[Closed] Cheap 3d printer kits - Experiences?

siwhite - that benchy looks impressive for a budget printer. Nice job!

Nice saddle too - Don't be surprised if he doesn't take to the balance bike straight away. Mine didn't get it for 6 months before suddenly rocketing along on it.

Just printed on default settings from Slic3r PE, didn't change anything.

Prusa PLA 0.15 layer height, 0.4 nozzle, 215 nozzle, 60 bed. 2h20min

Taken at angles to show layers as badly as possible:

I guess next step is start learning what/how to tune for better results!

The home brew frankenprinter has been fired up again after buying some replacement drivers.

Printing some top tube sections

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There are some good quality print being shown on here, I really must tighten up the hot end on mine as get a bit of leakage and blobs in the print.

Does anybody have the time/capacity to print a couple of parts for me for some beer tokens to help pay for their hobby? I've got a couple of bits I'd like printing but the online quote houses are hella pricy! Any black tough ish material would be great - ABS or similar. They're a couple of kit car brackets / trims.

I only have clear slightly flexy filament at the moment but am happy to print some for you to check the size/fit if you want. Email me the STL, email in profile.

Example of some chassis plates I printed for my car.

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   A friend of mine used his Printrbot to update his vintage bike, he designed new parts like a controller mount in OpenSCAD and printed all custom parts in 3d-Solutech apple green PLA. I had to 3D scan some of the details with Artec scanner (like magnet ring and PAS sensor mount).

^^^ that looks great. I love seeing these printers used for practical things. One of my colleagues is using his for a beekeeping project, so always brings in new test pieces to show me.
His latest one is setting the printer to pause mid print, so he could pop a nut into a hole & resume print to encapsulate the nut within the part - it worked really well, although he thinks next time, it would be better to pre-heat the nut by leaving it on the print bed, while the print is running.

Anyway - I've been doing a mix of practical stuff & not so practical stuff. Over the past few months I've done a Nespresso pod holder for my Wife's coffee machine (no pics uploaded yet), a Maxle boost spacer for my mates Thule bike rack, some new mounts fo a kitchen drawer front because the existing bracket decided to disintegrate one evening, some pan lid holders for the kitchen door.

I printed some carabiners the other day for my nephews. I was visiting at the weekend & they seem to be really interested in how the printer works, so I thought a practical print might interest them:

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Then I got carried away & decided to print something completely pointless, but would test out the capabilities of my printer a bit, so did this - please excuse the mass of pics!:

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I need to print out a stand for it at some point....!

9 months on and I haven't made much progress with the 3D printed Root 3 CNC dueto buying a van to convert into a camper, but at least it's assembled and wired - just need to add the Arduino now!

I've put holes in the base so it can hang up on the shed wall.

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It's also got some bolts that fix it to insert nuts in the workbench.

Nice! Only the other day I was looking at the MPCNC on Thingiverse & wondering how you got on with it. Was it PETG you ended up using?

Any idea how much the total spend is going to be? I still fancy doing one at some stage, although at the moment haven't moved away from printing PLA and not sure how successful it would be in that material.
While my printer is working well with PLA, it seems like a risk to bugger about with it & have potential issues.

We have used the Ultimaker version of PETG at work (CPE) with definitely mixed results. It is quite hard to get a nice surface finish with it & there is normally a fair bit of blobbing & clean-up required. Settings are mostly stock though, so it probably needs a tweak.

Now you've got the printed parts sorted, are you actually using the printer for anything?

I'm currently designing up a tape cutting fixture to cut gorilla tape (or whatever) to a set width for tubeless conversion; the aim is to make it adjustable from 22-30mm in 1mm steps.
My first iteration proved the principle, but was a bit rough & ready.
The second iteration refined it, but I cut my finger open while installing the stanley blade, so I decided a version 3 was probably required with a nod to user safety!
Version 3 has some features to protect the user from the blade, but there are a few parts I am not happy with, so hopefully with one more bit of re-design it will be finished.

Yes, I used PETG. I printed in the shed in winter so got some warping, but it was fine once I switched to using Elmer's Purple Glue on PEI.
To be honest, the only reason for using PETG is temperature resistance. It gets hot in the shed in summer and the motors will run a little hot. Many people use PLA just fine.

Total cost is £490 About £100 more than I was hoping for. I needed an extra roll of filament and the stainless hardware was much more expensive than I guessed. The other surprise was the cost of the Linear Rails.

I've already bought everything. Just need to wire up the Arduino and fit the belts.

I will have to make a separate box for the electronics with a connector to the main unit. Haven't really got a plan for that yet.

MPCNC is much more supported than this, with a larger community, but I was never convinced it was strong enough for birch ply and aluminium. Seems some do have success though!
This seems very sturdy and it's pretty big (750x550 cutting area iirc).

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We use the 3D printer occasionally and it's really useful when we do. We've already used it on the van conversion plus my son has printed a few useful storage bits and bobs. We don't print objects d'art/figures or anything like that though.
We also got a commission for another 3D relief map from someone on here, so my son is doing that - just the osmo to do on the wooden frame and that's finished.

We do have some plans to print a board game at some point, but for now all attention is on the van as it's a 6-month project at least.

These are the window frame corners we  3D printed.. They ave a curved top to match the curve of the van skin:

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Nice. I like it when you can find a nice practical output!

Anyone know owt about slightly less cheap 3d printers? I have a few work uses in mind (although nothing that's going to really make me any money!) as well as wanting one for general mucking about. Like the sound of SLA & really like the look of the Form 2 from FormLabs, although even 2nd hand they are still £2k+. Form 1 available a bit cheaper 2nd hand but not as good obviously!

Any other SLA or other technology printers worth looking at? Don't really want to go down the older, extruder style tech route unless there's a more pro-level machine that needs less sodding about, finishing, etc?

Prusa just launched an SLA printer (they bought a company and then refined the design).
https://www.prusaprinters.org/introducing-original-prusa-sl1-open-source-sla-3d-printer-by-josef-prusa/

I have to say though, this

Don’t really want to go down the older, extruder style tech route

Doesn't really fit with reality. There are a lot of advantages to FDM that SLA doesn't have. I've always liked Lulzbot as a company if you want to look at some prosumer models.

Thanks, I'll take a look at those! Happily admit I know very little about these things, SLA appealed though due to the precision & smooth finish of the objects.

Any other SLA or other technology printers worth looking at? Don’t really want to go down the older, extruder style tech route unless there’s a more pro-level machine that needs less sodding about, finishing, etc?

Have a look at SLS printers, but you won't find one for home/desktop use. SLA looks messy as I think you have to soak the object in a fluid after its printed.

Made a quick release jig for sharpening some cylinders on a lathe, it worked well, better than I expected.

Noticed the Creality printers seem quite cheap atm through HDUK.

Currently building up the courage to strip down my machine down, replace the cheap bearings and rods with more precise items, but it seems quite daunting!

Funnily enough it was seeing that Creality machine that got me thinking.

Wish I had £10k+ to waste on the forthcoming SLS machine from FormLabs, that does sound really good!

Most people who want something just above the cheap chinese level buy a Prusa mkii or mkiii.

You can get them in kit form or fully built and with multi-material additions.

Short of many thousands though - they all need a bit of TLCand knowledge to get good results from.

Reading this thread was an expensive choice! GB have the Creality Ender 3 on offer so I've just ordered one for myself as an early Christmas present. Whether it'll actually arrive before Christmas is another matter of course...

Cool - be sure to post your exploits!
Half the price I paid for my CR-10.
Mine arrived in 20 days, but ymmv - some people have waited ages.

My Cr10-mini arrived in only 6 days from Gearbest!

As for higher end printers, we have an Ultimaker 3 Extended at work.

It does produce good results and it's dual extruders are great for printing with pva support material, but it is far from 'fiddle' free, the user interface can be frustrating and support from Uktimaker hasn't been brilliant - we've just had a printcore fail through what appears to be a bit of a poor design and they've basically told us the entire print core is a wear and tear item, so tough. And this is a £3.5k machine that has seen only moderate use in an office environment.

this looks like a good deal? however I know nothing about 3d printers

early xmas present to myself?

https://www.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_1845899.html?utm_source=tt_de&aid=171752

Yep it's a good deal. Plenty of youtube reviews.
On Aliexpress they are claiming to ship it for the same price from within the UK. Don't know true it is though. This is the Creality official shop. They emailed me this morning:
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/cheap-3d-printer-Creality-Ender3-Ender-3X-Upgraded-Tempered-Glass-Optional-V-slot-Resume-Power-Failure/2846085_32858931045.html?spm=a2g1y.promotion-20181111.promotePruductList_6530699.0

The ender-2 is pisstakingly cheap now, these single-sider designs are never as good as a well set up prusa-style or delta but they're so cheap, and simple, basically the most "consumer" printers out there at a low price. Can't say I'm not tempted even though I should actually fix the Tarantula instead

The Ender 3 at £134 is a ‘normal size’ Bowden tubed, i3-style framed printer Northwind.

the Ender2 is the single armed one. That’s £118 now!

the CR-10 is still £260ish so I don’t know now they do the Ender 3 for only £134. It’s a kit I guess

Yeah, I was just adding that the ender-2 is another good option. And the -4 looks like it could be an excellent step above the CR-10 and ender-3. Things are really moving...

I was amazed at what results my mate is getting from a modified Anet A8. Paid virtually nowt and the results are pretty much perfect. He just did the same mods that everyone recommends. He's got no kids though - so a lot more time than me to tinker. I think they might have been under £100 at some point (only £103 now).
I don't see why your Tarantula couldn't be as good with a bit of effort.

the results are pretty much perfect. He just did the same mods that everyone recommends. He’s got no kids though – so a lot more time than me to tinker.

Has he improved part cooling with a fang?

I think that apart from a day spent doing some proper experiments and tests to optimise the printer, the one thing I really want to get sorted is improved part cooling with a fang. I reckon this is a bit of a weak point on the Creality printers...

TBH most cheaper printers don't really have good enough part cooling for ABS, it's pretty much always worth adding something, even if just a crude always-on fan (my tarantula has a nice directed setup with a fat 40mm PC fan on, up til then I just couldn't print fine detail in ABS, it'd always slump even at dead slow pace.

Not sure stumpy - I'll ask. The Anet A8 is a direct extruder (rather than a bowden tube) so that area will be bulkier.

Had a look online at the Lulzbot printers mentioned earlier over the weekend. They look really good, level of detail using the micro extruder head looks fantastic. Dual extruder option featuring soluble supports looks very handy also. Anyone used one of these? There is a used one on eBay at the moment, seems quite cheap though (a grand off the new price) given the seller claims it is as good as new.

No experience, just really like the guys in charge of the company. Totally Open Source (and big advocates), approachable and they sponsor YouTube legend James Bruton from XRobots (i've a feeling he used to work there, but can't get confirmation from a quick google):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUbDcUPed50Y_7KmfCXKohA

Unfortunately for the £1000-2000 machines, the Prusa i3 mkii and mkiii have made them a bit redundant, which is a bit of a shame.
It's only worth paying more if you're a company who just want it to print no matter what, or you have a specific requirement that the Prusa doesn't do - Build volume/heated enclosure/speed/etc.

Another company I like:
https://www.bcn3dtechnologies.com

(I guess I've found out about all these through Open Source links - they all use E3D hot ends, CURA/Slic3r and publish their files - in short they are part of the RepRap community).

Unfortunately for the £1000-2000 machines, the Prusa i3 mkii and mkiii have made them a bit redundant, which is a bit of a shame.

Worth getting any filament apart from the included PSA? PETG maybe (sounds like a more useful material?) Don't fancy using ABS right away due to the apparent smell.

ABS doesn't smell too bad. People often say it's harder to print with but my experience was it's easier to get a good print with ABS- it's just harder to get a half-assed one, it tends to either work great or fail whereas PLA has varying degrees of failure that you might tolerate. As long as you have good print conditions anyway, heated bed and warm space helps loads

PETG is pretty much the best of both worlds as far as I'm concerned, apart from price.

PLA and PETG are probably all you need imo - unless you need reaaaally specific properties.
ABS seems a bit redundant now to be honest. Vapour smoothing is about it's only unique trait.

I had a couple of uses for wood-filled filament, but it always clogged my 0.4mm nozzle. Keep meaning to get a 0.6mm and try again. It looked great for map-based stuff that I've done quite a bit of work with.

For cheap PETG, I used Real Filament from Amazon for my CNC parts. Seems fine after getting bed adhesion sorted. Other than that, I've mostly used PLA from Das Filament with the MasterSpool system or recycled PLA from Filamentive (but you kind of have to wait for a 40% off code that comes around every few weeks.

Hardly ever any problems with even cheap PLA though, so the only reason I've spent more is if I've wanted a specific colour (some do Pantone references).

PETG for me too. £20 per kilo from Real Filaments.  Some of the non-coloured stuff is meant to be food safe if that is relevant.

PLA is easy as long as you are just making toy models and don't need any strength / UV resistance.

I have just finished a real of flex-translucent stuff from RS Componants and it is the devils material. Always the will it / won't stick to the bed. Printing at 25% speed, lots of mid-print delaminations....

Depending on your requirements, don't rule out PLA.
There are better 'engineering' options out there, but for many applications it is fine.

I made a shim for our rotary clothes drier with PLA & it has been in use since around March time, pushed into a rusty tube & left there, out in the rain & this summer's heat - it is fine.
I am not sure how it would have had fared if it was more exposed to direct sunlight, but almost everything I have made so far in PLA has held up well.
You definitely need to consider strength while designing & it's not as easy as taking a part that might have been machined from aluminium previously & copying it.

I have used 3DQF & Hobbyking filament so far. I do have a sample of PETG, but while my printer is working well, I am loath to stick something 'unknown' into it. If I really had a pressing need for PETG parts, I would consider buying one of those Ender 3's and running it solely on that material (so long as the build volume was enough).

For bed adhesion, I recently tried a watered down PVA glue mix - 2:1 water:glue and used a 3-D printed spreader to get a thin layer on the bed. It kept beading up, which cheesed me off a bit as I'd designed and 3-D printed the spreader myself, but it seemed to be a non-starter. As a final act of desperation, I used my finger to smear the mix over the glass bed. It was loads better but not perfect. The next day I came back to it & it was smooth as glass & virtually invisible; I guess it found it's level as it dried. The first layer ended up looking super-smooth & glass like - almost as good as printing directly onto the bed.
It was a bit of a pain in all honesty, & if I was going to continue using this, I would buy a couple of sheets of glass, so I could rotate them - removing the parts from the bed lifted the glue film, so it needs to be re-applied every time.
I might try adding something to the mix next time to get it to wet-out better (a surfactant I think, like a teeny drop of washing up liquid).

I fannied around with pva, then I bought a big pack of purple glue sticks and just switched to that- it's obnoxiously good for adhesion, I've had quite a lot of trouble removing some larger parts.

Just ordered myself a flexbed for the anet, it's got a buildtak copy on it so hopefully might be enough by itself

I fannied around with pva, then I bought a big pack of purple glue sticks and just switched to that- it’s obnoxiously good for adhesion, I’ve had quite a lot of trouble removing some larger parts.

Just ordered myself a flexbed for the anet, it’s got a buildtak copy on it so hopefully might be enough by itself

Yeah, up until now I have used Pritt Stick which works fine. But, it doesn't leave a great surface finish on the bottom of the part IME.
We use 3DLac at work on our Ultimaker3 & the surface finish is amazing - mirror-like with great adhesion. But, at over £14 a can I can't really justify it for home tinkering.

I keep meaning to try some watered down PVA in a small sprayer, but imagine with that I'll have to rinse the sprayer nozzle every time I use it.

We also use Buildtak at work, but have ruined a couple of sheets with too much adhesion; literally couldn't separate the part from the buildtak.
That was a colleague who was fiddling around with polycarbonate, so maybe it's not such an issue with PLA/PETG etc. although I have heard PETG direct onto glass is a definite no-no.

If I get round to it, I'll take some pics later of surface finish using pritt stick compared to my watered down PVA attempt.

I've found pritt stick tends to be blobby but elmers glue goes on much smoother. Not to perfection but miles better than pritt stick.

Or, put it another way, the bed face ends up looking much nicer than the other faces 😉

I’ve found pritt stick tends to be blobby but elmers glue goes on much smoother. Not to perfection but miles better than pritt stick.

Ah. I did not realise that!
And do you put it on with a cold bed, or let the bed get to temperature?
Normally with pritt stick, I do it with a heated bed & the glue almost melts as it slides over the glass. I find that gives me the best adhesion, but isn't very pretty.

I do it from cold- seems to give the most regular coverage whereas as you say on a hot bed the glue melts and goes smeary. the main trick is just to get it right first time, you can't really reapply or touch up. (oh, also for cleaning off, there is nothing better than an old tesco cotton sock, wet, it's the perfect combination of rough and absorbent)

I guess I should say, this is all proper DIY level stuff whereas you're obviously a higher end user than I am... But then sometimes DIY stuff does work. In this case I think it might be "good enough"

I piece of glass from a cheap clip frame and then Sainsbury Super Hold Cheap Slag* hairspray.

Worked first time for everything I have printed except for the flexi. I have had the occasional lift when printing tall thin things where the leverage effect is greater but other than that it is fine.

Spray on when the bed is hot or cold, it will dry by the time the bed heats anyway.

Pieces normally lift off okay but it is water soluble so at the worse case, stick the glass bed in the sink of warm water for a few seconds.

*Not sure if that is the official name for the hairspray but just get the cheapest sticky one you can find.

I guess I should say, this is all proper DIY level stuff whereas you’re obviously a higher end user than I am…

Erm, no. I'm really not! Just tinkering about with it, really.

I piece of glass from a cheap clip frame and then Sainsbury Super Hold Cheap Slag* hairspray

We tried hairspray on the work machine, but it wasn't water soluble so took some real effort to remove. I've not tried again as it wasn't obvious to me which were water based and which weren't.

Sainsbury Cheap Slag hairspray comes off with warm water and hand soap. A bit like her and her clients I guess

<div class="bbp-reply-author">stumpy01
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Erm, no. I’m really not! Just tinkering about with it, really.

You talk a good fight at least 🙂

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You talk a good fight at least 🙂

Ha ha! Its hard to know where you sit in relation to others, really. Not that it matters.

I'm a mech design engineer; we use an Ultimker at work although I struggle to find time to really fiddle about with it.

Likewise at home, I don't really have the time to properly fiddle about and get the printer set-up just so. It prints well, but I wouldn't say it's optimised.

When I do have time I am either designing stuff (Fusion360) or getting things printed. That's one of the reasons I am yet to stray from PLA - I just don't have the time to fiddle about getting it set-up and if it causes issues I won't have the time to resolve it.

I keep thinking I could do with spending a whole day shut in a room with the printer and a laptop running test after test and trying different things....God knows when I'll have the chance to do that! Ha ha....

I had absolutely no luck with Pritt. So many people told me it was exactly like Elmer's that I didn't bother trying that for ages. So glad I did. Takes all the guesswork out of it. I wouldn't have completed my CNC without it - warping was driving me mad!

I put mine on with a hot bed, just before the print starts.

Never really had a problem removing parts, but once I used a little water to help get the tool under one edge.

I don't really like tinkering with the machines. 3D printing isn't the hobby for me - it's creating/prototyping/designing things. I want the machine to 'just work', or as close as I can get for my budget.

BTW - Another vote for PLA being actually pretty strong. I think it gets a bit of a bad rap personally.

I don’t really like tinkering with the machines. 3D printing isn’t the hobby for me – it’s creating/prototyping/designing things. I want the machine to ‘just work’, or as close as I can get for my budget.

I suppose it's a compromise. I think there is a balance to be struck between spending hours & hours tweaking, changing, modding, 'upgrading' etc. and spending a bit of time to make sure your settings are optimised for whatever it is you are printing.
Even small changes in settings (retraction etc.) can have a large effect on print quality.

The bloke I work with who pretty much has taken ownership of our Ultimaker bought himself an Ender 2 a while back. It had barely been used before he was taking it to bits, upgrading stepper drivers, tying it up to Octoprint etc. He even paid something like £120 for Simplify3D because he thought that the crap prints he was getting were down to Cura, rather than the fact he just needed to spend a bit of time tweaking the settings.

Might have to try some of this Elmer's stuff after all....

i3 kit set for delivery next week 😎 Just installed & starting playing around with Fusion 360. Anyone use/rate that Space Mouse thingy for designing?

I don’t really like tinkering with the machines. 3D printing isn’t the hobby for me – it’s creating/prototyping/designing things. I want the machine to ‘just work’, or as close as I can get for my budget.

I have a Wanhao Duplicator 5S Mini and it does just work with no setting up required between prints. I haven't leveled the bed in 6 months, if not longer. I just turn it on, dust off the bed and start printing. I'm also sure I could get a lot better prints, if I could be bothered to spend hours and hours adjusting settings, but its good enough for prototypes/models/jigs.

I have Simplify3D too, I bought it a few years ago when most of the other slicers were pretty rubbish. It seems a lot of the other slicers offer similar features to Simplify3D now.

Space Mouse looks interesting but expensive.

Anyone use/rate that Space Mouse thingy for designing?

Do you mean one of those 3DConnexion navigator things?

We use them at work - some people get on with them really well & other people don't. I don't.
It's not that I don't like it, I just don't find it any better than using the mouse, whereas one of my colleagues uses his all the time.

IMO, not worth the price for a hobby-ist user, but if you can afford it, then why not.....?

i3 kit set for delivery next week

Prusa? A bloke at work has just bought a mk3 Prusa & really rates it. Took him longer to build than he thought it would, but I don't think he had any specific issues.
He bought in a few sample bits & they did look very good.

Yes Prusa mk3. Kit is a fair whack cheaper than the built version plus I thought I might learn something while doing it!

Yeah looking at the 3DConnexion device. Don't have a middle button on my Apple Magic Mouse (although apparently one is addable via some software jiggery-pokery) which I think might get real old real fast!

How’s the mk3 build going?

Great! Built it over a couple of (long 😃) nights. Enjoyed the build, really impressed with how professional the kit is, everything went together very well & the instructions/support is excellent. Printed a few calibration objects but nothing needed adjusting, it was all perfect out of the box! The default settings for their slicer work great with the PLA supplied in the kit so haven't had the need to tweak anything yet, just been rattling out bits & bobs off of Thingiverse all weekend.

The removable build plate is excellent, as long as I degrease it properly with IPA I've not had any problems with adhesion (not needed anything else like glue sticks etc) and because it's flexible not had any problems popping objects off of it when they're done either. It really has been plug & play which is great as I didn't want to have to sod about trying to get the thing to work properly!!

Overall it's actually exceeded my expectations with how good it is & how much potential it has. I ordered some PETG with the kit but haven't actually gotten around to trying it yet - and might not for a while as I've been really impressed with the supplied PLA (seems strong & not actually managed to snap anything yet!). Going to be ordering a load more PLA today in different colours, etc so I can do some more interesting prints (multicolour etc)!

Good stuff!
Not surprised you don't need glue sticks with their base. My PIE plate is great too with PLA. In fact just very clean glass was excellent too, but when I was trying to print PETG in a cold shed last winter, I had problems with warping. Thankfully Elmer's glue fixed that. I've also now got a semi-enclosed home for it, which helps with PETG.
PLA really is a doddle though. So thankful for it. Haven't had a failure in aaaages (he says while getting a print going and touching some wood).

couple of recent pics..

Love a good first layer

[img] [/img]

Wine bottle holder

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

It sits on a base not in shot.

I just use a mirror, no glue/hairspray etc. Pops off itself when it cools down.

I requested a Creality for Christmas, arrived a couple of days ago, I've got a couple of weeks to wait before I can start playing with it though 🙂

Getting to grips slowly with F360 and printing out all manner of stuff off Thingiverse in the meantime. Quickly bored of figurines but love the toys/gadgets that do something especially the ones that print-in-place (i.e. fully working joints, hinges etc and require no assembly). There's a great one called "Print in place Iris Box" which is a real marvel of design skill. It will definitely test how well you've got your printer dialled in though - mine worked but is a bit rough.

Also got some more colours of filament now so have been experimenting with manually changing the colour during the print. Amazing how just one extra colour makes the prints so much more striking.

https://imgur.com/a/298DRwY
https://imgur.com/a/RoSPtrH

Just had my RPi & camera delivered so mission tonight is to finish printing the articulated arm for the camera and set up Octoprint!

Those are really nice prints

OK so, guilty admission, I got totally fed up with my Anet delta- it basically never picked up an enthusiast community so there's no aftermarket support for it and it kept doing annoying things. So I've put it in a box, and I bought an Ender 2. spoiler alert- it's really good, but has a small bed, if you want to experiment with 3d printing it is a superb choice, more later.

Anyway, the thing that really blows me away isn't the printer itself- though it's amazing, for the money- but how it all highlights the progress in such a short time. My Tarantula was a full kit, and was essentially the first really affordable metal framed prusa clone at a time when if you wanted to go under £300 it basically meant all acrylic frames and pretty shitty parts. And it was a full kit, from nuts and bolts up, and basically you needed to be a decent toolsist and solve some problems to get it to work. And to get good usability and good prints almost totally required you to customise and adapt. But for its time it was a breakthrough, and I'd say the first DIY printer that I'd really have been able to deal with and get good results from.

I got it to the point that it was printing high quality prints, but had become a bit of a race car, it'd work brilliantly for a day then need a load of setting up etc and I couldn't be arsed. And basically my mechanical and printing goals outran my programming skill and the machine couldn't really be the reliable workhorse I wanted while also producing the quality of prints I wanted.

So, I got the Anet A4, one of the early cheap-good Deltas,to be basically a simple production machine. And it was obviously a generation or two ahead- large preassembled parts, all of the wiring etc was premade, the build was an evening's work. And it wasn't like the Tevo where the build had to be followed with days of testing and calibrtion and snagging, I got my first usable print out of it that evening. It was from the generation of printers that were still enthusiast items, but didn't need that combination of technical and mechanical and programming skill to make it viable.

But, tbf I just didn't print much for a while, I ran out of enthusiasm. Then I got a sale offer for the ender 2 for IIRC £105 from a uk supplier. Yes please. And it's yet another massively different generation- they call it a kit but it came in about 7 or 8 significant parts, every working component like an extruder or bed carriage was fully preassembled-it's realyl not far from an Ikea wardrobe. And setup? I levelled the bed and printed a reasonably detailed PLA part, first time. It lacks a part cooler, fine, printed one out- a bit more challenging in ABS but still basically easy. It's not far away from building a bike out of a box.

It's the first time I've felt like you could buy an affordable one of these for a mate that was curious, without worrying about it. Or that someone who's a good designer but not that practical could reasonably expect to get good results. It's not quite domestic level, it's still enthusiast stuff but what progress... Ace.

Oh aye, a review. It's really good. The single tower design seems to be no disadvantage for small parts, the heated bed is just a little underpowered and struggles to get to 100 edgrees in a cold room but that's no biggy, the hotend performs well, the extruder is pretty much perfect, and it's all pretty solid and very well thought out. I am just massively impressed. If you're printer curious I can't see much argument for anything else unless you need the volume.

Aside; I also got a cheap chinese flexible bed kit, which unfortunately couldn't deal with ABS temps and died, but was totally brilliant for PLA. Worth considering for anyone that only prints pla, I think I'll try and find an ABS and PETG-safe one.

Sounds good Northwind. I had a few teething troubles with my CR-10 which needed a new fan and heater cartridge, but apart from that it's been very very reliable. I sometimes don't even watch the first layer. I haven't levelled the bed in about 10 prints either!

Having it so obedient definitely makes it a different kind of tool. It's no longer exciting to see parts printed, but it is exciting to get things made with the parts!

I really hope my CNC is going to end up being as reliable. Still some soldering and calibration to do on that before I can cut wood.

papamountain - some clean looking prints there. I keep meaning to get round to printing a fang and swapping out the stock part cooling fan for a bigger one.

zilog6128 - the multi material looks good. Again, it is something on my to do list, but not found time to try it yet.
I find F360 works well, with just the odd frustration. I find the body/component style of assembly design quite hard to get my head around, as the other 3d cad systems I am more familiar with use different methodology.

Northwind - the printers seem to be really coming on in leaps and bounds! A colleague of mine who bought a CR10-S is already looking at buying a second printer and going for the Pro version.

AlexSimon, I'm looking forward to seeing some videos of the CNC in action!

I've still got loads of things on the go, but finding time to do it is proving tricky.
Currently doing some motoX style hand guards for my daughter's balance bike, as she has bashed her hands a few times and I figured they might also keep the cold winter air at bay. She wants them in purple, so I need to buy some new filament.

Also doing some replacement baffles for the ports on my speakers. They had an acoustic foam over them that over time has degraded and basically fallen apart.
I have made a honeycomb mesh baffle and did a trial fitting this evening. They look good, but could perhaps benefit from a small tweak here and there.

I thinking of getting myself a "cheap" 3D printer.

The Ender 3 seems to get some good write ups.

Ender 3 £190 on Amazon

Is it worth going for the slightly higher spec one?

Ender 3 with bigger PSU

Also, can I use RHINO to produce models? I have access to it through work. I take it that after creating a design you need to put it into "slicer" software?

gobuchul.....

From what I have seen, the Ender 3 is now the 'go to' budget machine. Have a hunt around on Youtube & you will find plenty of information.

I bought my printer (a CR10-Mini) from Gearbest.
The delivery times can be a bit extended (up to a month) but mine only took 6 days.

They currently have the standard Ender 3 for £145 - if it is just something you are dipping your toes into, that is a pretty unbelievable price. There is a bit of assembly to do, but nothing too major.

I am not sure about the upgraded PSU thing. I suspect for printing PLA, the standard PSU will be fine. It might take a bit longer to heat-up, but generally by the time I have loaded filament & auto homed the bed, the nozzle & bed temperature are established.

I am not familiar with Rhino. I use Fusio360 to create models. Fusion360 is free for hobbyists...
There are plenty of free models avaible to download on websites like Thingiverse & myminifactory. I have only used Thingiverse.

And yes, you will need some slicing software. Simplify3D is a paid for version that a lot of people swear you need to get good results. But, you really don't.

Cura is free to download from Ultimaker & works well.
Ideamaker is also free & I found it easier to get started with - the setting interface made more sense to me, than Cura - although I think Cura gives better results so have switched back to it now I have more experience.

Unless you are already an expert with Rhino I'd just install/learn F360 at home. As above, it's free for hobby use, because of that there is a HUGE amount of info/help/youtube videos etc.

Another free option for slicing is Slic3r. Has it's quirks but I've been getting good results from it. They all have their pros & cons I think.

Thanks for the info gents.

Think I will go ahead with the Ender 3. Mrs can get me it for Christmas.

Where do you get your filament? Is it worth paying a bit more for it or should I just get the cheap stuff off Ebay?

Not used any budget filament - decided the potential wasted material (& more importantly time!) is just not worth saving just a few £/k. YMMV.

Been using 3dfilaprint's premium PLA which I've been very happy with. You get free next day delivery if you order 2+ & for every full spool you order they will send you a few metres of another colour so you can check it out. They also do lucky-dip sample boxes for a few quid, just received one today which contains small amounts of wood, copper & various sparkly PLAs!

Not been doing this long enough to recommend any other brands or suppliers!

I've only used PLA and fairly cheap stuff at that.

Hobbyking own brand PLA is good and if you buy a few reels at a time it is free delivery. I think the last time I bought some it worked out at about £11.50 a reel.

3DQF also do good filament and it's manufactured in the UK. They charge about £15 a reel delivered.

I've got some Technology Outlet Silver which looks good, but haven't printed with it yet.
And I've just bought some Ziro translucent purple from Amazon, but again I haven't tried it.

A bloke at work uses Surreal PLA from Amazon and that prints well.

It's probably worth staying away from filaments like wood, glow-in-the-dark and metallic filled stuff until you gain experience.

I've used very cheap filament and it can be a headache trying to nail down your settings, you end up chasing settings and using more filament and even more time.

I use ColorFabb as its really consistent, I haven't had to change settings for different colours/weather/etc. I would go on someones recommendation, as above, if you want a cheaper filament.

I use Filamentive recycled PLA and it's great, but only when they have 40% off the price!

Otherwise, I've used all sorts of cheap stuff and it's all worked.
The original stuff that comes with the creality was like butter (in a good way), but it's not very easy to see details in the white as it's quite translucent. I think that's cctree brand.

Others I've tried. Anet on offer from Gearbest (great). BQ on Amazon (fine). Hobbyking (great). Das Filament (great). Matteforge (layer adhesion problems).

I'm fussy about my black, white and grey colours. Das Filament white is good. I'd like my blacks to be matterer, but I haven't found one yet as I've had problems with Matteforge (still experimenting).

Anyone have any experience with the resin type printers?
Bloke at work had one delivered today from Amazon - looks pretty good.
Only other time I ever saw one was when I had a tour of the Renault F1 factory about 14 years ago and they were prototyping oil tanks - really cool to watch it emerging from the resin.
I'm guessing the hobby ones are a fair bit slower on the prints though.

Nope, there has been a lot of chat online about the Anycubic Photon though (assume it’s that one) since Amazon dropped the price to £399!

Yeah think that's the one he's picked up.

OK. So an Ender 3 ordered and some Hobbyworld filament ordered.

I'll see if I can get it to work and actually print something!

Anyone have any experience with the resin type printers?

Messy, toxic and expensive consumables. But great fine details.
Not really for functional printing - more if you need fine details and smooth finish for figures/chess pieces/etc.

Tried a couple of test prints today with the Ziro translucent purple.

It seems to print easily and is a nice colour.

Well built my Ender 3 this morning, didn't get the bed levelled before I had to break off to cook dinner.

Now had a couple of glasses of wine, so I will finish tomorrow.

Well I got it working.

and....?! Where are the pics?

What was your first print? A benchy?