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I was looking yesterday for someone to 3D print and saw I could buy a printer for anything between 100-200quid.
I only want to do fairly basic small shapes, can anyone tell me if these cheap printers are ok and also what software I'd need to do the designs with?
There's quite a bit in this thread https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/cheap-3d-printer-kits-experiences/
As above, have a trawl through that thread.
I bought a CR10-Mini in January. I love it, but it is not without it's issues.
Most printers say they will print a variety of plastics. They potentially will, but straight out of the box, many of them will not. Some of the plastics that require higher temperatures can be tricky to print and some of the printers out there don't have the oomph in terms of power supplies to reach the temperatures required without modification. Sometimes this is as simple as putting the printer in an enclosure.
There is definitely a set-up and learning curve that needs to be accounted for. How easy this is, depends on the sort of person you are. If you are fairly competent and methodical at mechanical/electrical type stuff than it is not too bad. If you expect to just plug the thing in & hit print, then you might end up frustrated & unsuccessful.
There are tons of printer options out there. Think about the size you envisage printing. 3D printing is slow, so also think about how long prints will take. If you try to print something that utilises the full print bed of a CR10 (300x300x400Z) you will be printing for literally days and days.
In terms of software.....places like thingiverse.com have tons of models people have already made that you can download & use. I have had mixed success with these. Just because someone has uploaded it, it doesn't mean it is a great model. Normally you can work this out from the comments.
If you are making your own stuff, you will need a design tool like Fusion360, TInkercad, Sketchup - all free.
You will then need to save your design as an stl file and put it into a 'slicer'. This will cut your model up into the layers needed for the printer to actually print it out. It will also add things like how fast & at what temperature it will print at, whether the part is hollow or has infill etc.
You save the sliced model as gcode & that is what your printer will directly print from.
Most of the cheaper 3D printers are self-build - fine if you have the ability. Just something to be aware of. I went for a CR10-Mini because I wanted the larger print bed 220x300x300Z. Many of the cheaper printers can only manage around 150 or 200 cubed. I thought that might be too limiting for me, so went for a bigger option & am pleased I did.
PLA is the plastic that most people start with & normally a sample reel is included with the printer. You can pay anywhere from £10-£80 for 1kg. I am currently using 1kg spools from Hobbyking that cost about £11. They print really nicely. The only reason I would go for something more expensive would be to get a certain colour or finish.
Here are some examples of prints I have made on my CR10-Mini. I got it in a flash sale from Gearbest for £225:
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4760/39666333714_ca3fa9cbff.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4760/39666333714_ca3fa9cbff.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/23rbk4q ]IMG_20180216_193123[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/me96kka/ ]STW stumpy01[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4761/39666334624_7381158459.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4761/39666334624_7381158459.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/23rbkk7 ]IMG_20180211_143244[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/me96kka/ ]STW stumpy01[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4722/26220401628_74091c6951.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4722/26220401628_74091c6951.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/FX1pU9 ]IMG_20180203_222830[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/me96kka/ ]STW stumpy01[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://farm1.staticflickr.com/822/40986131252_0d9fe56f8d.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm1.staticflickr.com/822/40986131252_0d9fe56f8d.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/25rNCTo ]IMG_20180324_144454[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/me96kka/ ]STW stumpy01[/url], on Flickr
thanks for the info, I was on my phone earlier when I posted which is a bit difficult to use the forum on otherwisde I would have searched first.
stumpy that info is great, really helpful.
I've just bought a Geeetech I3, for doing this kind of thing and making prop clones. It cost £170 from Amazon, and I also bought 1kg PLA at the same time.
I've had a few teething problems with it, and had to replace a thermister, and also printed upgraded parts from Thingiverse.
So far I'm up to trying to print a water bottle cage! Easier said than done.
I would say, no matter which one you go for, buy spares, like a spare hot end, nozzles etc They come in useful.
Software wise for designing your own, Onshape is very good, especially if you have CAD experience.
Oh, I meant to name some slicers too...
I use Cura & Ideamaker. I prefer the interface for Ideamaker, but Cura has some featuers I like that Ideamaker doesn't have.
There's also Repetier Host & Slic3r, as well as some others.
Simplify3D is the one that everyone talks about, but isn't free.