Noodlings/advice on 3d printers

Another "email to friend" post ... this time on getting starting 3d printing.

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Hey there!  Apologies for not getting back to you sooner but <insert excuse about being busy here>...

Anyway...on to the important stuff.  Make magazine does a yearly roundup/rating of many (if not most) of the current crop of 3d printers.  From $400 all the way up to $4000+, it's a pretty solid set of data.  And, it's free!  http://makezine.com/comparison/3dprinters/ has the latest..prices, recommendations, winners, etc.

Some personal recommendations and random notes:

***Lots of fun materials to print with.  The two main are PLA and ABS.  ABS stinks to high heaven.  PLA smells like waffles.  PLA also tends to warp less/is less finicky in general.

*** You need a printer with a heated bed.  Period.  You will read that if you print in PLA (which has a lower print temp) a heated bed is unnecessary.  That folks have no problem.  They either have low expectations or print very tiny things.  Otherwise this is flat out wrong.  PLA will and does warp on the corners...even with medium sized prints.  Despite hairspray, blue tape, and all the other tricks, I had warp.  Sometimes tiny, sometimes big ... but even a 2cm x 2cm cube had about .1 - .2mm turned up at each corner.  Drove me nuts.  Added a heated bed and BAM, all was right with the world.

*** I have an automatic-leveling probe to add to my printer ... but I haven't done it yet.  A friend has one and it makes setup a whole lot easier.  Without it, you have to level the bed manually to get it dead-parallel to the print head.  The probe will check several points and figure out if things are slightly off .. and automagically compensate.  I'd recommend one.

*** Using blue painter's tape to help things to stick to the print bed has worked exceptionally well for me.

*** Getting larger-footprint (3+ square inches) off the printer plate can be challenging.  A sharpened painters tool helps with this...but go slow.  There are other solutions (http://www.printinz.com/ ) but I haven't tried them. (yet)


There are no "plug and print" 3d printers.  Yet.  We're getting closer, but expect to spend a couple hours setting it up and calibrating it to where you can print a reasonably good yoda head.  Figure 2-4 weeks of tinkering to get it really dialed in.

3d printing is SLOW...especially when you want high detail.  The dino skulls I printed @ high res took ~16hrs each.  That said, lower detail (thicker layers) are often fine for fun kiddo stuff...there are a lot of things that'll come off in 30min - 2hrs.  AND .... even when it's slow, my kids (and I) have watched it for literally 15-20 minutes at a time.  Just watching the printhead.  It's hypnotizing.  (the wife doesn't understand this at *all* ...)  So set expectations accordingly.  It's no Star Trek replicator, but there is something satisfying about desiging something simple in SketchUp or TinkerCad (https://www.tinkercad.com/) and seeing it realized.

Check out https://www.thingiverse.com/ for loads and loads of fun/educational/kitchy free models.  They've got a friggin fully moving engine in there.  With an automatic AND A MANUAL transmission.  And more cats, dragons, gear boxes, and iphone stands than you can shake a (3d printed) stick at.

My printer is a heavily modified 2014 Printrbot Simple.  (they're not sold any more)  It's original 4"x4"x4" volume is now ~4" x 5.5" x 6".  It works well for *almost* everything. The aforementioned friend has a Printrbot Simple Metal with the heated bed option.  His 6x6x6" seems to be just enough more that he has little trouble fitting models.  The printer I'm building now, however, is an 8x8x8 volume...because I can.  😊

Printrbot is the only company I have personal experience with, and they're pretty solid re: support.  I've had parts replaced by them under warranty and it was quick and painless.  Their forums are active as well, with a solid community of contributors.

Anyway ... it's still a bit of a wild and wooly world out there.  Reminds me a little bit of the 8086-80386 days ... when you bought systems out of ComputerShopper, had to research DIP switch settings for add-in cards, and oohed when VGA was first seen.  Good times.