Ok, so my 3D printer kit has been up and printing for about 5 days now. I promised feedback and general info. Check out the build thread in the link for the build process. Here goes.
To start printing stuff you need:
a printer
Slicing software
You may also want:
3D modeling software like Google Sketchup or Blender
Printer interface software like Pronterface
You'll also need:
Stuff to print. You can download pre-made stuff at places like Thingiverse and quite a few others.
You take the file you made or downloaded and run it through your slicer software. That program slices the file into layers to the set layer height you've chosen. This then becomes the G-code, the file that your printer uses to actually print.
The biggest learning curve for me was the slicer software. I started using slic3r, the kleenex of slicer programs. I wasn't able to get very good prints. I started printing Lego bricks. I figure that they'd be great calibration pieces since they actually have to be pretty precise. They did indeed lock together, but the walls were very thin. Slic3r also printed what's called a raft. It's basically a plastic platform for the printer to print the part on. "The raft just snaps off" I was told. I never got a raft to snap off. I actually spent almost an hour on each lego piece sanding the raft off. Slic3r either can't print without a raft, or they've hidden that feature. I decided to try another slicer program; kisslicer (keep it simple slicer). It's anything but simple, you can change EVERY setting you can think of. So, I watched a few tutorials and posted on a forum and got things set up.
I had already printed a light switch using slic3r and it was unusable for two reasons, the dreaded raft, and the fact that the print quality was craptasitacal. Here's the back of the light switch, showing the crappy print quality.
You can see lines that aren't straight, the fact that the rear and sides aren't connected around most of the perimeter.
I took that same 3D file, ran it through kisslicer, using the same settings I used with slic3r and came up with this
New here's a picture of them both, side-by-side
So, for me, assembling the kit was fairly easy, Colin at MakerFarm (where I purchased my kit) has simply phenomenal customer support. There are all kinds of cool things to print, and you can design your own stuff. And I did.
My toilet is not like most toilets, it has a pressure tank in the tank that pushes water down the bowl with such force, if you're sitting down when you flush, your lower intestine will come out a little bit. Anyway, When we moved into the house, there were these thin plastic strips that held down the flush rod. One was cracked. So, years ago I made two metal straps. The paint wore off the straps and I got bi-metal corrosion. Not good.
So, I removed the two straps, measured them up and created plastic blocks in sketchup. I printed them, one set with slic3r and one with kisslicer. Again, the difference was pronounced. The ones with slic3r weren't as dimensionally accurate and were kinda sloppy. The ones with k-slicer were within a tenth of a millimeter at worst. Anyway, here they are, bad parts and new parts.
And installed
A replacement pressure tank would have been almost $400, a new toilet is a few hundred and a pain to install. I consider this a win.
And the light switch on layer 5 or so The squiggly lines in the words and around the print are a support structure. The plate is being printed face-down so the recessed words and the 45* bevel would be an overhang. The support is printed with much less material, and much faster so it barely bonds with the part. It snapped off very easy.
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