Electronics > Beginners

Buying 3D printer

<< < (3/10) > >>

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:

--- Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on August 16, 2018, 01:35:28 pm ---3D printed enclosures usually look terrible

--- End quote ---

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.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

There was an error while thanking
Thanking...
Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod