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3D Printers & Printing
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Topic starter
2019-07-27 4:28 pm
I have had a 3d printer of some sort for the past eight years. I built my first printer which was a Prusa type rep-rap. It mostly worked 😉 and was a great learning experience. After that, I got a Printerbot Simple that I hacked on for a long time. It was a good printer and took less space than the Rep-rap did. The Printerbot is the printer I really learned to 3d print on and design parts that could be printed best. I now live in a larger space and have a real area to have larger printers. I have two as of now, a Robo 3d R2 and a Monoprice Maker select. Both good printers. though the price is quite a divide between the two.
My main reason for getting a printer was the need and want to make parts for robots, astro, and other projects. I am all thumbs when it comes to power tools and mechanics. Back then I figured I could learn some cad app and print the parts giving me more of an isolation from my power tool impediment. It did take me a while to settle on a CAD, but after wrestling with OpenSCAD, Freecad, Sketchup, I choose Tinker cad and it serves my needs and I have gotten fairly competent with it.
Having a printer has helped me greatly in my tinkering and I have made a few useful things. It gives me the ability to do things I could not do before, or at least lets me do them better!
What kind of printer(s) do you have or had and printing experiences?
Scott
2019-07-27 6:09 pm
@triform, thanks for the pixy2 mount files on thingsverse I just got around to printing one. I've got my first 3d printer (PrusaMk3s) in March. I had a go with Tinker cad but I saw a video on the Swiss Accent guys web showing the use of parameters for a resizable box using Fusion 360 and I started learning that. I'm by no means an expert on Fusion 360 but I'm now at the stage where I can produce what I need for electronic boxes etc. with holes and mounts in the right place. No more bodging plastic enclosures! I have mainly been using PTEG for the prints and, whilst I do not have any experience of any other printer, I find the Prusa to be a real joy to use. It has accurately printed all I've asked of it with any problem. All my electronic boards now sit on a bottom tray or in a box with a lid, electronics for robots sit in custom boxes, temperature sensors are in pleasingly looking enclosures, the front gate open/closed sensor is in a nice waterproof container, rapture ? . From my perspective I highly recommend a 3d printer to anyone pursuing an electronics hobby as its proved incredibly useful.
HAL9000 reacted
2019-07-28 12:09 am
I have been thinking about starting a thread about 3d printers. Hope not to be hijacking your thread. Was wondering if any one has any plans or link to a youtube that has a DIY printer? I'm not looking for a kit. I've watched a few youtube videos of DIY printers being made from old CD players. Could also use old printers or scanners. Anything that can be caniblized for rails with stepper motors. Looking for something that I can use to get my feet wet without spending too much money. Any suggestions ?
Pat
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That's funny …”
Author: Isaac Asimov
2019-07-28 12:44 am
I am just finishing up my 3d printer build for my duce robot I hope it doesn't smoke lol its a rep rap prusa type ramps 1.4 I just have to put 1 end stop on yet I'm sure I will be back here with 101 questions about the smart controller with SD card and other things its good to know someone is 3d printing on the forum I'm just starting to start.?
Topic starter
2019-07-28 1:47 am
You just want to build for fun or to save money? There are a lot of good printers/kits in the 125$-175$ range.
Even most of the repraps use parts in that cost range or higher. Not trying to discourage you from building though. Have a look on the reprap pages. One thing about printers, you get one you are hacking it the next day to make it better 🙂
Oh, and on the CD/DVD based printers, I have seen them, but never thought of building one.
2019-07-28 2:01 am
You just want to build for fun or to save money?
Yes. ?
Just want to decide on how much I would use it. Want verse need is why I'm trying not to spend too much money. If I think I would get enough use out of one, I would most likely buy a higher end kit. If not I'm only out the dollars for the DIY. Learning and fun will always be apart of the DIY or kit.
This post was modified 5 years ago by ETinkerer
Pat
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That's funny …”
Author: Isaac Asimov
Topic starter
2019-07-28 2:14 am
I was just looking and you can get the ANET8 kits starting for around $120USD shipped. I know there is a very large community for that printer. Buying 4-5 matched motors, pulleys, belts, rods, bearings, etc. will probably cost more than that. Another thing I found out, back when I first started, I did not print a great amount due to the quality of the prints. What I used to count as a good print then, I saw bad things about it now 😉 I print a lot more now due to printers being better.
Scott
2019-07-28 3:26 am
Here's a couple links from some google searches I did last week.
Old DVD drive - Fairly small but I like the resourcefulness of the builder.
Old CD drive - Similar build.
Prusa i3 MK2 clone - If i was to upscale to the next level after attempting to build one from DVD drives this I think might be a next step. Build a 3d printer using a 3d printer.
Thoughts?
Pat
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That's funny …”
Author: Isaac Asimov
2019-07-28 4:01 am
A little slow starting to do the more complicated things and I'm at a little bit of a stand still I hope to get some video of it working soon .but there is still much left to do.
Topic starter
2019-07-28 5:23 am
You would probably have fun building and playing with the CD-based printers. I have seen the Tinkernut build and thought it was neat. I have seen a few others from some of the great Indian Youtubers out there. Past the building and playing, I'm not sure how useful one like that would be. I'm not going to say it will not be, but I just don't know, sorry.
The Prusa build you listed would take as much money as a kit or some used prebuilt printers.
Scott
2019-07-28 9:18 am
I've got 2 of those Anet A8's. They needed some upgrades after building them, but, they print fine now
It was fun putting it together. They looked like this when I took them out of the box...
Then the instructions were a single piece of paper with a youtube link to a Chinese guy who didn't speak a single word of English
Like I said... fun
The next day it looked like this...
After numerous upgrades, they print pretty well...
The upgrades were necessary, like, for instance, there's no wire management included (other than a packet of zip ties), the power supply was a fire hazard, the filament management system needed upgrading, and changing the filament initially required taking the print head apart. Luckily, I had a 3D printer handy to design and print my own upgrades
All things considered, I would recommend this printer as a first printer for a tinkerer, because this way, you get to learn every aspect of how they work, and why they work. It gives you a more complete understanding of what kinds of upgrades would actually help
I'm glad I took this path
2019-07-28 4:42 pm
Past the building and playing, I'm not sure how useful one like that would be.
Scott
Agreed. Obviously a crude build but, I like the reusing aspect of the build. Taking something that would otherwise take up space on a shelf collecting dust or in a landfill and using it to create something to learn from is what I think is a good idea.
I would strictly use it for the learning aspect. Probably start off with a simple enclosure for electronics. Just to get an idea of how to use 3d software as well as the mechanical aspect. Also learning the shortcomings of the system similar to what @spyder mentioned with the Anet A8.
I hope others will chime in with what they are using and keep this thread going. Maybe someone has had a bad experience with a printer so maybe we should stay away from that particular brand.
I think the kit verses ready built would be the best way to learn. I haven't seen anything in Bill's workshop so I'm guessing he doesn't use one. @dronebot-workshop
Pat
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That's funny …”
Author: Isaac Asimov
Topic starter
2019-07-28 5:32 pm
Yeah, this is the great thing about having a printer, printing new printer parts to make it better 🙂
The years I had my Printerbot Simple, I printed a lot of mods and fixes for it and it was a great learning experience.
Topic starter
2019-07-28 5:48 pm
Agreed. Obviously a crude build but, I like the reusing aspect of the build. Taking something that would otherwise take up space on a shelf collecting dust or in a landfill and using it to create something to learn from is what I think is a good idea.
I would strictly use it for the learning aspect. Probably start off with a simple enclosure for electronics. Just to get an idea of how to use 3d software as well as the mechanical aspect. Also learning the shortcomings of the system similar to what @spyder mentioned with the Anet A8.
I hope others will chime in with what they are using and keep this thread going. Maybe someone has had a bad experience with a printer so maybe we should stay away from that particular brand.
I think the kit verses ready built would be the best way to learn. I haven't seen anything in Bill's workshop so I'm guessing he doesn't use one. @dronebot-workshop
It will be a good learning experience. Past that I'm not sure how useful the printer would be.
Scott
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