I am interested in getting a 3D printer but I have no idea where to even started. Is there such thing as a multi-purpose printer? What’s a good source to read up on printers, software, filament?
I am thinking small replacements items like drawer guides, funnel for espresso machine, essentially little parts and pieces that break around the house and farm. Also maybe some device cases (including outdoor ones) etc.
Ideally I don’t want a closed system. I have a Cricut for 10 years or so and I hate being locked into the app so much. Unless there is a really, really good reason.
Edited to add: Thank you all! What an amazing community!
For a “general purpose” 3D printer I would totally recommend FDM.
Resin is toxic, causes allergies, is a mess to handle, needs washing and curing after printing, is usually much less UV resistant, is less durable and more expensive. The only upside it has is much, much better quality prints especially for fine details.
So if you want to print miniatures go resin, otherwise go FDM.
In regards to FDM printers, you need to decide if you want to tinker or to print. Both options are fine, but depending on whether you want to spend significant times upgrading, modding and tuning (and want to have the ability to do so), or whether you want a fire-and-forget machine that just works but doesn’t let you upgrade stuff, you need to get different devices.
Bambulab printers are the fire-and-forget kind that gets ever-more locked down but prints perfectly out-of-the-box.
Prusa or Creality/Ender are more tinker-friendly.
In the end it comes down to what you want. Read some reviews.
If you want to test the waters, get a Bambulab A1 Mini, see if you like it, upgrade to a different printer in the future.
In regards to filaments: Most filament brands are decent nowadays. It used to be that some brands were much better or worse than others, but nowadays unless you buy the cheapest crap it’s going to be fine.
The biggest difference is the material type. As a beginner start with PLA (regular, not Silk PLA, Flex PLA, HT PLA, Tough PLA or any other type of modified PLA). It prints easily, doesn’t need anything special in regards to heating or drying.
Once you mastered that, you might want to get into PETG (more difficult but tougher) and/or TPU/TPE (flexible, rubber-like).
You will likely never need more than that.
Other things to note regarding filament- if youre only planning on making items for indoor use, PLA / PETG will be fine. If youre planning on using things outdoors or in hot temps, you’ll want to look into more advanced filaments like ABS/ASA, Nylon, etc. These absolutely require an enclosed printer, whether thats part of the design or something you put over top of it to keep the temp inside higher. I’d highly recommend figuring out your ultimate use case and make a decision around that.
Good point! I definitely would want to consider outdoor use items.
Just a couple of notes: Your material of choice isn’t a final one. Most printers can print most “normal” filaments, such as PLA, ABS, PETG, ASA, etc, and if you start with one, moving to another isn’t a big deal. The only caveats here are:
For outdoor use, the main factors are temperature tolerance and UV resistance. I’d advise against PLA for outdoor use. PETG is slightly better in these regards, and I am currently testing how well PETG handles a Scandinavian outdoor climate, and things look promising.
I would love to hear about PETG’s performance during a Scandinavian winter. I am on Canada and soil sensors I would pull over winter but some other stuff might be interesting to leave outside. For ventilation I could either use it outdoors (summer) or in the garage in winter unless it needs room temp to print. That would be an issue in winter.
I have done some resin crafting by hand and I agree. Finicky at best and while super cool it’s not my thing. FDM it is.
I want to print not tinker. So the Prusa isn’t great for out of the box printing? I tried to read up on it but I am not sure if I look at the right information. The Bambu mini? Not something like the P2S?
Thanks for the explanation on filament types. I have seen these but didn’t know which is which. I’ll go with PLA to start for sure then! No need to overcomplicate it in the beginning!
Prusa printers are also “turn on and print” nowadays, except if you buy it as a build-it-yourself kit. And even that is like a more advanced Lego kit, the instructions are very thorough, with community comments for every step. They’re very easy to repair, and you can usually buy upgrade kits to upgrade them to the next version.
I agree that If you don’t have a filter system or some way to vent the printers outside, stick to PLA for indoor items, PETG for things that might be in the sun, and potentially TPU for rubbery parts. You don’t even need an enclosure for those.
If you have the budget for it, get a Prusa MK4S or Core One. In my opinion, the only reason not to buy a Prusa is the price.
What about the mini? I see that Prusa does get quite expensive quickly with shipping and taxes.
The mini is OK, but starting to be pretty outdated.
Outdated isn’t great. Thanks!
Prusa’s work just fine out of the box. And if you have a problem, Prusa is well known for their support for their printers for years. But Prusa also allows a bit of tinkering if you decide you want to. But it’s not necessary.
I don’t know what kind of farming you do, but if you think you want to print some repair parts for farm machinery, you are probably going to want to use some of the expensive engineering filaments for best results at some point. Qidi is the only really accessible consumer grade printers really capable of high end engineering filaments. I would recommend the Qidi Q2. It’s capable of printing filaments that other brands can’t. Plus it has the first and only printer certified by MET, a testing organization recognized by OSHA.
That’s good to know. I think the openness of Prusa is really appealing as long as it’s not more tinkering than printing.
Re farming I am more thinking about small enclosures for sensors for example. I am just learning about Lora networking and such and it would be great to build some sensors e.g. for soil moisture. The boards are really cheap but they need a case to protect from elements. I assumed I would need a different filament for anything outdoors but I haven’t looked into it yet.
We also had some smaller things break on the quad, tractor, equipment like caps or covers and stuffs hard to find. Not actual parts though. I get your point though I might have to brain storm a bit more on what exactly to make a good call on what the printer capability needs to be.
One last thought that I would leave you with: Air filtration. If you wish to eventually want to print some of those engineering filaments, or even the old standbys ABS/ASA, you need to have a working air filtration system to remove hazardous particulates and VOCs. This means activated charcoal filters. Some brands are better at it than others, but most of the manufacturer’s are at least acknowledging the need for it. And some few want you to believe their marketing over actual performance-- cough, cough Bambu’s new P2S cough.
Noted. I could use it outside or in a garage though eh?