discussion 3D printer

[StephenN]

Hi folks. I'm currently considering buying a 3D printer. Could people advise me on the best low budget, small-ish 3D printer out there at all? Thanks. Stephen

 

[scottie3158]

I can't help I'm afraid but very interested in the replies.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I use the Elegoo Mars 2 , which I bought in 2022 and I'm still very happy with it. There are several newer versions by now and it also has a big brother called Saturn, so depending on how big the models are that you want to print, you could do a lot worse.

 

[StephenN]

I can't help I'm afraid but very interested in the replies.

No problem

 

[StephenN]

I use the Elegoo Mars 2 , which I bought in 2022 and I'm still very happy with it. There are several newer versions by now and it also has a big brother called Saturn, so depending on how big the models are that you want to print, you could do a lot worse.

OK, thank you so much for the reply. Will look into them. Thank you.

 

[A7man]

Are you looking at resin or fdm printers? I have one of each. An old Ender3 which is an fdm printer. A plastic "wire" is fed through a very hot nozzle to extrude liquid plastic at 0.4 mm dia. It then draws your design in 3D. The prints are very strong but the detail is a bit weak. I also have an AnyCubic mono 4K resin printer (also over 3 years old) that uses a tray of resin with a mono lcd screen underneath. The screen displays your image in individual layers fractions of a mm thick. Very high resolution, but the prints can warp if not printed correctly. The prints aren't as strong as fdm. Resin printers can also be very smelly! Fdm printers are virtually smell free. I have used both printers to produce my model of my Austin 7 car. I would never have been able to make the model without them, but I had to teach myself cad first.
Lee

 

[pjgtech]

Maybe try here? see linky:
3D printing forum

Or here....
UK workshops 3d printers

Or here....
Model Eng forum 3d Printing

Or here....
FaceAche 3d printing forum

 

[stillp]

Are you looking at resin or fdm printers? I have one of each. An old Ender3 which is an fdm printer. A plastic "wire" is fed through a very hot nozzle to extrude liquid plastic at 0.4 mm dia. It then draws your design in 3D. The prints are very strong but the detail is a bit weak. I also have an AnyCubic mono 4K resin printer (also over 3 years old) that uses a tray of resin with a mono lcd screen underneath. The screen displays your image in individual layers fractions of a mm thick. Very high resolution, but the prints can warp if not printed correctly. The prints aren't as strong as fdm. Resin printers can also be very smelly! Fdm printers are virtually smell free. I have used both printers to produce my model of my Austin 7 car. I would never have been able to make the model without them, but I had to teach myself cad first.
Lee

View attachment 1276448

Impressive!

 

[Neil Merryweather]

If you're interested I used a lot of 3D printed pieces, both FDM and resin, in my D-Day Diorama(still ongoing)
https://www.scalemodelling.co.uk/th...rty-ship-diorama.1234498/page-11#post-1276074

 

[StephenN]

Are you looking at resin or fdm printers? I have one of each. An old Ender3 which is an fdm printer. A plastic "wire" is fed through a very hot nozzle to extrude liquid plastic at 0.4 mm dia. It then draws your design in 3D. The prints are very strong but the detail is a bit weak. I also have an AnyCubic mono 4K resin printer (also over 3 years old) that uses a tray of resin with a mono lcd screen underneath. The screen displays your image in individual layers fractions of a mm thick. Very high resolution, but the prints can warp if not printed correctly. The prints aren't as strong as fdm. Resin printers can also be very smelly! Fdm printers are virtually smell free. I have used both printers to produce my model of my Austin 7 car. I would never have been able to make the model without them, but I had to teach myself cad first.
Lee

View attachment 1276448

Thank you so much for that info

 

[StephenN]

Maybe try here? see linky:
3D printing forum

Or here....
UK workshops 3d printers

Or here....
Model Eng forum 3d Printing

Or here....
FaceAche 3d printing forum

Thank you. I will have a look at those. Initially, from what I can tell, I need something that doesn't take up too much space and is ideally under £100!!

 

[Gary MacKenzie]

Thank you. I will have a look at those. Initially, from what I can tell, I need something that doesn't take up too much space and is ideally under £100!!

I can only see a sub-£100 printer bringing you heartache and pain.
I have a fdm and a resin printer , which i have had sitting doing nothing for a long time due to a new eyesight problem.
FDM are great for less detailed items , resin for more highly detailed , but they both have a large learning curve.

 

[StephenN]

Maybe try here? see linky:
3D printing forum

Or here....
UK workshops 3d printers

Or here....
Model Eng forum 3d Printing

Or here....
FaceAche 3d printing forum

Thank you. I will have a look at those. Initially, from what I can tell, I need something that doesn't take up too much space and is ideally under £100!!

I can only see a sub-£100 printer bringing you heartache and pain.
I have a fdm and a resin printer , which i have had sitting doing nothing for a long time due to a new eyesight problem.
FDM are great for less detailed items , resin for more highly detailed , but they both have a large learning curve.

.........OK, point taken. Thank you for letting me know. Appreciate your time

 

[pjgtech]

I can only see a sub-£100 printer bringing you heartache and pain.
I have a fdm and a resin printer , which i have had sitting doing nothing for a long time due to a new eyesight problem.
FDM are great for less detailed items , resin for more highly detailed , but they both have a large learning curve.

I agree, IMHO you tend to get what you pay for, and for that you won't get a lot!
But I suppose it could be a good (cheap) way to get to learn the basics?

 

[Steven000]

I highly recommend saving up to a bigger budget, I also have an FDM and resin printer, they get outdated very fast by the ever growing market. Don't forget that the printing materials cost money too (FDM: spools of plastic filament, Resin: bottles of liquid resin).

Do you know what you want to print? Only scale models or all sorts of household objects? Cheers

 

[Gary MacKenzie]

I agree, IMHO you tend to get what you pay for, and for that you won't get a lot!
But I suppose it could be a good (cheap) way to get to learn the basics?

It would be a cheap way to learn the ropes if it works properly.
It will put you off printing if it doesn't ( and yes more expensive ones can be a pig in a poke , too )

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Stephen,
there have been many discussions on this subject on this forum over the last few years, to which I have always contributed. I used 3D-printing professionally for over 20 years before it became affordable to us hobbyists.
I recommend a look at those discussions before you spend any money, and in order not to repeat myself, may I refer you to one particular response I made HERE
which will also take you to the specific forum and the rest of the threads.
regards
Neil

 

[Paramaniac]

I've been using a resin 3D printer now for about 5 years and if it's for fine detail modelling then it's resin all the time. Filament printing has the big advantage of being able to use different colours but the big disadvantage (for modellers) in that the surface is much more 'rougher' than resin. resin has another major advantage in that if we have a model that takes 1 hour to print (on a resin or filament printer) then if we wanted to make ,say, 10 models at the same time then the filament printer would take 10 hours but the resin printer would still only take 1 hour to print all 10 models. It's a very big and overlooked advantage especially if someone wants to sell the models they've made.

 

[StephenN]

I've been using a resin 3D printer now for about 5 years and if it's for fine detail modelling then it's resin all the time. Filament printing has the big advantage of being able to use different colours but the big disadvantage (for modellers) in that the surface is much more 'rougher' than resin. resin has another major advantage in that if we have a model that takes 1 hour to print (on a resin or filament printer) then if we wanted to make ,say, 10 models at the same time then the filament printer would take 10 hours but the resin printer would still only take 1 hour to print all 10 models. It's a very big and overlooked advantage especially if someone wants to sell the models they've made.

Thank you for that