Looking to get into 3D printing possibly. Any suggestions?

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Kelvarr

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I have been looking to get into this recently. Probably mostly for odds and ends, but it might lead into miniatures for D&D.

Just watching some videos, resin-based seems to be a huge PIA, but it has a lot higher resolution for things like miniatures.

What would you guys start with? If you have any questions, please ask. I'm so new, I don't even really know what all to ask about.
 
Pop it to my thread in this sub area for my weird foray into 3d printing.

Just printed my first mini last night to a pretty good success.

I looked at resin printing but passed for a few reasons. First - wasn't sure how long i'll be "in to" 3d printing or if this is just a passing fad for me.

Second was the chemicals for resin printing are not something to ignore and apartment living limits that.

The last bit was the flexibility for bigger, and more random shit, in FDM.

So for me, price and flexibility minus the chemicals pushed me to FDM.

Ex this guy's process for post clean up for a resin print.


.. and this guy getting rocked back after getting a big whiff of fumes.


Though, from what I have seen, yeah, resin printing can produce crazy good scaled minis.


Not a bad video of comparison.

 
Get and Ender 3 Pro and you will not regret it...if you get more into it, there are nice upgrades to make and it will perform awesome.
 
Ditto on the ender 3 pro. Iv'e had one for a month or so and its really impressive. Its not my first printer and instead of buying prusas i just want loke 3 more of these. Use the base model to get familiar then look at upgrades as you learn.
 
Looking to buy my first printer as well. Started researching back in November/December. Recently bought a house (like 2 days ago) so been putting it off. Anyway leaning towards a Prusa MK3s or the new Mini. I really don't want to have to put one together for my first time. The least install the better for me I'm thinking. As soon as i complete the move I'll make a final decision.
 
Skott - If I remember right the Prusas all require some assembly. Don't have one so I am not sure how that compares to my ender3.
 
Skott said:
Looking to buy my first printer as well. Started researching back in November/December. Recently bought a house (like 2 days ago) so been putting it off. Anyway leaning towards a Prusa MK3s or the new Mini. I really don't want to have to put one together for my first time. The least install the better for me I'm thinking. As soon as i complete the move I'll make a final decision.
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the assembly on something like an ender 3 is very minimal. the Prusa mini requires some assembly and the MK3S you can get fully assembled but its an extra 250 (and I think you have to pay some extra tax because of the dollar amount vs unassembled to import). Prusa mini does look like a really good intro printer though even though its a little more than an ender 3.
 
I have considered the Ender 3. There is a large community as well I have found out. Its just that putting it together that kinda bothers me. I know the more you get into the printer (putting it together and all that) the better able you are to fix something when it goes wrong or out of whack and 3D printers will have those problems at some point. I just figure for the first one the less pain the better. Just like with a pc. I bought the first one or two then started building them myself after that.
 
Skott said:
I have considered the Ender 3. There is a large community as well I have found out. Its just that putting it together that kinda bothers me. I know the more you get into the printer (putting it together and all that) the better able you are to fix something when it goes wrong or out of whack and 3D printers will have those problems at some point. I just figure for the first one the less pain the better. Just like with a pc. I bought the first one or two then started building them myself after that.
Click to expand...
You are going to be more successful by some assembly of the printer...then you understand how it all goes together. If you do it correctly, you can fine tune. 3D Printing is a tinkering for a bit upfront...until you get the exact quality you desire....keep that in mind. I had a decent print on my first assemble of my Ender 3 Pro, but with some tweaking you can really improve things.
 
Skott said:
Its just that putting it together that kinda bothers me.
Click to expand...
I followed this guy's video and it went fine. He does a good job going along to explain what to tweak and shakes out the leveling/squaring issues.

 
I picked up and ender 3 Pro about a week ago. Don't worry about assembly, most of it comes pre-assembled. You pretty much bolt some rails on and slide some crap on them. If you can build a PC and assemble ikea furniture you won't have any issues.

I used this video for mine.

Some things to keep in mind that I have learned in my first week.

-3D printing is fiddly. Don't plan on punching in and sd card with a model you like, hitting start, and walking away. There are plenty of guides on everything you need to account for like bed level, filament settings, slicers, etc. I wouldn't say any of it is hard, but it can be frustrating or time consuming. If you like to tinker it's great. If you want to churn out tons of minis because you like to paint and don't have any interest in tinkering, then it may not be such a great fit.

-It's freaking slow. Like I knew it was slow, but I didn't expect this slow. My first project is making an enclosure so I feel comfortable running prints unattended with my cats arounds.
 
To really save you from the fiddly-finicky micro-tuning, you really need a self-leveling programming...I use a BL-Touch and if I havent used the printer in a while, I run the calibration on the bed and then go to printing.

With the Ender 3 Pro you get the removable magnetic print bed...so much easier when loosening up the parts and not messing up with your bed level spring settings. I bought the upgraded bed springs off Amazon and they are much better than stock.
 
I may get the bed springs soon, probably when I order my next PLA+ spool (soon!). The magnetic bed is great but my level gets all out of whack just taking that off to peel a print. BL Touch is on my list but I need to prove to myself this is not one of my many 1 month hobbies before I put another $60 in lol.
 
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