3D printers

For my job I work with a 3d printer (ultimaker 2) its fun to hold Stuff you make but if you dont have a real use for it it wil become gimmicky after a short while. Keep that in Mind. Try finding a Fablab or hackerspace nearby to try out printing yourself.

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>>532011
I got an UM2GO too. I know exactly what you mean by holding the real thing in your hand that you were modelling a few hours ago. This thing is about 10 cm and the tiniest details are perfect overall.

>>532009
Ultimater 2 have an amazing surface quality, but the print area is relatively small. Also its a bit pricy. But it can go down 20 micron quality, which is 1/5 thickness of an A4 paper so anything that comes out of it looks like it came out of a factory. It's great for detailed works, prototypes, sculptures, working parts like gears, etc...

Although we are still at the very steps of 3d printing. In the upcoming years the prices will go down and better printers will pop up. They are already working on Ultimaker 3.

>>532009
3D printing a model with the current technology just isn't that impressive to the uninformed observer. It will just make them more confused -- "Oh, you made a really rough plastic toy that kind of looks a little like that thing on your computer screen, but with bumps and grooves all over it. Why?"

It will be a lot more interesting once the resolution is decent. The FormLabs printers are making some strides in that direction, but they are obviously pretty pricey.

>>532009
>>532028
Forgot to mention... If you do have a model that you feel is amazing enough that it simply has to exist IRL, then you can use mail-order services. They have lots of material options, far better than just the cheap plastic spool stuff that home printers use. And if your design really is as good as you think it is, you can sell it through those services, too.

Sorry for the. perhaps, stupid questions, but do any 3D printers print colored and textured objects?

>>532009
>be a good investment.
do you earn enough that spending around 6 hundred to 2k murrikaneer coins (price range of entry level equipment plus consumables) is not an issue? (does not generate debt you cannot cover in a month or two without affecting your lifestyle, or just have completely idle savings)
>Helps explain people what you're doing
are you doing industrial prototyping/ experimental design?
cuz if you're doing 3 anim and games this is not by any means the same as a demo reel
> Don't mind if I have to assemble it myself.
i'm a retard so i got a flashforge finder, quite cheap, print PLA only, 140x140x140mm volume, plug n play
it is quite good, have been able to print some useless trinkets and make some customs (mostly gifts to friends and family) and a comb for my hair trimmer

photo sensitive resin hardware is a bit more expensive and the consumables are perishable, and the clean up process can involve chemicals other than water (usually alcohol) but the quality tends to be nicer than filament machines
pla is non-perishable, you can even make your own without too much hassle with the right hardware. some companies make special filament which glows in the dark, is thermochromatic (changes color with temperature), contains wood/metal particles, etc... abs is pretty much the same, tho this is hearsay, never worked with abs itself. neither is food safe (i think it has to do with the material dissolving when heated and food getting stuck in cracks thus promoting the growth of bacteria, rather than it dissolving into the food) but who know what the future will bring

i mainly bought my own machine because the makerspaces in my cuntry charge a shitton for each job and murrikan 3d printing services cost a lot to ship,you should certainly try them first before aiming to buy a machine

>>532032
>but do any 3D printers print colored and textured objects

The jetting types do. The filament types which are cheaper do not.

>>532028

We're in the early 1970s Dot Matrix Printer stage with 3D printing right now. You can tell what it's supposed to be but it doesn't look anywhere near as good as something that has been professionally typeset.

The same way 70s printers cost $10k and looked like shit and now you can buy a full colour laser printer for a couple of hundred bucks it'll happen with 3D printing, but much faster.

Within 2 decades it'll probably be a common household item for plastic goods and the results will be as good as what's factory made now.

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I'm thinking in the original prusa i3, it cost 699 dissasembled ( you can get one cheaper in ebay, chinese or any of those versions of the i3) or 899 assembled and calibrated but plannning to get the i3 just to support the creators work. The printing area is decent, the filament feeder is on the extruder head and it works on a pulley so the filament wont break or add bubbles because denting on filament of a geared feeder

The only good printers are those that cost upwards of 30k $ and don't use a shitty plastic spool to hotglue models that barely resemeble the original into existence..

I'm thinking of Prusa i3 clones. Steel frame, aluminum frame, or acrylic frame? All have really different monetary costs. ebay has them for like 250 euros

>>533012
steel or aluminium. definitely not acrylic. It depends on geometry and design, but I would say steel would be better.

>>532365
>The same way 70s printers cost $10k and looked like shit and now you can buy a full colour laser printer for a couple of hundred bucks it'll happen with 3D printing, but much faster.

There's nothing like the demand for 3D printing that there was for paper printers, so I'll be fucking shocked if they develop at anything like the same speed. Pretty much every office wanted to print letters, while 3D printing is only really useful for quite specialised businesses.

If someone makes one which can 'print' fabric items, then maybe that will be a real commercial success; being able to print clothing to your precise measurements would be big business. But small plastic objects which aren't viable for mass-production doesn't seem to be a big market.