good diy beginner printers?

bhursey

The Geeky Pilot
My wife dosent like the kit idea. She thinks it will cost more in the long run. So im thinking the Maker Select v2 metal frame looks good. Its the same as the forge on the FT site. But looks like you still really need the mosfet upgrade. So I may need to save longer.
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
If you are really set on getting the Maker Select v2 (same as Hyperion Ft sells and Wanhao i3) you could always settle for printing PLA with no heated bed for the time being. Personally I rarely use my heated bed because I don't print with ABS and I usually print small parts which have a low risk of warping.
 

bhursey

The Geeky Pilot
If you are really set on getting the Maker Select v2 (same as Hyperion Ft sells and Wanhao i3) you could always settle for printing PLA with no heated bed for the time being. Personally I rarely use my heated bed because I don't print with ABS and I usually print small parts which have a low risk of warping.

The maker select though has a heated bed . What do you mean you mean the over heating board problem? On most of the printers out there. :)
 

French

Construire Voler S'écraser Répéter
I think he means that ABS has a tendency to curl and lift off the bed. I generally print in PLA or TPU. I rarely use my heated bed feature, I much prefer to print on glass with glue stick.
 

jhitesma

Some guy in the desert
Mentor
I've only printed without the heated bed a few times and wasn't happy with it. Even with PLA and gluestick or hairspray and/or blue tape I had warping and bed adhesion issues. Though admittedly that was on my first roll of PLA which I later determined wasn't very high quality as while it printed beautifully - it didn't like to stick to much of anything.

But it got me in the habit and I've stuck with it. I like how printed PLA on a heated bed means the print self-releases when the bed cools. I still usually use hairspray and on some prints that are more prone to warping I'll use glue stick. PLA doesn't warp often but on some prints it can still be a major nuisance.

Lately I've actually been back to blue tape which I'm really not a fan of, I don't like the texture it leaves on the prints. But..I swapped to an aluminum bed to see if it would work better with my inductive sensor and stiffen things up a bit more. It is stiffer...and it does hold level better than my stock Folger setup....but...it actually works worse with the inductive sensor than a few layers of HD aluminum foil under my glass - which surprised me. So I'll probably be taking it out at some point - but for now it's working and I'm not in a big rush to change it.
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
The maker select though has a heated bed . What do you mean you mean the over heating board problem? On most of the printers out there. :)

While you wait for the mosfet upgrade you can disable the heated bed in your slicer. Without it you can still get away with printing most PLA and TPU parts.
 

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Mentor
I bought the Anet A8 back in December. It is my first personal 3D printer. I have used the MakerBot Replicator v2 at a previous employer for a few months. Prior to purchasing the A8, that was my only experience with 3D printing. What I'm trying to say is, I'm a noob. That said, I will add my opinion to this thread on the Anet A8.

At the price point (I got mine for under $200 shipped), I am more than happy with it. It does have issues! I've printed about 4 1 Kg spools of PLA with it so far, including 1 1/2 3D LabPrint planes. I found the build experience to be very fun and rewarding. Very similar to getting into the RC hobby through FliteTest. Had it not been for the low cost of entry, I probably would not have a 3D printer yet. The print quality I found to be as good or better than the MakerBot we had at work.

There are plenty of mods that you can print to add to the printer, as well as a good sized user base that can answer your questions.

Now the bad. The connector for the heat bed is bad. Do yourself a favor, and learn from mine and many others mistake. Cut that crap connector off and solder the wires directly to the heat bed. I ran my printer happily for about 4 months before mine had a melt down, shorting the positive lead and one of the signal wires, and frying my main board. Unfortunately for me, I didn't know it was the connector at the time. I replaced the main board (thinking that was the problem) and proceeded to smoke a second main board. Once I properly diagnosed the problem, I soldered the wires to the bed and replaced the main board again. Now everything is working fine again. I've also added 2 MOSFETs for the heat bed and thermistor which are highly recommended mods to do ASAP.
 

bhursey

The Geeky Pilot
I bought the Anet A8 back in December. It is my first personal 3D printer. I have used the MakerBot Replicator v2 at a previous employer for a few months. Prior to purchasing the A8, that was my only experience with 3D printing. What I'm trying to say is, I'm a noob. That said, I will add my opinion to this thread on the Anet A8.

At the price point (I got mine for under $200 shipped), I am more than happy with it. It does have issues! I've printed about 4 1 Kg spools of PLA with it so far, including 1 1/2 3D LabPrint planes. I found the build experience to be very fun and rewarding. Very similar to getting into the RC hobby through FliteTest. Had it not been for the low cost of entry, I probably would not have a 3D printer yet. The print quality I found to be as good or better than the MakerBot we had at work.

There are plenty of mods that you can print to add to the printer, as well as a good sized user base that can answer your questions.

Now the bad. The connector for the heat bed is bad. Do yourself a favor, and learn from mine and many others mistake. Cut that crap connector off and solder the wires directly to the heat bed. I ran my printer happily for about 4 months before mine had a melt down, shorting the positive lead and one of the signal wires, and frying my main board. Unfortunately for me, I didn't know it was the connector at the time. I replaced the main board (thinking that was the problem) and proceeded to smoke a second main board. Once I properly diagnosed the problem, I soldered the wires to the bed and replaced the main board again. Now everything is working fine again. I've also added 2 MOSFETs for the heat bed and thermistor which are highly recommended mods to do ASAP.


Thanks.. Yah A8 is still on the table. However my wife was like just save some more $ and get an already assembled one although the Maker Select v2 still has the issue where they decided to do the heating bed through the main board. I wonder if the mosfet would void the 1 year warranty :/ Without it im thinking fire hazard majorly. I can get a Maker Select v2 refurbished for only 249.. or new 299.
 

bhursey

The Geeky Pilot
I got the Monoprice Maker Select V2 I had it printing an about an week. I am in love. It does take some tinkering to get temps right on 3d in general. I am building a lack table enclosure for it. I wont close it in at first only if I want to prints something with ABS. I have printed a ton of stuff, a couple mini power pods, legos for my kids, a few gadgets. A camera filter holder for the eclipse. Right now im printing parts for the lack enclosure.

IMG_2135.JPG
 
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JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
3D Printer from Walmart-Will it Print?

In search of a started 3D printer I came upon this thread where I see some sub-$300 machines being suggested. One machine I found is this one on the Walmart site for $160. While I understand you get what you pay for, I also know good deals are out there and shopping around will help you make informed decisions. All of that said, I would like to know what major concerns anyone might have with this.
Screen Shot 2017-10-08 at 2.00.24 PM.png
 

bhursey

The Geeky Pilot
In search of a started 3D printer I came upon this thread where I see some sub-$300 machines being suggested. One machine I found is this one on the Walmart site for $160. While I understand you get what you pay for, I also know good deals are out there and shopping around will help you make informed decisions. All of that said, I would like to know what major concerns anyone might have with this.
View attachment 95962

Looks like an anet a8. If you have a ton if time to build and spend houers tweeking and printing mods you can get decent orints. After much reserch on it i decided to go with a moniprice maker select normaly 299. Got it for 269 on prime day. Had it printing in 30 min awsome quality. It has a steel gantry vs acrilic. There are some mods you can do that will make it better. Im glad i got it over the anet would still be in the box. You definitly get better quality out of the box.
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
As of yesterday I am now the owner of a 3D printer. I know so little of them I can't speak of the pros or cons and since it was a gift from my son I will not be looking a gift horse in the mouth. Nevertheless if anyone in the know has thoughts about benefits I'll enjoy or drawbacks I'll want to know about then please let me know. I know so little. I have reviewed the threads on printers and filaments to get myself up to speed on this.

It's a HicTop CR10 which seems to be a rebranded Creality.
image.jpeg
I was up late getting it mostly assembled. I don't think assembly was complicated at all. I was just being cautious (and sleepy). Tonight I'll likely finish, level, & print.

Thoughts/guidance for success? is there anything to be cautious about or am I fairly safe to make mistakes?
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
That's awesome Jim!!

It looks like a pretty clean variant of the classic Prusa i3 design. I'm running a FolgerTech i3 2020 which is very similar. You are absolutely safe to make mistakes and not hurt anything.

But you will probably benefit from a couple of the same upgrades I did.

First, I had a little bit of machine flexing at higher speeds and when I bumped the machine so I added corner bracing like these:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1826935
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1799079

Then I changed out some of the belt pulleys to designs that I could adjust the tension with a screw rather than just pull it tight, screw it down, hope for the best. Not sure if that's going to be a concern on yours or not.

Since I did those two sets of upgrades, print quality went from great to excellent.

And while you're improving your printer, here's a neat little tool holder that bolts into the frame that could be handy too!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1044826
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Awesome JIM! Welcome to yet another addiction. My XYZ has some limitations on materials so I picked up a Monoprice Select Mini V2 on sale monday for $150. Debating whether or not to spend time/money upgrading the hot end/extruder on the XYZ, or sell it and get something new. Having another printer around makes the thought of upgrading the XYZ easier since I won't be completely stuck till the other one is back in action.

Cheers!
LitterBug
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Oh yeah - materials limitations. Having that struggle too :)

The stock extruder on the Folgertech i3 did not want to do flexible filament at all, just like many many other printers on the market. Nor did the first all aluminum after market extruder I bought. They both make nice little spaghetti balls of flexible filament outside of the hobbed gear path instead of pushing it cleanly into the heating chamber.

It wasn't until I dished out for this Cadillac of an extruder than I bent flexible filaments to my command :p

https://flexionextruder.com/shop/

But it cost almost half of what my whole printer kit did!
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
I'll throw in my comments on this as well, for what it's worth (which, as I'm very well aware, my opinion and $5 will get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks):

I've got a Monoprice Mini v1. $200, and I had to make some VERY minor tweaks out of the box to be able to print on it (mostly just bed leveling, which got shifted during shipping; 4 screws on the bed were turned with a sheet of paper between the hotend and the bed, following instructions, and it printed just fine). It's a great little printer for the price, and I can print ABS and PLA on it (although I haven't tried ABS yet).

It prints fairly cleanly, although it DOES print slow; it's just one of those facts of life I've come to accept if I want a good, strong part. The biggest complaint I have with it is the limited print bed size - I was hoping to be able to print out iPhone cases, but I can't print out anything for the iPhone 6 or newer since they're bigger than my print bed. That said, I've done control horns a plenty, motor mounts for various planes, interlocking bases for my Lego Dimensions characters, antenna mounts for my drone, a dice tower for my parents (it's a little tower that has levels inside it that, when you drop the dice inside, it tumbles them down and around so that they essentially "roll" the dice for you; it's great when you're playing a board game that takes up an entire table and you have very little space to actually roll dice)...It's a great little printer.

If you want to do 3D printed planes or drone frames, though? You're going to need a bigger print bed - and the cost will go up with that. I'm going to side with jhitesma on the Prusa i3 MK2S, as my father bought one and has been using it since early June. He's printed a Spitfire (still building it), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles planters for succulents, a phone case for his iPhone 7, servo extension locks, control horns, a firewall for a Versa Wing, a fidget spinner for my mom...Last I talked with him, he was planning on designing and printing out a new bevel cutter for foam board, since the ones he's seen on Thingiverse don't work the way he wants them to (He's a former engineer for General Dynamics/Martin Murrieta/Lockheed Martin/ULA and worked with CAD for most of his life, so he's kinda obsessed with making it better LOL). The i3 MK2S has a lot of versatility, and one of the latest things that he's drooling over is the Multi-Material upgrade that they offer for it, allowing him to print different colors from 4 different spools, or even use a water soluble material for supports and another material, like ABS or PLA, so that he can dunk it in water and have the supports fall away.

The downside is that the $700 price tag (and that's if you assemble it yourself; it really isn't hard, to be honest) keeps some people away, but for the size of the print bed and what the printer can do, it's a price tag you can't beat. I've looked at others with similar bed sizes, and they were almost all $1000+, or were "prosumer" or low end business class printers that had catches with them - for example, proprietary spools that required you to purchase your printing materials from the company. Honestly, the best bang for your buck is the Prusa i3 - however, their turnaround times are a little on the slow side because there's been such a huge demand for them. Josef Prusa has been getting them out as quickly as he can (and he is a REALLY cool guy; I met him at the Bay Area Maker Faire in May, and he was really happy to demo the products for me and explain everything. I had no idea that I was talking to the head of the company at the time; I thought it was just one of the tech specialists. It was only after I saw his picture on the Prusa website that I realized who I was talking to!)