3D - Printing - Pros vs. Cons

Im thinking of buying me a 3D - printer, does anyone in ATS have experience and pros and cons?

What can you do?
What cant you do, and so forth

What can you do?
What cant you do, and so forth

You can: print in 3D
You can't: print in 4D

It really depends on what kind of printer you're looking at; you can do/print almost anything, you're merely limited by size, resolution and materials.

I don't have any experience with one, but I've looked into them a few times. Here's what I know/have found out about them:

1) The size of most of the printers' printable area is too small to do what I'd personally like to do with them.

2) The plastic shrinks as it cools, meaning the printed object will have to be made a certain percentage larger depending on how much the material you're using to print it in shrinks IF it is required to be a specific size. Sometimes this may even cause warping if the object cools unevenly (some printers are enclosed and/or heated until the print is finished to help prevent this).

3) Printed objects will not be smooth without some work afterwards, such as sanding or submerging into ammonia vapors for a few seconds. Different printers will print differing qualities. Higher quality prints will be smoother than lower-quality, but they'll usually be from a more expensive printer and will likely take longer to print.

4) You can print just about any shape you want, but you will need 3D modelling skills to print out a shape someone else hasn't shared on the internet for others to be able to download and print themselves.

Amazing.

Learn some 3D modeling skills.

I print out things to fix broken things in my house all the time. Best fix was a part that I would have to buy for $80 instead, I printed for about $0.09 in plastic

The price of filament and the fact that the technology is rapidly developing are keeping me from jumping on the 3d print wagon.
i still wait for a system that will let me reuse and melt/extrude plastic instead of having to buy overpriced filament on a roll.

a reply to: Kantjil

I don't have one. But I've seen what they can do.

If you have a need to rapid prototype things or build your own frames, let's say for drones or rc cars. Or to build anything that can be made of plastic.

Then having a 3D printer is great.

Here's a Know How video hosted by Fr. Ballacer where he shows how to make some steam punk goggles.
In the video he shows how he uses 3D software to make different frames for the goggles and the finished products from a 3D printer.



I hope this will give you an idea of what you can use it for and if it's worth it for you.

originally posted by: Aldakoopa
2) The plastic shrinks as it cools, meaning the printed object will have to be made a certain percentage larger depending on how much the material you're using to print it in shrinks IF it is required to be a specific size. Sometimes this may even cause warping if the object cools unevenly (some printers are enclosed and/or heated until the print is finished to help prevent this).

You can calibrate the printer to print pretty precise parts, without scaling the model, as shown here -

www.thingiverse.com...:52946

originally posted by: Kantjil
Im thinking of buying me a 3D - printer, does anyone in ATS have experience and pros and cons?

What can you do?
What cant you do, and so forth

As another said, if you do buy one, learn 3d modelling. Not much use printing other peoples designs, the real benefit is being able to print out your own custom designs.
Made this coil a couple days ago. -

a reply to: Freezer

How small parts can you make?

I know Maya and 3Dmax, have to learn autocad but shouldnt take that long...

originally posted by: Kantjil
a reply to: Freezer

How small parts can you make?

I know Maya and 3Dmax, have to learn autocad but shouldnt take that long...

I use a .4mm nozzle, although there are smaller nozzles you can get, so this would be the limit for the x/y plane. For the z axis I can do around .1mm, possibly lower than that but I haven't tried. I use studiotools for designing, which is the counter part to maya, you can use basically anything that can output .stl format.

a reply to: Freezer

Which 3D printer do you own?

Ive been wanting one for awhile, but cant get them in my city yet.
I design and build drones. Having a 3d printer would make my hobby and business a lot better.
I would be able to make some pretty spectacular frames and parts

originally posted by: Macenroe82
Ive been wanting one for awhile, but cant get them in my city yet.
I design and build drones. Having a 3d printer would make my hobby and business a lot better.
I would be able to make some pretty spectacular frames and parts

These should always be ordered through the internet, as you will see the many varieties and best price points.

Ebay has many deals, but never buy the cheapest.

As suggested by others, an enclosed heated case is essential if you are going to build precision parts like gears.
A heated base is also very desirable. I have seen some really good deals on Amazon, as well as Wayfair. Avoid the type that work from truss rods and wire pulleys and stick to the basic X/Y/Z CNC table format. Most of these type use worm gears which are very accurate on extended printing jobs. They are also much easier to calibrate.

Newer units print in Nylon, which is extremely tough and durable and really required for precision parts.

originally posted by: Kantjil
a reply to: Freezer

Which 3D printer do you own?

I got the Prusa i3 kit - shop.prusa3d.com...

originally posted by: Macenroe82
Ive been wanting one for awhile, but cant get them in my city yet.
I design and build drones. Having a 3d printer would make my hobby and business a lot better.
I would be able to make some pretty spectacular frames and parts

Not a drone, but I made this quad frame, and the other day a big gust of wind blew it behind my house somewhere into a neighbors yard and I couldn't find it..

a reply to: Freezer

Have you tried any filaments except the plastic, like, rubber, bronze finish, wood etc?

Did you plan to use a raspberry pie as the computer in the drone?

originally posted by: Kantjil
a reply to: Freezer

Have you tried any filaments except the plastic, like, rubber, bronze finish, wood etc?

Did you plan to use a raspberry pie as the computer in the drone?

Haven't tried any exotic filaments, but I do plan on getting some of the flexible filaments to make a gasket for some sealed circuit enclosures. I've been using t-glase and it is a lot better than PLA, and is pretty easy to print with.

a reply to: Freezer
That's excellent! The frame that is, not the search and rescue. I need one to create a design I have floating in my mind- An Octopter that will carry an infrared cam. For a forestry contract we have in the spring.
I fly almost everyday. Started as a hobby but ended up as a side business.
Did a contract for the grain port in my city today. Got some amazing video and photographs. The director of operations contacted me and my business partner to create a 3D model of his plant. The things huge. So I uploaded the pictures into pix4d today and made him his 3D model.

One of the biggest problems with 3D printing is having to deal with "support structures" with FDM type printers (the most common desktop printer type). I am not buying another printer until laser based printers are more affordable, and have larger build area, because they don't require supports and are way better quality.

What I have found with my FDM type printer is that there are a lot of objects you simply can't print without adding a ton of "support structures" to hold parts up, and a lot of objects you simply can't print at all... I didn't fully realize how limited FDM printers were until I got one and couldn't print certain things without jumping through a million hoops.

Most of your trial and error prints revolve around trying to figure out the best way to orientate your model so you need less supports, or easier to access supports (so you can remove them), or where supports are not on an important part of the model. Or how to split one object into parts so you can print without supports, and then glue them together.

If you have to add supports to a model that requires the measurements to have a low tolerance, have fun spending hours with your hobby-knife and small filing tools to clean up the places the supports were attached to.

TLDR: Buy a laser based printer if you can afford one.

originally posted by: Kantjil
Im thinking of buying me a 3D - printer, does anyone in ATS have experience and pros and cons?

What can you do?
What cant you do, and so forth

I own a filliment and a SLA printer.

Plastic only.

Great for customized work.


But very maintenance heavy and slow.

originally posted by: Macenroe82
a reply to: Freezer
That's excellent! The frame that is, not the search and rescue. I need one to create a design I have floating in my mind- An Octopter that will carry an infrared cam. For a forestry contract we have in the spring.
I fly almost everyday. Started as a hobby but ended up as a side business.
Did a contract for the grain port in my city today. Got some amazing video and photographs. The director of operations contacted me and my business partner to create a 3D model of his plant. The things huge. So I uploaded the pictures into pix4d today and made him his 3D model.

That's pretty cool software. Sounds like an actual enjoyable job. You could possibly get your designs printed by shapeways, although you most likely would benefit off being able to build your designs instantly, at a cheaper cost.
I think a drone with a high resolution, zoomable thermal cam would be the best way to find sasquatch.

a reply to: Macenroe82

So how much did it cost, production?

Whats your occupation? Engineer?

Have you built the octocopter?
What software? Hardware?