As the heading say, I am totally and utterly new to 3d printing and would appreciate your advice on printers. My first choice is to build the MP3DP but it looks like the printed parts are no longer available so next will be to buy a printer. This is where my problem starts, what printer will be a good choice for my needs and what I can afford.
I want to have reasonable good quality prints and mostly things that I can get from Thingeverse as well as ad on to my Low Rider. Had a look and sort of like this given the price.
Creality 3DÂŽ Ender-3 DIY 3D Printer Kit 220x220x250mm Printing Size With Power Resume Function/V-Slot with POM Wheel/1.75mm 0.4mm Nozzle
I can only speak for myself, but I have the Ender 3 pro and am happy with it. I had an Anet A8 clone that worked well for me for many years as well.
My MPCNC stuff was all made on the Ender 3. It is a popular choice and many people here have them. I canât really recommend you anything else as I have no experience with them, but if you went with the Ender 3 it would certainly make good quality MPCNC parts.
The ender 3 is a popular workhorse, with good reason! It performs great, and youâll be able to print the MPCNC, without a doubt. Just make sure the axises are properly perpendicular when you assemble. Using a try square during assembly might be a good idea. If you quadruple the price, youâll get a prusa mk3s+ - but youâll lose plenty of learning opportunities since everything is automated. A nice middle way is the prusa mini. But donât listen to me, the ender is a good choice!
When I bought may first printer in March of 2020 it was a Monoprice select mini v2 I got on ebay from Monoprice, refurbished for $128. Now itâs got a comparatively small print volume, but did everything I needed it to do, which was eventually to built an MPCNC. Since then, Iâve used it to build the MP3DP, which I then used both to print a Piper 1 v2, and another custom-built 2020 aluminum extrusion-based printer. The Monoprice is still the most accurate printer I own. Probably because I didnât build itđ
Starting with something small, and then learning and building up more knowledge and understanding of 3D printers and how they work has been really fun, and I recommend that type of path if youâre wanting to really get into it.
I will suggest spending some time watching videos on how to set them up and address the common issues (eg breaking plastic extruder and replacing the awful bed springs)
Otherwise they are great once you get them dialed in
Thanks to you guys for the advise and heads-up. I am now looking at the YouTube videos of the Creality printer and it looks really promising, so I am going to order one.
There are also a bunch of Facebook forums for the Ender 3s.
Please be prepared to get frustrated. 3D printing has a steep learning curve and there is so much to learn,
Print and bed temperature, bed leveling and initial nozzle to bed height are things that will drive you mad. Once you get those youâll be good for a bit.
I always tell people to be prepared to get frustrated. Be ready to walk away for awhile, then come back when you are in a better mental state.
Fyi my printer has been printing great lately. Then I switched filament and itâs being difficult. The prints were brittle and looked awful. I now have enough experience to know itâs a tempature issue. Unfortunately yesterday I didnât have time to play with it to figure out the right temp for that specific filament. So I just had to leave it and will play with it when 8 have time this weekend.
I mention this as many donât make newbies aware of these kind of issues. So be ready for them. Once you do, youâll find youâll get good prints, and youâll be able to handle the issues as they come up.
Consider spending the extra 30 bucks and get the pro version or buy a glass plate. The plate fixes a lot of the bed issues you hear Ender users complain about. I also swapped out the bed springs for silicone blocks and they seem to work well.
My go to filament right now is ESun PLA+ that I found on Amazon. The PLA+ seems less brittle and prints really nice.
It could also be bad filament, I know a lot of beginners that spent hours trying to troubleshoot their machines when the issue was simply to buy better filament lol
Nope
Iâve used this filament before and it works ok
I forgot to write down or save the settings. Itâs PLA and Iâve switched mostly to PLA+ as I like it much better. The temps are a bit different and they really matter.
I .eant bad as in it has absorbed moisture. Brittleness and poor quality are two big signs that the pla has absorbed too much moisture. So it can happen to rolls that have printed fine and even sometimes with fresh rolls. But if adjusting the temp fixes your problems, then keep it up. No reason to fix whatâs not broken
Yes
I agree
But I also know that having seen this with this filament itâs most likely temp. The course of action is find the right temp and make a note of it. If things donât improve then get a dryer and try that.
Actually a dryer and dry box are on my list of things to get.
Iâm not a beginner anymore, but I still canât figure out why the fine tooth gears donât turn out well. From the front of the printer it prints fine, but from the back you can see how the nozzle presses on the teeth, they thaw and deform. I calibrated the table many times.
I print with 0,1 mm, 1 layer, 30-50 mm/sec.
Iâm assuming youâre using the Ender 3. Iâve had this issue before and itâs 99% the bed leveling. Give the back two leveling knobs a 1/4 turn to tighten them (lowering the bed) until the problem fixes. Or itâs possible the wheels that hold onto the metal rail for the bed arenât quite tight enough, against the railing, so itâs allowing the bed to wobble.
I almost drove myself mad trying to figure out the bed leveling. The Pro model came âmostly assembledâ and those guide wheels were part of the preassembled unit. They were a tad loose, so the bed had about 0.5mm play on either side.