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3D Printer for less than $400

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Re: 3D Printer for less than $400

#21

Post by hwh »

bradleysmith wrote: post #17
grannyg00se wrote: post #5

"Best layer resolution: 100microns" So 0.1mm in z, but what about x and y? Or does the above imply that they are all 0.1mm? Is that for the final product output or is that a nozzle head movement resolution?

From Pirate3D in comments: "@Usman Glad you asked! What is the minimum printable detail? >> We can get the facial features on printed figurines. Do you have any specific test print in mind? What is minimal wall thickness? >> We use a 0.4mm nozzle. We pjrint our single shell objects at this thickness (0.4mm)." So, 0.4mm min. XY resolution.

not exactly. That's merely the output nozzle diameter. "Resolution" is a bit ambiguous here, but I think it would be fair to differentiate: Movement resolution is 0.1mm, while "dot size" is 0.4mm. You can perfectly well "draw" a 0.6mm long "line", but its minimum width is 0.4mm and you are restricted in prolonging this width by just a tiny bit.

"Height" is another matter, since some hobbyist printers sometimes intentionally "smear" a bit with the nozzle to smoothen flat layers.

That's the real art of 3D printing: bringing temperature, movement and filament drive into the perfect balance. Having a fine _drive_ resolution is important. But not only the resolution: You can drive stepper motors in various ways, so they will go "hard" or "soft" or even "bounce back" after movement a little bit. I've seen people doing hours, days and even weeks of tests after tests on hobbyist devices.

Re: 3D Printer for less than $400

#22

Post by devindotcom »

iandanforth wrote: post #8

Does the market need a cheaper printer, or a better one? I've used 6 types of 3D printers. (Extrusion type, ABS or PLA) 3 from the 'consumer' grade and 3 from the 'pro' grade. Each of the consumer grade printers was an exercise in frustration. All the printers had ugly, clunky software, but the pro printers would almost always make the thing I wanted. The consumer printers I've tried take 3 or 4 failures to get 'set…

Yeah, I think you're partially right, here - but I think we're going to see a spread of price points, just as we have with, say, cameras. $500 for a small, decent printer. $1000 for a jumbo or deluxe model. $2000 for one that does this and that and the other thing, and then you move on to pro models. But it's good to have iterative hardware like this because it puts pressure on the manufacturers to keep on improving.

Re: 3D Printer for less than $400

#23

Post by elmuchoprez »

When it comes to consumer-grade 3D printing, it seems like all the focus on developing a cheap machine and none of the focus is on figuring out something that people actually want to print.

So you can print a spoon and a bowl... great. But I actually already have one of those. If I ever have a need to print an endless supply of 1-inch square cubes, I guess 3D printing is just the ticket.

I'm not saying they need to be able to print out a Ferrari before I'm interested, but they need to be able to print something that is at least mildly useful or interesting.

Re: 3D Printer for less than $400

#24

Post by alexcroox »

bradleysmith wrote: post #19

Seems as though it may require you to upload all G-code or .STL's to Pirate3D's server for printing. Question addressing the issue was just asked in the comments section. IP questions as well as hardware behavior with spotty internet connection both jump up as potential issues in my mind. I would imagine this is for a standardized file preparation & troubleshooting service. I wouldn't be interested in purchasing a 3D…

Agreed, as an "over target" development (now they've reached funding), I'd like to see a local network addon. I'm sure after months of IP takedown notices we will all regret the middleman servers decision.

Re: 3D Printer for less than $400

#25

Post by jfoutz »

elmuchoprez wrote: post #23

When it comes to consumer-grade 3D printing, it seems like all the focus on developing a cheap machine and none of the focus is on figuring out something that people actually want to print. So you can print a spoon and a bowl... great. But I actually already have one of those. If I ever have a need to print an endless supply of 1-inch square cubes, I guess 3D printing is just the ticket. I'm not saying they need to b…

FWIW, don't eat from 3d printed stuff. The extrusion process creates this wonderful internal maze for bacteria to thrive in.

A single use shot glass is probably ok. And, the ceramic prints you can get now are food grade. But any home made abs or pla will inevitably get you sick, because it can't be cleaned.

Re: 3D Printer for less than $400

#27

Post by kawsper »

jfoutz wrote: post #25
elmuchoprez wrote: post #23

When it comes to consumer-grade 3D printing, it seems like all the focus on developing a cheap machine and none of the focus is on figuring out something that people actually want to print. So you can print a spoon and a bowl... great. But I actually already have one of those. If I ever have a need to print an endless supply of 1-inch square cubes, I guess 3D printing is just the ticket. I'm not saying they need to b…

FWIW, don't eat from 3d printed stuff. The extrusion process creates this wonderful internal maze for bacteria to thrive in. A single use shot glass is probably ok. And, the ceramic prints you can get now are food grade. But any home made abs or pla will inevitably get you sick, because it can't be cleaned.

What about the jewelry and accessories from http://www.shapeways.com/ ?

A necklace or ring that you have close to your body?

And are the metal ones also affected?

Re: 3D Printer for less than $400

#28

Post by venomsnake »

jfoutz wrote: post #25
elmuchoprez wrote: post #23

When it comes to consumer-grade 3D printing, it seems like all the focus on developing a cheap machine and none of the focus is on figuring out something that people actually want to print. So you can print a spoon and a bowl... great. But I actually already have one of those. If I ever have a need to print an endless supply of 1-inch square cubes, I guess 3D printing is just the ticket. I'm not saying they need to b…

FWIW, don't eat from 3d printed stuff. The extrusion process creates this wonderful internal maze for bacteria to thrive in. A single use shot glass is probably ok. And, the ceramic prints you can get now are food grade. But any home made abs or pla will inevitably get you sick, because it can't be cleaned.

Throw it in a microwave. That is the way i sanitize my bamboo cutting boards when there are tiny traces of meat inside after tenderizing. If that bacteria have water molecules in them they will be dead. And if they don't - you may be sick but you will get nobel prize in biology anyway.

Re: 3D Printer for less than $400

#29

Post by jfoutz »

kawsper wrote: post #27
jfoutz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, don't eat from 3d printed stuff. The extrusion process creates this wonderful internal maze for bacteria to thrive in. A single use shot glass is probably ok. And, the ceramic prints you can get now are food grade. But any home made abs or pla will inevitably get you sick, because it can't be cleaned.

What about the jewelry and accessories from http://www.shapeways.com/ ? A necklace or ring that you have close to your body? And are the metal ones also affected?

Shapeways stuff is much tighter, i think they're all actually watertight, you could likely make silverware out of the metal stuff.

Put it this way: quarters are filthy, but you don't eat off of them, so who cares?

Re: 3D Printer for less than $400

#30

Post by randallu »

masonhensley wrote: post #3

From what I understand, margins are pretty good right now for ~$1k+ printers. This however looks looks too polished for the price they are trying to deliver. Reliable wifi connectivity, air filtration, fancy box, mobile apps, cloud software, scale to weigh amount of filament in the hopper... hmmmm. Existing sub $400 printers[see below] havent shipped in mass quantities yet (well, besides the printrbot jr). Whoever ge…

It's interesting that none of the hobbyist printers I've seen have optical calibration like a servo does -- I've read about overshoot being a problem when doing faster prints, but if the head could measure where it was in XY then it shouldn't be such a problem. Some old Sun optical mice knew where they were on the trackpad (which was super annoying, you couldn't pick up the mouse and move it somewhere else for a long drag), so the technology shouldn't be expensive...
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