potential future of manufacturing!

After we get settled in I can probably drop a decent amount of money on one.
Helmets for the most part. I know the models can be split up and then printed then reassembled.
100% willing.

I saw Makerbot was making a huge version for $6500. I'm highly interested in that, I just don't know if the it's worth the price. Yeah it'd be nice to print out a whole helmet, but is it worth it when there are cheaper alternatives that with a little more work per model give you the same result.
 
Absolutely not worth it! If you are willing to spend that amount of money into 3D printing, I would recommend a FFF Printer like a Makerbot copy and a stereolithography one like the Form 1! So your are able to print large, strong parts and little tiny an precise pieces.

For the FFF printer I would recommend a Ultimaker or a cheap Flashforge creator.
As stereolithography, the one mentioned above or the Form 1.
 
Thanks for the tips! I didn't really think it was going to be worth it, but I liked the idea of it.
 
The old Makerbot replicator 2X had 2 extruders, was able to print with ABS (way better for our use) and was easy to fix.
The new ones don't support ABS and got only one extruder. So no 2 color printing and no support structures with a different material!

I own now a cheap replicator 1 copy from CTC. It's the same as the Flashforge creator and you can get it on ebay starting at 700$. Does the job pretty well and got ABS support and 2 extruders, but no fancy aluminium housing ;)
 
Right,
So if you're mainly planning on doing helmets I'd actually suggest that Xfab thing, or the Form1(though from what I can tell the xfab has higher resolution in the real world).
The problem with helmets and FFF printers is the support, it can get really quite annoying and messy unless you've calibrated it absolutely perfectly.
The advantage of SL is that support is far less of an annoyance given that it's not the same process for laying it.
If you're willing to deal with a smaller build area I think it's the way to go for brain buckets.

If not, I'd still throw money at an Ord Bot, you could build several for the same price as the Xfab quite easily.
Just grab the Reprapdiscount kit version, a bulldog extruder and whatever hot-end and go from there, tis exactly what I'm in the process of doing now.
Why am I so obsessed with that design? Stability.
Unlike most other repraps it doesn't rely on easily warped rails to slide the extruder across, it uses big chunks of extruded metal and is as a result very very rigid and capable of higher speeds and accuracies.

Of course I highly recommend asking around many many other places.
 
For things like helmets I wouldn't recommend STL Printers. 1 liter of resin is like 100$!!! 1kg of ABS for a FFF printers is only 30$!! And most ABS is stronger then the resin from a STL printers.
 
At my school we have a makerbot replicator 2 and 2X and i would like to say that the replicator 2 is a perfect machine for solid base prints, the replicator 2X uses a different filament (ABS) while the 2 uses PLA. I personally would go with the new replicator (version 3) because it is a reliable printer (from past experiences). The only downside i can think is the leveling but thats not that big of a problem as im concerned. Also a good modeling software i would recommend blender, Autodesk, SolidWorks, ect for this sense sometimes you need to modify. Theres my input :D
 
I'm loving everyone's input. If anyone else cares to pitch in some info, feel free!
Thanks everyone!
 
For things like helmets I wouldn't recommend STL Printers. 1 liter of resin is like 100$!!! 1kg of ABS for a FFF printers is only 30$!! And most ABS is stronger then the resin from a STL printers.

Indeed, but once you add up the time needed to clean up, glue, bondo parts and then sand smooth I'd think you've probably be about equal in total cost.
Assuming given the quality of the prints I've seen from both the Form1 and Xfab one wouldn't need to do much more than glue the parts together.
Probably not the best thing to be making assumptions about though :p
 
Right,
So if you're mainly planning on doing helmets I'd actually suggest that Xfab thing, or the Form1(though from what I can tell the xfab has higher resolution in the real world).
The problem with helmets and FFF printers is the support, it can get really quite annoying and messy unless you've calibrated it absolutely perfectly.
The advantage of SL is that support is far less of an annoyance given that it's not the same process for laying it.
If you're willing to deal with a smaller build area I think it's the way to go for brain buckets.

If not, I'd still throw money at an Ord Bot, you could build several for the same price as the Xfab quite easily.
Just grab the Reprapdiscount kit version, a bulldog extruder and whatever hot-end and go from there, tis exactly what I'm in the process of doing now.
Why am I so obsessed with that design? Stability.
Unlike most other repraps it doesn't rely on easily warped rails to slide the extruder across, it uses big chunks of extruded metal and is as a result very very rigid and capable of higher speeds and accuracies.

Of course I highly recommend asking around many many other places.
I most likely will go the route of building one and am really liking that idea.
Reasons:
Price
If I assemble it I will gain knowledge on how to fix it if it breaks

In any case, I'm excited!
 
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I wish you luck and good learnings my friend!

My Ord bot was actually just delivered last night, it's a rather nice build I think and it's actually got an incredibly small footprint which was surprising.
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My Ord bot was actually just delivered last night, it's a rather nice build I think and it's actually got an incredibly small footprint which was surprising.
Very nice. I have a Da Vinci 1.0 set to arrive in a few weeks (third week of June. Or so I was told.).
 
I wish you luck and good learnings my friend!

My Ord bot was actually just delivered last night, it's a rather nice build I think and it's actually got an incredibly small footprint which was surprising.
tCSRyAd.jpg

Is that the kit on reprapdiscount for $699?
Looks awesome
 

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Yeah, plus the Bulldog XL extruder sitting on the X gantry which is $149 and a set of their pro cables as I suck at crimping wires :p
Oh and I'll be grabbing one of these next week: http://www.panucatt.com/product_p/hbp200.htm
Apparently they're much better than the stock version.

Oh just in case you get this kit I'd recommend finding a friend or a business nearby who prints stuff as you'll need to get the Endstop holders made.
 
I don't know anyone who prints near me. Can I use this printer to make my own or do I need it before I start printing?
Also, the kit does not come with a power supply, right? Do you have a recommendation for one?
 
I don't know anyone who prints near me. Can I use this printer to make my own or do I need it before I start printing?
Also, the kit does not come with a power supply, right? Do you have a recommendation for one?

I think there may be a way, but I'm actually not aware of how it's done.
The endstops are what tells the software where the min or max of the print area is so they are somewhat important :p
I guess once I've tested the versions I designed I'll put them up on Shapeways for you? That way you could have them printed there and shipped directly to you.

As to PSU, yeah no power included.
I got this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/200979000937?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
It's similar to what I've seen most RepRap users get.
This should be handy http://reprap.org/wiki/Power_Supply
 
I think there may be a way, but I'm actually not aware of how it's done.
The endstops are what tells the software where the min or max of the print area is so they are somewhat important :p
I guess once I've tested the versions I designed I'll put them up on Shapeways for you? That way you could have them printed there and shipped directly to you.

As to PSU, yeah no power included.
I got this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/200979000937?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
It's similar to what I've seen most RepRap users get.
This should be handy http://reprap.org/wiki/Power_Supply
This is all great! Thanks again!
 
Just read the OP.
If you are planning on making complex models that will have support material, you will likely need to buy a bath to soak the pieces in to remove the support material.

This is something that you will need to keep in mind when making your purchase as it is an extra expense that some people overlook.


My school had a Dimension 3D-Printer (I forgot what model, 1200 maybe), and it printed the parts in ABS plastic and the support material in dissolvable ABS plastic.



Ideally, I would suggest you get into the market for a 10x10x12in printer. Make sure to look up the reviews on all the printers and their specs. If you want to print in multiple colors or use support material, you will need a printer with at least 2 heads. Avoid ones that have special cartridges that you cannot re-load, for those you have to buy the cartridge and the material instead of just the material. There might be some way to save money by sending the used cartridges in, but I wouldn't know.
 
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