Which first 3d printer - unexpected Xmas present!!!

ched · December 18, 2018, 02:22:15 PM

It looks like my Christmas present (Mobula7) won't arrive by Christmas and my partner has got it into her head that I might like a 3d printer ::) Quote 'It's something to keep you busy over Christmas' ;D
I have always loved the idea of creating things on a 3d printer but always had 'better' things to buy at birthdays, Christmas etc (like more quads or batteries ::) )

So to get it in time for Christmas Amazon is probably my best bet. So can anyone suggest a reasonable 3d printer from Amazon at about £150?
I know very little about them other than heated beds are good ::) I am fine engineering and electrontronics wise building.

Cheers for any suggestions and Happy Christmas

Loopdreams · December 18, 2018, 02:34:20 PM

This maybe:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Comgrow-Creality-Ender-Printer-Aluminum/dp/B07BR3F9N6/

It would be under your budget if you could wait and get it from Gearbest or somewhere but given that you need it in the next few days it's probably the best you'll do.

chris-s · December 18, 2018, 02:51:45 PM

I bought an Ender 3 a few weeks back, my first 3D printer, and it has been great! Printed loads of useless stuff, christmas decs, cats, dogs, puzzles, 'vases' and a few plane related bits from PLA and ABS.

It opens up a whole new world of things to tinker with!

For the money, I don't think it can be beat. Cost less than £160 off eBay.

Chris

ched · December 18, 2018, 03:59:01 PM

Cheers, any ideas if this one is any good? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Monoprice-Calibration-Assembled-Preloaded-Printable/dp/B07GK12G5Q/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1545137517&sr=8-20&keywords=3d+printer
It has a significantly smaller print area but I have been told it looks 'neater'!!!

What material is best to print with generally? Probably print quad bits and bobs.

Coyote · December 18, 2018, 04:01:23 PM

Rules of 3D printing when you first get it :

1) Print upgrade parts
2) Fit new upgraded parts to increase printers specs
3) Now print better upgraded parts due to new upgraded parts
4) Repeat step 1, then 2 and 3 for the rest of your life !

Occasionally in between really random things and FPV parts very rarely :)

Loopdreams · December 18, 2018, 04:15:55 PM

Quote from: ched on December 18, 2018, 03:59:01 PM
Cheers, any ideas if this one is any good? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Monoprice-Calibration-Assembled-Preloaded-Printable/dp/B07GK12G5Q/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1545137517&sr=8-20&keywords=3d+printer
It has a significantly smaller print area but I have been told it looks 'neater'!!!

What material is best to print with generally? Probably print quad bits and bobs.

Personally wouldn't bother with that, you'd end up fed up with it. 150x150x150 is sort of a de facto standard size for a home 3D printer and many of things people design will fit in a build area that size.

Also the cartesian style ones seem very easy to work on to me, don't know about these deltas but they look a bit more fiddly and the bowden style extruder could cause problems when you want to use flexible filament, which you will.

For quad bits I'd use either PLA or a flexible filament where appropriate.

ched · December 18, 2018, 04:19:56 PM

Quote from: Coyote on December 18, 2018, 04:01:23 PM
Rules of 3D printing when you first get it :

1) Print upgrade parts
2) Fit new upgraded parts to increase printers specs
3) Now print better upgraded parts due to new upgraded parts
4) Repeat step 1, then 2 and 3 for the rest of your life !

Occasionally in between really random things and FPV parts very rarely :)

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D
But how did they build the first 3d printer? Surely you need a 3D printer to print the bits to make a 3D printer :D

ched · December 18, 2018, 04:22:25 PM

Quote from: Loopdreams on December 18, 2018, 04:15:55 PM
Personally wouldn't bother with that, you'd end up fed up with it. 150x150x150 is sort of a de facto standard size for a home 3D printer and many of things people design will fit in a build area that size.

Also the cartesian style ones seem very easy to work on to me, don't know about these deltas but they look a bit more fiddly and the bowden style extruder could cause problems when you want to use flexible filament, which you will.

For quad bits I'd use either PLA or a flexible filament where appropriate.

Cheers for that. Very good justifications for the Ender 3 :D
Thanks

BigT · December 20, 2018, 10:14:32 AM

I have just completed the Ender 3 marathon and I would offer the following hard won advice.
Buy from Amazon or direct from Creality. There are many many QC failed ender 3 kits out there with substandard parts.
Go onto Facebook and search out the Ender 3 groups, look for a guy called Luke Hatfield, download his Ender Set Up and Mod Guide and follow it exactly. This will save you hours and hours of frustration. The Ender 3 needs many basic mods to work really well.
Start with a good quality PLA filament.
Get a pack of Ikea mirror tiles and a cheap glass cutter, much better than stock euild bed. I have a genuine borosilicate bed on mine. My build platform had a big dip in the center. Most have this problem.
Upgrade the firmware to the latest Marlin firmware from TH3. Ender 3 is shipped with old firmware that does not have thermal runaway protection so can catch fire.
It ships with free Cura slicer, I hated it and forked out for genuine SF3D slicer.
FYI I got really sick of having to re level the bed every couple of prints, especially when swapping from PLA to PETG, sometimes even when repeating the same print. So I installed a genuine BL Touch auto levelling probe, never looked back.
Last tips
YouTube contributor, Teaching Tech has some of the very best Ender tuition videos.
Fusion 360 CAD has a free licence for Hobbyists.

ched · December 20, 2018, 11:24:53 AM

BigT thanks for all the helpful advice. Unfortunately I ordered yesterday from Technology Outlet as they included a tempered glass bed and 5 extra nozzles for £169 delivered. Amazon had increased their prices so its almost £200. Hopefully it will be OK with a little fettling :D It's out for delivered today, but have to wait till xmas to open :D
I had been watching some of the Teaching Tech vids and they do look very comprehensive, I think he also mentions the Luke Hatfield setup docs. I will get them today and read.
I did watch the one about bed leveling and manually doing a multi point calibration which looks like a good place to start. I will watch the one about bootloader as he mentions it need this 'enabling'.

Once again, thanks very much for your advice. Always great to get advice from experienced people.

ched · December 20, 2018, 12:43:07 PM

Arduino UNO R3 ordered to arrive tomorrow and printer and pla just arrived :D All set for christmas :D
Thanks

BigT · December 21, 2018, 10:50:55 AM

Flashing the bootloader is straight forward enough. However, if and when you decide to install a genuine BL Touch be very very careful with the wiring. My pal connected the plug that replaces the buzzer backwards and blew the LCD screen. One other thing I forgot. The sd card that comes with the machine is pretty rubbish and causes many problems with prints. Order a new skandisc from Amazon. Or better still run it with a Rasberry Pi straight from a pc or laptop.

ched · December 21, 2018, 02:51:13 PM

Quote from: BigT on December 21, 2018, 10:50:55 AM
Flashing the bootloader is straight forward enough. However, if and when you decide to install a genuine BL Touch be very very careful with the wiring. My pal connected the plug that replaces the buzzer backwards and blew the LCD screen. One other thing I forgot. The sd card that comes with the machine is pretty rubbish and causes many problems with prints. Order a new skandisc from Amazon. Or better still run it with a Rasberry Pi straight from a pc or laptop.

Cheers, I was looking into the auto bed levelling and there seems to be a few options the BL Touch, an inductive proximity sensor or even a piezo element.
I have a few sd cards kicking about so thanks for the tip.
As for a rpi, I like that idea and I have a couple of ModelB kicking about. Is that using Octo Print?

chris-s · December 22, 2018, 06:22:58 PM

Yep, octopi on rpi, works well. I'm partway thru designing up a new box to house both the driver board, rpi, and full size as card reader all in one.

BigT · December 22, 2018, 08:08:52 PM

Quote from: ched on December 21, 2018, 02:51:13 PM
Cheers, I was looking into the auto bed levelling and there seems to be a few options the BL Touch, an inductive proximity sensor or even a piezo element.
I have a few sd cards kicking about so thanks for the tip.
As for a rpi, I like that idea and I have a couple of ModelB kicking about. Is that using Octo Print?

I've been down that route and did a lot of research and imho BL Touch is the neatest and most reliable system. You get a few spares in the kit, it's a bit of a faff doing the changes to Marlin but for a few AU$ you can download the file ready done by TT. He also has done his own mount which brings the hot end nearer the centre of the bed. I would also recommend the Bullseye vent too. Not sure it makes too much difference with PLA but did with PETG. Something else to watch out for is the nozzle and bed temps. The monitored temps on my E3 are about 20 deg higher than actual. All of the LH mods are very worth doing as well. I also did away with the tape around the hot end and replaced with a silicone sleeve. I have also rigged 2 rows of rc model led strip to improve the view of the print.