"Best 3D Printers" Topic
11 Posts
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The Badger | 05 Aug 2020 2:36 p.m. PST |
I know this is asked not infrequently in various forms. And from experience, I know if you Google, you get millions of hits. But, I have a few questions I am hoping the throbbing brain that is TMP can answer. From those of you who have used the 3D printers themselves: 1.) What is or are the best 3D printers for larger projects like terrain pieces and files? Has anyone used these to print up items like the sets of buildings that are out there? 2.) I am more concerned with speed and quality than cost. Not looking to blow $10 USDK but not looking to be penny-wise and pound foolish either. 3.) Is there one that will do larger projects like buildings and terrain as well as individual 28mm figures. Or, am I better off looking at one for individual figures and one for larger pieces? 4.) The people who buy commercial licenses and sell buildings and terrain on places like eBay and Etsy…what caliber of printers do they use? Ideally I am looking to produce the best pieces possible in relatively good time as I have a lot of printing to do. Thank you in advance for any help. |
Royal Air Force | 05 Aug 2020 4:35 p.m. PST |
I use a Prusa Mk3S for terrain withe great success, it has a fairly large print area. I have printed a ton of terrain pieces including 28mm buildings from commercial sources. For figures, I also have an Elegoo Mars that I am using for figures from 1/300 to 28mm. |
redmist1122 | 05 Aug 2020 5:16 p.m. PST |
Its the one that works great without any issues…many have bought from other suggestions and ended up with a lemon. I bought and introductory one and works like a champ. Good luck! |
bsrlee | 06 Aug 2020 6:11 a.m. PST |
Option #3, like RAF says. However, if you are not a mechanical & electronics tinkerer you could just invest the money in buying stuff from a manufacturer online. ALL 3D printers need way more maintenance than 2D printers. Filament printers need work on their print bed & extruder/feeder every few prints as well as periodic attention to their XYZ axis machinery. Resin printers need a separate enclosure with external ventilation if not a separate building due to fumes/smell (also the same for filament printers with ABS and similar plastic) plus a bunch of post-printing curing and cleaning stations. |
tomrommel1 | 06 Aug 2020 6:16 a.m. PST |
I use an i3Mega filament printer for terrain and a photon resin printer for miniatures vehicles. Both from Anicubic |
Camcleod | 06 Aug 2020 6:25 a.m. PST |
I have an Ender 3 Pro. It cost about $320. USD It has a print bead about 230mm square by about 230mm high. I've tuned it up so that the quality is quite good (maybe by accident) with very little visible layer lines. Lately I've been printing some buildings for Zombie related gaming such as Red Rocket Station. The files come from Thingiverse as individual parts for walls and corners and roof segments. Parts take from two to four hours to print. You can't get away from that. Large buildings will take a long time to print no matter if printed complete or in parts. Even a larger machine will not speed it up. Over the last two years I've printed several hundred terrain pieces, tanks, buildings, etc. It just takes time. |
Andrew Walters | 06 Aug 2020 10:31 a.m. PST |
Ender 3 Pro is absolutely your answer. I got mine for $159 USD, but $229 USD is a more realistic price to look for. Lots and *lots* of people have them, so spare parts, advice, upgrades and mods, everything is cheap and easy to get. This printer does an excellent job. The Prusa is better, the Prusa costs three times as much. They're as fast as you can get without spending crazy money. They do as good as job as you can get without spending crazy money. They are easy to use. |
DyeHard | 06 Aug 2020 11:42 a.m. PST |
I will put in a vote for the Creativity Ender 3 Pro as well. Now I just got mine, maybe 6 prints into it. But after battling with KickStarter machines that I have had for years, it is a real joy. The heated base and the magic pad are both genius. This pad, like a mouse pad, hold the PLA tight while it is warm and lets go when cool. You can flex the pad and remove to print without the use of a tool. The down side, you do need to follow the Lego type instructions to build it up. Remember to switch the voltage to 115V if you are in USA. Loading the filament is a bit tricky. Lack of documentation. It is all on a SD card and very brief. But the software to convert the STL to GCODE seems to work very well so far. This site might help with more tricky prints: link |
Tgerritsen | 06 Aug 2020 8:13 p.m. PST |
Ender 3 v2 is out now and cheaper than the pro while incorporating many of it's improvements. I'd consider that over a 3 Pro now. |
Puster | 09 Aug 2020 7:58 a.m. PST |
I do have both the Ender 3 Pro and the Prusa, and these are probable the way to go for Filament print. The Prusa is just that bit more reliable – the Ender need cleaning more often, and you need to replace the odd part from time to time. If money is your concern, go for the Ender, though. If in doubt, see if anybody near you has experience and get what he can fix. If you do have the money, get yourself the Prusa. For Miniatures definitely go for a Resin printer – these are a pain to post production, though. Nothing you want in a room where you actually live. That said, our local club scaled down 28mm minis to 6mm and most of them look good. For characters and animals these are closing on production quality. Our club has two Elegoo Mars running here. Prusa has a resin printer, too, with an optional post production device, but as this was out of my purse I have no experience on it. |
The Badger | 10 Aug 2020 6:26 p.m. PST |
thanks for all the great suggestions |
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