Get a 3D printer guys...they are worth the money!

[potato]

one reason i dont have a 2d printer is mainly because i don't use them enough and by the time i need to use them the cartridge dried up or the head clogs. laser printers would require maintenance.

same reason why i dont have a 3d printer and if i really need to i might as well pay someone with a printer to print them since u wont be using them enough or sell my works to make it a good investment.

 

[potato]

View attachment 560591

You can get pretty good results with a PLA printer but you're going to either spend a lot of time printing or a lot of time post-print sanding, priming, sanding, priming (repeat A LOT) to get the look you're going for. It was easier on large prints like the pieces for the above Fett action figure than it has been for smaller scale items to get the desired look. This was about 300 hours of print time with almost no infill and a .8 nozzle with .3 layer height. It would easily have been over a thousand print hours with infill of even 25%. I've been interested in resin printers for a while but like others have said the landscape is pretty intimidating.

how big is the printer to print such large parts and how heavy is the end product?

 

[potato]

not just the landscape, the price is so intimidating....

if you are committed might as well start a 3d printing biz. customers send in a 3d file you print and send out or self collect. that is the only way for average person to be able to not just afford one but also maintain/fix them.as a hobby it might be way too much.

 

[Masao]

While you can get an 8k printer now for under $600 USD, you need to consider use and other costly factors. The resins vary in price and some may even cost over $400. That's more that half the price of the printer!

Then there is the cleanup. They are messy. They require gallons of isopropyl alcohol to properly maintain. This not just for wiping the printer down, this is also for washing the parts.

You'll need good ventilation, a large enough, dedicated workspace and time to both print and maintain the printer. If you have a 6'x3' dedicated workspace available, you should have enough room for casual printing.

You'll also need a washer for the alcohol bath as well as a UV curing station.

Roughly a $1000 investment in all to start.

If you consider all this, you may be ready...but not before.

 

[Tuvix Was Framed]

it seems like the prices for printers have just continued to drop every year. What is a decent entry level one nowadays for scratch building for a complete beginner?

I spent some time looking through old threads, I’m just nervous about the learning curve to use blender etc

 

[HAL9000.]

it seems like the prices for printers have just continued to drop every year. What is a decent entry level one nowadays for scratch building for a complete beginner?

I spent some time looking through old threads, I’m just nervous about the learning curve to use blender etc

Mars by Elegoo for starting out. Even the older first version still stands up today.

 

[Antarion]

Even looking at the Elegoo page doesn't answer me this questions

Elegoo has Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune models. What are the differences, is Jupiter the biggest or is it just, newer models get the further away planet names?