3D printer questions

[mjroennebeck]

Hello. This is my first year doing pixel light shows. Im currently purchasing all the small accessories I might need for my enclosures and the lights or props. I'm starting to notice how expensive all these 3d printed items cost. So I wanted to ask some questions about 3d printers.

1. Is it worth buying a 3d printer in the long run?
2. If it's worth it, what is a good 3d printer for a beginner that can handle printing control board mounts, enclosure parts and light/prop mounts?
3. Where is the best place to get a 3d printer

 

[Snowy]

To be honest if you have time and patience go for it , but its probably cheaper to buy the items already done.
i do use a Creality Ender 3v3se for my 3d stuff i want to make , but in saying that i printed over 1000 seed pixel holders for my Showstopper Spinners and it took over 70 hours to print them yes it was fun would i do it again probably not!

 

[misterfied]

3d Printing is a hobby in itself. There is a huge learning curve that comes with it. If you can already use CAD (Computer Aided Drawing) that will help. If you decide to jump in, Buy a cheap one and upgrade as you learn

 

[Indigogyre]

3d Printing is a hobby in itself. There is a huge learning curve that comes with it. If you can already use CAD (Computer Aided Drawing) that will help. If you decide to jump in, Buy a cheap one and upgrade as you learn

Do you want to print thing or have printing things your hobby? There is a difference there.
If you want printing as a hobby then you can follow misterfied's advice and get something cheap and work through all the issues that come with it and learn stuff as you go along.

If you just want to print things and willing to commit then you should buy the best printer you can afford that will work reasonably well. On average that'll most likely be in the $500+ category. Cheaper printers have more issues than more expensive better built printers. You end up having to make more adjustments with cheaper printers over more expensive ones. There are operational differences between Prusa and Bambu Labs printers vs cheaper brands. Not every company is perfect and there are bad machines for every brand.

Core XY printers are faster then traditional bed moving printers. My suggestion would be to find a good quality core xy type printer. Bambu Labs and the Prusa Core are core xy printers. Creality has some also but I am less familiar with those.

Some items make sense to 3d print and some items make sense to buy. You will need to figure out which is which. I have 3d printed a lot of supports and brackets for my props and some items are holding up well after a couple of years.

If you have a Microcenter within driving distance you can buy good ones from them. Most can be ordered online though and ship when in stock.

I have 3 printers on a bench right now and a 4th in parts in storage to never be rebuilt and went from cheap to expensive. I use my Prusa mks3+ for 99% of my printing because it just works and I do not need to fiddle with it to work like the others. If a lot of parts are needed I will use another printer also.

 

[Domestos]

As mentioned above, 3D printing is a hobby in itself. That being said, the industry has moved quite a lot in the last couple of years.
Gone are the day's of endless tinkering and tweeking to get the perfect print. Prusa has set the standard and embraced the concept of "it just works" with their bed slinging printers. Unfortunately they are on the more expensive side. Bambu Labs have really taken the concept of "it just works" to a whole new level, much to the delight of end users.

Couple of things to consider when looking at 3D Printing.

1. Bed size (this will determine the maximum size of print, or the number of smaller parts you can print in 1 go) - I would recommend 250mm (10inch) or larger bed sizes (this also seems to be more or less the industry standard)
2. Filament type - Most hobbyists print with PLA, and for outdoor use PLA is ok, but not great. I've printed all my mounts in PETG which prints a bit slower, but has higher heat and outdoor tolerances. Filament type will also determine if you need an open printer, or an enclosed printer. Most other filament types need an air filter to avoid poisonous gasses from being inhaled.
3. Support - if something goes wrong how easy is it to source the replacement materials and how easy will it be to DIY?
4. Community - is there a dedicated 3D printing community with easy to source files.
5. Multi colour printing - This is a nice to have, but not needed for Christmas Lights brackets in my opinion. However, if you want to print other things, this comes in very handy.

With that said do a Youtube search for best 3D printer and do some research and check to see which printer will be best for your budget.

My 3D printer journey was as follows:
I have ZERO 3D design ability, and all 3D prints I've printed I've either freely sourced, or paid somebody who already made the file.
I started with a Creality Ender 5 - corexy printer, and hated every minute of owning that printer. I could never get the bed to be fully level, and could never get 2 prints back to back to be the same. Way too much tinkering for Way too little good products. I ended up selling it at a loss. I then bought the Bambu Labs A1 Mini which has a 180mm cubed print area, and could print 90% of all the brackets I needed to print. Not 1 print failure on that little printer, but found the smaller bed size to be a deal breaker. I needed to print the GE Starburst Bracket and the print was too large to fit. I ended up getting the Bambu Lab P1S with AMS, and never looked back. Fantastic printer that just works. I can also print any filament, as I have upgraded the hotend and have the printer setup to print the more "rare" filament types, as it is an enclosed printer.

In my opinion you can not go wrong with Bambu Labs printers, and depending on your budget they have 3 really good options.
The A1 (NOT the A1 Mini) which is a bedslinger printer with a 256mm cubed printing area, and selling for $379 on their webpage.
The P1S with the same printing area selling for $649 or the old flagship the X1C selling for $1199.

Prusa is another good option, but be warned, some options are assemble it yourself, and this can take a couple of days depending on how technically inclined you are.
The MK4S varies between $729 unassembled or $999 fully assembled.
The Core One varies between $949 unassembled or $1199 fully assembled.
*** (for the money of a Prusa Printer you can get the Bambu Labs P1S with AMS for $849 - Which I believe as a much better value proposition)

Creality is another vendor you could look at, however I think Creality has a couple of issues they need to sort out first before they are to be named in the same company as Prusa and Bambu.

Finally a new entry level printer making waves is the Elegoo Centauri Carbon. Similar specs to the Bambu Labs P1S but at $299 seems like a really good value proposition.

I hope this helps, and is not an information overload, but hopefully it should get you started at looking at various options.

PS: Just to throw a spanner in the works... There are some really good 3D printing options available in the US, and it may be worth your while to get a couple of quotes if you are only printing brackets. I remember seeing a Youtube video about 3D printing and the vid was sponsored by PCBway.com. I've just had a look, and they do 3D printing quotes. The other option is to reach out to members of your community on Facebook or similar and find out if anybody is willing to print the files for you. Sometimes if you supply the filament, people are willing to print for free.