What beginner 3d printer should I get?

[tjoreo]

Coming from a place of complete subject ignorance so feel free to make fun of me….

Do these 3D printers produce a melting plastic smell at all? Would one be better suited to a garage/shop location? Or is not an issue and a spare bedroom/home office is perfectly fine? Is it possibly a filament dependent question?

Like it was stated above it depends on the material. I know some materials recommend using a filtration system to catch the fumes. PLA is pretty basic and usually doesn't have an odor or fumes. It comes from plant sugars, but I haven't got the guts yet to try it for a snack. Haha My Ultimaker came with an open top but I built a top enclosure to help regulate the heat and reduce dust as mine is in a machine shop. I used to use normal PLA but have moved over to a Tough PLA as it seems a little stronger and more forgiving to heat. You can actually anneal it like metal to even add more strength. It works well for items outside in direct sunlight but it seems to have trouble for items that might get a little radiant heat, like items left in a hot car. Like @Neohio said I am going to experiment with other types of filaments, but PLA has done everything I need.

 

[Hometeam]

Well I surprised my son with this after he completed some jobs I had for him to do and it also is partly for his birthday too! Thanks @-Bear- and everyone else for all your help!! You made this Dad look pretty cool to his son! Originally my son was a little disappointed when all the Black Friday deals were gone and he thought we had missed them (so with my ninja like skills I ordered one)😂….but I had already told him I wouldn’t get him one till he had completed all his jobs….he has worked to get them all done so tonight we surprised him with it!! He was so excited! Thanks again everyone!!😎

 

[Dirtstiffs-1000]

View attachment 412257

Well I surprised my son with this after he completed some jobs I had for him to do and it also is partly for his birthday too! Thanks @-Bear- and everyone else for all your help!! You made this Dad look pretty cool to his son! Originally my son was a little disappointed when all the Black Friday deals were gone and he thought we had missed them (so with my ninja like skills I ordered one)😂….but I had already told him I wouldn’t get him one till he had completed all his jobs….he has worked to get them all done so tonight we surprised him with it!! He was so excited! Thanks again everyone!!😎

Way to go, Dad!

 

[-Bear-]

View attachment 412257

Well I surprised my son with this after he completed some jobs I had for him to do and it also is partly for his birthday too! Thanks @-Bear- and everyone else for all your help!! You made this Dad look pretty cool to his son! Originally my son was a little disappointed when all the Black Friday deals were gone and he thought we had missed them (so with my ninja like skills I ordered one)😂….but I had already told him I wouldn’t get him one till he had completed all his jobs….he has worked to get them all done so tonight we surprised him with it!! He was so excited! Thanks again everyone!!😎

That is awesome, glad I was able to help.

 

[HeadedOut]

Coming from a place of complete subject ignorance so feel free to make fun of me….

Do these 3D printers produce a melting plastic smell at all? Would one be better suited to a garage/shop location? Or is not an issue and a spare bedroom/home office is perfectly fine? Is it possibly a filament dependent question?

Ours is in our kitchen between the fridge and the oven. There is a very, very slight smell if 3D-PrintiO has been running for 9hrs. Otherwise it doesn’t smell whatsoever. I will say there are some filaments which can produce nasty smells and are very bad for you if you are breathing them in. If you’re running PLA’s I wouldn’t worry about it. If you do any kind of nylon, carbon, ABS or Kevlar I would absolutely put it out in the shop or garage.

 

[HeadedOut]

The P1S was/is my first printer. A friend of mine who has been through a few in their growing years said that if you get a cheap one, be prepared to put money into it and print a lot of upgraded parts to make the printer better and time leveling the bed. He said that the Bambu was the absolute best you could get to start out, unbox, load filament, push print. I’m extremely glad that we went with the P1S.

My wife has been wanting to start a small business and she was thinking about a 3D. I have some SolidWorks experience from my machinist days so dusting off the 2010 HP, 4.8hrs of updates later, I was realizing how much I had forgotten about CAD. @-Bear- I may be sending you a couple questions lol

My nephew has wanted to lear how to play D&D so for Xmas I said if you can find the pieces, we can print them. I stacked the build plate with 12 figurines and it was done within 2 hours!

I will suggest that if you start seeing stuff like an STD show up on your prints, become one with the glue. It’s the only penicillin that will get rid of lift and tip drag like this.

Notice the small purple piece in the back where it lays on the counter? Once it starts to release from the bed it will give you warping on the bottom and the tip will drag nasty lines in the top.