What beginner 3d printer should I get?

[highpocket74]

Also, I would consider a direct drive extruder. That allows for printing with softer, flexible material like TPU and Nylon. Very fun material to create with!

 

[Admin]

 

[highpocket74]

I can understand price, that is how I came to own Enders. Knowing what I know now, I would put my money on Bambu P1P and P1S. My P1P can print in 4 hours what my Ender 3 Pro does in 39 hours. The Ender is completely reliable and will ALWAYS produce great parts. I just have come into a point where I like to just flip a switch, click a file and get a result, Bambu takes the inconvenience out of the process setup to print.

Here's me in front of my newest 3D printer

Richard, this one is probably out of your price range for sure!!
Definitely expense the printer as R&D equipment. That's what I did.

 

[Jerryg]

Also, I would consider a direct drive extruder. That allows for printing with softer, flexible material like TPU and Nylon. Very fun material to create with!

When can we start printing alloys?

 

[Fatsquatch]

When can we start printing alloys?

It’s probably going to happen especially with lower (relatively speaking) melting point stuff like Aluminum. Carbon steel on the other hand might be quite a while down the road.

 

[Jerryg]

It’s probably going to happen especially with lower (relatively speaking) melting point stuff like Aluminum. Carbon steel on the other hand might be quite a while down the road.

I heard that F1 teams are 3d printing Titanium but not sure if true.

 

[Smitty335]

It’s probably going to happen especially with lower (relatively speaking) melting point stuff like Aluminum. Carbon steel on the other hand might be quite a while down the road.

I heard that's the only way Honda will ever catch up with parts demand?

 

[Hondasxs]

People really spend 70 HOURS printing something like this...
And the machine can handle it?

This one takes 5 phucking days to pring.
Its cool and all but 5 DAYS???
My luck.. I would get into day 4 and it would birdnest.

 

[Hondasxs]

Welp... There you go @-Bear-

 

[CID]

Welp... There you go @-Bear-

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Doit, El Capitan - 😍 Buy once, cry once.

 

[-Bear-]

Welp... There you go @-Bear-

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Lol, you will definitely like what you have here. I will share some upgrades I made just for convenience purposes, there is almost nothing you can do to make them perform better cause they just flat out perform. I keep forgetting that they released the P1S. They one consistent problem I see helping people with their faulty prints is not using enough bed adhesive and their prints keep lifting. This is a mistake I make with my first P1P. Good luck and welcome to the world of additive manufacturing.

 

[highpocket74]

Welp... There you go @-Bear-

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You're (your son) will have so much fun making things!! PLA is the easiest material to print but once you get the hang of it you'll print with something else. All I ever print now is ASA material now that we got the settings down.

ON my Flashforge I put a PEI layer on my build plate and that has worked really well.

 

[Hometeam]

Lol, you will definitely like what you have here. I will share some upgrades I made just for convenience purposes, there is almost nothing you can do to make them perform better cause they just flat out perform. I keep forgetting that they released the P1S. They one consistent problem I see helping people with their faulty prints is not using enough bed adhesive and their prints keep lifting. This is a mistake I make with my first P1P. Good luck and welcome to the world of additive manufacturing.

My son (in college for Mechanical Engineering) has been on me to get a 3d printer. So would you buy the PS1 over the P1P if we were gonna get one of those 2? I would rather buy once cry once and have one that’s more future proof without needing to upgrade it soon. I know nothing about them but what I have now read in this thread!🤓

 

[-Bear-]

My son (in college for Mechanical Engineering) has been on me to get a 3d printer. So would you buy the PS1 over the P1P if we were gonna get one of those 2? I would rather buy once cry once and have one that’s more future proof without needing to upgrade it soon. I know nothing about them but what I have now read in this thread!🤓

I have P1P's that I have upgraded to basically become a P1S. This has cost me more than it would have been to just buy a P1S (I bought these before the release of the P1S). I would get the P1S combo because I don't use the AMS to do multicolored prints. I use it more for not running out of filament on my more intense prints. The P1S is enclosed already and has the necessary fans already installed for this. This will allow you to expand into other more complicated materials than just PLA. The P1P camera can only be viewed in a 1 frame per second which makes it almost useless for remote monitoring. I actually stopped using my cameras about a month after owning the Bambu's because I figured out my human errors that were causing prints to fail. You do still have to be considerate of tall prints that do not have much of a footprint because the printer moves so fast, it can cause the layers on tall prints to shift due to its instability. I built my print bench from 2X6 studs and them bonded a 2" maple butch block top to it to help with motion transfer and printer stability. If you run slower print speeds this in not needed. So if you are going to bite the bullet, I would get the P1S combo.

Your son has a great choice of study. I did Mechanical Engineering and then went back for Aerospace Engineering after joining the
Air Force. When 3D printing first came on the seen, the majority thought is useless for engineering. Now a days, it the fastest and most accurate way to rapid prototype/develop components for all kinds of uses. I remember saying 20 years ago that I would never own a 3D printer and their just a toy. LOL, funny how things change with time.

 

[Hometeam]

I have P1P's that I have upgraded to basically become a P1S. This has cost me more than it would have been to just buy a P1S (I bought these before the release of the P1S). I would get the P1S combo because I don't use the AMS to do multicolored prints. I use it more for not running out of filament on my more intense prints. The P1S is enclosed already and has the necessary fans already installed for this. This will allow you to expand into other more complicated materials than just PLA. The P1P camera can only be viewed in a 1 frame per second which makes it almost useless for remote monitoring. I actually stopped using my cameras about a month after owning the Bambu's because I figured out my human errors that were causing prints to fail. You do still have to be considerate of tall prints that do not have much of a footprint because the printer moves so fast, it can cause the layers on tall prints to shift due to its instability. I built my print bench from 2X6 studs and them bonded a 2" maple butch block top to it to help with motion transfer and printer stability. If you run slower print speeds this in not needed. So if you are going to bite the bullet, I would get the P1S combo.

Your son has a great choice of study. I did Mechanical Engineering and then went back for Aerospace Engineering after joining the
Air Force. When 3D printing first came on the seen, the majority thought is useless for engineering. Now a days, it the fastest and most accurate way to rapid prototype/develop components for all kinds of uses. I remember saying 20 years ago that I would never own a 3D printer and their just a toy. LOL, funny how things change with time.

Thanks a ton for the info! I appreciate all the insight. I think we are going to get him the P1S combo then with the holiday deals going on through tomorrow, without him knowing it. He has more work to do for me to pay his portion, but his birthday is 12-25 also. Will I need anything else besides the combo pack? Thanks

He is a smart kid and really thought out his education decision….funny he came to me a week or so ago and talked about possibly wanting to go into the Air Force also!! He is in Nashville Tennessee at Lipscomb University. Proud Dad here!!)

 

[-Bear-]

Thanks a ton for the info! I appreciate all the insight. I think we are going to get him the P1S combo then with the holiday deals going on through tomorrow, without him knowing it. He has more work to do for me to pay his portion, but his birthday is 12-25 also. Will I need anything else besides the combo pack? Thanks

He is a smart kid and really thought out his education decision….funny he came to me a week or so ago and talked about possibly wanting to go into the Air Force also!! He is in Nashville Tennessee at Lipscomb University. Proud Dad here!!)

Besides the combo pack, you might want to buy him a couple of spools of filament while you can still get them on sale. Today is Cyber Monday, so you should have no issue finding filament for the various sites that sell filament. Maybe purchase a few of these as well, cause the most common failure people experience is lifting. That is caused by not cleaning the bed properly and using enough adhesive. Aquanet hairspray is very popular in the 3D printing world. I use these exclusively for what I do and get wonderful results

 

[tjoreo]

I got in to 3d printing a couple of years ago when our local library asked me if I could figure out their 3d printer. It was a Printrbot Simple Metal. It is pretty basic but after some Youtubing and tinkering I was able to make it work. I liked it so much that I actually bought a used one for myself on ebay. A local kid ended up buying a Ender for Christmas a couple years ago and it was a great beginner machine, but there is a steep learning curve and maintenance to get it spot on everytime. Fast forward a few years and I have a really nice Ultimaker S5 at work that I use almost daily. The possibilities are endless and like @-Bear- said, utilize sites like Thingiverse or even a general search for STL files. Someone somewhere has probably made what you are looking for. The next step is to learn a basic CAD program to make your own files or even change the files you get from Thingiverse. A good basic one is Tinkercad and I'm sure your 10 year old would love it as mine did. He thought it was cool to design something and be able to print it out within a little time. Like Bear, I used Solidworks at work and am pretty handy with it. I have started to use the hobby version of Fusion 360 at home and it works well but I can navigate Solidworks alot better. The possibilites are endless and you will have people knocking at your door wanting items. The nice thing is if it doesn't work the first time, change a few dimensions, and just hit print again. Enjoy and keep us updated how it works out.

 

[Hondasxs]

Been looking at all the stuff you can make.
With 3 kids. I'm going to blow through stock making these cool prints from flexi factory.
Totally awesome.

Oh.....
And I need a storage thingey for this and that.
Holder for those.
Box for this.
Riser system
Led strip thingy.
Poop bucket.
Tooth brush holder.


Santa might be delivering a uesd Ps1. Lol.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[tjoreo]

You are going to have alot of fun. I mean "they" wink wink. Like Bear said, you want to have a good first layer adhesion. This was my downfall when I first got into it. As you would be printing along and then all of a sudden the print would come loose and shift. I haven't tried the glue technique, as I have been lucky lately just wiping the print surface down with some lab grade 190 proof ethanol (I work for a research lab). With the speed of the Bambu there is a greater chance of the print coming loose. They upgraded the Cura software to allow my Ultimaker S5 to achieve the same print speeds, but if the first layer doesn't adhere quite right it will shift and ruin the print. When I first started I would add little pieces on each print, then pause the print after the first couple layers and use some electrical tape to tape it to the build plate. You will learn different techniques over time and will defintely go through some material.

 

[Fatsquatch]

Coming from a place of complete subject ignorance so feel free to make fun of me….

Do these 3D printers produce a melting plastic smell at all? Would one be better suited to a garage/shop location? Or is not an issue and a spare bedroom/home office is perfectly fine? Is it possibly a filament dependent question?

 

[Neohio]

Coming from a place of complete subject ignorance so feel free to make fun of me….

Do these 3D printers produce a melting plastic smell at all? Would one be better suited to a garage/shop location? Or is not an issue and a spare bedroom/home office is perfectly fine? Is it possibly a filament dependent question?

Stench is entirely filament dependent.
I find PLA has zero smell at all. I haven't played with anything else yet. but do have some PETG, ABS, ASA, TPU incoming.