3D printing

[Script]

Looking for advice on 3D printing. Finally decided to dive into it, now that printers have come down substantially in price.

Basically maybe just need a hint to a good DIY forum for it and take it from there.

More specifically though, what is a good software for modelling and how well does 3D capture with phone work...

I am looking to print one-off replacement parts only (knob, LED spacer or such like) for starters.

Cheers

 

[a soBer Newt]

I am a huge for of the Bambu Labs printers I have a Carbon X1 and in comparison to the other FDM printers I have used in the past it's amazing. I do all my modeling with Autodesk Fusion, I believe that they still have free hobby licenses. I haven't done much 3D capture in a long time, I am sure that has gotten better.

 

[grid_stopper]

I am very into 3D printing. most of the good info you find will be on reddit, youtube or discord. annoying, but thats just the way it is. if you want a printer that is strictly a tool, with as little user input required as possible, bambu is your golden ticket. if you like tweaking/modding/futzing around with machines, there are better options for much less money.

Modelling i would do in fusion360 if you want to do mechanical parts and not artistic ones. the free version is more than powerful enough for 99% of use cases, and unless your willing to pay a LOT of money its better than all the other offerings.

3D capture with phones works ok, but gets less ok the smaller the object is. you can try it, but its a lot of effort to clean up models like that once scanned. based on what youre trying to print, i would say its probably easier to get good with modeling on fusion and just do it from scratch. way less of a headache, and honestly not that hard.

 

[Script]

Bambu mentioned twice now. It's touted as prosumer.

Not bad in my case, cos I don't want to learn 'machining' at this point and the kids could have fun with it too.

I had looked at other printers (videos, reviews, how-tos) where bed calibration, transfer of file thru slicer and then all the miniscule settings on the printer itself to get noozle etc right looked a bit intimidating or rather time-consuming.

So the bambu units can print any stl file directly?

 

[Script]

Fusion software it will be.

As for 3D capture, yeah, read that any kind of reflection on the object to be scanned or less than ideal lighting can botch it up. Many pictures needed to start with and, as I read, a phone with face recognition (infra-red) works best. The latter I don't have -- can't allow my phone to recognise me better than myself when looking into the mirror LOL

 

[Dylan W]

Sounds like you want to invest in a 3D printer for the fun of it, but worth pointing out that JLCPCB has extremely affordable 3D printing services with pretty quick turnaround times. They also have a variety of materials available for printing. If you’re just getting into it, it might be worth trying things out that way and see if you want to invest… you’d have to print many, many parts to break even on cost if you buy a printer.

Many local libraries also have 3D printing as well - or there might be a makerspace in your city.

 

[grid_stopper]

Bambu mentioned twice now. It's touted as prosumer.

Not bad in my case, cos I don't want to learn 'machining' at this point and the kids could have fun with it too.

I had looked at other printers (videos, reviews, how-tos) where bed calibration, transfer of file thru slicer and then all the miniscule settings on the printer itself to get noozle etc right looked a bit intimidating or rather time-consuming.

So the bambu units can print any stl file directly?

you cannot print directly from an stl, however- the bambu ecosystem is about as painless as it gets. their slicer integrates into their cloud managment system pretty elegantly. having to use a slicer is a bit of a learning curve, but honestly the built in printing profiles are REALLY good which eliminates a lot of the trial and error.

 

[Script]

Local library or makerspace, hmm. Haven't even thought of that.... Unfortunately I don't know anyone here who has a printer. That guy would be me.

JLCPCB, will check that out. Sounds like a good option for printing that one or two occasional parts per year.

OTOH, not sure I ever broke even on a paper printer.

 

[Script]

Just briefly tested a random phone 3D scanner app on some toy figurine.

The app puts the images together in the Cloud. Process is fast.

But light was low (late evening here). Results were so so -- but potential. It needs much better lighting and definitely more images.

 

[Script]

Ended up buying a Bambu Lab Mini printer. It's touted as prosumer and comes with a slicer software. That software might not allow as many fine-tune settings as other printers offer, but enough for my needs... cos I am not into 3D printing as a technology as such -- to me it's a tool - and the less fiddly, the better.

 

[Script]

Here's a first work -- a missing TC Electronics unit outer encoder ring.

Those rings come off and get lost easily.


Test print in white, proto in black (mid) and treated ring (on left).


Close-up reveals uneven surface of the proto. So I sandpapered the ring and sprayed it black (dust all over).


And a pic of it installed. Looks almost too good -- LOL.

 

[pvision]

JLCPCB looks like an excellent option