Buying 3D printer

[sairfan1]

Hi,

Planning to buy a 3D printer, need advise what things i should consider to select one. my budget is around $500 to $700

My general use will be printing box, and general things for electronic projects. 

Please share you experience thanks.

[exe]

I'd say the only ready-to-go printer in this range I know is the latest Prusa.

I don't really have it, but I have cr-10, the "best printer of 2017". I'll tell you what, I invested several months into cr-10 just to make it any usable. A lot of things were wrong, like fans are super-noisy, etc. I ended up replacing/upgrading a lot of parts on it. Like, the bed is not even, steppers are noisy, drivers occasionally cause defects on X and Y axes, heat bed is long to heat.... All problems are fixable, but is it worth it? (Yes, if you want to know more about 3d printing).  The only good thing about cr-10 is, perhaps, build volume, it's huge.

So, what I see on Prusa is it is much better built and designed and has much tighter QA: better mechanical parts (I think), better electronics, better software support (I had to buy Simplify 3d for another $150 because Cura didn't work properly, but can't say I tried all the other free slicers), removable flexible PEI bed on magnets, direct extruder, etc. Just a whole different class of technology.

Other than Prusa, I'm not aware of any 3d printer that would be as advanced and in the same price league.

PS: here is the link: https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/180-original-prusa-i3-mk3-kit.html . You can easily find more info and reviews on, e.g., youtube.

[loveny]

In that price range I second the Prusa MkIII kit, I bought one recently and it 'just works', very impressed with it. Process is very simple, design the part to get an stl file, process that through the Prusa slicer (which has preconfigured settings for most filament types) to get the gcode, then print.

[jgalak]

Another vote for the Prusa MkIII.  It's my second printer and soooo much better than what I had before.  Great printer out of box, excellent support, fantastic community.

[exe]

Just one remark, 3d printing is a quite sophisticated topic. Even with a decent printer some calibration, fine-tuning and trouble-shooting occasionally necessary. There is a learning curve. In the beginning it may not print well due to suboptimal settings, or bad plastic or something. Quality comes with experience, better printers make it easier to achieve.

[Pirateguy]

i have no experience with these things, but i do plan to get one in the distant future and i discovered there are actually
several approaches to 3d printing.
as a miniature modelling guy i have a massive boner for this thing:

check out the amazing detail!

maybe not suited to your needs, but notice it is a completely different setup that uses resin instead of plastic
and raises the model out of a bath of it instead of building it on a plane.
and besides that i think there are 1 or more other approaches to 3d printing besides the typical plastic extruding way.

[Brumby]

It is true resin 3D printing can deliver excellent levels of detail - but it is a very different process.

It's a lot messier and you have some materials involved that are a lot more hazardous.  I also understand it is more expensive.  Filament Fused deposition - the most common - is much easier.

[exe]

Anycubic photon seems to be a good device, print quality is excellent. Just beware of the materials cost and small build volume. Also UV-cured resin needs some post-processing.

Depending on your needs it can the only printer, or the second one to supplement a bigger brother .

[Pirateguy]

yeah i don't think the photon would be a good choice for printing enclosures and mechanical stuff,
and to be clear i am not recommending it for that.

i just wanted to point out there are multiple types of 3d printing, and it might be worth looking
into the pros and cons of each.

[CJay]

Hi,

Planning to buy a 3D printer, need advise what things i should consider to select one. my budget is around $500 to $700

My general use will be printing box, and general things for electronic projects. 

Please share you experience thanks.

It's not gonna be a popular answer but we have a Flashforge Finder here at work for the student interns to play with, I was so impressed I recently bought one very cheap (eBay, sold as faulty as it'd been damaged in transit, repair was simple and took 30 seconds) and it's been really good out of the box, other than needing to clean the bed and having to realise that I need a raft for each print, it was absolutely trivial to get going. 

Another guy here at work had been tinkering with a 3D printer bought as a kit for several months and on the strength of seeing the Finder he went ahead and bought a Dreamer for a shade over £400 and seems to have given up on the kit.

[tggzzz]

First decide what material you want to print.

So far I have printed using PLA, nylon, SLA and brass. I haven't printed using paper, nor ceramics, nor titanium, nor gold/silver, nor...

Be prepared to spend time fettling with the printer.

And then consider using a professional fab service!

[Discotech]

Prusa MK3 is pretty much the standard in that price range and will meet your needs

Although if you're prepared to tinker and upgrade a $200 Ender 3 can be upgraded to compete with the Prusa, it just needs some time and willing to learn which I found a worthwhile experience and helped me get a better knowledge about 3d printers than buying a ready to go printer like the Mk3 would have

[mikeselectricstuff]

If you want enclosures you probably don't need a 3D printer - 3D printed enclosures usually look terrible - designing around an off-the-shelf box will look orders of magnitude better.

[Sudo_apt-get_install_yum]

I’ve worked a bit with 3D printers built a few!
Id suggests getting a Prusa MK3 it’s a great FDM printer and has loads of community support and comes with "cutting edge" features.

Most FDM 3D printers have reached the practical quality limit, so any printer will make a nice looking box for your projects. The difference between a 200$ 3D printer and a 700$ 3D printer is just pretty much how much tweaking/ time you’re willing to spend on the printer to get it working flawlessly.

Avoid getting a SLA or SLS (I doubt you can find one in the price range but there are a few low cost ones) these printer will produce parts with amazing detail since they have few moving parts and harden the plastic with UV light (SLA) or a laser (SLS) but they aren’t very strong so not very good for enclosures, the material also costs a lot more than the spooled filament for FDM printers.

If you’re looking for speed then a Delta printer probably would be something to consider, they have a lighter tool head so they can move faster. They are a bit more complicated to work on and generally have a smaller build plate.

The printers I have a home and work are the following.

Ultimaker 1
-Its good and makes high quality prints, it’s a lot of fiddling

Ultimaker 2
-It’s much easier to work with and produces high quality prints, minimal fiddling

BCN Sigma
-Works great and makes high quality prints, I don’t like it. You have to use their version of Cura, it’s not really a downside I just don’t like the printer

Form 2
-Incredible quality and super easy to work with, expensive plastic and it uses a lot of it because you have to print with 100% infill

Flash forge finder (We have like 10 of them)
-High quality prints, is easy to use. You’re locked to its slicer, has a small build plate and not heated bed

Rebuilt Da Vinci Pro 3in1
-Produces pretty good prints and is "easy to use" put down way to many hours on it.

My custom printer (Similar to an Ultimaker)
-Would recommend, it’s served me well


Hope this gave some more insight on 3D-printers the ones that I’ve mentioned above are mostly good printers and would recommend most of them. However I do think that the Prusa MK3 would be better both with feature and price.
IF you have any more questions about the above mentioned printers I’d gladly answer them!

[exe]

3D printed enclosures usually look terrible

I disagree, square flat surfaces 3d printers do quite well. This also gives flexibility, you can design it for your need, instead of taking standard boxes which are rarely a perfect fit. I attach keyboard enclosure made of PETG. It looks and feels quite cool. There are extrusion defects on the edge, gaps in filament, and layer shifts, but that's because my printer sucks (hello cr-10!), prusa would print it perfect. Even with defects it's not too bad (esp. after some finishing). Okay, may be I shouldn't have attached the pictures as it does look terrible

PS took 10-12 hours to print it. FDM printers are not particularly fast.

[Discotech]

3D printed enclosures usually look terrible

Surely that's just opinion based ?

Of course injection moulded plastic looks better than 3d printed but to say 3d printed looks terrible is just false

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2070417/makes/#makes

Those enclosures for the famed LCR tester don't look at all bad and for the cost of filament probably work out cheaper than buying an injection moulded one

[mikeselectricstuff]

3D printed enclosures usually look terrible

Surely that's just opinion based ?

Of course injection moulded plastic looks better than 3d printed but to say 3d printed looks terrible is just false

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2070417/makes/#makes

Those enclosures for the famed LCR tester don't look at all bad and for the cost of filament probably work out cheaper than buying an injection moulded one

but not remotely comparable to a proper enclosure - looks totally homemade.

[exe]

Those enclosures for the famed LCR tester don't look at all bad and for the cost of filament probably work out cheaper than buying an injection moulded one

I try to make front panel either the first layer (so it is very smooth and shiny like glass), or make it of vertical layers. Horizontal layers are often very visible and I don't like them. But that's my personal preference. My approach may need to print enclosure in multiple parts.

[Discotech]

3D printed enclosures usually look terrible

Surely that's just opinion based ?

Of course injection moulded plastic looks better than 3d printed but to say 3d printed looks terrible is just false

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2070417/makes/#makes

Those enclosures for the famed LCR tester don't look at all bad and for the cost of filament probably work out cheaper than buying an injection moulded one

but not remotely comparable to a proper enclosure - looks totally homemade.

Surely the fact that you can design with CAD and print out custom prototype enclosures instantly far outweigh the negatives of any home made look your enclosure has, unless of course you know of affordable injection moulding for a single enclosure or can suggest a better alternative to 3d printing ?

[exe]

BTW, plastic can be sanded/painted/smoothed, so even bad-looking enclosure can be made much better.

Yet, some practice needed to avoid that "amaturish" looking. Like, the onces I mentioned above, or, for example, crank temperature up for the last layer, reduce layer width, pick another type of plastic, different color, translucency, etc. So, I admin, it's not simple to make a good-looking enclosure. Most photos will show badly looking enclosures, but that's because people don't care, not because 3d printers cannot do it .

[CJay]

3D printed enclosures usually look terrible

Surely that's just opinion based ?

Of course injection moulded plastic looks better than 3d printed but to say 3d printed looks terrible is just false

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2070417/makes/#makes

Those enclosures for the famed LCR tester don't look at all bad and for the cost of filament probably work out cheaper than buying an injection moulded one

but not remotely comparable to a proper enclosure - looks totally homemade.

Have to agree, the Finder I have makes lovely 'things', I've been printing custom brackets (see pics) and adapters that just didn't exist until I designed them but there's no way it's up to a 'finished product' level of quality, it's excellent for prototyping.

I do prefer a 'finished' look if I build something I'm going to keep around.

[Sudo_apt-get_install_yum]

If you want enclosures you probably don't need a 3D printer - 3D printed enclosures usually look terrible - designing around an off-the-shelf box will look orders of magnitude better.

I got to disagree with that. Yeah it’s not going to look injection molded but it’s not going to look terrible. Sometime when I feel like something a bit fancier I use my Form 2 which makes real high quality prints. If a feel like making it’s a tad nicer I use FDM printer with fine layers and ABS filament and then dip the print in a vat of acetone, it becomes smooth and shiny almost identical to an injection molded part.

A few years ago I did some work developing a low volume product. Instead of injection molding the parts we printed the end goal part (Master part) with a Form 2 and then treated it slightly to get a better finish. I then poured silicone around the master part and made silicone mold, this was then used to "injection mold" the parts. They were indistinguishable from professionally made ones.
I’m not sure of the actual name but I mixed a few chemicals and pigment together, sucked out the air in a  vacuum chamber and then injected the plastic into the mold while its was in vacuum and heated it to set the plastic.

Yeah with a bit of work and know how you can get incredible nice parts that originated from a 3D printer!   

[mikeselectricstuff]

3D printed enclosures usually look terrible

Surely that's just opinion based ?

Of course injection moulded plastic looks better than 3d printed but to say 3d printed looks terrible is just false

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2070417/makes/#makes

Those enclosures for the famed LCR tester don't look at all bad and for the cost of filament probably work out cheaper than buying an injection moulded one

but not remotely comparable to a proper enclosure - looks totally homemade.

Surely the fact that you can design with CAD and print out custom prototype enclosures instantly far outweigh the negatives of any home made look your enclosure has,

Depends what you are trying to a achieve. If you're selling to anyone but hobbyists with low expectations, a 3D print will just look like a joke. There's a huge range of off-the-shelf cases, and even the cheapest will have a better looking surface finish than a 3D print.
Obviously you need to start by selecting the enclosure and designing around it, rather than looking for a box to fit an existing PCB etc.
 

[metrologist]

All talk about the printer, but that is useless without some design to print. How do folks actually create the design, particularly complex designs?

Isn't that most significant aspect of this, and the most difficult hurdle?

[CJay]

All talk about the printer, but that is useless without some design to print. How do folks actually create the design, particularly complex designs?

Isn't that most significant aspect of this, and the most difficult hurdle?

I use Designspark 3D, took me a couple of hours to work out how to use it to the point I'm at now and I expect to get more proficient with practice, I've also used Fusion 360 which seems more capable than Designspark but may be overkill for my needs.