I Want To Buy My First 3D Printer- Any Advice?

3dprinting ^ | 6-2-2016 | Self

[ghosthost]

I am looking to purchase my first 3d Printer. I assume I have waited long enough for the bugs to have been worked out. Ha. I would like one with a good-sized stage/printing platform and I don't want to invest in a clunker or off-brand. I don't even know what the good brands are.

Any advice from you good folks would be appreciated. If you can include links, that would be wonderful. The plastic resin-type ones are fine. I don't need to print metallic objects. Just something sturdy with a good warranty as I assume they break easily? ? Also, I would appreciate any info on the resin material with pricing. I assume that you can go through tons of that stuff quickly. Thank you in advance!

[Nifster]

Plenty of articles out there. Do your homework

This is very new to the home user market. You can get burned

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Are you committed to any particular model? Mr. Peel was seriously considering “the sprout” from HP.

[ghosthost]

Nope, I’ve just been looking over some articles. I was hoping I’d run into someone who had experimented. I will check out the sprout thank you

[roadcat]

As Nifster said, do your homework. I've been busy over the last year so I am not up to speed on what is available. But... a few years back I was looking at buying the Makerbot (more than a few models available now), but it was pricey. Mostly because they did a lot of R&D and are a premier brand. Cost was around $2400 then. What I found was that there were quite a few clones around. They had pretty much published specs and everyone copied them. I bought a dual print-head clone on eBay from China for $550, a fraction of the $2400 for the real thing. It worked so well, I bought a second one.

I didn't want to invest heavily on my first, so I could experiment. That worked well for me. The market has matured a bit over the last few years, so prices have dropped and more features are available. As I hadn't spent much on mine, I modified it and added my own features. Some I made; others I purchased. There are some nifty add-ons to reinforce a machine to make it more stable during printing, and better print-heads and platforms. Next purchase will be a name-brand model.

Get a machine that will print with different materials. Usually ABS, but I tend to like nylon for its flexibility and its strength, although it is difficult to work with. Shop around as there are many different prices for the same filament types. Be aware that you should keep the filament vacuum sealed as much as possible when not using it as it will absorb moisture from the air and adversely affect printing when the moisture "pops" in a print-head, resulting in jams that can ruin a print run. Oh, buy extra nozzles if you don't like cleaning out jams.

[fred4prez]

Lulzbot Mini is pretty amazing! We’ve used one heavily in our labs for several month. Check it out.

[fulltlt]

I have one of these.

http://www.amazon.com/XYZprinting-Vinci-1-0-Printer-Blue/dp/B00T472C2Y/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1464927622&sr=8-7&keywords=3d+printer

It works ok. It took me a while to figure out how to get it to work. Getting it aligned is tricky.

[Ken H]

What do you use it for?

[knarf]

I LOVE youtube

[Salamander]

I can’t afford one.
Can I come live with you?

:)

[wideminded]

The ones I have seen work extremely slowly, so speed is a factor you will probably want to investigate.

[ghosthost]

Do it. Plenty of room . Ha

[ghosthost]

You know what? I’ve been reading about Lulzbot mini. It looks pretty good for the price. Thank you for confirming that

[rbbeachkid]

Moonray by SprintRay.

[smokingfrog]

Won’t you need a fairly high end computer as well?

[Salamander]

I come with a lot of [animal] baggage.

Still okay?

;D

[Royal Wulff]

I would look and see if there is a Creatorspace or Makerspace in your area. They will have 3D printers you can use.

Example: https://lovelandcreatorspace.com/

We not only have 3D printers, but access to awesome 3D software like SolidWorks. There may be one in your area.

[ghosthost]

Wow what an interesting option. Thank you for that

[proudpapa]

I’d suggest waiting for the newer 4D printers that are coming out just before Christmas.

[Jack Hydrazine]

What you are asking is a big question. It depends on what you are using it for and how much you want to spend. You can start out with the Monoprice Maker Select on Amazon for $350 but requires a bit tinkering with and one you can upgrade very easily. Or you can spend about $2500 for the new Lulzbot Taz 6 which has decent volume. I used to have a Taz 4, but now I am looking for something better. The $3k GMax 1.5xt has a really big print volume. The Ultimakers are decent machines and have been rated number one the past few years. I would not get any Makerbot products.

If you print with materials such as carbon fiber and other certain filaments you will eat through a stock nozzle in no time flat. You will need to upgrade the nozzle to stainless steel.

The filaments themselves range anywhere in price from $15 of a two kilo roll to $80. The variety of materials that you can print with just keeps increasing - PLA, ABS, CF, polycarbonate, TPU, nylon, PVA, chocolate, Laybrick, Layceramic, PETG, PETT/T-glaze, HIPS, sandstone, Ninjaflex, steel, brass, bonze, iron, copper, wood, bamboo embedded in PLA just to name a few. They usually come in 1.75mm or 3mm diameters. I would recommend starting with PLA since it doesn’t shrink like ABS.