DrBoost wrote:MINIzguy wrote: What printer do you have? Looks like a fun tool to make interior accessories for. Things like cupholders that can actually hold a bottle on an E36I have a Prusa (style) iV3 from Makerfarm. It's cool, you can make plastif doo-dads, or use the prints to make molds for a DIY foundry
that sounds like a rather cool idea 
T.J. wrote: I just ordered a prusa clone kit fof my birthday present. I started playing around with Fusion360 today and it seems easy enough to create 3d models. Looking forward to building the thing and printing something.
Look into Tinkercad. Its a really intuitive, FREE, online design program. You can export in several different filetypes (.STL etc). I love it, and could really fall down an engineering rabbit hole with it.
I really really want a 3d printer. But campus has free ones I can use for another year so that'll have to do.
4cylndrfury wrote:DrBoost wrote:that sounds like a rather cool ideaMINIzguy wrote: What printer do you have? Looks like a fun tool to make interior accessories for. Things like cupholders that can actually hold a bottle on an E36I have a Prusa (style) iV3 from Makerfarm. It's cool, you can make plastif doo-dads, or use the prints to make molds for a DIY foundry
Haha. I just sent you an e-mail....BEFORE reading this post. I didn't forget about you. This was the print I was telling you about that was kicking my butt with layer issues. I normally print PLA at 192F with no problems. This roll needed to be printed at 217F
It printed smaller things just fine, but with the print in this thread, each solid layer (the bottom of both prints) was 42 minutes PER LAYER!! That extruder needed the filament that hot to be able to push it for 42 minutes per layer.
Here's a pic of what I kept running into
The first layer was great, and 1/2 the second was great, then it would basically start under-extruding causing layer adhesion issues.
In reply to 4cylndrfury:
I'll check it out. Fusion360 is also free unless you are using it to make money.
That's awesome! The tax man was quite nice to me this year.... might be refund spending time...
Rufledt wrote: That's awesome! The tax man was quite nice to me this year.... might be refund spending time...
Check out Maker Farm. Great printers, very good prices, incredible support after the sale.
In reply to T.J.:
I can make that for the low low fee of shipping.
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In reply to GVX19:
Thanks for the offer. I got my kit all assembled and it is up and running. I printed out my drill press depth stop collar in ABS and it came out great. The problem is that now I see everything as a problem that I can fix with a 3d print. I drew up and am printing now a stand for my laptop to hold it vertical when I have it docked so that it takes up less desk space.
I am going to order a Raspberry Pi and get octaprint going. It seems better than using an SD card or having to plug a computer into the printer. Wireless printing will be better.
DrBoost wrote:T.J. wrote: In reply to DrBoost: Reprap guruCool! Keep us updated over the first few months or year. I'm very curious to see how the cheaper printers perform and hold up. The i3 design is tried and true, and pretty simple. You just don't have to spend a ton of money on a decent printer anymore. What are your plans for it? Just tinkering, or do you have an intended use? Welcome to another addictive hobby.
So far so good. I had one bad stepper motor in the kit. It wouldn't turn freely like the others, and the seller quickly sent me a replacement. Other than that it all went together easily, although I got it all done except for the electronics before realizing there was a build manual.
In reply to T.J.:
which one did you get?
In reply to FlightService:
It's a Prusa clone from RepRapGuru.
Acrylic frame and the standard cheap Chinese parts.
Anyone have any experience with the anet A8 3d printer?
T.J. Glad to hear you got good service. And I know what you mean that a 3D printer becomes the answer to everything. Just a heads-up. I picked up a spool of filament from Microcenter flr $15. It's the same stuff another website sells for about $35. It's been the best filament I've tried, EVAR. I highly recommend it.
Spitsix wrote: Anyone have any experience with the anet A8 3d printer?
Sorry, I do not.
In reply to Spitsix:
Me neither. All I know is that Thomas Sanladerer has something against them, but I don't know why.
In reply to DrBoost:
I'll check it out. I got a free spool with my kit based on a shipping delay and I bought a couple spools from Amazon (Hatchbox). I was thinking of ordering some from 5 Dollar Filament the next time I order. Not full 1kg spools, but would be a decent way to try out new types or colors.
EDIT: Just looked at Microcenter's site. Wow, they have a decent color selection and great prices. Bookmarked.
In reply to Spitsix:
What are you in need of?
T.J. wrote: In reply to DrBoost: I'll check it out. I got a free spool with my kit based on a shipping delay and I bought a couple spools from Amazon (Hatchbox). I was thinking of ordering some from 5 Dollar Filament the next time I order. Not full 1kg spools, but would be a decent way to try out new types or colors. EDIT: Just looked at Microcenter's site. Wow, they have a decent color selection and great prices. Bookmarked.
I've heard of some bad results with cheap filament. The last spool I got wasn't cheap, I think it was $30+ and it was pretty crappy. More than 1/2 my spool ended up being scrapped. I thought it was my printer. I was going through EVERY setting and talking with the manufacturer (again, what great customer service from MakerFarm) and bought the filament from Microcenter. I've never had cleaner prints!! And for 1/2 what I paid for the crappy roll!!!
I saw a "deal" on a free refurb printer with the purchase of 9 spools of any color fillament.
$252 plus shipping.
Would you guys recommend starting off with one of the larger 8x8x8 printers or would one of the Monoprice 5x5x5 printers suffice?
Thinking of making some stuff seeing how cool they are at work (we have a few Makerbots and Ultimakers).
The short answer in all PRUSA I3 clones are the same. They are kits and are kits. (Don't do it! Its like 200 nuts and bolts holding it together + 8 hr of your life.) The cheaper the kit the more fun you will have making upgrades.(on average) I have one. It was the best in my price range at the time:(
Printer prices are lower now. And designs have improved. Something like this is what I would get if I could have a do over. And its cheaper.
The remote mount controller is the way to go. When you start using more than PLA. You need to be able to control the environment more. And the controller may not like it. No matter what they say about speeds that the printer can do. I3s are limit to 60mms. Because physics!
One more thing PRUSA I3 clones are noisy
55dB at 3 feet.
If you don't know CAD and are not willing to learn turn away now!!!
10 cold, hard truths about owning a 3D printer
GVX19 wrote: The short answer in all PRUSA I3 clones are the same. They are kits and are kits. (Don't do it! Its like 200 nuts and bolts holding it together + 8 hr of your life.) The cheaper the kit the more fun you will have making upgrades.(on average) I have one. It was the best in my price range at the time:(
I actually recommend people buy a kit. That way they have a good understanding of how it works and thus, can better understand what's going on if they get odd things happening. I know every nut and bolt in my printer, and it's helped me to fine-tune things.
GVX19 wrote: Printer prices are lower now. And designs have improved. Something like this is what I would get if I could have a do over. And its cheaper. The remote mount controller is the way to go. When you start using more than PLA. You need to be able to control the environment more. And the controller may not like it. No matter what they say about speeds that the printer can do. I3s are limit to 60mms. Because physics! One more thing PRUSA I3 clones are noisy
That printer looks like it'll flex a lot, leading to crappy vertical walls, at least to me. There's very little structure, I can only imagine the thing resonating and making patterns on the print.
GVX19 wrote: If you don't know CAD and are not willing to learn turn away now!!! 10 cold, hard truths about owning a 3D printer
Sketchup is pretty easy to pick up. I've never touched CAD until I got my printer and I've designed a number of things, and had my 15-year old doing it last week. Other than that though, there are millions of files on the internet for free.
In reply to DrBoost:
I recommend anarchy!!! I agree with Boost in that I would prefer a kit so most servicing I could do, but I see the advantages of plug-n-play too.
cad isn't what it used to be. It is getting easier and easier by the day. I started with autoCAD on a SunSpark station. I have done ProE Wildfire training and my last training (4 years ago) was on AutoDesk Inventor. I was messing around with some online drawing programs. To be honest, with the exception of a few short cut tools and PLM management stuff, there is no need for a large CAD purchase anymore. SketchUp isn't bad.
Now none of them will stop you from designing something completely screwed up. But it will be easy for you to design that screwed up piece.
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