Home 3D printer recommendations?

[torredcuda]

Looking for home 3D printer both for myself and our 8 yr old son but don`t know anything about them. I want something fairly inexpensive and easy to run for a computer illiterate (me) but obviuosly want a decent quality one not some piece of crap. What do I need to run it - computer, files etc.?

[anlauto]

Ahhh...I wish my son was home from university, he bought one off of Amazon for around $300 USD or so, and it works great ! Apparently, there's all types of downloads on the internet to make some pretty cool stuff....he's been using it quite a bit and sending us pictures...mind you, he's a third year engineering student  ..............myself, not so much

[purple1]

What ever kind of 3D printer you end up getting, get your self a Raspberry Pi. Install Octopi (a special operating system that is designed for 3D printers) on it and hook that up to your 3D printer. You don't have to even have a monitor or keyboard for the Pi, if you don't want them. I have a mini  2 inch LCD and a mini wireless keyboard on mine just to make it easy to shut down the Pi. But all that can be done from your regular computer.

The advantage to using a Pi is you can send print jobs to the Pi via wifi. This will save you from loading an SD card for every new job, and plugging that into your printer. The Pi can also start, pause or stop the print jobs. You can also hook a camera up to the Pi and watch your print real time (even if you are not there). If for some reason the job fails (and they do sometimes) you can cancel the job remotely. A big job that falls fails can use up a lot of material.

You can get a lot of pre-made (and free) files to print from thinginverse.com

Now if I can just get time to learn a few 3D drawing programs.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

[torredcuda]

What ever kind of 3D printer you end up getting, get your self a Raspberry Pi. Install Octopi (a special operating system that is designed for 3D printers) on it and hook that up to your 3D printer. You don't have to even have a monitor or keyboard for the Pi, if you don't want them. I have a mini  2 inch LCD and a mini wireless keyboard on mine just to make it easy to shut down the Pi. But all that can be done from your regular computer.

The advantage to using a Pi is you can send print jobs to the Pi via wifi. This will save you from loading an SD card for every new job, and plugging that into your printer. The Pi can also start, pause or stop the print jobs. You can also hook a camera up to the Pi and watch your print real time (even if you are not there). If for some reason the job fails (and they do sometimes) you can cancel the job remotely. A big job that falls fails can use up a lot of material.

You can get a lot of pre-made (and free) files to print from thinginverse.com

Now if I can just get time to learn a few 3D drawing programs.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

OK, but I`m already lost - I have trouble using my smart phone sometimes! Looks like they have a bunch of different Pi models to choose from? I do  have a spare laptop I could use with it.

[purple1]

You will want a Pi 3B or above.

At first you could get away just hooking your computer to the printer. But you will want the remote capabilities of a Pi eventually.

If you don't think you can set up a Pi, you can buy one pre loaded.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

[Bullitt-]

                                   3D Printer circa 1966

[YellowThumper]

                                   3D Printer circa 1966

Lol for that.
I still have some. Old school and it works well making impressions of details on machined parts for plastic injection molds.

[YellowThumper]

I personally have been eyeing this one.
About $190.00 us.
For home use they seem to fit the bill I am interested in.
No help for the cad design software for basic usage.
I use Solidworks extensively in my work world.

[torredcuda]

I used to do cnc programming but only 2D for punch presses. I started back in the `80`s with a DOS computer, G codes and a teletype machine that made a tape with thousands of holes punched in it that was brought out and manually  loaded in the machine. I later used specific software to create the programs and send to the machines. I played around a bit with it but never learned Solidworks as I got out of progtamming and moved into quality control later in my career. I am probably not going to get into programming for a 3D printer, just looking for something I can easily get programs for and run.

[70vert]

I've no idea so no specific help. But, surely there are enthusiast groups out there (similar to this E-body group) that would be a good place for a novice to start, and no doubt YouTube has tons of videos for info, tips, and tricks. Good luck.

[PLUM72]

With 3D printing, you really need to have a way to create a 3D CAD model of something.  There are alot of 3D CAD programs used out there like Solidworks, UG/NX, Creo, etc.   These are big dollar CAD programs.  Some thing free like SketchUp might get you started.  But if you're not a computer person, might be a steep learning curve.  Anyway, you would model (draw) something up, save the model as an STL file and send it to the 3D printer.

The websites like  https://www.thingiverse.com/ have files someone has drawn and they are out there usually for a free download.  But its a lot of crap stuff, figurines, toys, etc., basically stuff you'd find in the discount bin at the dollar store.

If you want to do 3D printing, first learn 3D CAD.   Have some ideas what you want to do with it.  More than likely your local library might have a 3D printer to print a part to see what its about.  Once you get the 3d modelling thing down, you can make about anything.  Take it a step further and introduce 3D scanning.

The cheaper printers are enough to make toys and such using PLA plastic material.  Going up in price gives you better materials to print with (ABS and various versions of it), better resolution and accuracy for the part you print, and more speed to print.  Makerbot is a well known name and a decent machine to start with.

[Green_horn]

Oddly enough, this is my first post on here as I am a lurker. I do a lot of 3D printing though. If you are new and starting out, I would recommend an Ender3 printer. It is entry level, easy to use, and has a huge following base on the internet/youtube to help beginners through problems.

Look here;
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ender+3&link_code=qs&sourceid=Mozilla-search&tag=moz-us-20

You will find a lot of free content/models that it will print.
https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=dodge+challenger&page=1&type=things&sort=relevant

You will have time as you learn to work your way up to a networked connection vi a Pi to determine if that is even right for you.

I'd be happy to answer any other question you might have.

[torredcuda]

Oddly enough, this is my first post on here as I am a lurker. I do a lot of 3D printing though. If you are new and starting out, I would recommend an Ender3 printer. It is entry level, easy to use, and has a huge following base on the internet/youtube to help beginners through problems.

Look here;
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ender+3&link_code=qs&sourceid=Mozilla-search&tag=moz-us-20

You will find a lot of free content/models that it will print.
https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=dodge+challenger&page=1&type=things&sort=relevant

You will have time as you learn to work your way up to a networked connection vi a Pi to determine if that is even right for you.

I'd be happy to answer any other question you might have.

I hear people complaining about leveling the machine and many recommend one that has auto leveling, is it that hard to do? As I said I do have some 2d programming experience and also some experience with programming and running a 3 axis CMM (coordinate measuring machine used in machine shops) but I want it to be easy and fun, not a PITA job, to print stuff.

[PLY474]

Regarding a free CAD program, there are a couple options that I am aware of.  The 1st is AutoCAD Fusion 360.  They have a Hobbyist license available.  https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/subscription-types/  The 2nd is FreeCAD.  It is an open source CAD program with additional add-ons available, including Finite Element Analysis.  https://www.freecadweb.org/

I chose to go with FreeCAD because I felt like AutoCAD could rescind their free offer at any time and I didn't want to have to relearn another program.  I also have an interest in FEA.  There are several youtubers with FreeCAD classes.  Here is one https://www.youtube.com/c/CFDIntech/search (search for freecad).

As a side note on open source programs, there is a Microsoft Office competitor called Office Libre (previously Open Office).  https://www.libreoffice.org/  I have been using it on my garage computer without issue.

Good post.  I am also in the market for a 3D printer.  Way too many options. 

[Green_horn]

Auto leveling can be a good feature. The Ender3 printers I've shown above has it. It can be added to a printer later but probably best to get it off the bat. The first couple of years printing I didn't have it and leveling the bed was a bit of a fiddly chore. It can be done though. Think adjusting manual points as opposed to HEI. Autolevel is not a cure all though, you will still have adjustments to make and maintenance to perform to keep it running.

You will also have to determine which type of filament you want to print with. In order of easiness it is PLA>PETG>ABS. Good quality filament goes a long way, I use Hatchbox.

I do my design work with Solid Works. I've used it for years and found an *ahem* demo copy on the interwebs.

Seeing this post made me nostalgic for printing so I made this yesterday. Took 24 hours to print and I think the back half will take about 30. It's 1/10 scale and has an all 3D printed drive train for remote control.