Spec me a 3D printer

Derek W

Derek W

Derek W

Soldato
Joined
1 Oct 2008
Posts
12,703
Location
Designing Buildings
Hi all,

I've been browsing a few of the topics on here along with checking out a few things on various websites (will be youtubing as well!) as I've been toying with the idea of getting a 3D printer but if i'm honest I'm not sure what on earth will fit the bill.

I work in Architecture and I've been thinking it would be quite nice to mock up some models of house designs at either a 1:50 or 1:100 scale depending on the size of house along with the potential of putting together some 3D models of details at a 1:5 or 1:10 scale.

As I'm just dipping my toe in the water I don't want to be spending too much but equally I do need something that's fit for purpose.

Also in terms of software for producing models I currently use AutoCAD and Sketchup (although I'm still learning Sketchup) but I have been seeing references made to Fusion 360 and Tinkercad for exporting the model to the printer? I'll do some more research on file formats for the models but can my current skillset be transferred into an adequate model or would i have to use another set of software?

Thanks for any input.
 
Budget, build volume and assembled or kit?

As for file format, you'll most likely export as .STL and then slice that to .gcode for the printer.
 
bulb66 said:
Budget, build volume and assembled or kit?

As for file format, you'll most likely export as .STL and then slice that to .gcode for the printer.
Click to expand...

Budget I would say less than £1k, build volume probably the bigger the better albeit i would probably be joining pieces after components are printed, Assembled or kit, no preference i don't think!
 
Derek W said:
Budget I would say less than £1k, build volume probably the bigger the better albeit i would probably be joining pieces after components are printed, Assembled or kit, no preference i don't think!
Click to expand...
To be honest with a budget of around 1K I'd go for a Prusa kit (£750). Yes it's a little older now but it's a rock solid printer, support is great, Prusaslicer is brilliant and there is a big community around it.

Other than a Prusa I would AVOID Creality, the company as a whole is terrible. If you wanted a cheaper first printer maybe look at AnyCubic Vyper (£300) or Kobra (£260) or Kobra Max (£600).
 
With that budget I’d also go for a prusa mk3, it’s on the higher end but they are reliable and come with great support if something is not right. It will do 250x210x210mm.

Creality is a lot cheaper but you may need to tweak things out of the box and depending on the price you might not have things like auto bed levelling etc.

There’s also two types of printers you might want to consider, FDM and resin. Resin is a lot higher detail and fast, but can be messy, fumes and require washing and curing. Resin is used a lot in the modelling and miniatures community.

I’d recommend fusion360 it’s free and everybody seems to be using it, loads of good tutorials as well. If you’ve used autocad and sketchup before you should be able to use it no problem.
 
I used it a while back for free, I didn’t like it much but then again I’m mostly solidworks/pro-engineer. You should pick it up pretty quickly though.

FDM is definitely the easiest option (imho) but not as detailed as resin, which I know very little about, you can still get stunning prints but they take ages, we got a couple of sidewinders when they were £180 each, 300x 300 x 400 build volume but in all honesty I’m not sure that is realistic as the bed heating isn’t very consistent. For what we use it for though they have been brilliant.

Why does Glebe park ring a bell with me, I’m from a small town in fife….is it near here? Deffo seen that before lol.
 
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