CAD Forum

What is your 3D printer and what do you think about it?

I've got 3 printers at home plus an Ultimaker 3ex I brought from work during COVID19. I mainly use them to test out some designs but 20% of the time it is for useful stuff like mounting brackets or special tools. 30% is likely for stupid desktop ornaments

The Ultimaker is great if you have the money although my son and others swear by the new Ender printers.

We are running a Stratasys uPrint SE. Looking at a SLA to go with it soon. Probably FormLabs, maybe a Photonics.

I wound up with someone just giving me an Afinia. It's in my basement and I haven't even hooked it up yet. It doesn't look like a great printer. If they were willing to give it away, it probably isn't. Still should be able to find a use for it

Ender 3 Pro. Good for playing, plus a ton of users/support.
I once had a Tevo Tornado, but it's parts now (if anyone needs any parts)

M3D micro then i3 clone used.
M3D on i3 bed: Then modified i3 to dual extruder:

Have a Anet A8 that i did not touch for almost 1 year, work ok but i would still recommend new user to get an ender instead,

I used Stratasys Polyjet Connex 3 Objet500 before, work really great, although it is expensive like h*ll...

Using a Stratasys uPrint SE at work now, quite ok overall, occasionally jam due to build plate warping, material is still cost a tons though.

I had access to a Stratasys uPrint SE for a while. It was a pretty good machine although the solvent bath for supports was a bit of a pain.

SLA makes some better prints but what a gooey mess :-(

Zhen-Wei Tee wrote: ↑Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:24 am Have a Anet A8 that i did not touch for almost 1 year, work ok but i would still recommend new user to get an ender instead,

I used Stratasys Polyjet Connex 3 Objet500 before, work really great, although it is expensive like h*ll...

Using a Stratasys uPrint SE at work now, quite ok overall, occasionally jam due to build plate warping, material is still cost a tons though.

I started out with the Anet A8. It was a great starter printer, lasted me a few years. I've since upgraded to the Prusa.

Markforged X(7 I think). Had a Dimensions BST1200 before the Markforged. Dimension was maintenance free until it died. Markforged not so much.

Tried getting a Snap maker for $40 and got scamed out of $40. Got the Snap Maker 3 in one printer on order after that and while waiting for that got and Ender. They just kind of set around till I can find a dedicated place to leave them where they will not disrupt the other people in the house. Unless I can find stuff I really want to print in 8 hour or less. Most of the time the print times run 20+ hours.

I have an ender 3 and ender 5 plus. Both are great printers and I highly recommend them. I also bought an elegoo mars, but don't use it. I need to dust that one off and use it, but there never seems to be enough time.
One thing I did, if anyone is interested, is I bought these for my enders: Using a drill bit, I slightly enlarged the hole in the aluminum body (don't drill the whole hole out, just a few millimeters into the body). This allows me to insert a piece of tube. I cut the piece of ptfe tube to a point (the point faces the gear when installed) and insert it in the arm such that there's no gap between the arm and the gear. This takes a bit of denial and error by cutting the ptfe tube shorter and shorter until it just fits. (If this is confusing, I can post a picture tonight, just let me know.) Here's somewhat what it looks like, though I've exaggerated it a little, you need a very small piece of tube. Then I changed the ptfe tube to capricorn, which has a slightly smaller diameter.
This enables me to print TPU, even Ninjaflex.
It's a very cheap and easy upgrade for your printer at only $11

At the office, a couple BCN3D Sigmax's, one FormLabs 2 system, two RailCore Project systems and a Monoprice Maker Ultimate (Wanhao Duplicator 6). We also have a Carbide 3D Nomad desktop CNC.

My personal 3D printer is a BCN3D Sigma. A resin printer is in my near future for the home work shop. Home shop includes a 60W JPT M7 MOPA Fiber Laser, an AvidCNC 24" x 24" Desktop Pro CNC Machine and a Pocket NC V2-10.

I have 2 Monoprice Maker Ultimate / Wanhao Duplicator 6, and the company I work for has 3.

All 5 have these modifications -
3/8" thick build plate flat to within +- .001" Made by me from MIC6 aluminum.
Upgraded connector for the build plate power, since the original ones all burned up.
Microswiss all metal hot end.
Bond Tech extruder drive.
Left hand part cooling fan with mounts and ducts [for both sides] designed by me.
Fiberglass reinforced RTV heat block boot.
All of the 40mm fans upgraded to Orion 24V ball bearing fans, since the OEM fans bearings die in about 6 months.
Made lexan sides and top cover, so they are enclosed like the D6.

Printing ABS.

Work: Stratasys F370
Home: FlashForge Dreamer

SolidMuse wrote: ↑Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:59 pm At the office, a couple BCN3D Sigmax's, one FormLabs 2 system, two RailCore Project systems and a Monoprice Maker Ultimate (Wanhao Duplicator 6). We also have a Carbide 3D Nomad desktop CNC.

My personal 3D printer is a BCN3D Sigma. A resin printer is in my near future for the home work shop. Home shop includes a 60W JPT M7 MOPA Fiber Laser, an AvidCNC 24" x 24" Desktop Pro CNC Machine and a Pocket NC V2-10.

Added an Anycubic Photon Mono X to the personal stable of desktop manufacturing tools.

2 custom built Ratrig coreXY
1 is 300mm the other is 400mm
Both are high temp, we print polycarb at 270 nozzle, 105 bed, and 100 chamber

also have a monoprice select mini that we use for small stuff

Im using a skr 1.4 on the 300mm and a skr pro1.2, firmware is marlin 2.0.8 using vscode to compile.

I am also using a bl touch for z offset and mesh bed leveling.

Recently gotten ourselves a SLA printer from FormLab (Form3L)

The print quality is really good (at least at area without support). The build size is huge (but the material needed to setup the print is also alot ugh)
In some cases it print even faster than our FDM Printer (uPrint)

^{As someone who had been using dissolvable FDM support (and waterjet-ing polyjet support in the past), having to manually remove the support is really painful}

Zhen-Wei Tee wrote: ↑Fri Oct 29, 2021 10:40 am Recently gotten ourselves a SLA printer from FormLab (Form3L)

The print quality is really good (at least at area without support). The build size is huge (but the material needed to setup the print is also alot ugh)
In some cases it print even faster than our FDM Printer (uPrint)

^{As someone who had been using dissolvable FDM support (and waterjet-ing polyjet support in the past), having to manually remove the support is really painful}

One day I hope to get a Form printer. A few years ago, I read a teardown of an earlier Formlabs model, and the author was blown away at the quality of the parts and the cleverness that went into the Form printer.
(The original link was on Hackaday.com -Here's a more recent one from 2020 https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=5701)

I have an Anet a6(China). It is a user-friendly and popular 3D printer and is not expensive. It is a self-assembling FDM printer delivered in parts. It can process different plastics, has a heating working space, and supports ABS, PLA, HIPS, and PVA.

For some fun, I just got a chocolate printer. My wife even lets me put it in the kitchen.

CAD companies should go after the dessert market

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/wii ... er-211396/

So you'll be handing out treats in 3DX World?
LOL

Frederick_Law wrote: ↑Fri Oct 21, 2022 8:22 am So you'll be handing out treats in 3DX World?
LOL

From what I've seen I'd be very leary of any candy being sold/handed out at 3DXworld, "That's not chocolate" comes to mind.

At home I have a Bambulab P1P. So far I have printed only PLA.
I like the speed and ease of use in addition to the generous 10" x 10" x10" volume.

Alin wrote: ↑Tue Jan 09, 2024 12:17 pm At home I have a Bambulab P1P. So far I have printed only PLA.
I like the speed and ease of use in addition to the generous 10" x 10" x10" volume.

Nice choice

Recently got a Bambulab X1C too...
So far we only printed PLA (Bambulab PLA) and ABS (3rd party)

Was really blown away by the speed and quality as well as the ease of use.

Print quality is pretty decent, in some case even better than our Stratasys uPrint that is at its last leg

After going through learning experience with Ender 3 and then Prusa MK3S+, I finally settled on Vorons (the small V0.2, and 350x350x300 V2.4). Don't ask me how much time I put into getting them tuned right, but goddamn these are some beautiful machines. Never seen better print quality at those speeds in any other printer.

We recently purchased three FormLabs 3+ printers to print high performance ceramic parts. We'll also use it for silicone and other materials in the future. The ceramic material prints slow. Extremely slow. Three days to print and 5 days to burn out and sinter fairly small parts. But, the alternative is spending thousand of dollars for custom tooling to press the ceramics in the traditional way, which for some of our parts is impossible and when iterating through prototype designs, retooling for each iteration is financially silly.