Anyone own a 3d printer?

[aeviaanah]

Looking to get into the 3d printing hobby. Curious if there are any HBT members out there that have access to or own one.

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Hobby? Those things cost over a quarter of a mil dont they?

 

[aeviaanah]

Hobby? Those things cost over a quarter of a mil dont they?

nah they are getting cheap. Ive seen em as cheap as 500. Im looking at the 1,500 dollar range.

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Oh wow. That would definately be cool

 

[AlCophile]

Look at the investing site: seekingalpha.com and type in 3D, or DDD, and you should get an S-load of leads, along with Co. names and price ranges, and specific tasks the printers can do.

 

[aeviaanah]

I'm comparing Maker Gear M2, Type A Series 1 and Ultimaker currently. Type any of these into you tube and you will see what I am comparing.

My biggest concern is whether it is open or a closed box system. From what I understand, If it is closed box it is much harder to upgrade. It would be like upgrading your home printer. The open boxed systems are open sourced and one could easily upgrade and keep up with the technology.

 

[Leithoa]

The hackerspace I belong to has a makergear prusa. That model is a couple tiers down from the M2 but still produces pretty good print quality, a lot of the quality is based on our not having it tweaked just yet.
You should read MAKE magazine's review of the latest printers if you haven't already. What exactly are you planning on doing with yours? The intended use will probably play a factor. Another consideration is the software side of things.

 

[aeviaanah]

Make magazines issue along with a couple other sources is the basis for my decisions.

I am more interested in the technology and learning something new than actually making something. When I do hit print i guess it will be little knick knacks for my hobbies. Functional tools and possibly some artistic stuff. My first project will probably be a carbonater cap.

 

[Leithoa]

Might be worthwhile to head up to Davis/Sacremento or down to Fresno to play with one of their 3D printers. The individual hackerspaces might have a class on designing stuff to print as well. http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Special:SearchByProperty/State/California
Printing things like carbonator caps will take near 100% fill and a long print time. As well as you may be tied to the higher end printers, even higher than the M2, in order to have reliable print resolution and layer adherence to handle the pressure requirements. I'd definitely suggest getting in touch with a hackerspace mailing list to see if any of their members have experience with 3D printing pressure vessels. Maybe even Maker Gear themselves, or another printer manufacturer could give you some pointers.

 

[aeviaanah]

Might be worthwhile to head up to Davis/Sacremento or down to Fresno to play with one of their 3D printers. The individual hackerspaces might have a class on designing stuff to print as well. http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Special:SearchByProperty/State/California
Printing things like carbonator caps will take near 100% fill and a long print time. As well as you may be tied to the higher end printers, even higher than the M2, in order to have reliable print resolution and layer adherence to handle the pressure requirements. I'd definitely suggest getting in touch with a hackerspace mailing list to see if any of their members have experience with 3D printing pressure vessels. Maybe even Maker Gear themselves, or another printer manufacturer could give you some pointers.

So what exactly is a hackerspace? A club of some sort? I clicked the link but am unsure what I am looking at. Thanks for the help!

Printing a carbonator cap was just an idea. Ill be sure to check in with a few manufacturers to get some specifics.

 

[mmb]

I've a MakerBot Replicator 2X that I tool around with ABS plastics with. That could print your carbonator cap with little issue. I wouldn't want to rely on PLA for pressures that you'd need to use with a carbonator cap unless it was just to move already carbed beer around. Force carb with a PLA plastic cap sounds questionable to me.

 

[aeviaanah]

I've a MakerBot Replicator 2X that I tool around with ABS plastics with. That could print your carbonator cap with little issue. I wouldn't want to rely on PLA for pressures that you'd need to use with a carbonator cap unless it was just to move already carbed beer around. Force carb with a PLA plastic cap sounds questionable to me.

Thanks, ill be sure to take note to use ABS for the carbonater cap.
How come you decided to go with a closed box system?

 

[Leithoa]

A Hackerspace is a whole bunch of things to many people and they vary 'space to 'space but in the broadest terms they are a community workshop where people pool funding and expertise to create bigger/more elaborate projects than they might be able to accomplish by themselves. Many of then also have am educational aspect to them and give back to the community.
They're a sort of place to bounce ideas around and learn new skills.
Most of them focus on computer and electronics projects but a number also have lathes and machining equipment.