My son is about ready for his first printer. His school is running Cetus MK3 printers, he has a class using them, and his teacher has recommended this printer. He also has an educational seat of Fusion 360.
I’m proficient with Mastercam and hand written/modified G-code. I can help him with CAD no problem. Alignment, assembly, adjustment, and backlash are second nature for me. Have a little better than layman’s understanding of printers. (Lusted over the Markforged printer that could do continuous carbon fiber.)
Eventually, will be building my own shop and hope my son might work with me. Hope to include printing, especially in metal.
I’ve seen some of the flap about Bambu and them closing up the software tool chain. I would like to avoid that sort of thing, for now, openness is better.
Top of my budget is around $500, with $200 probably being better.
Usable prints for tooling/spacers/repairs would be a bonus as would being able to print UV resistant plastic.
My goal for him is to get gud at modelling and get a feel for computer controlled movement. Another goal, harder to describe, is him finding the joy in mechanical tinkering and producing an idea made physical.
Thank you much! What do?
IMO there are two things to consider. First: do you want FDM or SLA. You’re trading resolution for build volume. If you’re going to be making a lot of smaller things, SLA printers can offer more output since they print the same speed no matter how much of the build plate is occupied. Also consider the size of the things you’ll print. In other words, how much build volume should you be looking for.
Second: are you seeking to tinker with the printer as a point of interest/engagement or are you simply looking for the printer to be a tool?
Off-the cuff list:
… There are tons of other options too
FDM for now. Not planning on doing casting or proto mockups at this time.
Envelope is not a large concern, I assume it is similar to machining. You buy 1.5x the size you think you need and find out it should have been twice as big. The plan is to cut teeth on this printer before moving to something better/larger.
Mostly want to use the printer as a tool, not bothered if some tinkering is required. A Harbor Freight machine like a drill press or band saw is a ‘kit’. Use it for a little bit, take it apart and fix the manufacturing shortcomings. I’m okay with a printer of similar build quality as long as the bones are good.
Voron sounds interesting, have seen the Enders as well, seem to be okay.
On the envelope side: printing is more forgiving of having too small an envelope than machining. Since printing is all about adding material you can usually split the thing you want to print into pieces. I still think it’s worth considering it the usual 200mm^3 will be enough since splitting parts can be annoying.
Harbor freight is a good comparison to an ender. They’re fit for purpose, have some cheap parts, and are a decent platform to modify from. They will work out of the box most of the time, but you’ll find yourself wanting to improve them.
Printer bones are very replaceable, especially if you have a functioning printer. I printed my Voron parts on my old i3 clone. I’ve now used my Voron to print future parts for itself before tearing some of it down and modifying things. People do the same with enders. There’s even an Ender variant that rebuilds the Ender with a lot of Voron design ideas.
The only thing to be aware of is ultimate cost. Yes, you can turn the ender into most anything over time. It could wind up costing more money and time doing this though. Ultimately, the decision on how far to take the modifications will be yours and you can choose whether or not you want to have a frankenprinter. You’ll also learn a lot along the way going this route, which takes me back to my original question: what are your goals for this project?