3D Printers? (more like in house CNC everything machine)

[LeftyWright69]

Does anyone have any recommendations or experiences concerning 3D Printers? I'm thinking about buying one and thought I might look for some feedback, thanks.....

 

[photonrider]

3D Printing is the huge next wave of tech that is going to change our lives - you can even use it to make parts for everything from DARwin-OP (that amazing mini robot) to edible cookies.

Look around - there are Forums (in fact burgeoning communities) involved in this phenomenon - and you might want to join up with one.

Then come back here and talk about it - we'd like to know what's going on, too, and how you fared.

 

[TheORDL]

I have a contact based in Ireland. If you drop him an email he will be able to advise you probbably better than most here.

Info@stoneycnc.co.uk he deals with cnc and 3d printers and has some good starter kits with the Stepcraft range.

Tell him Kris sent you over for some advice.

 

[sesselpupser]

@LeftyWright69 did you get a 3D printer in the end?

I'm thinking about building one but I'm not sure where to start, I can't afford to buy all the pieces in one go and I doubt if I saved the £900+ that I'd actually spend it on a 3D printer because that's, well, that's just shy of a month's wages for me and I don't want one THAT badly! Fortunately, as an engineer, I've read up a lot on 3D printing and all that, I just don't know what options there are regarding open source machines where you can buy the fiddly bits and source the rest yourself.

Like, I want to spend maybe £100-200 a month on the various components so I can build it up slowly (and it will be slow, I work 6 days a week so I'd have four days a month to work on it). Given that it would probably take a few days even if I bought it all at once I don't really see the point in doing that instead of buying the bits individually.

So, can anyone point me in the direction of a site or shop that sells everything I'd need individually?

 

[Grayfox]

@LeftyWright69 did you get a 3D printer in the end?

I'm thinking about building one but I'm not sure where to start, I can't afford to buy all the pieces in one go and I doubt if I saved the £900+ that I'd actually spend it on a 3D printer because that's, well, that's just shy of a month's wages for me and I don't want one THAT badly! Fortunately, as an engineer, I've read up a lot on 3D printing and all that, I just don't know what options there are regarding open source machines where you can buy the fiddly bits and source the rest yourself.

Like, I want to spend maybe £100-200 a month on the various components so I can build it up slowly (and it will be slow, I work 6 days a week so I'd have four days a month to work on it). Given that it would probably take a few days even if I bought it all at once I don't really see the point in doing that instead of buying the bits individually.

So, can anyone point me in the direction of a site or shop that sells everything I'd need individually?

They are sold as complete units, I have never seen a 3D printer that comes in small kits, like in those magazines
Just save up, get a good one and you are half way their.
Then you will need to get a 3D cad program, Wings 3D is free and might work

 

[sesselpupser]

@Grayfox you can buy them in individual bits if you want, the RepRap wiki has lists of all the parts... But when one stepper motor costs £20 (and you need four), the hot bed costs £20, extruder hot end, RAMPS shield for an Arduino Mega, the Arduino Mega itself and various other parts all seem to cost £20, I think - if I buy one - I'll get a Prusa i3 because they seem to cost about £250-£315 or so.

 

[Grayfox]

@Grayfox you can buy them in individual bits if you want, the RepRap wiki has lists of all the parts... But when one stepper motor costs £20 (and you need four), the hot bed costs £20, extruder hot end, RAMPS shield for an Arduino Mega, the Arduino Mega itself and various other parts all seem to cost £20, I think - if I buy one - I'll get a Prusa i3 because they seem to cost about £250-£315 or so.

Aren't they replacement parts?

Plus if you buy everything by itself it will cost more.

 

[sesselpupser]

Aren't they replacement parts?

Plus if you buy everything by itself it will cost more.

No, RepRaps are DIY printers that are designed to be built with widely available parts and some 3D printed bits - they're supposedly nearly self-replicating machines, I guess that's why the MakerBot Replicator is called what it's called. And no, they don't necessarily cost more, the i3 is the cheapest kit I could find by quite a large margin. All the others are at least £500, sourcing your own parts would be cheaper than those.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Aren't they replacement parts?

No, it's a kit printer - I haven't got around to making one for myself but a number of friends have done so and have been very satisfied with the cost/results. Here's the RepRapWiki.

 

[sesselpupser]

a number of friends have done so and have been very satisfied with the cost/results. Here's the RepRapWiki.

Interesting, do you have any idea what designs or parts they used? I'm still looking at Prusa i3s but since it's really just a design, the quality varies greatly depending on who you buy from. For instance right now I'm looking at a Wanhao Duplicator i3 which is £289 but it seems to be very hit and miss, there's also the Ooznest Prusa i3 that's £475...

Part of me thinks I should get a cheap kit to start with and modify it over time, the other part of me wants a Rostock Max but I can't find anywhere to buy a kit from here. $1,000, though!

 

[Ibonibo]

Did you look into the lego one?

http://reprap.org/wiki/FTIStrap

Only parts needed are lego bricks and a doodle pen or hot melt pistol

 

[TenEightyOne]

Interesting, do you have any idea what designs or parts they used?

I hadn't seen this one:

Did you look into the lego one?

http://reprap.org/wiki/FTIStrap

Only parts needed are lego bricks and a doodle pen or hot melt pistol

It actually uses fischertechnik rather than lego, but either way it looks great

 

[sesselpupser]

Work has picked up a bit again so I haven't had a lot of time to keep looking, so right now the best option that's reasonably priced and apparently good enough to not cost much more (many cheap kits require additional expense to replace DOA and generally poor quality parts) is the Prusa i3 kit by Ooznest. I'll keep looking but it looks like the best I've seen so far, and I think my girlfriend is interested enough to split the cost with me which is handy.

 

[LeftyWright69]

Well I did it..... I bought the Monster of in house creation. the Stepcraft 2 840 It just Frickin does it all

 

[photonrider]

It's actually CNC (the 'N' stands for 'numerical' - but carry on. You seemed to have got yourself a Rolls Royce a whole two years after pondering the thought.

 

[LeftyWright69]

I can cut all vinyl for for my race cars now and make any special aluminum bracket and I think that I just noticed that there seems to be some kind of a lathe function going on w/ it also. I got everything that they have that accessorizes the thing. I can now finish a creation I have been working on for the past 10 yrs. given that it was stalled in the prototype stage dealing w/ people that could never produce what it was that I needed. I can build my foundry now since I should be able to make the molds needed for casting aluminum. I just got my mig welder fixed and can start fabricating again.

 

[photonrider]

Very interesting! Please do throw some pics in as you go along. These new CNC machines that have migrated to our desktops are revolutionizing our desktop creativity - taking it from plans to full implementation.

Okay. Time for you to invent a new sort of paperclip.

 

[Thematic]

Can these machines use recycled plastic... granules?

 

[sesselpupser]

Can these machines use recycled plastic... granules?

3D printers can't because they need a constant, precise feed with no bubbles, which is why they use filament... Which, I assume, is made by feeding plastic granules into an extrusion machine.