Anyone into 3D printing?

[Carmudgeon]

Prompted by seeing examples of useful 3D printed objects (not figurines and the like), I'm toying with the idea of getting a 3D printer.

Problem is determining whether it will be genuinely useful for times to come, and not just a momentary "that's neat" kind of fad gadget and end up gathering dust.

Also complicating things is that the cheaper printers seem to call for upgrades right out of the box, and part of the hobby involves modding the printers themselves, which I'm not really keen on. Might as well spend that money upfront on a turn-key tool that can be consistently productive immediately, and not require fussing to work properly. But, that ups the stakes and the commitment.

Is that an accurate take?

 

[Krieg]

Some time ago I read a scientific white paper written in the late 1960's. It talked about creating "Replicators". In today's terminology its 3 D printing. I haven't used a 3 D printer, but my mechanic has used one and was extremely impressed...

 

[92saturnsl2]

I've been interested in this as well, and looking forward to feedback to your question.

 

[ctechbob]

I can say that my Ender3 was just fine right out of the box. You could print whatever you wanted to with no problems. Yes I have now printed a handful of add-on's for it that improve certain things and I consider it part of the fun of owning one. Not strictly necessary. I've also purchased a few upgrades for it, again, not because you strictly needed to, but it makes certain things easier.

I'm now climbing the CAD learning curve, which is also fun (in my book) since it has been many many years since I've even dabbled in it.

The Ender 3 can be had for about $189 from Amazon and I'd consider that a really really good starting place for someone wanting to get into the hobby.

Also, a not so secret secret is that McMaster Carr has 3D CAD drawings of dang near all of the stuff they sell, so if you have a use for a plastic bolt:

Then you can print a plastic bolt (Without having to CAD one up yourself.). I printed that one to hold on a trailer hitch cover I printed up so that if someone decides to steal it, I'm out about $.50 in plastic instead of having to go buy a new hitch pin. Plus, no rust.

 

[DriveHard]

I have and Ender as well...works pretty good out of the box. Of course you have some basic calibration and temperature things to adjust, but so far it has worked pretty well.

 

[ctechbob]

I guess I could list out some of the mods I've done and the price.

Stiffer bedplate springs and aluminum knobs: $11

https://tinyurl.com/3j5scz65

Metal Extruder Upgrade: $12

Amazon.com: Official Upgraded Ender 3 v2 Ender 3 CR-10 All Metal Extruder Aluminum MK8 Bowden Extruder 40 Teeth Drive Gear for Creality Ender 3 Pro/Ender 5/ CR-10 Series 3D Printer : Industrial & Scientific

Amazon.com: Official Upgraded Ender 3 v2 Ender 3 CR-10 All Metal Extruder Aluminum MK8 Bowden Extruder 40 Teeth Drive Gear for Creality Ender 3 Pro/Ender 5/ CR-10 Series 3D Printer : Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

Roller spool holder and filament feed: $7 (Mainly the price of the bearings (3, but they came in a 6 pack), everything else is printed)

Probably the biggest upgrade is using an OctoPi server. It allows you to directly access and control the printer through a browser window, which is muuuuuccchhh easier than swapping in microSD cards to do your prints. The cost of it is basically a Raspberry PI, USB/OTG cable, and Power supply. I was able to score a Pi Zero 2W just recently for the normal $15 price. Figure another $10-15 for the accessories and $20 for a 64GB microSD card.

I also have a glass print bed ($12) I use from time to time. I find it easier to print on the included magnetic mat, but there are times when the glass comes in handy. I also designed and printed a small attachment that clips onto the gantry to change the engagement of the microswitch for the Z-axis so that I don't have to move the actual switch when I change from glass to magnetic. Slide on the clip, put the glass bed on and do a final leveling tweak, and off you go.

As I said before, out of the box, the Ender 3 works great, but if there was only one mod I did, I would recommend buying a set of bearings and doing that roller mod I posted the picture of above. The filaments are a little more abrasive than you would think, and eventually, they will wear through the tension lever on the printer. That roller will save that if you don't ever want to upgrade. This is what mine looked like after probably 5 1kg rolls of PLA. The roller gives the filament a straight shot on into the guide, saving that wear point.

The heavier bedplate springs are also nice as it keeps the bed in adjustment longer than the stock springs. Still, not 100% necessary, just makes your life easier in the long run.

Again, none of this stuff is strictly necessary. I probably printed for 4-5 months before I got into doing mods to the machine. It is sometimes fun doing different things and seeing if it makes things easier or better. For lots of the mods, the only thing it will cost you is the filament and time printing. All of the designs are online and free to download, along with tons of other things to print. If you've thought of it, someone has probably designed it already.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Prompted by seeing examples of useful 3D printed objects (not figurines and the like), I'm toying with the idea of getting a 3D printer.

Problem is determining whether it will be genuinely useful for times to come, and not just a momentary "that's neat" kind of fad gadget and end up gathering dust.

Also complicating things is that the cheaper printers seem to call for upgrades right out of the box, and part of the hobby involves modding the printers themselves, which I'm not really keen on. Might as well spend that money upfront on a turn-key tool that can be consistently productive immediately, and not require fussing to work properly. But, that ups the stakes and the commitment.

Is that an accurate take?

Prusa is supposed to be pretty much turnkey and just works right out of the box. They are great if you do not want to modify anything. Problem is they are expensive and backordered a few weeks / months.

Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ | Original Prusa 3D printers directly from Josef Prusa

Loved by makers, valued by professionals. Silent, reliable and powerful 3D printing workhorse by Josef Prusa. 24/7 support. Made in EU, worldwide shipping.

www.prusa3d.com

I'd go with a Creality Ender of some sort, many YouTube videos for the different models. The Ender 5 Plus has a large bed size but requires about $100 in mods to make it perfect.

 

[ctechbob]

Something I forgot to mention. I didn't buy my printer. For some reason about 8 months ago, it showed up on my doorstep. My brother had bought it for me because he thought I'd enjoy it. Totally unannounced and unexpected. At first, I wondered what on earth I was going to do with it. It didn't take long until I was ordering rolls of filament, parts, pieces, etc. It is something I've really come to enjoy on my downtime. Especially since you can set up a print, and you don't necessarily have to sit there and monitor it all the time. You can just pop in on it to see if everything is going well while you're off somewhere else in the house doing other things. Hours later, you come back and what was once only on your screen, is now sitting on the print bed in tangible form.

 

[Carmudgeon]

Thanks for the feedback. I recognized calibration and tweaking are part of the deal, and I'm not against modding but wasn't sure how essential they are.

I suspect this is a rabbit hole l will fall into at some point.

 

[ctechbob]

Thanks for the feedback. I recognized calibration and tweaking are part of the deal, and I'm not against modding but wasn't sure how essential they are.

I suspect this is a rabbit hole l will fall into at some point.

Lol, as far as hobbies go, it is one of the cheaper ones I've ever had. Autocrossing/track days/cars, and guns have been WAY more expensive over the years for me.

 

[Mainia]

I split the cost of a Bambu Labs Carbon with an AMS filament feeder with my daughter. She wanted to sell some stuff she thought would sell, and I wanted to play around with a 3d printer making useless stuff. 1 month later we had to buy the stripped version of the Bambu Labs Carbon, the P1P. Her idea took off, and the printer is running on her days off, at night and I load it up and switch when I come home from work. One fast printer doesn't give us the bandwidth to get orders out. We may have to get a couple more if it takes off more. Who would of thought.

 

[RazorsEdge]

Eventually I will get into 3d printing. The software is the scariest thing to learn for a complete newbie like myself

 

[Mainia]

Eventually I will get into 3d printing. The software is the scariest thing to learn for a complete newbie like myself

Are you talking CAD software to design from scratch or the printers software IE the Slicer software and printer controls?

I was a newbie just 3 months ago and my daughter and I have a 4 printer farm started with a 5th printer being ordered next month.

 

[zzyzzx]

My local library has a 3D printer that the public can use. If I were you 3D print, I'd be starting out using it. I'd mostly be 3D printing my own replacement plastic parts to replace old brittle (mostly car) parts that I can't get new.

 

[dogememe]

I have a Flashforge Adventurer 3C. Never had any trouble with it. I use full size spools with an adapter I printed using the included demo filament because their little spools are a rip off. I did replace the feeder gear at some point although I didn’t need to as the issue was calibration related after I’d moved and I guess it didn’t like being banged around.

I printed a lot the first few weeks now I don’t use it that much but when I need it, it’s super handy. I’ve made fan shrouds for server grade video cards, for example. That’s the real reason I bought it and that paid for itself back when I got it. So now my cost is just filament which is cheap.

 

[RazorsEdge]

Are you talking CAD software to design from scratch or the printers software IE the Slicer software and printer controls?

I was a newbie just 3 months ago and my daughter and I have a 4 printer farm started with a 5th printer being ordered next month.

Design from scratch