I’m shopping for my first printer, I don’t have any experience with 3d printing but I’m vaguely familiar with the whole process and I understand there will be a learning curve and I’m looking forward to that part....
I got an Ender 3 for Christmas, it was great - but it's limited if you don't get a bunch of upgrades. But I did learn a lot about how 3D printing works.
I recently got a Prusa Mk4, and I'm very happy with it. Prints like a dream, is much faster than the Ender 3, and is much quieter as well. Time will tell if long term reliability is as good as I've heard, but short term it's been very reliable.
I've heard a lot of people suggest Bambu for the same price - but honestly I'm pretty skeptical of how they run their business. For some reason, they encrypt log files. Their support staff gave Grant of 3D Musketeers a terrible support experience when he had problems with his printer. Recently they had a cloud outage that resulted in printers starting up unexpectedly and starting to print automatically, which in some cases resulted in physical damage to the printer when there was a previous print on the bed. I would wait at least a year for them to sort out their business.
Pulling a full 15A is liable to trip a circuit breaker anyways, it's extremely rare to need that kind of power from a single outlet. The outlets I use can handle up to 1200W, but the Prusa Mk4 has a 240W power supply, so there's plenty of power to spare. I don't imagine even a Bambu would be pulling a full 1200W.
I've got my smart plugs on Zigbee, through Home Assistant, so they're not on the cloud. But that did require some research so I could get the right devices, because it's a bit of a minefield trying to find smart devices that don't need to be cloud based.
Another vote for the Mk4. I'm very happy with mine, and I think that some people who lash out against it need to consider that not everybody wants a speed demon. Some people want good support and high uptime.
I have a Revo installed on my printer, so changing nozzles is easy. Since the nozzles are standardized and are the same height, I don't need to adjust the Z height.
If layer adhesion is a problem at larger sizes, check the line width, it should be larger than the nozzle size.
I recently got my first 3D printer to my place just a couple weeks ago! I thought it would be really nice to keep a small sample of each of my filaments printed out so that I have a readily-available example of what each actually looks like....
Having samples makes it easier if you have a lot of filament, and in my case I have a bunch of cards in a box I can easily carry with if I get a request and want to show them their options.
I see a lot of people claim they tune/calibrate their printer any time they use a new spool of filament. But does anyone actually do this? It feels like a waste of time when filament is so consistent, even between brands. I can understand doing it for specialty rolls, but for basic pla? Seems unnecessary
Not really, I usually run a test print. But I have noticed that sometimes a different color will need different settings, even if it's the same material and brand.
One thing that I do for every roll is to put an ID number on it and weigh it, and put that into a database. That way I have a good estimate of whether or not I have enough filament for a project.
It's a trend, away from the plastic spools which were decidedly made from a non-recyclable plastic.
It's always been curious to me that recyclable plastic was never even considered to be an option.
That said - cardboard is recyclable and biodegradable, so it's good no matter how you dispose of it.
But - it does have environmental downsides. If not carefully sourced, the wood can come from places where deforestation is a problem. It's also rather energy intensive to make, so depending on the energy source can contribute to CO2 emissions.
Nothing will be perfect, but cardboard is likely better than the alternatives.
I printed some tiny but detailed board game pieces recently, I don't think I'd get the detail I wanted with a 0.8. I also have Revo installed so I'm okay with swapping nozzles frequently.
Cord Wall Pass-through (www.printables.com)
Advice/Opinions about first printer...
I’m shopping for my first printer, I don’t have any experience with 3d printing but I’m vaguely familiar with the whole process and I understand there will be a learning curve and I’m looking forward to that part....
3D printer nightmare fuel: Bambu X1C and P1P started printing while owners were asleep (www.theverge.com)
Local-only octoprint is feeling better and better.
Ideal nozzle diameter
Hi all...
Does anybody else do this? (lemmy.world)
I recently got my first 3D printer to my place just a couple weeks ago! I thought it would be really nice to keep a small sample of each of my filaments printed out so that I have a readily-available example of what each actually looks like....
Do people actually tune their printer for each new roll of filament?
I see a lot of people claim they tune/calibrate their printer any time they use a new spool of filament. But does anyone actually do this? It feels like a waste of time when filament is so consistent, even between brands. I can understand doing it for specialty rolls, but for basic pla? Seems unnecessary
Is this new? Latest roll of filament came on a cardboard spool (lemmy.world)
Switched to 0.8 nozzle on my ender not looking back (lemmy.world)