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The 3D printer thread

scooter2374

scooter2374

walk home clown
Joined
May 19, 2020
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Red Bank, NJ
So I thought about dipping my toes into the 3D printing thing. I know some of you fawkers dabble in this shit and was looking to start a thread to keep all the info in one place.

What works and what doesn't? What filaments for what projects? Wait another ten years for the tech to develop?

I was looking at the Creality CR10 V3 as a starting point, any reason to avoid it and go with something else?
 
i bought the Crealtiy CR-10 v1 just on a whim, wanting to get into the printing world for my rc cars and trcuks i build.

There is a ton of knock-offs of that machine on the market and compared to what i bought the V3 is pretty much bullet proof out of the box.
I still print just with PLA and have found a few issues, each machine ends up with differant settings to get a prefect print. PLA is the most forgiving to print with, but lots of guys are strating to use PETG now instead as it can with stand more heat than PLA in the finished product.

There is lots of facebook groups that are open to new people starting out and will help sort out any issues that you may come across.
 
I deleted Facebook in '14 and never looked back. I had heard that the machines had come leaps and bounds in the last bunch of years, I'm guessing that being more user friendly is a very good thing.
 
Yeah for sure its allowed allot more people to try getting into the hobby. With the death of most forums i haven't come across anything that had decent content for 3d printing. To a certain degree its still allot of word of mouth and tinkering to make a machine work well. There is alot of 3d printing channels on youtube. Maker Muse is a favourite of mine for learning about tweaking a machine
 
I have an Ender 3. The machine you pick out is pretty cool. I have not used it in a while... but am probably going to get it running again soon for some shop organization projects.
 
The creality models seem to be the standard in the reddit 3d printing page. I'd be 75% of the posts are on them.


I have a monoprice maker select plus that I think I picked up for like $220 on sale. I added a glass bed and at some point upgraded the hotend on it. I've probably put a dozen 1kg spools of filament through it and it keeps on kicking.

One of the main reasons I bought it was to make change gears for one of my little lathes. That alone paid for it. I can print a 16/32 gear for my atlas lathe that will last 2-3 years....and when it wears out, print another one for 35 cents. Old used gears fetch $75 on ebay.


I print almost exclusively in PETG. It seems to be way less susceptible to absorbing moisture compared to PLA and its way more durable and has a higher heat rating. I gave up on PLA after my first spool. If you let it sit too long, it absorbs water and will pop and sputter coming out of the nozzle. You have to "bake" it in the over at a really low temp for hours to dry it back out.
 
I have the same machine that you're looking at, I bought it because I needed the bigger table. I keep my PLA in a job box with a golden rod from my old safe, zero issues with moisture and I'm in Louisiana.
 
My boss has a Cr-10 the extra bed size is great and he has been happy with it.

I've got an Ender 3, I print mostly with PLA, the only time I mess with PETG is when I'm worried about heat. I can't print as fast with the PETG as I can with PLA so that's part of why I am mainly PLA.
 
Picked up an Ender 5 in the beginning of 2019. Most of my prints are PLA or PETG.

Mostly print off doo dads and knick nacks but occasionally design a part for something or other. The printing part is easy btw, the drawing something from scratch in CAD is what takes time.
 
What software do use to draw in?
 
What do you guys make with them? I know you can make most anything, but what do you use it for?
 
Fusion 360 for drawing, though its not going to be free much longer.

I make gun parts, car interior parts and R&D parts to be machined though I just started doing that. Super easy to print something to see if its going to work before machining anything
 
TinkerCAD for easy shit, fusion 360 for more complicated things (until it isn't free, then I'll find something else I guess)
 
I'm part of a team working with 3D printing energetic (explosive) materials. I don't do much of the programming or electrical side, but I design and build the equipment that the "scientists" use for testing. I have been thinking about getting a 3D printer for home use, and this thread just reinforces the want/need.
Here's one of our preliminary tests from a few years ago:
octopus.gif
 
I've got an Ender 3. Pretty neat little printer. I've only printed in PLA so far, but wanting to try other materials. Once I branch out past knickknacks and other useless junk I'll play with different filaments. I haven't started designing anything just yet, but after tearing apart my son's magazine tube on a hand-me-down Mossberg 500, it looks like a plug is in order.
IMG_9588.jpg
 
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Nothing useful to add but the Prusa printers just seem to work, straight out the gate. I have a Ender 3 and got so discouraged I have not ever completed a print worth a shit. :homer:
 
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CarterKraft said:
Nothing useful to add but the Prusa printers just seem to work, straight out the gate. I have a Ender 3 and got so discouraged I have not ever completed a print worth a shit. :homer:
Click to expand...

Got Friends with the Prusa printers, they all love them. The price is what pushed me at the Ender 3 though... I was in almost 3 days with my Ender before I got a successful print. Early models of the Ender 3 had issues with the Z-axis stepper motor not being quite right you basically had to shim it out so it was aligned, you can find STLs on thingiverse to solve the issue if you can get a printer to print that far successfully. I ended up sticking a piece of carboard/cereal box in to shim it out and then ended up printing the spacer. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4078718
 
I'll look in to that, most of my issues have been bed adhesion and base layer warping etc.
I changed to a glass bed but that didn't do a lot. I think I need to add auto height.
 
CarterKraft said:
I'll look in to that, most of my issues have been bed adhesion and base layer warping etc.
I changed to a glass bed but that didn't do a lot. I think I need to add auto height.
Click to expand...

Are you using any type of adhesive? I hit my glass bed with a shot of hairspray and have zero problems with PETG. I've seen others using glue sticks.
 
CarterKraft said:
Nothing useful to add but the Prusa printers just seem to work, straight out the gate. I have a Ender 3 and got so discouraged I have not ever completed a print worth a shit. :homer:
Click to expand...

this.

I have experience with a few clones and one original prusa.

of the clones the ender seems to be the best.
prusa just worked out of the box after you put it together, support is actually there.
regular firmware updates and shit.

but the ender can make perfectly fine prints. So that's probably a bit of user error too.
:flipoff2:
 
I have also got the itch for a 3d printer. I dont know if this is possible, but I want to use it to print a mold. I have a freind with a forge, and i have a pile of scrap aluminum would like be able to make aluminum castings of various parts.

Do you guys know if this is possible with the types or material used in 3d printers? Basically the casting method is called 'lost wax' but I would be using 3d printed molds. Is this possible?
 
I see guys printing parts for molds for casting frequently in some of the FB groups I'm in, mostly automotive/motorcycle related like carb inlets and other small parts.
 
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bgaidan said:
Are you using any type of adhesive? I hit my glass bed with a shot of hairspray and have zero problems with PETG. I've seen others using glue sticks.
Click to expand...

I haven't done anything on the glass with using PLA, I had ok luck with glue stick on the oem mat but someway through the print it would either crash or break loose from the bed, not sure witch happened first.
I will give the glue stick a shot again. I have some stuff I need to print now.
 
Bumping this back up, I recently bought a CNC router and since I’m learning the way the design software and these machines work, it seems like it might be worth picking up a 3d printer also.

I’m willing to spend up to $500, so I was looking at the Ender 5 S1, but it looks like there are some shortcomings for that ,ugh $, so I’m wondering if I’d be better off buying an Ender 3 V2 for $200 to learn with, and upgrading to a,better machine down the road if I need to.

I have zero interest in printing knick knacks or models, or production work, it would be to make detailed small parts like vacuum hose adapters, or other small mechanical parts.
 
A friend of mine and I have some artillery x1 printers. They have BL touch and the upgraded bed material. They work great. We pretty much only print PETG or TPU

Here is a small part he needed for a down rigger yesterday. He was unable to find online, drew it and has a working part an hour later.

6AC567EA-E632-4836-AB0D-789E7B986F25.jpeg
39ADE83A-EEAF-420C-BCC7-AA34BFD14386.jpeg
 
Gatorgrizz27 said:
Bumping this back up, I recently bought a CNC router and since I’m learning the way the design software and these machines work, it seems like it might be worth picking up a 3d printer also.

I’m willing to spend up to $500, so I was looking at the Ender 5 S1, but it looks like there are some shortcomings for that ,ugh $, so I’m wondering if I’d be better off buying an Ender 3 V2 for $200 to learn with, and upgrading to a,better machine down the road if I need to.

I have zero interest in printing knick knacks or models, or production work, it would be to make detailed small parts like vacuum hose adapters, or other small mechanical parts.
Click to expand...
I have no experience with the 5, but I know many like it. I have two Ender 3 V2s now and I’ve been quite happy with both. In fact I had one on m table at the craft fair churning out prints all weekend long. They are pretty easy to dial in and they work well. Probably personal preference, but swap the glass build plate out for a PEI sheet or one of the magnetic flexible build plates. I personally tend to have nothing but trouble with the glass plates. Either shit doesn’t stick to them without having to use glue sticks or hair spray or some other gimmick, or the shot sticks too well and you can’t get the prints off without breaking them or the glass.

that said the 3v2 will do everything you want it to, the only limit is the build volume. But I have 3 Ender 3 series printers because the vast majority of stuff I make works just fine on that size machine.
 
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