Have You considered getting a 3D printer

This poll revisits questions from five years ago to see if attitudes to 3d printing have changed.

Have fun!

Neil

Yes - I got mine last Christmas time. It doesn't see much use but when it does get used it's invaluable. Yesterday I printed and e-stop nut with 22mm x 1.0mm pitch internal thread and a pair of lugs for clipping the stitch onto. I wasn't expecting it to screw on the thread at the first attempt, but after trimming a little chamfer in the lead and cleaning the burrs off with an internal thread file - it did!

Trouble with the ones I've looked at is they don't have a large enough envelope for what I think I might want to use them for. And if they have, they're too expensive for me to justify the cost just for a limited number of printed items.

I'm thinking 200mm x 200mm x 200mm.

Edited By John Hinkley on 11/12/2020 13:49:51

Recently got new Prusa Original i3 Mk3S, is very good has an envelope of 250mm x 210mm x 210mm. Good firmware and the PrusaSlicer is pretty nifty as well. Good website Prusa Research

John

My i3 clone has just under a 200mm cube the kit cost under £200.

Neil

Been thinking about one for a while, but not taken the plunge yet for a variety of reasons - can only choose one in the survey, so went with too expensive. Other reasons are not got the room for it, probably not use it enough to make it worthwhile, would have to learn a 3D drawing program and finally not sure how strong or well-finished the bits I make would be.

But I still want one....

Rob

I don't have one yet but I am waiting for the Sovol SV03 to become available then I'll treat myself. It will live in my study though as there is zero room left in the workshop (unless I screw it to the ceiling).

Rik

I had thought about one and would have use dit for pattern making but then the CNC came along and I can use that for patterns and a whole lot more.

and a 3d printer needs a superclean environment and a computer... so its the bedroom, the man cave or the living room

I'm running out of room for stuff

The reciprocating saw is currently demolishing anything I can get rid of in the garage, about 3 binloads is going on sunday am

Too many toys!

...but I'm sure I could make use of one...

I've looked quite hard at getting one - but only as a means to producing casting moulds as in 'Lost wax process'. But ideally the unit would need to be allied with a 3D scanner to be able to replicate the castings I'm looking at reproducing. Until 3D scanners come down in price I'll hold off, seems most hobby printers are used for scary heads and whacky toys at the moment by pubescent boys with bedroom complexes!

Seems the way to go given that we are now entering the 'Bangernomics'* era - I foresee that with a post Covid driven green economy the need to repair and rejuvenate products will lead to a big demand in engineers with practical capabilities in the future.

*Bangernomics* is defined as encompassing the art of keeping a sub £1000 car running indefinitely rather than spending huge sums on a replacement whether conventional or electric, the lead for this came in the 2008 financial meltdown where the businesses that thrived were the garages that kept vehicles running when they were past their 'normal' end of life scrappage date.

My Creality Ender Pro 3 cost about £200 last Xmas a "toy" for myself to play with and learn the technology.

I ended up making some lathe spiders for my Myford and for a laugh put a set of 3 on EBay for £15.

56 sets later and now doing them in different sizes for other chucks as well as hard to find plane fence replicas which have also sold lots.

The printer has not skipped a beat despite running night and day sometimes, changed out one nozzle and bowden tube is all the maintenance it has had.

Made some casting patterns for a Tom Senior mill part for a friend who has had the parts cast in iron and sold many with no complaints.

Made "Bat Man" tooth paste tube squeezers for the neighbour's kids and all their pals wanted them so a bit of a rod for my own back there but good fun!

Cheers, Martin

I was curious about 3D printers years ago , at the time the Hobby ones just looked to flimsy and small to produce anything worth while. I looked on an infamous auction web site and bought a semi-pro FDM unit that had a good print volume and dual print heads though it was broken and needed some work. It was a good learning experience to repair it and understand the technology behind 3D printing. My other half is an experienced figure modeller and was NOT impressed with the quality. She would only entertain an SLA technology unit .... they were just TOO expensive for my "Fun money" budget.

My latest 3D printer is a Tiertime UpBox, again bought from the auction site needing some work to get it sorted. I got this primarily to print ABS with less hassle ! As I was finding PLA had limitations when using the printed items outside or in the workshop.

Parts for a recent 3D Router project were created using 3D printed parts

Wouldn't be without mine, just a budget Creality Ender but have made everything on it from replacement fan on a jig saw, lathe change gears, saddle stop, chuck spiders, nudgers, spacers, Stephenson's Rocket, servo frames for RC gliders, patterns, moulds, sundry replacement bits for broken/missing 'things' round the house and on and on...lost track really.

They could all be considerably improved with some effort, but despite various plans to improve my Ender it is still pretty much as it came out of the box... because it just delivers consistent output in the 'good enough' spectrum.

In future, I hope there is some improvements in media technology addressing issues such as strength, bonding, stability etc. Ideally for a structural product, we would like a filament with the strength and stability of nylon or polycarbonate, the ease of printing and resilience of PLA and the post processing properties ABS.

Looks like I've taken my finger off the pulse and the technology has moved on a bit since I last looked. I might treat myself in the new year!

John

Hi, no I've not got one, not to saying I'm not interested, but I think I've got to many projects on the go now and I don't seem to have the time to learn something new. I dare say there is something within my level of budget, but I'm not willing to shell out for something that I may not ever use, but who knows!

Regards Nick.

I got an Anycubic i3 Mega in April - 210x210x205 capacity, sheet steel frame with round rod slides & linear bearings. I particularly liked the dual screw & stepper motor Z axis drive arrangement. £170 delivered with a kilo of filament from the Anycubic store on Ebay. Same model still seems to be available for similar money.

It required minimal assembly & worked well out of the box. It has a ceramic "Ultrabase" coating on the heated bed that grips tenaciously when hot, but releases prints with minimal affort when cold.

I have just about run off my first kilo of PLA, mainly on pre-designed bits from Thingiverse, though I have managed to design a couple of parts from scratch using FreeCad - a steep learning curve !

Really need to change my approach to designing bits to make more use of it - 40-odd years of working with metal fabrications & subtractive machining are deeply ingrained. The stepper motor mount on "Novice Engineer's" router being a case in point - currently thinking about doing something similar & automatically thinking of machining a part from a block of aluminium.

Nigel B.

It does? Why?

The SVO1 is bigger than that. I’ve found it easy and reliable in use - just not used it enough as the workshop and garden have taken up a lot of ‘spare’ time this year.

There is a Sovol SV01 in a box in our house. I am not allowed to open it until Christmas Day!

Peter

I had to blow the dust off mine last time I used it :D