I just want to note that they recently die take functionality away. Home Assistant Integration and Panda touch and orca slicer, all of those have to either use lan mode, not update the firmware or jump through more hoops than before
Comment on Guide recommendation for absolute newbies?
YetiBeets@lemmy.world 1 day ago
First decision is if you want a resin printer or FDM printer. Resin let’s you get smaller details, but has less dimensuonal accuracy and less options for engineering material.
In practice this means that if you want to make highly detailed descriptive parts. E.g. figurines, jewlery, etc go resin. If you want to build functional parts, latches, anything that moves, or anything that is big go FDM
From your description it sounds like you want FDM
My only experience with FDM is BambuLab which gets called “The Apple of 3D printers” for better and worse. I can personally say they work fantastic, and “tuning and maintainance” of the machine is almost non-existant. HOWEVER there is a little proprietary schenanigans going on. Their system is still open for now, but people worry because hypothetically in the future they might take functionality away or something. (There is a long and boring list of controversies which could be a deal breaker or nothing burger based on your preferences. For me I find it an okay tradeoff for the performance)
TheYang@lemmy.world 1 day ago
bowreality@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
I don’t even know what that all means but scary for sure. Do they put these features on subscription only or something?
bowreality@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Thanks for this. I didn’t even know about resin vs FDM. I am glad you are bring this up! And I think you are right FDM sounds more like what I am looking for right now.
I kind of heard about Bambu and that worries me. Sounds a bit like the Cricut and while it works, they are getting greedier and greedier and the software is a piece of shit. I just hate using it. I design in Affinity and just load finished designs into the Cricut software and still hate it. But maybe I take a closer look at Bambu to see where they are at and how I feel about it.
How would a Prusa compare? How do I know what size I need? When they say 10x10x10 inches build volume does that mean I can print anything that fits into that space?
TheYang@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Prusa is way more open, but significantly more expensive, especially when buying assembled.
If youbwant multicolor/multimaterial their current (fairly soon to be replaced) solution is not considered as user-friendly as the current bambu-solution.
Yes, when the build volume is 10x10x10 you can print things within that volume, but of course it still has to be a printable shape.A T shape for example would be difficult to print, printer print layer by layer and as the “Arms” on the top would have nothing to be “stuck on”, so you’d need what is called “supports”, a printed shape just there to support the actual object that you want to print. Usually were support meets object the surface quality of the print suffers to some degree.
In the case of a T shape, just print it upside down then ;)bowreality@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Oh ok. Good to know. Somehow the Prusa speaks to me but I better look into user friendliness first!
The first thing I was thinking when you said “T” shape is to print upside down ☺️ I learned how to maximize space with the Cricut by flipping, turning etc. They don’t make it easy because they seem to encourage wasting material (which they sell too) so I get creative.
anguo@piefed.ca 1 day ago
Actually, the best way to print a T shape is lying down ;) You will get a much stronger piece, because of the orientation of the layers.
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Whatever you decide, I would highly recommend you get a CoreXY printer as the standard old “bed slinger” style of printer, where the bed moves back and forth along the Y axis, is now quite dated, slow and leads to lots of print issues especially for beginners. With a CoryXY construction, the bed is stationary apart from moving up and down along the Z axis and the nozzle moves on the X and Y axis.
For Prusa, this would be the CORE One. For Bambu this is the P1/P2, X1, or H2 series. Bambu is actually offering a sale starting today with the P1S at $399 USD or $549 USD with the AMS system (multi material).
squaresinger@lemmy.world 1 day ago
For a “general purpose” 3D printer I would totally recommend FDM.
Resin is toxic, causes allergies, is a mess to handle, needs washing and curing after printing, is usually much less UV resistant, is less durable and more expensive. The only upside it has is much, much better quality prints especially for fine details.
So if you want to print miniatures go resin, otherwise go FDM.
In regards to FDM printers, you need to decide if you want to tinker or to print. Both options are fine, but depending on whether you want to spend significant times upgrading, modding and tuning (and want to have the ability to do so), or whether you want a fire-and-forget machine that just works but doesn’t let you upgrade stuff, you need to get different devices.
Bambulab printers are the fire-and-forget kind that gets ever-more locked down but prints perfectly out-of-the-box.
Prusa or Creality/Ender are more tinker-friendly.
In the end it comes down to what you want. Read some reviews.
If you want to test the waters, get a Bambulab A1 Mini, see if you like it, upgrade to a different printer in the future.
In regards to filaments: Most filament brands are decent nowadays. It used to be that some brands were much better or worse than others, but nowadays unless you buy the cheapest crap it’s going to be fine.
The biggest difference is the material type. As a beginner start with PLA (regular, not Silk PLA, Flex PLA, HT PLA, Tough PLA or any other type of modified PLA). It prints easily, doesn’t need anything special in regards to heating or drying.
Once you mastered that, you might want to get into PETG (more difficult but tougher) and/or TPU/TPE (flexible, rubber-like).
You will likely never need more than that.
rugburn@lemmynsfw.com 1 day ago
Other things to note regarding filament- if youre only planning on making items for indoor use, PLA / PETG will be fine. If youre planning on using things outdoors or in hot temps, you’ll want to look into more advanced filaments like ABS/ASA, Nylon, etc. These absolutely require an enclosed printer, whether thats part of the design or something you put over top of it to keep the temp inside higher. I’d highly recommend figuring out your ultimate use case and make a decision around that.
bowreality@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Good point! I definitely would want to consider outdoor use items.
bowreality@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
I have done some resin crafting by hand and I agree. Finicky at best and while super cool it’s not my thing. FDM it is.
I want to print not tinker. So the Prusa isn’t great for out of the box printing? I tried to read up on it but I am not sure if I look at the right information. The Bambu mini? Not something like the P2S?
Thanks for the explanation on filament types. I have seen these but didn’t know which is which. I’ll go with PLA to start for sure then! No need to overcomplicate it in the beginning!
anguo@piefed.ca 1 day ago
Prusa printers are also "turn on and print" nowadays, except if you buy it as a build-it-yourself kit. And even that is like a more advanced Lego kit, the instructions are very thorough, with community comments for every step. They're very easy to repair, and you can usually buy upgrade kits to upgrade them to the next version.
I agree that If you don't have a filter system or some way to vent the printers outside, stick to PLA for indoor items, PETG for things that might be in the sun, and potentially TPU for rubbery parts. You don't even need an enclosure for those.
If you have the budget for it, get a Prusa MK4S or Core One. In my opinion, the only reason not to buy a Prusa is the price.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Prusa’s work just fine out of the box. And if you have a problem, Prusa is well known for their support for their printers for years. But Prusa also allows a bit of tinkering if you decide you want to. But it’s not necessary.
I don’t know what kind of farming you do, but if you think you want to print some repair parts for farm machinery, you are probably going to want to use some of the expensive engineering filaments for best results at some point. Qidi is the only really accessible consumer grade printers really capable of high end engineering filaments. I would recommend the Qidi Q2. It’s capable of printing filaments that other brands can’t. Plus it has the first and only printer certified by MET, a testing organization recognized by OSHA.
lpinfinity@retrolemmy.com 1 day ago
I’d also note that resin printing is a huge pita compared to FDM. Resin has quite a few post-processing steps, plus it requires much more ventilation and handling equipment.