3D Printing for outdoor nerds

[carlh]

Prusa are nice and give good prints, we have them at the office.
I have an elegoo Neptune pro 3 at home and it’s slow but prints fine in pla as long as the room is warm. For $200 it is solid.

[Brasso]

I see a lot of used/upgraded i3 MK3S+ in the Seattle area and am definitely thinking about grabbing one. I had my heart set on a new one a few years ago but diverted that money elsewhere. Now they are at pretty great prices. $350-450 seems really good.

[doebedoe]

I have an anycubic kobra 2 pro. It's now $200. It hasn't been flawless but it has been a good toe-dip into printing.

Eyeing a P1S as an upgrade in not too distant future.

[doebedoe]

I have an anycubic kobra 2 pro. It's now $200. It hasn't been flawless but it has been a good toe-dip into printing. It's fast AF (for a 3d printer)

Eyeing a P1S as an upgrade in not too distant future as I'd prefer enclosure and simplicity/reliability.

[MottN]

Lots of good machines and brands out there, as well as some good deals this time of year. Bambus are very good value and are pretty well polished - they still will have issues like any other printer. I can imagine some of the issues I've had would be fairly hard to troubleshoot if you are new to 3D printing.

My $0.02 is after using an AMS for a while I don't think I would consider a printer without some sort of filament or toolhead changer. I don't do much multicolor printing, but its still a big quality of life improvement.

For anyone considering a bambu printer HMU...I have way more gift cards than I need and will sell for 80 cents on the dollar...

[NBABUCKS1]

For anyone considering a bambu printer HMU...I have way more gift cards than I need and will sell for 80 cents on the dollar...

How much in gift cards?

[MottN]

How much in gift cards?

Currently around 5k

[NBABUCKS1]

ok! if I'm serious I follow up in PM. Trying to decide if printing trinkets is worth blowing ~$500 on.

[Hot.tamale]

Bambu Labs and Prusa are great recommendations. I’ll add Qidi to the list as well. I have been very happy with my q1 pro. The only downside I see is that there aren’t as many resources on youtube compared to Bambu/Prusa.

The innovations coming out now are insane! The fdm industry was pretty stagnant for a few years with clones of clones and no real innovation but things have changed in the past two years. It’s a great time to purchase a printer!!!

[Hot.tamale]

Like creating binding templates and our binding layout tools, input is needed to provide things like shims.

Provide a scan (or good, straight on image) of the toe bottom & a scaled tracing of the toe and I could generate the 3d model and/or the .stl files for printing.

I tried getting a library going for stuff like this but no one seemed interested in contributing.

I just found out about the library! I would love to contribute. Maybe I can help add screw lengths as well? I’m not sure is something like that exists besides some info on BF.


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[Cocximus]

Is there a relatively affordable solution for scanning the interior of a boot? I had a dentist do a scan of my mouth with a wand. Pretty cool tech. If a boot could be scanned custom shims could be made.

[Hot.tamale]

I’ve heard of polycam, a mobile phone app, but have never used it to give you my opinions. A diy boot opener/ spreader would help with the process.

[NBABUCKS1]

I’ll add Qidi to the list as well.

This is compelling at $399 for the Q1 Pro. Reviews seem great relative to bambu which is your 'iPhone no fuss' of 3d printers.

[AlpiNord]

Can't speak to other printers, but the Prusa MK4s and Mini can be controlled via your browser. You can add/replace print files and check status if on the same LAN. This really helps with organizing/synching files and seeing the print files. Also, the support and documentation is very good. The Prusa slicer is very capable and continually updated. PLUS you get gummy bears if assembly your own printers or upgrades. ;-0

Upgrading MK3s is well worth it. So, finding a used MK3 and upgrading might be a good option for some.

[fleaches]

If you want to get into printing as a hobby, Prusa is a good, high quality option. Open source, easily maintainable and upgradable.

If you want to get into printing to support a hobby, Bambu is a better option. Tightly integrated, high quality, easy to use machines.

Think of it a bit like a user friendly Linux distro vs a Macbook.

If $600 is within budget, a P1S will be more than enough for vast majority of users.

This is exactly my experience. I had an ender for a couple of years, but there was a lot of activation energy to get it out, load a filament, adjust everything etc. Often it was just too much effort to bother with. I'm normally the kind of person who loves to tinker (full time Linux user), but I have too many hobbies as it is to spend a lot of time on it.

Got a bambu p1s last year and it just works with minimal fuss. Design something, send it over, and come back in a few hours and it's always perfect. The barrier to printing is so much lower (especially with the AMS) that I use it much much more.

If you are really into 3d printing as a hobby I hear good things about Voron.

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[Stuntmonkey]

Got a 3d printer recently and decided to see what I could add to this thread.

My version of a ski wall display:
Attachment 461966Attachment 461967

The gears link both sides together so that they always move synchronously. Not sure if this is actually beneficial, but at least it looks kinda cool. The gears also stop either side from opening too far or closing too much. I used an old road bike tire for the friction pad, but I've also experimented with a TPU print which also works.

Can you drop the .stls? This is super cool, would love to try.

[Hot.tamale]

Can you drop the .stls?

Found it on Printables!

https://www.printables.com/model/651...i-rack-updated

[Brasso]

After hearing a friend's experiences with it, I am going to try out a Flashforge Adventurer 5M.

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[singlesline]

Seems like the early Bambu Lab Black Friday Sale might be a pretty reasonable entry point?
https://slickdeals.net/f/17831058-ba...?src=frontpage

The A1 for $299 seems like an easy no-fuss entry point (or the A1 Mini for $199 if you know you don't want larger prints).

But maybe it is worth coming up with the $549 for the enclosed P1S? Seems like an enclosed printer for ABS would be more useful for "printing to support a hobby" as doebedoe described it.

[carlh]

Those are some good deals, going enclosed would be very nice to have.

[Brasso]

Found this eBay coupon thanks to the slickdeals reminder from singlesline, and pulled the trigger earlier today. $240 for a Flashforge Adventurer 5M which is basically 40% off retail:


https://slickdeals.net/f/17824917-fl...er-ebay-239-20

[MottN]

Seems like the early Bambu Lab Black Friday Sale might be a pretty reasonable entry point?
https://slickdeals.net/f/17831058-ba...?src=frontpage

The A1 for $299 seems like an easy no-fuss entry point (or the A1 Mini for $199 if you know you don't want larger prints).

But maybe it is worth coming up with the $549 for the enclosed P1S? Seems like an enclosed printer for ABS would be more useful for "printing to support a hobby" as doebedoe described it.

I have an A1 and I think they are great printers. Mine does some things better than my X1Cs, and I'm surprised they haven't refreshed the X1/P1 series for a couple of the changes. The A1 hot end is nicer in a several ways.

For Print quality most of the time I can't tell a difference. Speed of the A1 is about 80-90% for similar settings.
For some things it is nice to have Core-XY and an enclosure, but for 95% of the time it doesn't matter.
Printing ABS is a little more involved in that you need good ventilation too, most of the time you can get away with simpler-to-print materials.

I think the A1 is good for someone getting into the hobby, and unsure how much they will actually use a printer.
I would step up to a P1S if you pretty sure you will use extensively, and already know CAD or are committed to learning to make your own stuff.

In order of budget I would look at:
-A1 Mini
-A1 (normal) combo
-P1S (w or w/o AMS)