3D printing for non 3D printer owners

[undeadmith]

hey guys,

so i've already seen that alot of you guys have a 3D printer, this is not for you guys.
this is for the people who do not have a 3D printer
what if you really want to have that one thing wich is best made with a 3d printer?
do you use a 3D ^printing service? do you ask a friend do you ask a fellow RPF'er how you do it?

for those who do have a 3D printer: can i borrow some time on it? i want to make Helgak's starlord helmet

 

[Larsho122]

I just went to the local macker/ hack space. Atleast where im from they are all over the place and normaly the people around are verry help full

 

[zapwizard]

I don't yet own a 3D printer, but I have done lots of 3D printing though all sorts of channels.

Part of it also depends on what you are making, and what type of 3D printer you need.
Here is a detailed primer on the types of printers I wrote a while back.

If the part you are making does not have tiny details (most helmets do not) then you can use a FDM printer. This is what most home and maker space's have for printing.
Most FDM parts will require some secondary processing. (Sanding, smoothing, bondo, etc...) The 3D printer output gets you most of the shape of your project.
Also, most makerspaces won't build stuff for you, they will encourage you to learn the machine and build it yourself. Part of this is that FDM 3D printers are slow, so you spend a lot of time babysitting the printer to make sure the part is coming out as expected. No one wants to babysit for free.

There are many professional online shops, which are geared towards home users, such as Shapeways or i-Materialise. These pro shops offer higher detail and more different processes and services than you will get from most other places. I have used both companies for several projects with great results each time.

Then there are semi-professional places such as 3D Hubs. These places pair you with a amateur or pro-shop who can print your part. I have found the prints I get from semi-pro shops hit or miss. I have had some good parts, and some VERY bad parts. The bad parts mostly came from lazy people who ran their printers at maximum speed without a single care for the outcome, these people are looking for a quick buck. In one case the part I got was so bad I might as well have carved it by hand myself. So you often end up having to read user reviews and ask for photos of previous builds.

 

[undeadmith]

so i found a makerspace not so far from me with an amazing name: fablab love it already bad thing: they are not open in the weekend XD

 

[epoxinator]

I don't want to own a 3D printer: there are too many different types of prints I want to do, in too many kinds of materials, for me to want to settle on a particular kind of printer. Also, I know it's more expensive to have someone else do the print for me, but if they have a print error, they will redo the print, and I don't have to experience the frustration of watching a print go bad, having to fix whatever problem caused the print to fail, and having to pay for print material that is wasted in a print failure.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

What do you mean by settle on one printer based on materials you want to print in? Most printers these days can handle all types of materials.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, check out 3dhubs.com

You can find local printers to print things for you

 

[guitarpirate]

I use Fineline mainly:
https://www.protolabs.com/additive-manufacturing

For cosmetic parts that come pre-polished with little finishing required, I use Accura Xtreme White material (SLA process), which is their brand name for ABS. This looks awesome (like an injection molded part, almost no 3D print striations to get rid of, sharp corners, etc) but can melt if left in hot sun and shatters/splinters when drilled or tapped.

For very strong/snapfit parts that have great elongation on break & temperature resistance, I use ALM PA 650 (SLS process), which is their equivalent of unfilled Nylon 12. This plastic can be tapped, screwed into, drilled, etc, with no splitting/breaking.
(https://www.protolabs.com/resources/materials/additive-materials)

The shipping is about $10 for small package and $20 for bigger parts. Pros: very fast online service, order your stuff in a few clicks. Cons: can be expensive, but you do get what you pay for.

I've also used RapidMade, a local company.

My hackerspace has wood CNC machines, laser cutter, drill presses, wood lathe, metal lathe and 5 3D printers: 4 MakerBot Replictors and a custom machine someone build from a kit (Big Dog, or something like that). I don't use the MakerBots because the quality is awful, I have to sit there and watch them like little children, and they break down constantly. My night builds usually end up looking like a ball of yarn smeared all over the build plate, and hopefully no fire starts while that's going on. Anyway, I definitely wouldn't consider buying my own printer to have these problems with. The machines used by Fineline are million dollar range and regularly maintained by people who understand what they're doing, unlike me I think a better investment might be a pro CNC machine I can use on plastic.

 

[Darksyde13]

I also want to chime in that sometimes you can find alternate options to actual 3d printing. you can look for Pepakura files of what you want or for low polygon count you can give a go at 'unfolding' the model in Pepakura yourself. There is also a stacking option from 123d Make fod doing things solid, mostly solid, or solid to be hollowed out. Pull in a file, print out the templates, stack up all the 'slices' from your chosen material, glue the stacks together and tada! 3d file to 3d real world object. You can also do more of a 3d puzzle type design as well, you'll just have to put a 'skin' on it when you are done. It's quite fun to play with.

I've actually used both methods to mock up 3d prints from files before actually getting them printed as the cost of some paper or cardboard is significantly lower than getting it printed no mater what service you use. Make sure it all looks good in cheap stuff then have it 3d printed.

http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/

http://www.123dapp.com/make

 

[epoxinator]

Kevin Gossett: "What do you mean by settle on one printer based on materials you want to print in? Most printers these days can handle all types of materials."

I haven't found that to be true. For instance, I've been doing some transparent prints at i.materialize, where they use a printer that utilizes liquid resin as the print media. That's a completely different type of printer than one that heats together particulate media. Shapeways.com has a medium that it calls translucent, which is used by the latter type of printer, but it's didn't look nearly as good as the liquid resin print.