3D Printer - Anyone Have one?

Trendkilla254 said:

what do I need for ABS? PLA is pretty weak right?

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For ABS, you're going to have a rough time if the bed isn't heated. Otherwise, you just need to be a bit more diligent with your prep work than with PLA. Just a bit trickier to work with ABS.

PLA isn't that weak though, and I assume it'd be okay for your application as long as it was thick enough.

PLA is practically as strong as ABS for applications below about 120°F. Above that temp PLA it gets bendy and will deform under enough stress, this is bad under applications where you need strength in heated conditions but it's a great property for props and masks. If your mask or whatever doesn't fit quite right you can use hot water or a heat register to heat up the PLA, bend it to where you want it and when it cools it stays. Plus PLA is way easier to print with, ABS has a tendency to warp that's difficult to manage on big prints even with a heated bed.

Here I was able to heat up our masks and bend them to perfect fits. And strength wise a single shell with 10% honeycomb fill is plenty strong for a mask printed in PLA

Awesome, Yeah a heated bed was going to be the first upgrade I'd make. I was wondering if the hot end would be sufficient for ABS or if I would need to replace it as well. I was also going to print some prussa i3 upgrade parts I saw some folks using on youtube. I also wanted to look into doing the bowden extruder setup. It looks like it would take a lot of weight off the rails.

The same hot end will work for both, and if a nozzle gets clogged you can replacements very cheap on ebay.

So here is what I went with:
3D PRINTER PRUSA I3 DIY ACRYLIC KIT SUNHOKEY BUNDLED FREE 2KG FILAMENT

I wanted the bowden extruder, the metal mount that the hot end mounts to(instead of plastic that apparently can "droop"), and the "free" filament was a plus. After watching a few reviews of the cheaper ones, this seemed to be the best deal under 300.00. Most of these are going for 299.99 or so. I made offer of 250.00 and it was accepted. Youtube reviews of this model show there were a few issues with the first run of this model, but it has since been upgraded to fix things like the end stops and the rod caps. I really would have liked a metal frame, the cheap one I found was the Tarantula and it had some pretty bad reviews. Overall I hope I made a good decision. I would have went with the gearbest one but the shipping was no longer free and was going to run almost 62.00. That made the total 215.00. This one has an E3D (prolly a clone) hotend, I hope that one is decent. It also had a hotplate which was another plus. The other option was the Geeetech one, it lacked the bowden extruder, was more expensive, and didn't include any filament. I'm hoping I made the right decision. I hope I don't have to buy anything else to get it working.

Also it came with a .04 nozzle. Should I get a smaller one? Should I have a plethora?

I'm open to any tips. I don't even know where to begin. It should arrive next week. I'm going to spend this weekend re-organizing my garage and trying to spruce up my pinball machine in order to sell it. I need the room. Sad to see it go but I have not played it in months.

Looking forward to the unboxing and testing pictures (and video!).

InfinitusEquitas said:

Looking forward to the unboxing and testing pictures (and video!).

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Dude me too, I'm just too afraid to open the box at the moment.
I have not got a dedicated spot for it yet. Must finish garage... ugh.

So what do you plan to print first? I thought about it a bit... assuming it had the capability I'd want to print a custom fitted Storm Trooper outfit.

InfinitusEquitas said:

So what do you plan to print first? I thought about it a bit... assuming it had the capability I'd want to print a custom fitted Storm Trooper outfit.

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Being a beginner with a Chinese RepRap, he's best to start printing calibration objects and little things.

Waiting hours and hours and giving up a lot of filament only to get a sloppy part that won't work is the bane of 3D printer users.

InfinitusEquitas said:

So what do you plan to print first? I thought about it a bit... assuming it had the capability I'd want to print a custom fitted Storm Trooper outfit.

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My plan was to print out the calibration parts I found on youtube.

I think the guy Hibosen or something like that has a bunch of videos on the exact printer I bought and he has some useful links to other users on Youtube with useful calibration tools.

As I go through them I will try to document what all I have done. It will be a separate thread. But as I said before, the way things go at my house... projects are always on the back burner.

Then a Master Chief Suit is my first build period. The helmet is a MUST HAVE.
It was my primary reason for purchase.

Second will be Iron-Man
Third of course is Storm Trooper
Some Destiny Helmets are likely next.

Laser Hosts are also in the thought process.

Still waiting on that thread. Factoring in things that could go wrong, learning curve, shipping times, and prop build times you're out of time I'd get on it asap if you want a halo helm for halloween.

TheDukeAnumber1 said:

Still waiting on that thread. Factoring in things that could go wrong, learning curve, shipping times, and prop build times you're out of time I'd get on it asap if you want a halo helm for halloween.

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^ I agree

Also not to mention, that's gonna take a very long time to print, all that surface area and volume will also eat up a ton of filament but I don't think filament is the concern. You're also going to have failed prints regardless, even if your printer is perfectly calibrated, anything can go wrong. I once tried a ~55meter print and it took 4 prints to get it to finally come out. Granted it was pretty detailed, but the point stands for itself. Also remember how big your print bed is, and your maximum print size. But be careful - the max print volume isn't always up to spec, on my printer I made sure to check and the Z-axis (up and down extruder) was under spec, if I went with the spec volume I would've blown my steppers.

When it comes to DIY 3D printing and printers it's all about the specifics and can be frustrating but everything should turn out as long as you got everything in check

ElectricPlasma said:

^ I agree

Also not to mention, that's gonna take a very long time to print, all that surface area and volume will also eat up a ton of filament but I don't think filament is the concern. You're also going to have failed prints regardless, even if your printer is perfectly calibrated, anything can go wrong. I once tried a ~55meter print and it took 4 prints to get it to finally come out. Granted it was pretty detailed, but the point stands for itself. Also remember how big your print bed is, and your maximum print size. But be careful - the max print volume isn't always up to spec, on my printer I made sure to check and the Z-axis (up and down extruder) was under spec, if I went with the spec volume I would've blown my steppers.

When it comes to DIY 3D printing and printers it's all about the specifics and can be frustrating but everything should turn out as long as you got everything in check

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Not only will printing that suit take a ton of time on the printer, I'd imagine the assembly on it will take tons of meticulous cleanup and assembly. Cleanup is the one reason I would ever consider a good SLA or DLP printer if I had the money.

Well that isn't what I wanted to hear. I may just make the first Halo suit out of the closed cell foam and the helmet and forearm and hands 3d printed.

I build a Transformer's Soundwave costume and helmet out of duct tape and cardboard. I followed that up with Fiberglass and Resin. I then used body filler on it. The main body I used coroplast (plastic cardboard/signboard). If I can get the print close I can use a dremel and get it closer and bondo the rest to smooth it out and get the fine details. I don't feel like a halo helmet is going to hold up as just plastic anyway. I want to fiberglass it. I just need a better base than pepakura (paper 3d model). I'd love to have the printers that https://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbruton has @ xrobots.co.uk

Trendkilla254 said:

Well that isn't what I wanted to hear. I may just make the first Halo suit out of the closed cell foam and the helmet and forearm and hands 3d printed.

I build a Transformer's Soundwave costume and helmet out of duct tape and cardboard. I followed that up with Fiberglass and Resin. I then used body filler on it. The main body I used coroplast (plastic cardboard/signboard). If I can get the print close I can use a dremel and get it closer and bondo the rest to smooth it out and get the fine details. I don't feel like a halo helmet is going to hold up as just plastic anyway. I want to fiberglass it. I just need a better base than pepakura (paper 3d model). I'd love to have the printers that https://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbruton has @ xrobots.co.uk

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Glassing over 3D prints can be tricky. Most filaments do not hold up well to the solvents in a lot of resins, and ABS doesn't like to stick to most of them. When I was dealing with the issue, urethane resins worked best, but they're not that easy to find for fiberglass use.

Definitely worth some experimentation before pulling the project together.

Any update on the printer? Starting/finished assembling at all?