3D Printers

[Mad Mart]

I want to buy a 3D printer and, besides watching numerous videos, wondered what 3D printers any of you have had and can recommend. Budget is £500 max.

[triumphdolomiteuk]

A colleague recommends this
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001 ... new_Detail

If you wait until 21st there price will drop to £303. I've seen some pictures of the things he's made on it, very impressive.

[Slowmo]

I use a Creality Ender-3 printer -very popular.

It’s an excellent budget printer and a great introduction to 3d printing. Max size 220 x 220 x 250mm

There is a lot of stuff about it on the web. Easy to put together and set up. Single colour filament, but quite easy to change.

Lots of software and mods for it.

I have printed several useful unobtainable clips and things for the dolomite with it.

Peter.

[marshman]

I would second the Creality Ender 3. I originally had a Reprap Huxley Duo, bought as a kit about 6 or 7 years ago, perfectly functional but limited on print size. About a year ago my son got an Ender 3 for his work, then shortly after got another. They have been used very heavily for prototype work, one recent bout saw them running for near on 7 days solid. He prints PLA and ABS - though the ABS really need the printer to be in an insulated cabinet to keep the temperatures up - they have never missed a beat. On his recommendation I recently got an Ender 3 for my self. Easy assembly and works really well.

One word of caution there are a lot of "clones" - it is an open source design - on eBay and they are to be avoided. They look the same but under the skin they are not. I know someone that thought they had a bargain as it was some £50 cheaper than mine but it turned out the heated bed are was very small and only ran at 12V 60 W instead of 24V and abut 240W on the Creality Ender 3. Result was it was difficult to get the print to stick to the bed and not warp. The extruder was also only 12V and struggled to maintain temperature. So make sure you get a genuine one with 24V bed and extruder. Also worth getting a glass print bed.

They are on eBay for between £150 and £200 depending on the exact spec.

In my opinion the only reason to spend more is to be able to do bigger prints - even then there are mods you can do to the Ender 3 to print taller. As Peter says they are a popular printer and spares and upgrades, should you want them, are plentiful and easy to find from multiple sources.

Roger

[Bumpa]

I also have a Crealty Ender-3. It works well now I have modified the "hot end". The original design has the potential to create a small gap between the filament delivery tube and the heated nozzle. This fills with filament which hardens and blocks. There is an excellent mod described on a website somewhere which my son and I did and now it works properly every time. It is a cheap machine but with care can produce good results. A lot of how well things turn out is down to the design and slicer software you choose to use.

[Mad Mart]

Thanks for the feedback guys. The Creality Ender was one of the printers I was looking at and now they have the V2 which looks to have rectified some of the early problems. It now also has a glass bed. I was also looking at the Flashforge Adventurer 3 which I almost went for. The Artillery Sidewinder x1 v4 was also a contender until I watched a few YouTube videos, which put me off.

I think I am going to buy the Ender.

[Mad Mart]

OK so I just bought one from Amazon.

What are the best filament brands or are they all much the same? Any to avoid?

[tamtrucks]

when you get which ever 3d printer make sure you follow the setup step to the letter....once built,its down to fine tuning everything and dialling it in...you will waste prints but hopefully not alot of waste if your eye is on the ball....ive got anet a8 for 3years now and never looked back or wonting to change my machine.....i use ABS filament but that personal choice.

[Slowmo]

I just use generic filament from ebay. Not had any problems so far.

As the others have said, taking time to set up the printer and the bed is crucial

Tuning the software is important. I use cura and have found it to be very good for my machine. Lots of settings to experiment with. You will probably waste some filament getting things how you like, but the time spent will be worth it.

Have fun.
Peter

[Mad Mart]

I found a great step-by-step video on building the printer. Making sure you check all the screws for tightness, especially the ones that are preinstalled. Using the cams on the rollers to make sure they are not to loose or too tight etc.

[Slowmo]

Yes, really nice thing to do compared with old cars - all screws and fittings brand new and clean!

[Bumpa]

Regarding software, I was recommended by my clever son to use RS Design Spark for designing and then Prusa Slicer for converting it to machine code. Both are free and are not too hard to get to grips with. The slicer particularly has many nice features to make your prints come out well.

[Mad Mart]

Regarding software, I was recommended by my clever son to use RS Design Spark for designing and then Prusa Slicer for converting it to machine code. Both are free and are not too hard to get to grips with. The slicer particularly has many nice features to make your prints come out well.

I have been using Fusion 360 for a few years (free edition) so I will be using that for design work. Autodesk have a slicer called Meshmixer but I will probably use Cura, as that seems to be the most popular slicing software. But thanks for the suggestions Mike.

[tinweevil]

Enjoy Mart, mines an Ender 3 pro. (Sounds posher but the Pro brought something pretty trivial to the party).
Does the V2 have all metal feeder clamp? The plastic clamp breaking is the first of the v1 classic problems to hit me. Creality made no bones of it, a replacement is coming I'm assured.

[Mad Mart]

No it still comes with the plastic one although there is now a metal insert where the filament feeds in. I am going to swap the plastic clamp for a metal one at some point along with replacing the bed levelling springs, relocating the reel holder, replacing the PTFE tube & connectors etc. etc. This is supposed to be an updated version. Maybe V3 will have these mods done?