Beginners 3D printer

Son has decided he wants a 3D printer . I was telling him to get decent results requires experimentation and the plastic can be relatively expensive . He wanted a build up one (mainly because it was cheap I suspect) but I told him we would get frustrated trying to get it together.

Any recommendations as to a good beginners printer (preferably pre-built but easy to build would be considered) .

Bit of background :- Son is 23 but has learning difficulties generally his reading age is only 6 or so but sometimes he is quite surprising in his insights. I am fairly handy but have not really done much soldering. Indeed the soldering is the major aspect making me go GULP!!

Reply to
soup
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Perhaps I'm wrong but I didn't think much soldering was required. Crimp tools could be used for extending cables, sockets etc.

I would suggest looking at various forums and open source designs. See what the bill of materials includes and if connectors are populated on the boards.

The alternative is to buy one made up?

Reply to
Fredxxx

If you want something off the shelf (and safe, fully enclosed) then theer's always this. As with all of the low end ones, there are limitations, but it's a start.

Various models, start here:

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Reply to
Bob Eager

I've seen the Anet recommended. Anything affordable will be limited & fussy, and take time to get working right.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

I agree, does the son have patience?

Also some prints can take 24 hours.

Reply to
Fredxxx

Some sort of kit.

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Something like that, but beware customs duty and VAT on imports.

Reply to
GB

PLA filament is actually fairly cheap - ours works out about 30p/m, so each widget you print is of the order of 30p.

We have an Ultimaker 2, which we're very happy with as it worked out of the box and has been ultra reliable, but it's fairly pricey for an individual. I'm not up to date with the kits, but expect there will be a fair amount of calibration and tweaking.

Also, the biggest hurdle is not printing, it's 3D CAD. Would he be able to design things to print?

Theo

Reply to
Theo

If not, there's thingiverse ...

Reply to
Andy Burns

A mate and I built a MendelMax V1.5 Cartesian printer kit

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(with me doing the lions share, especially the electronics, general wiring and programming) and because it was the first time for both of us and the instructions fairly sparse (and in some cases 'dangerous' [1]), it took some time to work out what was supposed to be / do what.

We went for the MM because we wanted something rigid and we went open source because we didn't want to spend lots of money (at that time) on something ready made that we possibly couldn't easily get spares for.

So the build was done in stages as either of us could find some time and that (the co-building) was part of the project for us. I have since bought it off him and is now pretty well just a 'tool', there to print whatever / whenever, but still needs a bit of fettling now and again. Previously we were regularly modifying and improving it as we went along (not so much of that now though) and that was also fun.

That is a good point and it took me some time to get even slightly productive with the likes of Sketchup and with some good guidance / help from the likes of Mr Rumm of this parish. Now, for the straightforward stuff especially (like drilling jigs or brackets etc) it's pretty quick and still and after all this time, fascinating to think of some widget and then, not long after, have it in your hand! ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[1] Like it would say on the bottom of one page, 'Cut all the stepper motor leads to 20cm ...' then overleaf, 'except one, that you leave at full length ...'. ! Luckily we both read the instructions front to back several times (to try to get a better feel for the entire process) and had already spotted that. ;-)

p.s. I'm thinking of playing with the hydrodynamics of my electric outboard motor, one being to add a hydrofoil section to the tubular leg and a tail cone to the prop. Both will be pretty easy to design and print and so will cost me little to see if it actually makes any (tangible) difference or not. ;-)

Reply to
T i m

Or a bit of both?

Like, I'm not sure how to design a symmetrical hydrofoil section so I looked on Thingiverse and found what I hope would be a good starting point:

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The only problem being that it's an .stl and so I'd have to import it into Sketchup and that sometimes becomes quite messy (requiring a bit of cleanup).

Basically I need to measure the diameter of the electric outboard motor outer shaft and make the section as close to that as possible whilst keeping it reasonably strong. More like this:

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I'd like the bottom section (I'd make the foil in sections as it would be easier to print and more flexible in use) to have a concave base to match the diameter of the underwater motor body and maybe pegs and holes in the tops and bottoms of each section (or holes in both and then print some plastic dowels) so that they stay aligned. They would have to be made in halves (clamshell) so that I could fit or remove them without having to take the outboard apart.

Then there's the 'spinner' type cone to go on the centre of the prop to reduce turbulence and drag. I'd probably print that in two parts with a centre mount that goes under the existing prop retaining nut and then the cone bit that fixes to that. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

I'm sure that someone in the Digital Group of The Society for Model and Experimental Engineers would be able to help. I suggest that you contact the secretary. The website is:

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Alan

Reply to
Alan Dawes

Friend of mine has one of these

FlashForge Finder 3D Printer

It's taken my Rhino CAD exports OK and handlers standard STL files

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

One which might be worth considering is find your local hackspace and go and visit them when they have their next public open day. Most have at least one 3D printer and someone who knows how to tune it up reliably.

There is a risk of ending up with an expensive door stop if as seems likely the time and patience to do things makes life complicated.

3D printing is a bit tetchy and never quick.
Reply to
Martin Brown

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