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3D Printer Comparison: $200,000 vs. $2500

additivepartdesign.com

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Re: 3D Printer Comparison: $200,000 vs. $2500

#41

Post by blahi »

armamut wrote: post #26
blahi wrote: post #23

This seems like an interesting hobby. How much time is needed to achieve a reasonably high understanding of this work? Not industrial grade expert, but a knowledgeable layman. And where/how can I educate myself?

I'm not even an engineer, and I have made one. But, making a 3D printer by yourself from ground up (or assembling one with the parts bought from china etc.) takes a lot of time. I only paid attention at my spare times, so it took my months. But I must say that, it is a very satisfying hobby. I strongly recommend it :) But if you want to buy one, you can find very nice 3D printers at $250 - $300 range from aliexpress…

No, I meant using a 3d printer to build cool stuff.

Re: 3D Printer Comparison: $200,000 vs. $2500

#42

Post by graeham »

aleon wrote: post #10

This is an unfair comparison.. Having used a Stratasys Objet of around a similar price point, the amount of detail you can get is incredible -- down to fractions of a millimeter. Sure, for the prints that were pictured in the comparison, either can do relatively well, but the point of higher end printers is for higher resolution prints, different materials, shapes of the print, etc. To ignore all of those use cases a…

Exactly - this is a pretty simple part, without fine details that would actually test an expensive printer.

Its like comparing how Facebook or Word works on a netbook vs a top-end desktop.

And I'd say furthermore, although not knowing how the part is used - with such flat features and 90-degree corners, probably the best way to make this would be sheet metal, which with a waterjet cutter, press break, and spot welder could be produced in 1/100th the time and cost.

Re: 3D Printer Comparison: $200,000 vs. $2500

#43

Post by pipio21 »

blahi wrote: post #23

This seems like an interesting hobby. How much time is needed to achieve a reasonably high understanding of this work? Not industrial grade expert, but a knowledgeable layman. And where/how can I educate myself?

The best thing you can do is to go to a makerspace near were you live. You will learn so much just by osmosis with the people that know just being around and looking.

Then you need a project that you want to do and ask those guys how you can get there. You will need to learn some CAD, some mathematical concept and you will get something.

Then you print your pieces using their printers. If at this point you enjoy it, you will want to have your own 3d printer. The guys will help you with this too.

For example I am part of Clone Wars RepRap, an Spanish language group. We are more than 5000 people. We help each other a lot. I am also part of German,and Austrian groups.

Without the social environment, buying a printer yourself you will probably find it too hard, specially at first.

Re: 3D Printer Comparison: $200,000 vs. $2500

#44

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

GnarfGnarf wrote: post #34

3D printing, especially hobbyist machines, is still in its infancy and produces disappointing results. A large flat piece warps. The resolution is coarse. It takes too long to produce even a simple piece. The machine needs constant monitoring. It's at the equivalent of the DOS stage of personal computing. I wrote code to produce STL files. These files are accepted by hobbyist printers. I sent it to a professional sho…

You probably knew this one, but still: http://runningahackerspace.tumblr.com/post/113272014704/sure...

Re: 3D Printer Comparison: $200,000 vs. $2500

#45

Post by justinclift »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #7

I enjoyed this article, but perhaps not for the reasons the author hoped. This quote, "With some tweaks to my G code and use of a nozzle that is more suited for higher resolution prints I am confident that I could produce a part that would be very close to the quality of the Stratasys produced part." really summed it up. It sums to "I can tweak my setup and get this part to be good enough relative to the expensive ma…

> Nobody, the slides and readers cost $1K just by themselves.

Yeah, I was looking at the components recently for a self-build CNC machine. Accuracy costs. eg:

http://www.mitutoyo.co.uk/digital-scale-and-dro-systems/line...

Though in smaller sizes, the cost isn't completely over the top. Pity I'm not after "smaller sizes". :/

Re: 3D Printer Comparison: $200,000 vs. $2500

#46

Post by willvarfar »

jacquesm wrote: post #39
willvarfar wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking of smooth curves. Judging from the photos, even the expensive print has a voxelized appearance. I've certainly seen that in the one 3D print I've handled too. So my idea was to print slightly oversize, then mill and polish for perfect curves.

That would have to be a pretty fancy mill then. Any kind of overhang and you won't be able to re-work it without a 5 axis job. And yes, you've caught on to one of the big issues with low cost 3d printers: surface finish.

There may be places a milling arm can't reach, but if you can do it by hand with a Dremel, you can automate it with a gantry and motors and stuff :)

Seems within the realms of hobbyist attainment. Some kind of rig that works in unison with a 3D printer...

Re: 3D Printer Comparison: $200,000 vs. $2500

#48

Post by geerlingguy »

drawnwren wrote: post #40
baq wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i haven't ever used or owned a 3d printer and this part >This quote, "With some tweaks to my G code and use of a nozzle that is more suited for higher resolution prints I am confident that I could produce a part that would be very close to the quality of the Stratasys produced part." really summed it up. It sums to "I can tweak my setup and get this part to be good enough relative to the expensive machine." and that…

There are tools out there that address your specific complaint re: software repeatability. A combination of Ansible/Emacs/Git dot files can yield a consistent environment across machines. Howard Abrams has some great material on how he does this with Emacs (howardism.org).

Why stop at your editor? Automate your entire workstation so every last config is identical across computers: https://github.com/geerlingguy/mac-dev-playbook

Re: 3D Printer Comparison: $200,000 vs. $2500

#49

Post by ZenoArrow »

LELISOSKA wrote: post #47

aren't resin printers increments better than normal 3d printers?

Yes, SLA printers like the Form 2 do offer better print resolutions than FDM printers of a similar price.

http://formlabs.com/products/3d-printers/form-2/

The downside is they can't work with as wide a range of materials compared to FDM printers, and the materials they can work with tend to be more expensive.

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