3D Printer - Realistic Costs

[Robfilmmaker]

I've tried researching the "real" costs involved in getting a 3D printer but I haven't come across any concrete info. Does anyone here have one and can tell me what I'm likely to spend on the printer, supplies, and maintenance, etc in the real world?

 

[ShowCraft]

I have an Afinia printer. I chose it for its ease of use, low cost and good tech support as its affiliated with the larger 'UP' printer maker. With rebate, I paid about $1250 and was printing just minutes after taking it out of the box.
Its a smaller table (5.5 inches) but as I'm only printing kit parts, its fine for me.
I'm printing in ABS plastic that costs around $30 for a 2 pound spool.
After a couple of months, IV had no problems at all.

 

[Drewid]

I have a Makerbot replicator 1 that cost about $1,800 when I bought it. I have the two print nozzle version which is why it was a little more. I haven't made any two-color parts or used the second print head for build material yet but those are options.

Additional costs will be in terms of plastic, PLA, or build material plus whatever you chose to spend on your CAD software. There are free programs, cheap programs, and expensive programs each with their own costs and advantages.

Aside from the printer occasionally slipping a belt (which I think I have completely fixed now) and temperature gradient problems (also solved) I haven't had any problems printing.

 

[CaptainMarvel]

DIY 3D Printers and CNC Routers are actually more obtainable/affordable these days than you might realize.
Check out some of the links on my CNC & 3D PRINTING pintrest page for several examples/options.


Also check out these several resources (for example) . . . .
1. ORD BOT HADRON
. . . and the MAKERSLIDE linear bearing system upon which it is based ...
. . . and where you can still PURCHASE A KIT ... though there are [B]DIY PLANS AVAILABLE[/B].


2. EVENTORBOT - OpenSource 3D PRINTER


3. BOT MILL - 3D PRINTER KIT


... to identify a few.




Planning on building one myself soon. :cool

 

[Robfilmmaker]

Do the print heads ever need to be replaced?

 

[IEDBOUNTYHUNTER]

I have the Replicator 1 at home and Rep 2 at work. there both ok for basic shapes, sometimes it surprises me with a really good detailed part. they both need clean up work on parts. a little putty and some primer. but for the price you cant beat it.

the only problem ive had is the extruder nozzle gets clogged. but thats an easy fix, unscrew it soak in some acetone. and clean it out and re intsall. but that was after printing over 80 parts in about a month.

The most important part with these printers i feel is part orientation. or breaking a complex part into multiple pieces. it will save on the headaches and will be easier to clean up and work with.

As for the costs its about 50 bucks for a roll ABS. not bad i made a ton of parts out of a roll.


Al

 

[darthviper107]

It depends on how detailed you need to print, the highest quality that the extruder printers can get is 100 microns layer thickness, which isn't terrible but still requires a good amount of sanding, so you can't do very fine details.

 

[Finhead]

It depends on how detailed you need to print, the highest quality that the extruder printers can get is 100 microns layer thickness, which isn't terrible but still requires a good amount of sanding, so you can't do very fine details.

What? :confused Sorry this is not correct a nicely tuned Replicator can easily do 100-50 microns. I have printed at 50 and 10 microns but have no idea why you would want to take the time and effort to do so. 100 microns printed correct (no ringing etc) is as good of a print quality as you would get from anything at Shapeways other than the ultra detail. At 10 microns you would get very close to the resin ultra detail, Ultimakers have done 5 microns with success so layer hieght is a none issue IMO.

Sorry meant to include this first time, didn't attach for some reason.
Devil head at 40 microns on a Ultimaker

 

[darthviper107]

I haven't seen any printer that's done better than 100 microns, from a quick search on ultimaker it doesn't seem standard that people can easily print at a better resolution than 100 microns, looks like people have done some tests but nothing is consistent. If you know something different then please share, I've been looking for something that can do 50 microns or better. The idea is you could print something with perfect quality and not have to do any sanding except for supports. At 100 microns there's very clear layer lines.

 

[Katarnar]

The makerbot Replicator 2 that is nearly twice as big as makerbot replicator 1 and the ability to make production quality models in a short space of time is £1400 last time i checked and thats with 1pound of the plastic further reals cost $45 per real of 1kg

 

[AxiomUltra]

The makerbot Replicator 2 that is nearly twice as big as makerbot replicator 1 and the ability to make production quality models in a short space of time is £1400 last time i checked and thats with 1pound of the plastic further reals cost $45 per real of 1kg

Hmm, last time I checked the Replicator 2 only added about an inch to it's actual build space (still about the size of a loaf of bread) and the 2x actually has less build space because of the double extruders. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[Finhead]

Hmm, last time I checked the Replicator 2 only added about an inch to it's actual build space (still about the size of a loaf of bread) and the 2x actually has less build space because of the double extruders. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

Nope your correct on both, that extra inch adds about 30% to the build volume on the Rep 2 though.
Mind you the Replicator is open source and there are case mods (just laser out a new case, cheap) to make it approx 50% larger than the Rep 2. I have done this mod, took about a day and $225 to do still well under a cost with dual extruder printing.

 

[Randavian]

The makerbot Replicator 2 that is nearly twice as big as makerbot replicator 1 and the ability to make production quality models in a short space of time is £1400 last time i checked and thats with 1pound of the plastic further reals cost $45 per real of 1kg

As far as the cost of the additional filliment... there are some guys on the Solidoodle forum that have made a beta machine to make their own filliment for a lot less. Turns out that the same ABS material, in bead form, costs significantly less than what it does on the roll.

There are four or so guys that have built the machine and are tweaking it, as we speak. But so far, they have produced quite a bit of filliment strands and have even ran it through their printers with great success.

Once they have the machine to their liking they plan on selling kits to sell. And these kits appear to be moderately simple to put together, especially compared to the work involved in putting together 3d printer kits. Of course, the solidoodle comes put together already for around the same price as other comparable 3d printer units that you have to assemble.

Once I get a printer, I imagine that I will look into getting one of these filliment makers next.

 

[JOATRASH FX]

....100 microns printed correct (no ringing etc) is as good of a print quality as you would get from anything at Shapeways other than the ultra detail. At 10 microns you would get very close to the resin ultra detail...

Hi Finhead,

I've been printing at Shapeways for a few years now, trying the "strong flexible, detail and frosted detail plastics as well as metal) and every time I look into "affordable" printers thinking I might get one I become unsure if there is any point to is because most of the results I see are FAR below what I can get out of even SF.

Now, the devil head in your photo looks FANTASTIC in comparison to all the other stuff I've seen, but how much work and/or money is needed to get such results from an Ultimator, for example? Some of the questions that keep popping into my head are:

• How much calibration and tweaking needs to happen to get it printing that well? Once calibrated, is it consistent or do you continuously ened to tweak and recalibrate?
• How much do you need to spend on software or hardware upgrades to be able to print such fine details?
• I've heard that this kind of printer places a lot of demands on the actual model- how you orient it, support, how you break it down and so on. At Shapeways you can send up a model with intersecting polygons and other "errors" in the mesh and it will often print fine provided you have "watertight" model to raytrace on fromt he outside. (Actually, of all the places I've uploaded models to, SW has THE most forgiving software. I've submitted models that my software (Modo and Meshlab) tell me are error-free to variou places an often it will ONLY be SW that can print it.
• Layer thickness is one thing, but what about other detail factors? Could an Ultimator reliably print a curved surface wall at 0.7mm?

We are talking about a machine that costs less than 1/10 (or even 1/20)of the pro machines. It it really realistic to expect it to be able to compete? If a LOT of time is spend calibrating, test-printing and fixing models, is it really worth owning one IF your main goal/need is the finished result and not the "journey getting there". I'm not at all knocking that part of it if that's where your interest lies- just trying to get some clarity as to whether I myself would see such a printer as a pile of frustration or not, since I kinda just "want the model" to start painting and assembling asap once I've finished building it in my software.

Thanks for any input you might have. :thumbsup

 

[Finhead]

I don't own a Ultimaker so can't say for certain on any of those points.
I have a Replicator and it did take a few weeks of messing around to get it printing at 100 microns a few more to go down to 50-40 microns. That said a tuned 100 micron print is not far off from a 50-40 micron print and I rarely use anything past that point as there really is no need.
The pro FDM systems actually do not print that fine, example the Mojo which would be the cheapest pro model in this range (10k) prints at 178 micron.
Yes you have to place you model correct so it prints optimal, you get used to what and how your bot prints so this becomes a lot easier as you go. It places it's own support structure so there is no need to work that out unless you want to work with it, then you have to build you model to print without. You can print at one wall thickness which for my machine works out to approx .5mm but there is no need for this on a FDM machine. You don't need to run the same thin wall model as you would trying to save $$ at shapeways, I like to print at 2mm or so wall thickness if I can.
Huge benifit to having the machine here is that you can print it now no wait, you will have whatever you are printing within 24 hours ( I've had a print take 27 mind you) You can test sizes and or detail on a piece instead of submiting waiting 2-3 weeks just to find it was the wrong size or the piece didn't turn out how you wanted it etc. Huge time saver IMO well worth the small amount of $$ spent, I still have less than $2K into the machine will all my mods etc and the software/firmware is free so it just gets better as it gets tweaks and upgrades.

 

[IEDBOUNTYHUNTER]

One thing i noticed is that The REP 2 is alot faster and the PLA sticks to it self alot better.


For the price you cant beat it. the only draw back for regular modelers is learning the 3-D software to make parts.

 

[Finhead]

One thing i noticed is that The REP 2 is alot faster and the PLA sticks to it self alot better.


For the price you cant beat it. the only draw back for regular modelers is learning the 3-D software to make parts.

Faster? Are you running sailfish on your Rep1?
Rep 1 is about 20% faster right now running Sailfish 7, aldo prints PLA perfect 1/2 my prints are PLA

 

[IEDBOUNTYHUNTER]

Faster? Are you running sailfish on your Rep1?
Rep 1 is about 20% faster right now running Sailfish 7, aldo prints PLA perfect 1/2 my prints are PLA

No i havent, do you have a link for it. would like to try it.


Thanks Al

 

[MrHateAol]

I'm new here... my first post in fact... I've been considering a 3D printer for sme time now and found that one of the "hidden" costs is the 3D sculpting software and the issues that brings about. In order to have any serious sculpting capacity you basically need a newer Win 64 Bit OS to run most of the software that will generate the shapes you want. And the learning curve is ginormous from my experience.

Solidoodle is selling a base line model 3D printer for $500.00 and has upscale versions as well, and their main selling point is while you have to wait 8 weeks for delivery, the unit arrives assembled and pre-calibrated. But if you consider the time you are waiting for it to learn a 3D software I imagine it would even out. I'm thinking by the end of summer I may be ready to receive a printer, because my learning curve on the software is going to be an issue.

 

[Drewid]

No i havent, do you have a link for it. would like to try it.

Thanks Al

Sailfish Firmware by jetty - Thingiverse

I'm new here... my first post in fact... I've been considering a 3D printer for sme time now and found that one of the "hidden" costs is the 3D sculpting software and the issues that brings about. In order to have any serious sculpting capacity you basically need a newer Win 64 Bit OS to run most of the software that will generate the shapes you want. And the learning curve is ginormous from my experience.

I've tried the trial version alibre and freecad. Alibre is $199 and freecad is, well, free. Both are parametric 3D cad programs with a shallow learning curve at first and it ramps up quickly on the more advanced features. I'd love to have Solidworks but I'm not shelling out the money for that one. Freecad would be a great starting place to learn 3D cad.