Anybody Printing 3d Parts?
- Thread starter MotoV
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I also considered buying a 3d printer, but looking at the prices of a decent one, I didn't. To print good quality and usable parts one would need a "industrial printer" and they are out of my price range, considering I only need it occasionally. It makes more sense to use local services to print parts. I've had few parts printed in local technical institute with Markforged Mark Two (price of the printer is about 10 000€). The filament I chose is Onyx, carbon fibre reinforced nylon. Parts are really strong and heat resistant up to 150 degree Celsius.
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I almost bought that machine , it’s actually worth more than that. They problem is that they are the only one you can buy filament from , I get that that means you get a greater chance of print success , but I don’t like to be trapped into one supplier. Still none the less a stunning machine. But you can get a decent printer for 5k euros still have parts that are of a very high standard of finish, using a good range of engineering plastics, with good heat resistance . My printer can’t delrin , and damn did I try , it’s better sds printed , and very few brands have delrin filament , it’s just soooo hard to print in filament. I can’t print peek either. My printer paid for itself in 18 months , it still does a decent job , and is used for end user parts and prototyping. It will be replaced next year as technology has moved so quickly. Time to get a printer capable of peek printing. The existing one will carry on too.
Right now I’m playing with printing moulds for doing forged carbon parts with carbon toe laid in the axis where I want the strength. Quite interesting work and good break yields, much better than the onyx, if you are making levers etc. I do love the onyx though. It appeals to my design ocd side
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Try printing it in ASA. That will print on most printers. Helps to have a heated print bed.
It’s a good tough material. If your printer can print ASA I have had the best success and finish with Ploymaker Polylite ASA.
Upgrade your print nozzle to a ruby tipped nozzle. 3Djake is a good supplier if you are in europe.
You are right. It's 20 000€. I was thinking about Onyx Pro...
I've been looking at several of the high(er) end printers but ultimately I decided to swim in the shallow end of the pool to see what printing can do
I bought an Creality Ender 3 V2...in fact I bought two refurbished units for $269 US. I've had one part printed by a commercial outfit and the second print off my machine was better ( filament was the sample PLA, part cost was 6 cents. - based on PLA+ I bought) The filament cost for the fuse box was 63 cents, I used the cheap filament that came with the machine. I had lamination problems on the fuse box. so the settings need some work. I changed the filament and will print # 2 and probably #3 #4 to tweak the recipe
There are several printer in the $2500-3000 range that can do a very god job - ex. QIDI, not a Stratysis competitor but has a decent feature set.
What I like about the Ender is that it's like a Volkswagen beetle - you can upgrade it to run with the Porches 9-) Huge community of users that will fix all your problems and aftermarket suppliers providing upgrades.
For Andy's shipping cost I can print 20 and I don't have to wait...AND I'm having fun!
On first look ...The fumes may kill me...9-)
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You can get nice little enclosures with a little fan and heap filter setup for those sorts of printers. They are loads of fun. Once you get into the small industrial machines in the 5-12k price range you really need to get some payback on it. But you will have a load of fun with the little ender.
Looks like I will need to get on some planned upgrades ; higher temp hot end and direct extruder...9-)
Or Malawi?
Are you talkin to me? US
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Yup. Ok there are a bunch of cool places to get printing gear in the US. It's the promised land! Matterhackers is a great website Also check this link for upgrades to the ender. Some are interesting, some not so, but you can filter and garner links from this page for more things ender. https://all3dp.com/1/20-must-creality-ender-3-upgrades-mods/
Tippie
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- Location
- Dr?bak, Norway
Or upgrade to spade fuses for reliability.
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the PLA + is good for prototyping but will go soft, make a test piece and leave it on the dashboard of your car for a day or two and see the difference, it's great for models and architectural models etc. The other one you can try out is HIPS as well, that's a great filament and is good with impacts, there is a bike builder out here who has done some amazing prints with it for end-user use.
Make sure you read your filament tech sheets once past testing designs with PLA, you need to aneall most plastics in the oven, it makes the final product much stronger, mostly its around 80 degrees Celcius for a few hours. When I am prototyping things I print in polymakers PLA terra, which is a biodegradable plastic, its made from cornstarch and beets etc, and breaks down, saves putting plastics in the ocean etc.