3D printers : your experiences and current State of the technology

[Wirehead]

That Tiko printer does look interesting. Too bad I'm too late to back it.

[Mechatrommer]

Now you can buy the chip reseter and unblocker device for CubePro, allowing to save much money
visit www.cube3dfree.com

ohh now the crippling crap that has infected inkjet printers for so long now outbreak to 3d printer? if you buy reprap based 3d printer from the beginning you dont have to deal with such a crap.

[pix3l]

Hi F_E and others,

I haven't seen any mentions of the i3 MK2 so far in this thread... I've seen several reviews where people say it's one of the best 3D printers on the market for a sub-€1k printer.

[jonovid]

if 2D printing is a pain in the neck. just imagine adding a third dimension. 
now your screw ups are in 3D & cost three time's as much.    so IMO a 3D printing service is best for the hobbyist.
I like to see 3D printing services just as officeworks does 2D printing services.
like free 3D software so you can plan out your work befor starting the print. you only pay for the end 3D product design.
cost the size and volume. 3D printing service software would prevent bad design like trying to make objects hang in mid air or too big or wrong size. too much Filament - solid block. trying to add objects inside objects.
  I not used 3D todate. 

[PlainName]

[...] the i3 MK2 ... I've seen several reviews where people say it's one of the best 3D printers on the market for a sub-€1k printer.

I seriously doubt if it is, purely on the basis that it doesn't have an enclosed build space, so subject to random drafts (or worse) messing with the extrusion.

Feature-wise, it's a single extruder too. You can get enclosed dual-extruders (and decent ones at that) for around the same price.

[free_electron]

i bought the 189$ monoprice printer. works great for what i want to do.

[Falcon69]

I bought a Geeetech dual extruder. I have trouble keeping it accurate. It never prints the pieces the same size.  Lately, it prints the pieces, and then starts skipping the g-code and messes up.  I have to carefully watch it, and when it does, stop it real quick, find the line it messed up on, erase all lines before, copy and paste the start codes and readjust the start height, so it can pick up where it left off so I don't waste all the hours it has already done. 

I have found that ultra Hold hairspray works alot better then a slurry of acetone and ABS for holding down the ABS when making parts. Just spray the hairspray on the heated bed. works like a charm. forget the slurry mix or glue stick. use hair spray!

Waste of money.

Ive been designing my own. 5-head. Easier to adjust and change out the nozzles. Enclosed with heated temp control. Making for myself. Just gotta find someone to make the aluminum parts once I finish designing them...Here's a sneak peak......

[PlainName]

That part looks great, but maybe the fans could do with a rethink - they are blowing or sucking at a wall, basically, so cooling may be suboptimal. If you have have blowing and half sucking, there will be a temperature gradient across them (which may not matter). Perhaps if you made the thing hollow so cool air could enter or exhaust up the middle...

[edavid]

That Tiko printer does look interesting. Too bad I'm too late to back it.

If you don't want to wait until they start taking orders, you can buy someone else's pledge:

https://forum.tiko3d.com/viewforum.php?f=14

[edavid]

i bought the 189$ monoprice printer. works great for what i want to do.

Is it this one?

http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=107&cp_id=10724&cs_id=1072403&p_id=15365&seq=1&format=2

Have you had to contact them for support?  How did that go?

[zapta]

... IMO a 3D printing service is best for the hobbyist.

Iterating on a 3D design thorough a printing service can be very time consuming.

Most of my project are small MCU based gadgets so I settled on this basic OpenScad design of snap-on customizable enclosure. Changing the case's dimension and holes can be done by changing a few lines of code and the new case is ready to use in an hour or two. I wish I could do the same with PCBs.

https://github.com/zapta/arm/blob/master/ir-control/3d/ir_control_case.stl

A few words of advice:
1. A second extruder is not as useful as I thought.
2. Prefer a fully enclosed 3D printer over an open frame one. It will allow you to print ABS which is a more machinable material (e.g. filing and sanding).
3. PEI is a great build plate material. You can get it on Amazon (use the recommended 3D double side adhesive) and install on any printer. It lasts forever and has very good first layer adhesion.

[Falcon69]

That part looks great, but maybe the fans could do with a rethink - they are blowing or sucking at a wall, basically, so cooling may be suboptimal. If you have have blowing and half sucking, there will be a temperature gradient across them (which may not matter). Perhaps if you made the thing hollow so cool air could enter or exhaust up the middle...

The fans actually will blow into a shroud that will direct the air toward the tip of the extruder to cool the plastic as it comes out. I'll have them on a variable speed controller.

[zapta]

That part looks great, but maybe the fans could do with a rethink - they are blowing or sucking at a wall, basically, so cooling may be suboptimal. If you have have blowing and half sucking, there will be a temperature gradient across them (which may not matter). Perhaps if you made the thing hollow so cool air could enter or exhaust up the middle...

The fans actually will blow into a shroud that will direct the air toward the tip of the extruder to cool the plastic as it comes out. I'll have them on a variable speed controller.

For ABS you want to cool only the filament path inside the extruder. For PLA you want to cool also the filament that comes out of the nozzle, except for first layer.