Discussion Does anyone here 3D print?

[Midwayman]

I will

Wow nice, I was just trying to guestimate how long a spool lasts... They seem to be expensive.

Where do you guys generally get your filaments from? Who much do you generally pay?

High-Quality 3D Printing Filaments and Solutions

Shop the full line of the best Filaments. Discover PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA in a wide range of colors and customizations

www.zyltech.com

About $10-12 a roll if you buy enough to get free shipping. They're always having sales, so wait for one.

 

[Fritzo]

Technically ALL printing is 3D printing...

 

[DesiPower]

High-Quality 3D Printing Filaments and Solutions

Shop the full line of the best Filaments. Discover PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA in a wide range of colors and customizations

www.zyltech.com

About $10-12 a roll if you buy enough to get free shipping. They're always having sales, so wait for one.

Which website? I have seen some cheap stuff on Amazon, but I have heard that bad filament can mess up the printer? What is a reliable site or brand to buy, to keep an eye out for deals on.

 

[Paratus]

Amazon had a deal on 5 spools for $70 awhile back. Which is what I bought.

 

[Ichinisan]

I will

Wow nice, I was just trying to guestimate how long a spool lasts... They seem to be expensive.

Where do you guys generally get your filaments from? Who much do you generally pay?

Usually $14 for a 1 kilogram roll of PLA filament at my local Micro Center (like 1.5 hours away from home 🙁)

 

[Midwayman]

Which website? I have seen some cheap stuff on Amazon, but I have heard that bad filament can mess up the printer? What is a reliable site or brand to buy, to keep an eye out for deals on.

lol. You quoted it in your question. Zyltech.com

 

[DesiPower]

lol. You quoted it in your question. Zyltech.com

Oops, thanks!

 

[Kaido]

I have an Ender 3. Seems to be the most popular cheap 3D printer. Works fine for me, though I don't do that much with it. Only complaint I have is it is kind of noisy, but there is a new board for it that supposedly fixes it. There is a pretty active ender3 subreddit, so you can get a lot of advice and tips on mods and settings.

Are you still using your Ender 3? I picked up the Pro on a BF sale. Excited to have something new to tinker with!

 

[KillerCharlie]

What do you guys actually print? I've been thinking about getting one, but can't think of anything I'd actually do with it.

I'm an engineer and at work I get a lot of my designs built by 3d printers of all sorts (including sterolith and sintering), so I'm not sure I'd get anything out of it.

 

[Fritzo]

What do you guys actually print? I've been thinking about getting one, but can't think of anything I'd actually do with it.

I'm an engineer and at work I get a lot of my designs built by 3d printers of all sorts (including sterolith and sintering), so I'm not sure I'd get anything out of it.

I call him "Eduardo"...

 

[Paratus]

What do you guys actually print? I've been thinking about getting one, but can't think of anything I'd actually do with it.

I'm an engineer and at work I get a lot of my designs built by 3d printers of all sorts (including sterolith and sintering), so I'm not sure I'd get anything out of it.

I’ve been doing some wood working lately. Made a router table and needed some knobs. So printed them and press fit the nuts into them.

I’m also going to make a miter sled for my crappy table saw. Found the right sized rails for my weird saw on thingiverse so I don’t have to cut any rails for the sled.

 

[Midwayman]

What do you guys actually print? I've been thinking about getting one, but can't think of anything I'd actually do with it.

I'm an engineer and at work I get a lot of my designs built by 3d printers of all sorts (including sterolith and sintering), so I'm not sure I'd get anything out of it.

Well right now I'm working on a mount for my FPV system so I can attach it to various RC cars. The VTX needs a case and antenna mount. The Camera needs an adjustable mount integrated into the case.

I also make props like this Star Wars blaster

https://imgur.com/my0NYKX

I made a speaker system for a jukebox wallbox that I converted. (Its in the base made to look like a stack of records)

https://imgur.com/a/CR8TRME

 

[DesiPower]

Thanks for all the recommendations guys, i ended up getting the Ender 3 Pro from Aliexpress un-assembled for like $180, had some fun putting it together. Printer has been working well so far, no issues, solid and consistent quality prints. Biggest challenge or learning curve was adjusting the bed, once I nailed it, it was smooth sailing there after. This printer has a removable pad on the bed, I would remove it after each build for cleaning and that would mess of the alignment, eventually learned to clean it without taking out.

Its fun, highly recommend it for anyone on the fence, go for it, you will not regret. It is noisy though, make sure you have a place to keep it out of the way and it takes time, most good stuff take 10 - 12 hours or more. I bough 2 2 KG and 3 200grams filaments, did a lot of printing but still a lot of filament left!

 

[Paratus]

I’ve been doing some wood working lately. Made a router table and needed some knobs. So printed them and press fit the nuts into them.

I’m also going to make a miter sled for my crappy table saw. Found the right sized rails for my weird saw on thingiverse so I don’t have to cut any rails for the sled.

Here’s a shot of the router table. I printed the feather board and knobs.

I built the table to fit my collapsible work bench.

 

[Kaido]

Thanks for all the recommendations guys, i ended up getting the Ender 3 Pro from Aliexpress un-assembled for like $180, had some fun putting it together. Printer has been working well so far, no issues, solid and consistent quality prints. Biggest challenge or learning curve was adjusting the bed, once I nailed it, it was smooth sailing there after. This printer has a removable pad on the bed, I would remove it after each build for cleaning and that would mess of the alignment, eventually learned to clean it without taking out.

Its fun, highly recommend it for anyone on the fence, go for it, you will not regret. It is noisy though, make sure you have a place to keep it out of the way and it takes time, most good stuff take 10 - 12 hours or more. I bough 2 2 KG and 3 200grams filaments, did a lot of printing but still a lot of filament left!

You can do a silent board upgrade FYI! Nearly all of the noise comes from that unit:

The SKR Mini E3 is pretty sick: (do some research on the various brands & versions, this is the v1.2 board)

Amazon.com: BIGTREETECH SKR Mini E3 V1.2 Control Board 32Bit with TMC2209 UART Driver 3D Printer Parts Cheetah for Creality Ender 3: Industrial & Scientific

Amazon.com: BIGTREETECH SKR Mini E3 V1.2 Control Board 32Bit with TMC2209 UART Driver 3D Printer Parts Cheetah for Creality Ender 3: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

It's not only silent, but it also comes with Marlin & you can plug a BLTouch directly into it for automatic bed leveling. They're on version 3.1 now:

BLTouch V3.1 | antclabs

www.antclabs.com

For anyone looking to get into 3D printing, it's basically like a Lego kit...put it together & start printing! It does require a tinkerer's mindset tho, as there is a lot of stuff to learn & a lot of things to fiddle with to get into the groove of getting good prints out consistently. If you like to build computers & like to be creative, 3D printers are SUPER fun!

 

[CZroe]

Creality has been the value/community king since 2017.

I own a Creality CR-10 and two Ender 3 machines. It sometimes takes a lot of fiddling to get right but there is a huge user-base that has likely encountered your problem before and can help. Creality is popular enough that there are loads of upgrades and modifications available.