Random 3D printing chatter

Cenedd said:
You've got a few options that probably will depend on where you want to end up (personal use, business use etc).
I personally use Fusion 360 as there is a free for hobby/personal use version if you jump through the right hoops in the right order and renew it each year AFTER it has expired - you can't do it before.
OnShape is another that's all web-based and seems to be quite popular too.
Solidworks is also well thought of but I don't think there's a free version so it's probably more applicable if you're going to be usiyit professionally and the field you're looking at prefer it.
There's also things like Tinker CAD but - and I may be doing it a disservice - I think it's more aimed at STLs and tweaking stuff than a full featured package.
Irritatingly, I'm not sure you'll find SketchUp a lot of help - it's the path I started down but doesn't seem to have kept up and other things are different enough that it doesn't help a lot.

As for where to learn, YouTube is probably your most accessible. There are paid for online courses too, depends on your learning style/pace.
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@Cenedd Exactly what I needed, I've got Fusion 360 installing as we speak and I'll start there much appreciated.

I've got no business use but a few projects I'm planning to do which currently don't have a solution and I'm probably not the only one thinking it.

Any recommendation on specific YT guides to take a look at?
 
Not specifically as a series for starting from scratch to be honest. I went at it rather piece-meal and just used it to model things I needed and hit YT when I got stuck. Slowly brought it together enough that I can make good use of it but wouldn't call myself a whizz.
Fusion 360 School have some good 'how do I do this specific thing' type videos but I don't think it's a start from zero series. Plenty of those but I've not watched them so can't comment on how good/bad they are.
 
I'll also put a recommendation behind Onshape, I used to use Fusion 360 but since most of my machines are linux, something web based or cross-platform was necessary and Onshape is good so long as you are happy with sharing documents by default (and therefore getting the service for free). I would also second the 'just give it a go' technique with whatever tool you pick; if you think of it as a series of sketches on a plane and then extruding out, doing most of the basic stuff isn't too difficult and then you can search for specific techniques / approaches when you hit a snag!
 
Cenedd said:
You may find that the noise isn't a Bambu thing. Any high speed printer is going to make noise when whatever moves, moves fast. Motor noise cancellation does help a bit but it mainly makes the character of the noise less irritating. Bursts of high-speed fan are also annoying - as I'm sure you know - and it's often not at a fixed speed, it will ramp up for a short section and then down again so it doesn't fade into the background so much. The hot cupboard probably isn't so much of a problem as you think as for some prints, a warm breeze-free environment help (mainly ASA and ABS). The humidity is fairly easy to deal with too - just get either a dry box or one of the cereal containers (see post 1467 above), screw in a pneumatic fitting, slide in a bit of bowden tube and you're good to go. A good dose of desicant in the bottom and external humidity isn't a problem.
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I went for the P1S in the end, think I’ll just have to deal with the noise or move it to the cupboard.
 
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Last week I printed an articulated shark for my daughter, unbeknown to me she took it to school.
She proudly came home and said she'd set up a shop.
I've just finished printing 9 various colours as she came home with orders from all her friends who have bought them at a £1 each from her, her plan is to reinvest it back into the shop to buy some more colours :D:cry:
 
Chaos666 said:
Well.. It's not like you don't have to maintain the newer ones
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Yeah, I've had to grease the leadscrews at least twice, the workload is terrible! :p
I'll give you that a lot of it is luck, mind. I have had a couple of clogs that were a pain, although at least one of those was bad filament.
 
King Damager said:
Well true, and I’m broadly ok with some maintenance. But everything does suggest they’re more plug and play, and I probably spend more time maintaining the Ender at the moment than I do printing…
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Put it this way. I've got an Ender 5 Pro and the upgrade parts for it (new controller, new hotend extruder combo) and I bought an X1C because the reason I wasn't getting on with doing the upgrade was clearly just because I knew I'd need to print parts to complete the upgrade once I'd taken apart the printer. Ender is still sitting there and I bought an A1 Mini as well. Turns out, I just want to get on with printing stuff and seeing how badly I've got the 3D design wrong :D
 
Cenedd said:
Put it this way. I've got an Ender 5 Pro and the upgrade parts for it (new controller, new hotend extruder combo) and I bought an X1C because the reason I wasn't getting on with doing the upgrade was clearly just because I knew I'd need to print parts to complete the upgrade once I'd taken apart the printer. Ender is still sitting there and I bought an A1 Mini as well. Turns out, I just want to get on with printing stuff and seeing how badly I've got the 3D design wrong :D
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How is the A1 mini? Much easier than the Ender? I’ve thought about the x1 if I was going to go Bambu, but the cost is unappealing … I’ve got upgrade parts on the 3v2, including auto levelling, but it’s still a pain and takes ages…
 
A1 Mini is good so far. Smaller print volume 180x180x180 vs 256x256x256 (minus exclusion area) but I've got the X1 for that. Mainly use it for prototyping stuff while I've got the X1 running longer jobs or multi-colour. That's why I didn't go for the AMS Lite - small and quiet was the aim....that and cheap :D The nozzle wiper is a definite improvement over the X1....in that it actually works. Dead easy assembly: remove from box, undo lock screws, tighten bed screws and that's about it
A1 (non-mini) could be a better fit for larger build volume - really depends what you want to print. Significantly quieter than X1 as well.
 
Cenedd said:
Yeah, I've had to grease the leadscrews at least twice, the workload is terrible! :p
I'll give you that a lot of it is luck, mind. I have had a couple of clogs that were a pain, although at least one of those was bad filament.
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Well I changed my brass nut that rides along the screw to POM.. No more grease. No more issues.
 
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