Thinking about getting a 3D printer

[Blindsay]

Hey all,

New to the world of 3D printers (yes I am behind the times). I had held off until I had something I would want to use it for and now that time has come

 

Trying to find a printer good for printing stuff like this - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3844659?fbclid=IwAR2qHd692Dp76cgDxfGOqf6TVM3nTJWfvhqFgobyxdJKcE2lTVXNQEE7JzA

Also was thinking it would be could to print custom parts for PC cases so I can get into a little more custom stuff.

 

I see in that thingiverse link he used a ANYCUBIC MEGA X 3D Printer and then someone else printed it using Creality CR-10 Smart 3D Printer. Should I get one of those or is there a better one I should get for the type of stuff I want to do?

 

Thanks!

[Blindsay]

2 minutes ago, James Evens said:

What is the largest dimension?

How much do you plan to use it? If you pull lot's of hours on this thing per year none of those two. V-roller are cheap and good enough but ain't made for durability.

I checked and it said "No part exceeds 200mm on the print bed, so that is the largest size print bed required."

 

I don't think I'll have a lot of projects but when I want to use it they will be big prints.i think the one I linked is over 300hrs

[Blindsay]

1 minute ago, James Evens said:

So a  lot of hours and still 300mm?

What's your budget?

Any experience with printer or other similar systems (capable of understand and modifying the printer)?

Lot of hours, and he said 200mm max

 

Never owned a 3d printer or similar. $1k max?

[Blindsay]

8 minutes ago, James Evens said:

Prusa i3.

Not the cheapest printer but high quality, good support and large community. It is basically trading money for the time you would spend fixing cheap printer.

 

Maybe you can get a large format SLA printer but I can't tell you anything about them so no recommendation from me for this type of printer.

Thank you, that one has been mentioned a couple times. I see they offer it as a DIY kit to build to save $250 on it as well.

Is the print size that it can do reasonable? I know it is big enough for the current project i want but i dont want to box myself into something too small.

What about some of the ones from Creality? I dont know anything about the brands but I see that one pop up a lot. And yeah I saw some of the resin printers from ANYCUBIC but I am not sure if i should even get resin.

[07_Sev]

Before you jump in, do realize that 3d printing is not easy. AT ALL. You WILL have to sink a lot of time into getting to know your 3d printer inside and out. You'll have to know about a bizillion different setting that can all massively impact your 3d printer's performance. You'll also have to carefully calibrate your print so your filement sticks to the build plate and not leave an elephant's foot. This calibrating has to happen with sub millemeter precision and accuracy.\

 

Personally I use a creality ender 3 pro. But I reccomend watching a lot of reviews and 3d printing tutorials online first before going out to buy your own.

[Blindsay]

12 minutes ago, James Evens said:

Most prints I do are just a few cm. Large things above 200mm can be split into multiple small ones if they happen.

 

They all use v-roller so you want at least fix that with linear rail mod.

V-roller suck to adjust and have wear meaning you constantly adjust them and replace them once in a while. Additionally if you have imperfections on the slot you will see them in the print. Linearrails are ready to use and have a significantly higher service life (need lubrication from time to time). 

 

Beside that an Ender 3 v2 will probably be fine but with China you want to check basic safety things like not tinning cables if they go into screw terminals and have a look at the protective earth. Not all china printer are upto code. Also test protective features like thermal runaway protection as there are still printer out there having this for some reason disabled. Also have a good look at the y-bed cables and replace or improve if required.

 

 

3 hours ago, 07_Sev said:

Before you jump in, do realize that 3d printing is not easy. AT ALL. You WILL have to sink a lot of time into getting to know your 3d printer inside and out. You'll have to know about a bizillion different setting that can all massively impact your 3d printer's performance. You'll also have to carefully calibrate your print so your filement sticks to the build plate and not leave an elephant's foot. This calibrating has to happen with sub millemeter precision and accuracy.\

 

Personally I use a creality ender 3 pro. But I reccomend watching a lot of reviews and 3d printing tutorials online first before going out to buy your own.

 

Thank you both. I am definitely new to 3D printing but I love tech so I am definitely alright with having to tinker and spend time on it.

I was checking out the Ender 5 Plus actually. I like that it can do some bigger prints if i ever wanted. Don't mind if i have to do some upgrades to it to make it better

[Blindsay]

51 minutes ago, James Evens said:

With the ender 5 plus check the PSU. The original model was known for issues with that so they switched either to meanwell but I don't think they offer free replacement/retrofit for units sold before that.

 

$600 is a lot of money for that kind of printer. You are probably better of buying something like a Sovol SV02/01 or Sunlu S8 for half the money and spend it on upgrade when you need them like linear rails or e3d herma.

Yeah I saw the bit about the PSU, I will definitely keep an eye out. I have some meanwell stuff for other projects.

Both of the printers you linked appear to be smaller though, the print size is what intrigued me about the ender 5 plus. Correct me if i am wrong but at the end of the day a good small printer there is nothing i can do about the size but with a big printer i can mod it and have the best of both worlds? I dont mind spending $600 on it and modding it if the end result is good. With $1k being my budget, $600 + $400 in mods basically. 

[Blindsay]

1 minute ago, James Evens said:

You can extend the y-axis on ender 3 like printer:

1. buy longer 2040 or 4040 aluminium extrusion

2. ideally use a good linear system on top. I went with Igus W on my 800mm one.

3. buy longer belt

4. buy cable extension

5. buy another heatbed

6. if needed upgrade the controller

7. if needed upgrade or add second PSU

Cool good to know, that sounds more complicated than buying a printer thats already big and upgrading that or no?

[InstantNewt]

As someone who has thousands of hours printing and has designed and built my own printer, don’t buy a first printer with the intention to upgrade it. Modding a printer is a delicate balance between knowing what you can fix in software, and knowing the hardware limitations of your printer.
 

You don’t know much about printing right now, so buying a printer just to mess with it will likely get you worse results.
 

You can spend $600 on a decent printer and make it worse by throwing money at mods you don’t fully understand, or you can just buy the prusa and have a solid printer right out of the box. If you really have the itch to grab a printer and start modding, just get the Prusa kit. You save $250 from the fully assembled printer, you get to build your printer one bolt at a time and form a better understanding of how the parts work together, and you end up with a fantastic printer. 
 

If you really want to mod a printer, start with something stupid cheap like an Ender 3, but my vote is for the Prusa. 

[Blindsay]

3 hours ago, InstantNewt said:

As someone who has thousands of hours printing and has designed and built my own printer, don’t buy a first printer with the intention to upgrade it. Modding a printer is a delicate balance between knowing what you can fix in software, and knowing the hardware limitations of your printer.
 

You don’t know much about printing right now, so buying a printer just to mess with it will likely get you worse results.
 

You can spend $600 on a decent printer and make it worse by throwing money at mods you don’t fully understand, or you can just buy the prusa and have a solid printer right out of the box. If you really have the itch to grab a printer and start modding, just get the Prusa kit. You save $250 from the fully assembled printer, you get to build your printer one bolt at a time and form a better understanding of how the parts work together, and you end up with a fantastic printer. 
 

If you really want to mod a printer, start with something stupid cheap like an Ender 3, but my vote is for the Prusa. 

What if I wanted something bigger than the prusa though?

 

Also how much more would I have to spend above the prusa to get something that's noticably better? $1500?

[InstantNewt]

8 hours ago, Blindsay said:

What if I wanted something bigger than the prusa though?

 

Also how much more would I have to spend above the prusa to get something that's noticably better? $1500?

Well for that you really should have a specific use case in mind. 99% of the things most people will probably print can fit on a Prusa build plate, and if not, there are ways to split up a model and join it back together.
 

As for a large printer noticeably better than a Prusa, there are only 2 options in that range that I would consider “better.” The Voron 2.4, and the HevoRT. Better is subjective though and I would argue for a first time user, the Prusa is better due to its ease of use/assembly and its large support network. Prusa also has their own open source slicer that has profiles tuned specifically for their printers meaning you’ll get fantastic prints tuned by professionals without having to mess around too much. 

[Blindsay]

2 hours ago, InstantNewt said:

Well for that you really should have a specific use case in mind. 99% of the things most people will probably print can fit on a Prusa build plate, and if not, there are ways to split up a model and join it back together.
 

As for a large printer noticeably better than a Prusa, there are only 2 options in that range that I would consider “better.” The Voron 2.4, and the HevoRT. Better is subjective though and I would argue for a first time user, the Prusa is better due to its ease of use/assembly and its large support network. Prusa also has their own open source slicer that has profiles tuned specifically for their printers meaning you’ll get fantastic prints tuned by professionals without having to mess around too much. 

Thanks, sorry for the million questions. I just want to make sure what I buy will be good for a while and not run into a bunch of prints I can't do.

 

Gonna be using it for printing a lot of scifi models. Stargate, star trek, Babylon 5 etc. I am definitely interested in the large scale models 

 

Also was gonna use it for custom PC case parts. Likely some plates to cover up gaps/holes or maybe some various mounting brackets

[Blindsay]

Alright well I did end up getting the Ender 5 plus, a close friend of mine has 2 Ender 5's and knows them well so he can help me with any questions/problems.

Got it assembled and did a test print

 

 

I did also pickup the all metal extruder and the capricorn bowden tube but have not installed them yet (wanted to verify it was working in stock form first). This was done with the PLA that was included with the printer

[Blindsay]

2 minutes ago, James Evens said:

Looks good. Be careful with the print surface or put some budget beside to replace it if you destroy it (at least the anycubic glass get's damaged easily).

 

Thanks, oh and i did check and mine did ship with a meanwell PSU.

Havent played around with the software much yet either. Used Cura 4.11.0. Used the profile for my printer, didnt touch any settings, sliced it and sent it on its way. 200c on the nozzle and 60c on the bed

 

[Blindsay]

17 minutes ago, James Evens said:

Did you also checked for tinned wires?

Recently learned that Tronxy crimped (like it should be) the cable on the PSU side but then for some reason tinned it on the mainboard side.

 

Problem is the solder will slowly "flow" under the pressure with that the connection becomes lose/higher contact resistance creating the chance of fire . This isn't just academic question as even with 24V systems there will be roughly 10A going through the connection.

 

Other things you could go through as a basic safety check is disconnecting the thermistors and check for a under temperature or runaway error. After that do the same with the heating element now you should get a runaway error (if nothing happend after roughly 5 seconds stop the test to prevnet damage and replace/fix the firmware). Next take a look at the strain relief and how the wire is guided and how and where the PE/protective earth is connected. If you are anyway in there double check the vref setting on the stepper drive.

 

I highly recommend having your friend around helping you and making sure nothing get's damaged in the process (or somebody who has experience otherwise skip the vref/stepper part [low = skipped stepped, high = more heat/blown stepper driver).

Id have to tear it apart again but i believe this is how the inside looked 

 

 

What is the issue if it is soldered on though, unless you are saying the cable/connection is undersized? (I have seen soldered connections pull far more than 10a no problem)

[Blindsay]

12 hours ago, James Evens said:

Soldered on is fine. Solder/tin inside a screw terminal not.

The main issue that solder will slowly flow under pressure and the screw terminal is based on keeping pressure on the cable. If it flows the size changes, the pressure get's low or completely lose and contact resistance raises. Higher contact resistance means elevated temperature speeding up this process or getting so hot that it can burn.

Ok, i just misunderstood what you were trying to say. Thanks for clarifying  

[Salacious B Crum]

On 10/26/2021 at 4:45 AM, James Evens said:

Soldered on is fine. Solder/tin inside a screw terminal not.

The main issue that solder will slowly flow under pressure and the screw terminal is based on keeping pressure on the cable. If it flows the size changes, the pressure get's low or completely lose and contact resistance raises. Higher contact resistance means elevated temperature speeding up this process or getting so hot that it can burn.

Yes this, do yourself a favor and buy a cheap ferule kit and install ferules on all your wires you will find as you progress that you will be printing overnight or while unattended and this is insurance that you'll have a house to come home to

[Blindsay]

11 hours ago, Salacious B Crum said:

Yes this, do yourself a favor and buy a cheap ferule kit and install ferules on all your wires you will find as you progress that you will be printing overnight or while unattended and this is insurance that you'll have a house to come home to

Thanks, I decided to get the creality silent board upgrade (I live in a small apartment and the noise is crazy and I am not ready to mess with other boards yet) and while I am dropping in the new board I will cut those cables that are tinned and replace them with ferrules

[Blindsay]

In the meantime, decided to test out the new extruder and bowden tube as well as swap out the included filament for hatchbox pla.

This was done at 80mm/s (Wanted to see how fast I can actually print)

Not bad but there are a few errors in it

[ObsoleteTech]

At work we have a BCN3D Epsilon industrial printer (10k USD) and a Wanhao Duplicator 6 (600USD) and from those two the Wanhao is the most impressive. If you plan du print a lot and do not want to tinker a lot then i would buy one of those... I'm acually thinking of buying one for myself because i like the one at work. It prints 200x200x175mm.

[Blindsay]

I am still dialing the printer in but It is coming along. A lot to learn for sure but I do like tinkering.

This is a part for a 1 Meter long ship I am in the process of printing (Omega destroyer from babylon 5). About 300hrs in prints total haha

[Salacious B Crum]

13 hours ago, Blindsay said:

I am still dialing the printer in but It is coming along. A lot to learn for sure but I do like tinkering.

This is a part for a 1 Meter long ship I am in the process of printing (Omega destroyer from babylon 5). About 300hrs in prints total haha

You look to be just a bit too far from the bed you would adjust that with baby stepping but looking good

[Blindsay]

Been pluggin away at my giant print. Printing roughly 16hrs/day for the last few weeks. Pretty happy with the printer so far but definitely some areas I would like to improve. I do love the huge print area, even if i am not printing a single large item I can throw a ton of items on the build plate and send it. 
 

While improving the quality in a few areas would be nice I think the biggest thing I want to improve is keeping this quality but going much faster. I see there are some upgrades I can look into though to help.

 

Thanks again for the help thus far everyone

 

[Blindsay]

First 3d print is still going welll haha. Almost done printing then i got a whole lot of electronics, sanding, priming and painting. Already looking at adding a 2nd printer for more projects