Best 3D Printers (Archive)

[Campurr]

I would like to have a simple swiss army knife jacket spec'ed. its large however... what is the best idea for a mock up? Are there people who have their business doing that?
Is it better to just go the OEM route?
Thanks

 

[Cruzebabuze]

I have a dimension stratasys bst 768 at home and it is the easiest best machine I have ever owned. I print everyday objects without any bug or problem, just click on button and it will print. It's quality is amazing, it's tolerance is so good that we can do anything with it, after it is printed we simply vapor bath object and it looks like it was injection molded. I do research on 3d printer and research using 3d printer and they will be in every home in the next 10 years, actually soon any small plastic part will not be sold anymore physically, but you will buy the cad file and print it yourself. Drone maker already have the cad files on their sites. Also my printer prints abs, but our new printer in our lab prints metal, that is right it prints metal and we build special motor components for racing. Simply amazing. Right now though if you want a trouble free abs printer it will cost you used around 10k right now only stratasys is worth buying because the others are just not there yet, I tried them all in our research, and the metal printer is really for large corporation as the one we just got was $1 million. But don't be fooled by the price just like computers at their beginning it is very expensive but soon will be cheap. As of price for printing, it cost around 50cents to make a 1nch die and around 30mins to print, which is not bad at all because it is way more accurate than injection molding.

 

[Cruzebabuze]

We have the Stratasys Mojo bundle that came with a WaveWash 55 parts washer for just over two years. The WaveWash stopped working and Stratasys will not support it directly, the vendors don't support it, so, now I must replace the unit for about $1000 for what should be less than a $100 repair. Not very good support in my book. Shop wisely ! I"ll be replacing the unit with an ultrasonic cleaner for a quarter of the price.

We have the Stratasys Mojo bundle that came with a WaveWash 55 parts washer for just over two years. The WaveWash stopped working and Stratasys will not support it directly, the vendors don't support it, so, now I must replace the unit for about $1000 for what should be less than a $100 repair. Not very good support in my book. Shop wisely ! I"ll be replacing the unit with an ultrasonic cleaner for a quarter of the price.

I really want a 3D printer to make free Lego pieces.

Time for someone to stand up for CaptainHurt. He's basically correct. You are not going to get replacement Lego pieces out of a fused filament printer, at least not ones that work with other Lego pieces. Fact is, the plastic parts you'll get out of a fused filament printer are mere representations of what you are seeking. The technology is crude and there are many,many ways that a print can go wrong. Start with the basic process, which is totally different from the injection molding or blow-molding processes by which most familiar plastic parts are manufactured. Fused filament is incapable of reproducing the uniformity and precision of injection molding. It's distinct advantage is that you can make a one-off item. The costs of producing a mold and the runner required to produce an injected molded part makes it an impractical technology for short production runs.

Next, consider the materials. How many variations of plastics are there? Thousands. How many are available as filament suitable for entry-level 3D printers? A mere handful. Will that situation improve? Sure, but the range of materials will still be a tiny subset for the foreseeable future.

CaptainHurt is correct. If you are falling for the hype in thinking that you can buy a 3D printer and start pumping out replacement parts for all the plastic things that break in everyday life, you are going to need to be a patient, tolerant person with low standards of performance. However, if you are looking for proof of concept, prototyping, or working on design projects with students, or you need a special or custom part that does not require high strength, precision or aesthetics, then cheap 3D printers can be fantastic. For art and craft that isn't going to be looked at very closely, they are also great.

I cringe when I see news reports on 3D printing, as they are rarely accurate reflections of the current state of the art, at least that which is available to the masses. I read an article recently in which an "expert" proposed that soon auto parts stores would stop stocking and ordering parts and would instead simply 3D print them on demand. That person was definitely not an auto mechanic, an engineer, or even a technician. Will it happen in the future? Perhaps, but one might as well be writing SciFi.

Hi there, i am an avid open wheel racer and a mechanic and researcher for the last 30 years. But my job is more in the research side. I have a stratasys 3d printer and it is the best tool I have ever bought and I have every tools (I have a full garage at home with lift, welder, plasma cutter......). You can print abs plus which is the same as Lego and I did print Lego with it and they were perfect and its price was around 25c a brick. I print all day and research 3d printer, we have plastic 3d printer and also metal 3d printer That make parts for my racing cars when needed for research. Also drone companies have already put their cad files on their site so clients can reprint them when it broke, did it last weekend on one of my small drone, printed new shell and it was as good as originals. Now the printer at 1 or 2k you see for sale are just toys for now, but don't be fooled soon next 5 to 10 years they will be perfect and will Be in every home I can assure you of that. I print car parts for my ratrod and hotrod every week, I just love it, it is so cool that my car friends always ask me to print a part that they can not get,anymore. now you need to have skill to create the 3d files but printing is easy as clicking on a button. But I use a kinect for 3d scanning broken parts and then fix it and print them again, it is very useful. There 1000 of diff filament from abs plus to wood or paper,mity is just a matter of proper temp and proper nozzle. The price is still too high for home printer, but just like computers will drop soon real soon. I know that because we work with large corporations that are on the move to create cheap well made 3d printers for home use and they are there already just around the corner from your everyday store. I can do parts with my 3d printer that can not be done any other way, I can prove it, actually I just finish the creation of an interactive loaded dice that can roll any number at will. The only way to manufacture it is with 3d printers, no other way is possible due to its inside mechanism,,takes 30mins to print and works perfect thanx to our 3d printer check out the dice in action
https/youtu.be/cG1kRUpbMhA

So everyone don't be fooled like people were when first computers were introduced, these 3d printers are great and will be everywhere

 

[Cruzebabuze]

By the way you can buy one of these real good 3d printer for fairly cheap used like 3k and around 6k new which is not bad at all. I remember buying a graphic card in 1998 to do 3d modeling for my company that cost me 5k, and computers used to be very very expensive, remember RAM prices in the 90's before the monopole was broken up, Stratasys just bought makerbot, so I am predicting they will use makerbot to add thre professional knowledge and get into the home market, actually I now it because they are already selling makerbots at frys electronic in Az. The metal printer that is another ball game all togather, our machine is worth 1 million USD and it is not cheap to use but gives amazing results and it is definitely not a dream this is right now the start of the 3d printing wave, another 5 years and there will be everywhere. I like them so much the good ones, that it one point I had 3 of them in my game room, which wife was not so happy due to the high heat these industrial strength one creates. But they they are worth every penny, for example last week I did some shifter kart trainning and late at night before trainning I figure out that my mount for my gopro was broken and that I needed one badly but no time to go to store because they were close, so took 45 mins and voila I had an abs+ new gopro mount! worked perfectly at the track on 125cc shifter kart going around 85mph with around 2.2g turn, the mount did ok. So it made my day. This will be a simple daily behavior in a few years for everyone for small plastic objects. The only thing is that it is much more powerfull if you can use 3d software sand model your own object, I do, this is my job, 3d, so it is very easy for me to create anything, but they are out there nice 3d database of free objects tons of them. By the way about accuracy, I sold one of my printer, a really good one, to a medical tool company to kind of doing simple prototypes, when they got the printer I tried with them a very complex and big piece from one of their machine and they told me it printed it as well as their million dollar cnc, true story, and them lame tools for heart surgery. The thing is only a few 3d printers on June market are that quality, others are just hobby toys that are great for people to learn it but not for mass production. I think the stratsys mojo at 5k is your entry level home printer in a few years, when right now it is for a small office, just a matter of a few years. anyway I have to go to work,MIT was just my 5c everyday work experience on that one

 

[Campurr]

I have a dimension stratasys bst 768 at home and it is the easiest best machine I have ever owned. I print everyday objects without any bug or problem, just click on button and it will print. It's quality is amazing, it's tolerance is so good that we can do anything with it, after it is printed we simply vapor bath object and it looks like it was injection molded. I do research on 3d printer and research using 3d printer and they will be in every home in the next 10 years, actually soon any small plastic part will not be sold anymore physically, but you will buy the cad file and print it yourself. Drone maker already have the cad files on their sites. Also my printer prints abs, but our new printer in our lab prints metal, that is right it prints metal and we build special motor components for racing. Simply amazing. Right now though if you want a trouble free abs printer it will cost you used around 10k right now only stratasys is worth buying because the others are just not there yet, I tried them all in our research, and the metal printer is really for large corporation as the one we just got was $1 million. But don't be fooled by the price just like computers at their beginning it is very expensive but soon will be cheap. As of price for printing, it cost around 50cents to make a 1nch die and around 30mins to print, which is not bad at all because it is way more accurate than injection molding.

 

[Campurr]

Great advise thank you! ... However what are the maximum dimentions of an object it can make? Would you like to try to prototype it for me...? I would of course make it economic for you

 

[Cruzebabuze]

Around 10x10x12
But object can be done in parts they put back together without seams. What are your trying to print? I just printed a head of a magician complete full size it was just the perfect size.

 

[Campurr]

I am printing a large adventure knife, just the outside cover. pretty simple really... the size of a iPad or so...

 

[Cruzebabuze]

Ok its ok in size email me file at [Do PM no email] and I will give you a quote fast

 

[Peter Leb]

I have the Wanhao duplicator 4x. This is a great hobbyist printer, although the dual extruders are not as useful as I originally thought, as they are a bit fiddly to align.

Prepare for time to pass very quickly when using 3D printers. Enjoy

Here's a link to the official site:

http/wanhaousa.com/products/duplicator-4x

 

[VVabbit]

I am considering making a 3D printer for a final year degree project and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on which one(s) are worth bothering with?

I am aware of the following:

Makerbot Cupcake
MakerGear Mosaic
RepRap (various models)
RapMan