publicado de forma cruzada desde: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4926065
publicado de forma cruzada desde: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4926058
Any 3d printing nerd that can point me in the right direction? The amount of brands out there is overwhelming.
I’d suggest checking if your local library system has any printers. A number of library systems in the US are setting up printer labs for hte public.
Counterpoint to the Ender 3 recommendations.
That said, I have a first gen Ender 5 and it’s been working great after I upgraded to a dual-gear extruder. But there have been a lot of innovations in 3d printing over the last few years, so at least get the more recent updates of any printer-line you get.
I’m going to go ahead and say get an Ender 3. “Easy” 3D printing is nice and all, but if that’s what you want, you can go order parts from a print farm.
An Ender 3 is really going to allow you to get your hands dirty. It’s highly upgradable and extensible, and AFAIK it’s also open-source now. There are anvariety of ready-mades community-made upgrades and modifications that you can print and apply, and some that you need physical parts for - but hey, that’s half the fun!
Later on, you can swap to a more advanced and stable printer like a Prusa, but the education and experience that a simpler printer like this is going to provide is simply invaluable. Plus, it’s also on the cheaper end, which is perfect for a starter printer.
(I’m talking about the Ender 3/3 Pro here, not the late upgrades like the V2 or V3, which are more restricted and come with a lot of features on their own, which really limits how much you can learn on your own)
Depends on your budget and how handy you are. If you’ve got cash and want something that just works, I hear the newer Ankermakes are pretty good for beginners and relatively painfree. If you’re on a budget and willing to get your hands dirty, can’t really go wrong with an Ender3. Comgrow.com used to sell ender3 amazon returns, but that no longer seems to be the case.
Keep an eye out on 3dprinting deals over on
A good starter printer is the Ender-3 V3 SE. It’s reasonably fast and reliable for the price. It comes pre-assembled unlike some earlier Ender-3 models which are more DIY. I’ve had one for about 6 months and I’m very happy with it.
In addition to a printer, you’ll want good slicer software. It’s hard to go wrong with Cura. It’s free software under the LGPL v3, source code available here. It supports a ridiculous number of printers, and it incredibly customizable. It’s also very fast. I regularly run it on a budget years-old laptop with onboard Intel graphics and 8GB RAM and it still works perfectly. A lot of the slicer software that comes direct from printer manufacturers is either some weird homegrown thing with poor performance and poor customization, or it’s just Cura with proprietary bits on top. Ignore it all and go straight to original Cura.
To get started in 3D modelling, get a free account at Tinkercad. It’s a proprietary web thing from the bloodsuckers at Autodesk, but it’s actually legitimately good. It’s easy to export the right kind of file that Cura needs.
