3D printer?

[The Natural Philosopher]

I need a solid dependable easy to use one for smaller projects. Budget up to about £500.

Can assemble.

Any reccomendations?

[Adrian]

In message <uplcfg$34h5p$ [e-mail], The Natural Philosopher [e-mail] writes

Resin or Filament ?

Adrian

[Andy Burns]

The last year or so saw a lot of developments (for filament printers at least, not sure about resin?)

speeds increased, though this doesn't directly translate to reduced print times (e.g acceleration matters as well as velocity)

more powerful controllers, new models use something akin to a pi, older ones used something more like an arduino, this has brought klipper firmware that can handle control over a wired/wifi network rather than SD or USB memory sticks, and "tuning" to negate ringing in the printhead movement causing artefacts in the output, also monitoring via onboard camera.

hotter printheads to allow more plastic types (though the more exotic ones require enclosed printing to avoid warping as it cools)

Probably the single biggest entrance is the Bambu range of printers, they arrive fully assembled, can handle multiple filament feeds for different colours or plastic types in the same job (e.g hard and soft plastics) but they can waste a lot of filament and time doing the changes, sand they are seen as the "iphone" of 3D printers, where othes are more for tinkering with.

I started out thinking I'd buy a creality K1, but ended up buying an Elegoo Neptune4, I don't have anything to directly compare it to, but youtube is full of reviews of many printers ...

unless you want to spend days/weeks building as a project, I'd say get one that comes in two main parts (i.e a flat bed and a mast assembly)

Bigger isn't necessarily better if you don't need to print big things.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Filament I guess. Polylactyl and ABS

[Andy Burns]

I've not tried ABS yet, it more or less needs an enclosed printer (or an enclosure for a non-enclosed one) I hear ASA is an easier alternative, also PETG. Filaments with embedded carbon fibre need hardened nozzles and hotter printing ... don't believe the "black aluminium" hype.

[Adrian]

You might need to consider ventilation requirements as well as some filament types (I think including ABS) can produce unpleasant fumes whilst printing.

Adrian

[Andy Bennett]

Most of the cheaper end 3d printers are of the bed slinger type (fixed print bed which shuttles back and forth in the Y direction. More mid end printers are now coming with the base plate which raises and lowers (Z) and have a fixed altitude X and Y axes. These tend to be more robust and accurate.

I have an Anycubic Vyper bed slinger which I can highly recommend. It has auto levelling.

However with a larger budget of £500 I would either go with the Bambu A1 bed slinger (about £370) or the Bambu P1p which has the rising bed construction.

[John Rumm]

I have been researching a bit along similar lines.

For stuff that "just works" there seems to be a good argument for the actual Prusa machines rather than the many copies (they make their designs open source). However you will pay a price premium.

The 3D Mini+ would be in your budget if you can cope with print volumes of an approx 7"x7"x7" cube.

However if you need to print ABS then you will probably need an enclosure for the machine to get adequate temperature control - not sure if that is an option on the mini.