Aldi will be selling a 3D printer in Aus from 17th.

[stejep]

I purchased one as well. looks like I will be doing a mode already. I don't like the push to select on the dial, I think and separate push button would make life a lot easier.

I I have printed a few things already and have been happy with the results, This is my first 3d printer and its a good one to start with, well at least until they get better and cheaper.

Steven

[bitslice]

So, 3D printers, good for Lego heads and chocolate roses...

[PlainName]

So, 3D printers, good for Lego heads and chocolate roses...

Imagine you've got a hammer and like bashing in nails, then someone shows you a screwdriver... what use could that possibly be? The tip is too small to hit anything and the handle gets damanged by screwheads if you try that end.

It's surprising what you can find to make with some tool once you have the tool, but before you acquire it you can't see why you'd want one. Two of my projects this week:

1. Curtain rail stop. Missus complains about the stop missing so the curtains run right off the end of the rail (as they do). No problem: take the remaining one and knock up an exact copy within an hour.

2. Missus (again! I should start charging) wants a custom thread winder thingy for attaching to her spinning wheel. Taking a bit of thought, this, but without the printer it wouldn't even occur to her that it could be done, never mind me actually do it.

When I'm bored I download another cable clip design off thingiverse and tidy up some cables. Every time someone brings their PC or laptop for me to fix up I return 'em with all the cables nearly stowed, so this adds background value to other things I do.

A 3D printer is not a panacea for everything, but it does offer possibilities you wouldn't dream of otherwise.

[MrSlack]

I'd rather have a cheap Unimat mill than a plastic pooper myself. I genuinely haven't seen anything nice come out of a 3d printer. Everything shrinks slightly and requires a small ton of work to finish to an acceptable standard. Plus there's the whole setting it up process which is a nightmare. I spent a whole evening with a friend trying to get his reprap online. He'd done the build but getting it to produce anything workable took 4 hours. I could have milled it in 30 mins and gone down the pub.

[PlainName]

Horses for course, of course. I solved that by having a mill as well. And a lathe.  O0

there's the whole setting it up process which is a nightmare

Well, my mill took me months to get going properly, to the point where I could just make stuff (OK, deconstruct blocks) without having to tinker with it. But that was years ago and things are probably a big different now.

Your reprap experience is also of the 'years ago' sort. I got my 3D printer, plugged it in and was running stuff off within an hour. Things have moved on since reprap...

[MrSlack]

Interesting. He bought a makerbot mini recently as well and that was a PITA too. Wondering if he's just picking the wrong projects.

[PlainName]

Could be. I got a Flashforge Dreamer, and the only setup it needed was to bolt the heads to the carrier then level the bed with the correct clearance. After that, you give it a .stl file, tell it what you've got shoved in the nozzle, and come back a couple of hours later.

[Fraser]

I have a couple of UP! Mini 3D printers and I must say that I was impressed with these modern printer designs. Very little setting up or maintenance. Almost like an inkjet printer in that respect. Much depends upon the quality of the product and its software.

I added a Nextengine 3D Scanner to the setup and now I can design items in CAD or I can copy a sample using the scanner.

As has been already stated, you do not always know how useful this equipment can be until you own it.

New button for R&S test equipment...No problem (Unobtainable as spare part)
Desk stands for PEAK Electronics test equipment...No problem (Peak 3D file)
Replacement case part for meter....No problem (Unobtainable as spare part)
Tripod bracket for FLIR camera..... No problem (Forum member design)
Close up lens adapter ..... No problem (Forum members designs)
Custom lens adapter for industrial camera.....No problem
Repair part for my Audi glovebox (saving £160) ..... No problem
Custom ducted fan casing for cooling equipment.... No problem
Custom battery holders for testing bespoke industrial batteries.. No problem

I always print in ABS as it can be glued, sanded and polished if desired. Great material but you do need a heated build platform and good ventilation as it is pretty smelly whilst being printed.

My UP! Mini printer came to me from fellow forum member 'Toploser' as a customer return. Since getting it I have not looked back. It has easily paid for itself. I was so impressed with h the model that I bought another customer return for only £115, and that is running as a secondary print/backup unit.

Fraser

[PlainName]

Everything shrinks slightly and requires a small ton of work to finish to an acceptable standard.

I meant to say that this is a somewhat amateur thing to note. If you make real things you might well have some cast aluminium 'blank' which you then finish with a mill or lathe to produce nice accurate mating surfaces. Or shiny prettiness. Someone else on the forum has shown how thread inserts are easily embedded - that's pretty much the same as would happen where any bolt threads into a plastic part, however it's made. (Although I should also say that it's possible to 3D print the thread if you're not too fussy.)

I think that what you're complaining about it the equivalent of not getting a fully populated PCB back when you send your gerbers to, say, itead. Whilst that's true, it's basically pretty short sighted.

[Fraser]

On the shrinkage front I can advise that some 3D printers capture this effect in the simple calibration that you carry out when the unit is first used with a new filament material. Mu UP! Mini prints a dimension and bed angle test piece that you then measure with a vernier gauge and enter the measurements into the calibration table. The software then automatically compensates for any minor build platform run out or material shrinkage.

The modern 3D printers are very much more user friendly than the early models that people struggled with. That was why I was very impressed to have my printer up and running in a couple of hours, calibrated and producing very good quality prints. I have not had to calibrate it since and that was many months ago. As I stated, I only use UP! ABS filament and it works well. Some very poor quality filaments will cause problems but you just avoid buying those, simple 😀

Fraser

[Muttley Snickers]

Aldi Australia have an updated model of the Cocoon 3D Printer available this coming Wednesday for $499.00 AUD, this new model now includes a touch screen and a few other enhancements, in addition they are also selling a variety of filaments separately.These particular machines are also known as a Wanhao Duplicator i3 Plus and I've linked the AU site below.

The reason for the post is I have a mate who is very interested in purchasing a 3D printer and has asked me for some guidance, I'm more into CNC machines and manual machining and have not bothered to keep up to date with the 3D printing world or available options, I'm still researching and have been looking at a few Youtube videos which generally give these newer machines a pretty good wrap.

Aldi Cocoon Create.
https://www.aldi.com.au/en/special-buys/special-buys-wed-31-january/wednesday-detail-wk05/ps/p/3d-printer-2/

Wanhao 3D Australia.
https://www.wanhao3d.com.au/index.php/3d-printers.html

[Muttley Snickers]

Thanks wilfred, that was in fact the first video review of these machines that I watched early this morning and I'm yet to get back to view his other videos, I also watched Larry, Moe and Curly here below almost making a mess of it and another video by somebody else performing the initial setup which I will have to do should my bone head mate buy one.

[ozwolf]

I purchased the exact model when last on sale in May last year, and love it.  I did write to Aldi customer service about a noisy (sleeve bearing) in extruder fan and they quickly sent me a new one.  No complaints at all.

Your friend will be happy with this machine as an entry level model.

Ozwolf

[Muttley Snickers]

They look awfully like Cadbury...

I don't know who makes that particular chocolate but it wasn't bad for the price, made in Australia as well from what I remember. I'm not aware that Aldi has any manufacturing plants down here so I presume that some of the stuff they sell is made by other local manufacturers and simply rebadged, not all but certainly some of it.

[wilfred]

The Camberwell store has 3x 3D printers today. These are the mini Cocoon Create $299 ones. No Filament.