Can someone tell me what is up with 3-D printing?

[SaltyNuts]

I'm late to the ballgame on this one. What all can you print with these things? Could I print out cool custom designed plastic parts that assemble together? Can you print other things with these besides plastic, like metal or glass? Does the material you put into it to do the 3-d printing cost a lot of money, or can you do it reasonably cheap? Anybody own one and have fun making things - if so what?

Just looking for any info - this technology looks really interesting!

Thanks.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I'm late to the ballgame on this one. What all can you print with these things? Could I print out cool custom designed plastic parts that assemble together?

Yes.

Can you print other things with these besides plastic, like metal or glass?

Yes, but the machines that handle those materials are a LOT more expensive.

Does the material you put into it to do the 3-d printing cost a lot of money, or can you do it reasonably cheap?

Depends on the material and how you define reasonable. PLA filament is <$20 per kilo. That's enough to make a few doodads, for sure. It's not cheaper than injection-molded, mass-produced goods, but for one-off or custom stuff, it's not terrible.

Anybody own one and have fun making things - if so what?

Just looking for any info - this technology looks really interesting!

Thanks.

https://www.thingiverse.com/

Things people make with 3D printers. Some assembly required. YMMV.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Thanks Dave! Wow, didn't realize they can make so much stuff. You mentioned PLA. The other one that looks popular is ABS. Thoughts on those two? Do you have to pick a 3d printer that can do one or the other, or can most do both? Any particular brand recommendations? They are pretty reasonably priced for something it looks like someone could have a lot of fun with!

 

[JackTheBear]

You can print a whole lot of things, from very simple to very detailed. There are some constraints on size of pieces and spacing of detail. To make bigger items, you can print multiple pieces that fit together. Materials include a variety of types and colors of plastics with various finishes, silver, brass, bronze, steel, porcelain/ceramic, sandstone. To get an idea of what is possible, check out https://www.shapeways.com/materials. You can also check out the market there too. There are tons of things you can get printed, and you can design your own. They are not the only service like that. You can check out https://www.thingiverse.com/newest and https://pinshape.com/3d-marketplace too.

Cost is usually pretty reasonable for custom pieces that you design. Different materials cost different amounts. If you're buying something someone else designed, it might be more expensive depending on the designer's markup, that's up to the designer, especially for multi piece designs. $20/piece for a 5 piece plastic design isn't cheap, but if you look around, you might find something similar for a much more reasonable amount.

 

[eng2d2]

Our public librayr offers free 3d printing. I havent tried it. You can only print key chain size objects.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks Dave! Wow, didn't realize they can make so much stuff. You mentioned PLA. The other one that looks popular is ABS. Thoughts on those two? Do you have to pick a 3d printer that can do one or the other, or can most do both?

Any 3D printer that can do one, can most always handle the other. They need different nozzle temps (210C for PLA, 230C for ABS) but not that different. It's generally recommended that you have a heated bed for ABS, while that's something you can get away with not having for most PLA prints.

Otherwise, yeah.

ABS is tougher, stinks worse when you print it, and prints can be smoothed by rubbing with acetone (which melts the plastic.)

Any particular brand recommendations?

Monoprice sells a variety of pretty darn good intro-level 3D printers.

For filament, I haven't personally tries a brand that wasn't satisfactory. I've been buying mostly the Inland Micro stuff from Microcenter (it's normal price is $24/kg, but is often on sale for $15-16/kg). Otherwise, typical cost is $20/kg if you buy online from Microcenter or Amazon. Currently chewing my way through one of these rolls and it's working well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N0YDF3U/

They are pretty reasonably priced for something it looks like someone could have a lot of fun with!

Depends. I'd recommend having an intended use for them first. (Printing models to paint or something. I use mine primarily to make little brackets and things for my woodworking projects, but have also used it for some case mods.)