First 3D Printer (if I may, uh.. Kind of urgent!)

[balnazzar]

Hi guys. Today, I considered buying a 3D printer for the first time, since I quite often need to make replacement for broken plastic parts and/or manufacture small cases for electronics projects.

Now, I know that a proper purchase would be preceded by a deep investigation of 3d printing technologies, reading the reviews, etc. etc.
But the thing is that 3d printers are sold, right now, with massive deals due to the black friday, and these deals will end at midnight!

Apologies in advance for abusing your patience, but I'd need to know which kind of 3d printer would be ideal for my use case. I don't need to print toys or stuff that is aesthetically pleasurable. So, my targets are:

- Ease of use, little maintenance required
- Strong printing material (stuff that doesn't break)
- Precision (up to printing holes for LEDs and switches on a plastic box for electronics)
- No emission of harmful nanoparticles, if possible.

If not a brand/model, advice about a specific kind of 3d printer would be sufficient. Thanks!

[Mechatrommer]

Elegoo Mars or Saturn

[Swainster]

For strength and ease of use, I'd go with a filament printer, though your designs need to take into account the weak layer adhesion I.e. treat it like wood. For fine details then resin is the winner, however for dimensional accuracy I'd say FDM is better than resin, or maybe I'm just not as experienced with resin printing. For a beginner I'd definitely start with FDM.

That said, I just designed and printed some HP original style feet, and went with resin for the first print.

Prusa is generally considered to be the easiest to use filament printer. I started with a cheap and cheerful Creality Ender, and it's worked fine for me, though I do love to tinker.

I'd say potentially harmful emissions are unavoidable with 3D printing. Resin stinks and is generally quite hazardous, while FDM generally doesn't smell too bad unless you are printing something like ABS, but even so, hot plastic means nanoparticles are being emitted. Good ventilation is essential.

[balnazzar]

Mh, I see. So, it'll be FDM.

I don't really know where to place it, since my basement is definitely un-ventilated. I'm seeing that some 3d printers come with hepa filters (Flashforge Adventurer 3 and 4), but I don't know how effective they are in containing nanoparticle emissions.

[Mechatrommer]

you are overthinking it. nanoparticle will trigger your T-cell anyway makes you stronger. you rely too much on hepa, you'll stay weak i dont understand why people came to conclusion that FDM (0.3mm tolerance) is more accurate than MSLA (some 0.001mm tolerance)? i have both FDM and MSLA, and MSLA is way more dimension accurate than FDM... the only reason you dont want MSLA is if you want to print big. ps: dont print with PLA, you'll regret it in 3-5 years time.

[Lindley]

You do not mention your budget for a printer ?

Many of the lower price printers need a degree of mechanical abilty to build and set up and produce good prints, though if you go up to GB£1000+ you can get better quality fully assembled  printers like the PrusaMK3S.
Plenty of good Ytubes on such printers and setting them up, but they do take time to view ,  not good if you need to purchase soon.

You can make a simple enclosure to house the printer and a simple fan/filter sysytem.

Allow yourself pleny of time to learn 3D design as it can be both very simple and very complex.

We have an Ender 3 V2 and use it to make housings for tft screens, leds, switches  etc.

[Swainster]

you are overthinking it. nanoparticle will trigger your T-cell anyway makes you stronger. you rely too much on hepa, you'll stay weak i dont understand why people came to conclusion that FDM (0.3mm tolerance) is more accurate than MSLA (some 0.001mm tolerance)? i have both FDM and MSLA, and MSLA is way more dimension accurate than FDM... the only reason you dont want MSLA is if you want to print big. ps: dont print with PLA, you'll regret it in 3-5 years time.

Just my personal experience - resin warps is the z direction during the print, and in random directions as the print ages. The only way to get something to start off square is to lay it flat on the bed, which makes print failure quite common. Also, don't confuse nozzle width with accuracy. I use a 0.6mm nozzle for speed but I can still place holes to better than 0.1mm at 300mm spacing. However if I want to place 2 holes at 0.4mm spacing, or if I need walls thinner than 1.8mm, then I switch to resin and live with the lack of dimensional stability.

To add to that, resin wins hands down for cosmetic prints, but where possible (I.e. if size and layer weakness permit) then I default to FDM for functional prints. For my workload, that means I use FDM 90% of the time. (Out of a Creality Ender 3 Pro, Ender 5 plus and a Halot Sky resin printer).

[brucehoult]

I think Prusa is still pretty much the gold standard for things around $1k or less. You can get it together with an enclosure (which helps a lot) for $1029

https://www.prusa3d.com/product/original-prusa-i3-mk3s-kit-enclosure-bundle/

[xrunner]

Hi guys. Today, I considered buying a 3D printer for the first time, since I quite often need to make replacement for broken plastic parts and/or manufacture small cases for electronics projects.

My FDM 3D printer - an Ender 3 Pro highly modded now - (which I got 4 years ago) came with a 0.4 mm nozzle. About 2 months ago, after following the advice of some YouTubers, I switched out the 0.4 mm nozzle for a 0.6 mm nozzle and haven't looked back. It prints faster, and for many things like panels and all but very tiny things, you will hardly notice the difference in quality. If yours comes with a 0.4 mm nozzle you might want to try the 0.6 after you get the hang on it.

So many things to learn and experiment with in this hobby.

[sokoloff]

Most of the Black Friday deals aren't that great and some aren't really deals at all. (Look at a price tracker; I find that most of them are "the best price in a while, but often only tied for the best price that has happened at several other times during the year as well".)

If you just realized that you need a 3D printer, I wouldn't rush to buy one just because of the day of the year it is. Research as you need and buy the right printer for you at a price that will be extremely close to today's price. Most of the cost in 3D printer comes after you buy the printer anyway.

I've got 6 printers, ranging from several $200 Ender 3 with $75-ish in mods through a FlashForge Creator Pro clone and up to SecKit Tank.

My standard advice for people brand new to 3D printing is: Is spending $300 or $1300 roughly equally comfortable? If yes, buy a Prusa. If not, buy an Ender 3. The Prusa is nicer; it's easier. The Ender 3 is also totally fine to start with.

[KaneTW]

I have parts printed in Formlabs Tough 1500 or Clear that are outside (no direct sunlight) for 2 years now and are like new, including threads etc. Or parts where I printed a 25mm OD 150mm height cylinder and it printed it exactly 25.000mm throughout.

[CatalinaWOW]

Prusa does have a very good rep at the roughly $1000 dollar price point.  I am very happy with my Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro, which is currently on black Friday sales as low as $369 and is specified comparably.  That doesn't necessarily mean that it is as good as the Prusa, but my experience says that it is more than good enough for the kinds of jobs you are describing.  These do come as a kit, but anyone with even rudimentary mechanical skills should be able to assemble one and have it running in less than an hour.  With any filament printer it will take a while to learn all the ins and outs related to part geometry, but for most relatively simple prints you can count on first day success.

There is much advantage to picking a printer or printer family that has much public support.  Prusa and Creality seem to lead the pack in this area.

Something that hasn't been emphasized in above posts is that resin printers are messier.  With filament messes do occur but they are easier to clean up.

I have had excellent luck with PLA prints (some several years old and in outdoor use), but typically use PETG as my go to material now.  It has enough higher operating temperature to survive most household uses, is nearly as easy as PLA and doesn't have the toxic fume and bed adhesion problems of ABS  (The mentioned Creality printer will handle all of these materials.)

[balnazzar]

you are overthinking it. nanoparticle will trigger your T-cell anyway makes you stronger. you rely too much on hepa, you'll stay weak

Are you serious?? 

[balnazzar]

You do not mention your budget for a printer ?

Mh, say some 500 eur.
I was eyeing the Adventurer series from Flashforge..

[balnazzar]

Most of the Black Friday deals aren't that great and some aren't really deals at all. (Look at a price tracker; I find that most of them are "the best price in a while, but often only tied for the best price that has happened at several other times during the year as well".)

If you just realized that you need a 3D printer, I wouldn't rush to buy one just because of the day of the year it is. Research as you need and buy the right printer for you at a price that will be extremely close to today's price. Most of the cost in 3D printer comes after you buy the printer anyway.

I've got 6 printers, ranging from several $200 Ender 3 with $75-ish in mods through a FlashForge Creator Pro clone and up to SecKit Tank.

My standard advice for people brand new to 3D printing is: Is spending $300 or $1300 roughly equally comfortable? If yes, buy a Prusa. If not, buy an Ender 3. The Prusa is nicer; it's easier. The Ender 3 is also totally fine to start with.

Indeed I thought it was not so wise to rush for the purchase. I need to understand things a bit better.
And I bet the prices will go down again just after Christmas..

[Zucca]

I switched out the 0.4 mm nozzle for a 0.6 mm nozzle and haven't looked back.

Tempting....

[Lindley]

Yes, worth taking a few weeks to research the best printer for you,  probably better deals after Christmas than now.

There are a couple of Adventurers around your price point but you might find the 3 has a quiet small print area thats too limiting for things like enclosures and front panels etc.

[barelectricbear]

I would disagre with PLA fumes being less toxic, to me they stink worse than ABS, and who knows what kind of chemicalls they are mixing in the chineses factories.

Can any one recommend if free slicer software is better than comerical slicer software? I think part of the problem with failed prints is using free software which may create errors in the gcode.

[sokoloff]

I've had excellent results from Cura (free software). Others have had great results from Slic3r (also free software, which I used and was happy with, but prefer Cura [mostly because I've got all my profiles nicely setup in Cura]).

At this point, I think Simplify3D (paid software) used to be better but has completely stagnated and is now worse than the free slicers.

[thm_w]

I would disagre with PLA fumes being less toxic, to me they stink worse than ABS, and who knows what kind of chemicalls they are mixing in the chineses factories.

Can any one recommend if free slicer software is better than comerical slicer software? I think part of the problem with failed prints is using free software which may create errors in the gcode.

PLA should have little smell when printing, and only smell "sweet".
If it has another smell either your temperatures are far too high, or your filament is crap (if you are buying no-name chinese filament with sparkles in it).

Yes you still want ventilation, but PLA is far better than ABS to print with. https://clevercreations.org/3d-printer-fumes-pla-abs-printing-smell/
There is basically no reason to use ABS for hobbyist purposes.

Cura and prusaslicer are both free and work well.

[Mechatrommer]

There is basically no reason to use ABS for hobbyist purposes.

ABS is proven durable material, but harder to print right (without heat chamber).

[KaneTW]

ABS is also actually post-processable. Good luck sanding PLA, it's awful.

As far as polymers go, the bulk of my FDM printing is done in polycarbonate in a heated chamber. Moderately priced, excellent mechanical properties, good dimensional accuracy. Absolutely needs a heated chamber though (same as ABS) or you'll not get good results.

As far as FDM materials go, for me:
* ABS for castings masters or similar parts that need to be post processed (and SLA isn't suitable)
* PC for general purpose usage
* PA6-CF (or PA12-CF/GF depending on specific requirements) for mechanically strong parts
* PVDF for chemically resistant parts

[CatalinaWOW]

Doing your research you might want to look into this website.  I have found them relatively unbiased, and they publish a huge amount of information about 3D printing.

https://all3dp.com/

[thm_w]

There is basically no reason to use ABS for hobbyist purposes.

ABS is proven durable material, but harder to print right (without heat chamber).

PETG is more durable.
ABS advantage is just if you need higher Tg (105C vs 85C), or I guess post processing as mentioned.
https://all3dp.com/2/petg-vs-abs-3d-printing-filaments-compared/


PA6-CF does seem good for certain applications (low creep):


and PVDF sounds interesting. But again, for hobby purposes here? unlikely that its needed.

[barelectricbear]

I would disagre with PLA fumes being less toxic, to me they stink worse than ABS, and who knows what kind of chemicalls they are mixing in the chineses factories.

Can any one recommend if free slicer software is better than comerical slicer software? I think part of the problem with failed prints is using free software which may create errors in the gcode.

PLA should have little smell when printing, and only smell "sweet".
If it has another smell either your temperatures are far too high, or your filament is crap (if you are buying no-name chinese filament with sparkles in it).

Yes you still want ventilation, but PLA is far better than ABS to print with. https://clevercreations.org/3d-printer-fumes-pla-abs-printing-smell/
There is basically no reason to use ABS for hobbyist purposes.

Cura and prusaslicer are both free and work well.

I have tried various PLA filaments which give different temerature ranges, 190-215 or 215-240, no sparkles but on the cheaper end. Even the lower temperture ones have a funky smell, it is not just a sweat smell and gives me an alergic reaction. I have burned the filament with higher temerature but this just gives a stronger smell which it is not much different than normal printing as you are still melting the plastic and this burns it a little bit. I prefer the ABS smell and have better results printing with it.