What 3D printer are you using?

[CODYBOY]

Ok as the title says, what 3D printer are you using, and how is it working for you? I'm a complete NEWBE when it comes to these, but would like to learn more. I'm sure there are apples and oranges in this subject. Thanks for taking time to respond.

[89redranger]

Are you prototyping parts, or looking for high quality production level finished parts?

I've never been impressed with any of the FDM printers (filament style), and use Shapeways myself. As soon as SLS printing technology is available for the price that FDM machines are now I will consider buying a printer. For now though, Shapeways prints much higher quality parts than I could dream of doing on a home machine, and I don't have to pony up the cash to buy a printer now. The downside- it takes a few weeks for your parts to actually get to you. Shapeways works from a que, printing in the order that things were ordered. It could take up to a week for your part to make it to the machine, a week to go through their process, and then a few days to ship to your door.

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by 89redranger

Are you prototyping parts, or looking for high quality production level finished parts?

I've never been impressed with any of the FDM printers (filament style), and use Shapeways myself. As soon as SLS printing technology is available for the price that FDM machines are now I will consider buying a printer. For now though, Shapeways prints much higher quality parts than I could dream of doing on a home machine, and I don't have to pony up the cash to buy a printer now. The downside- it takes a few weeks for your parts to actually get to you. Shapeways works from a que, printing in the order that things were ordered. It could take up to a week for your part to make it to the machine, a week to go through their process, and then a few days to ship to your door.

That makes alot of sense. Wait for the technology to go up and the price to come down. Next question is, I have never work in a cad program, so which one do you use or recommend. I assume this is the way you send your project to Shapeway?
Thanks for the help.

[89redranger]

I personally use Autodesk's Fusion 360, which is a cloud-based program. It's a little bit of a handful to get used to, but once it clicks there isn't a whole lot you can't do with it. CAD and CAM operations, simple image rendering for possible products, and it's EASY to export .stl files for printing. If you're wanting to design part to be cut from carbon or similar you can also export multiple parts face sketches as a .dxf.

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by 89redranger

I personally use Autodesk's Fusion 360, which is a cloud-based program. It's a little bit of a handful to get used to, but once it clicks there isn't a whole lot you can't do with it. CAD and CAM operations, simple image rendering for possible products, and it's EASY to export .stl files for printing. If you're wanting to design part to be cut from carbon or similar you can also export multiple parts face sketches as a .dxf.

Like I said, I feel like a NEWBE. Does it have tutorials to help learn the program? So, would that be Bend Oregon?

[Crawling Calvin]

As for 3D printer I use an Ultimaker 2. On my YouTube I have a few videos of it and I am working on more soon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP-5QfmstLA here is one, ill get a playlist done soon

That said the Um2 is NOT cheap, it cost me a little under $2,700 I think to get to my door but it is a VERY nice 3D printer if your willing to shell out the $$$$ for it. That said if your looking to get into it look into like a PrintrBot Simple metal. It will run about $500 but gets you started in 3D printing on the cheap, although it does need a little upgrading along the way that is very easy to do! If you have the $$$$ for an Ultimaker 2 it is the best "pull out of the box, level the bed and run" I can think of with a generous build area too.

One thing to keep in mind is you need good software to design parts and Sketchup will NOT cut it. I will admit I use Sketchup to goof around in but I find that it fails miserably at making STL files for 3D printing. Random stuff gets filled in... bla bla bla. It is frustrating guess that is what you get for "free" . There are a lot of good 3D design open source software you can pick up on the cheap, although it may have a little bit of a learning curve for it.

here are a few prints I have done on my Um2 in various materials.

GoPro Case for my sister in ColorFabb Bamboo. It is bamboo powder and PLA plastic, not super strong but looks epic for artsy stuff


part of a Destiny Thorn gun I 3D printed for a friend. It was done at .06MM layers so it took ~18 hours to print and the fuzzy crap is because my filament had a lot of moisture in it so it oozed like crazy when the nozzle pulled away. It broke/sanded off super easily and the part turned out great.


This was done in Filaflex (Filaflex - Recreus.com) which is obviously a nice squishy plastic. It is more tricky to learn to 3D print in but surprisingly I can print it fine on my Ultimaker if I take it slowly. I would hold off on the flexible filaments till your comfortable with 3D printing in things like PLA or XT by ColorFabb (I don't recommend ABS due to health reasons )

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by Crawling Calvin

As for 3D printer I use an Ultimaker 2. On my YouTube I have a few videos of it and I am working on more soon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP-5QfmstLA here is one, ill get a playlist done soon

That said the Um2 is NOT cheap, it cost me a little under $2,700 I think to get to my door but it is a VERY nice 3D printer if your willing to shell out the $$$$ for it. That said if your looking to get into it look into like a PrintrBot Simple metal. It will run about $500 but gets you started in 3D printing on the cheap, although it does need a little upgrading along the way that is very easy to do! If you have the $$$$ for an Ultimaker 2 it is the best "pull out of the box, level the bed and run" I can think of with a generous build area too.

One thing to keep in mind is you need good software to design parts and Sketchup will NOT cut it. I will admit I use Sketchup to goof around in but I find that it fails miserably at making STL files for 3D printing. Random stuff gets filled in... bla bla bla. It is frustrating guess that is what you get for "free" . There are a lot of good 3D design open source software you can pick up on the cheap, although it may have a little bit of a learning curve for it.

here are a few prints I have done on my Um2 in various materials.

GoPro Case for my sister in ColorFabb Bamboo. It is bamboo powder and PLA plastic, not super strong but looks epic for artsy stuff


part of a Destiny Thorn gun I 3D printed for a friend. It was done at .06MM layers so it took ~18 hours to print and the fuzzy crap is because my filament had a lot of moisture in it so it oozed like crazy when the nozzle pulled away. It broke/sanded off super easily and the part turned out great.


This was done in Filaflex (Filaflex - Recreus.com) which is obviously a nice squishy plastic. It is more tricky to learn to 3D print in but surprisingly I can print it fine on my Ultimaker if I take it slowly. I would hold off on the flexible filaments till your comfortable with 3D printing in things like PLA or XT by ColorFabb (I don't recommend ABS due to health reasons )

Thanks for the info Calvin, that is some design. I know I have a lot of research to do before I would pull the trigger!

[Crawling Calvin]

No problem, here is a few points to keep in mind when your looking for a printer:
layer heights. Most go .1 MM which is fine for most stuff but if your trying to do a super detailed model with a lot of blending surfaces you will notice the model is not very smooth. This is a good example, this was done at .25 MM layers and it printed fast but you can see the layers pretty dramatically on the curved surfaces.


A heated bed is VERY nice to have! Not 100% necessary for PLA but if your printing in XT (it melts higher but prints way nicer than PLA once you work around a few bugs) requires a build plate heated to 70*C or it will NOT stick! I know from experience there Plus a heated bed, if clean, will help prevent warping especially on large parts (like the Thorn shown.)

Machine rigidity helps affect your print quality but that really only comes into play if your trying to whip the printer around all over and that can be a BAD thing plus itll show up in your print and it can be frustrating if your trying to do some fancy artsy print

Other than that feel free to PM me about 3D printing and if you want I can send over a little printed part for shipping so you can get an idea of what they look like

[new2it]

Great info in this thread. Does anyone know if there is a place to share/trade/buy 3D models of RC parts? I know there are a bunch of sites and forums for general 3D printable models, didn't know if there was a place specific to RC. Maybe a future section here on RCCrawler!

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by Crawling Calvin

No problem, here is a few points to keep in mind when your looking for a printer:
layer heights. Most go .1 MM which is fine for most stuff but if your trying to do a super detailed model with a lot of blending surfaces you will notice the model is not very smooth. This is a good example, this was done at .25 MM layers and it printed fast but you can see the layers pretty dramatically on the curved surfaces.


A heated bed is VERY nice to have! Not 100% necessary for PLA but if your printing in XT (it melts higher but prints way nicer than PLA once you work around a few bugs) requires a build plate heated to 70*C or it will NOT stick! I know from experience there Plus a heated bed, if clean, will help prevent warping especially on large parts (like the Thorn shown.)

Machine rigidity helps affect your print quality but that really only comes into play if your trying to whip the printer around all over and that can be a BAD thing plus itll show up in your print and it can be frustrating if your trying to do some fancy artsy print

Other than that feel free to PM me about 3D printing and if you want I can send over a little printed part for shipping so you can get an idea of what they look like

Thanks again Calvin!
So did you have experience with cad soft ware before you started designing? This is where I'm having problems. I down loaded a 30 day trial and even the tutorials just go to fast for me to grasp. I need soft ware that even a old geazer can under stand. If I can't design, there is no sense getting a printer. Anyone have suggestion???
I'm not intending on becoming vender on here, I just think the technology is cool and I may be able incorperate it into a small business we have!

[Crawling Calvin]

As for 3D printing RC files no, but try Thingiverse and YouMagine for 3D printing files. Never know

All software is going to have a learning curve sadly that said see if your local trade school or college has AutoCad classes. I learned what little I do there in college and it has come in handy years later. If you want you can PM me a picture of what you guys do and I can try and do my best to explain how to make a simple 3D file from it Sometimes YouTube videos tend to make something simple seem impossible

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by Crawling Calvin

As for 3D printing RC files no, but try Thingiverse and YouMagine for 3D printing files. Never know

All software is going to have a learning curve sadly that said see if your local trade school or college has AutoCad classes. I learned what little I do there in college and it has come in handy years later. If you want you can PM me a picture of what you guys do and I can try and do my best to explain how to make a simple 3D file from it Sometimes YouTube videos tend to make something simple seem impossible

I don't have photos of what I want to make, because I don't know what I want to make??? My wife makes scrable tile and domino jewelry and I do wood turned bowls and artistic wood burning. So maybe some unique jewelry and things to enbellish what I do?? Fusion
The program I have the trial for is Fusion 360.

[Crawling Calvin]

Got it yeah with the "oddball" filaments on the market like:
Wood fill Printed Solid – Helping you make the future, one layer at a time. » colorFabb woodfill fine filament
Bamboo fill Printed Solid – Helping you make the future, one layer at a time. » colorFabb bambooFill filament
Bronze fill Printed Solid – Helping you make the future, one layer at a time. » colorFabb Bronzefill (this stuff looks amazing polished!)
Copper fill Printed Solid – Helping you make the future, one layer at a time. » colorFabb CopperFill (looks good too but haven't tried it yet)
and so on you got all kinds of different things you could do. I have thought of using the bronze fill for custom weights on my crawler

Never tried Fusion 360 but it looks interesting. If you can get a trial of AutoCad try that. I use it and it works great and it isn't "to hard" to figure out. I would start with simple stuff and go from there but polished/3D printed dice or generic playing chips for a game could be pretty cool sometimes you just got to poke around a little bit before you have that 'aha' moment and decide what to make.

With my lens cap covers I literally had the idea riding the subway with my GoPro in my pocket...

[spookyseven]

I own a makergear M2 I picked it because I wanted something that wasn't built out of wood and didn't look like like it was built from parts from a hardware store. I'm happy with the quality but like any printer it needs a little tuning. My advice is take the time to learn CAD and use shapeways to do the printing. It may take some time to get your order but it keeps your options open if you want it printed on a different printer. After paying over 1k for my printer I don't really feel like paying a different company to do my printing so I'm kind of stuck with what I have. Also there is a learning curve with the CAD so having a different company do the printing keeps the initial cost low until you get a handle on the CAD. It's possible to print from a sketchup drawing but I'd compare it to chopping down a tree with a 3lb sledge hammer. It will work eventually but there is no fun involved.

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by spookyseven

I own a makergear M2 I picked it because I wanted something that wasn't built out of wood and didn't look like like it was built from parts from a hardware store. I'm happy with the quality but like any printer it needs a little tuning. My advice is take the time to learn CAD and use shapeways to do the printing. It may take some time to get your order but it keeps your options open if you want it printed on a different printer. After paying over 1k for my printer I don't really feel like paying a different company to do my printing so I'm kind of stuck with what I have. Also there is a learning curve with the CAD so having a different company do the printing keeps the initial cost low until you get a handle on the CAD. It's possible to print from a sketchup drawing but I'd compare it to chopping down a tree with a 3lb sledge hammer. It will work eventually but there is no fun involved.

Thanks for the info and the advice spookyseven. I am checking into auto cad classes at local Community colledge.

[SDheavymetal]

Yesterday they just opened a company in San Diego that will print stuff for you.
Pretty cool!

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by SDheavymetal

Yesterday they just opened a company in San Diego that will print stuff for you.
Pretty cool!

Thanks for the info SDheavymetal.

[Crawling Calvin]

One other thing to check out is 3D Hubs. It is a crowd sourcing site for 3D printing parts which is nice since turnaround is fast compared to a popular site mentioned here () and the prices are pretty competitive and your helping fellow 3D printing people pay off their investments

[NorCal 2500HD]

Im using a stratasys machine,,,,

[GrimJeeper91]

Stratasys Eden 350V...