3D Printers

[timothy42b]

This thought was triggered by a thread on TubeNet (3D Printed Serpent) and by the recent Ergobone redesign thread here.

3D printer costs have come way down, practically to the price of a lesson or mouthpiece.

It's probably time to dip my toe in. Any recommendations? Things to be wary of?

[hyperbolica]

Be aware that what we call 3D printing has been around for 30 years, and folks now are just getting in on the game. It goes or has gone by many names, and has used a lot of different processes, mostly Rapid Prototype, Stereolithography, Fused Deposition, inkjet type technology, Additive Manufacturing, and so on.

The early ones were lasers and a liquid vat, or layers of paper, sprayed molten plastic, or powder fused with a laser.

The cheap stuff garage inventors use today is mostly filament deposition, so lawn trimmer plastic wire fed through a nozzle partially melted.

The main factors are going to be:
- resolution (how thick are the layers, how thick is the material you use, resolution can be different in X/Y and Z)
- materials available for your machine (physical properties like strength, toughness, bondability, color, paintability, surface finish)
- bed size (how big a part can you produce in X, Y, and Z)
- does your machine come with special software? (you need STL files[stands for stereolithography, a holdover from old terminology], can you create support structures, does your material allow for support structures to be easily removed) Also some STL models are going to be solid material, and printing it solid will be inefficient. Your software should be able to assign wall thickness - a trade off between material cost, part weight, and part strength.
- does it give off noxious fumes when processing plastic?
- durability of machine
- you're going to need some sort of shop facility to finish parts, remove support structure, etc. It's not something your wife is going to let you do in the kitchen.


You can't print in thin air. You have to have a platen or some support structure holding up material that doesn't connect to the platen. You need software to create this, which might come with your printer, or you might get something free.

Also as mentioned earlier was wall thickness, something your software needs to be able to deal with if your STL data is solid.

There's too much to write in one place. You probably need to research some machines, and then see if that machine can do what you want it to do, and what else is required to make real printed parts (sanding, bondo, paint, calipers, tank/sink for removing support structure, etc)

[sacfxdx]

Check out the Ender 3 and 3 pro. I too have been pondering a 3D printer.

https://www.creality3d.shop/products/cr ... 3d-printer

[shider]

If you want do dip your toe in the water, I would support the Ender 3. It's a "reliable" machine for the price point.
But just to give you a heads-up: 3D printing is not really plug-and-play.. Especially if you get a cheap Filament-Printer.
There are so many parameters you can tweak and will have to tweak to get the maximum out of your printer. Each machine is a little different.. Those aren't precise machines like multi-10k$ lathes or milling machines.
And also: Prints can take from 10 minutes up to multiple days, so beware of that.
If you want to take the dive, there is a very lively 3D-printing community on youtube. I can recommend the videos of MakersMuse, I think he also does a yearly list of the best budget-printers, so that might be a good point to start your research.

Greetings,
shider

[harrisonreed]

You can generally upload your design to a 3D printing work pool and have someone who is already set up and has a review profile print and ship your design for much less than buying your own machine.

You can even do this with CNC tech, but the cost is steep -- maybe $200 for a mouthpiece prototype that may still need polishing/plating, even if it is manufactured beyond the industry standard for variability and tolerances. You want an ergobone, so the 3D print is likely the best route, and relatively cheap.

[timothy42b]

You can generally upload your design to a 3D printing work pool and have someone who is already set up and has a review profile print and ship your design for much less than buying your own machine.

Yes. And you can get more exotic materials that way. There are lots of commercial 3D firms in the phone book. Menard's offers 3D printing to customers. I was at a conference where a vendor was demonstrating the high tech parts he was making for the space program.

But if you're tweaking a mouthpiece design, you might want to print the first dozen attempts at home before paying for a final version.

[harrisonreed]

You can generally upload your design to a 3D printing work pool and have someone who is already set up and has a review profile print and ship your design for much less than buying your own machine.

Yes. And you can get more exotic materials that way. There are lots of commercial 3D firms in the phone book. Menard's offers 3D printing to customers. I was at a conference where a vendor was demonstrating the high tech parts he was making for the space program.

But if you're tweaking a mouthpiece design, you might want to print the first dozen attempts at home before paying for a final version.

Or still outsource your plastic prototypes, and then go cnc. But I shouldn't have used the mouthpiece example -- OP wants an ergobone type thing. Sounds like a great outsourced 3D print job.

FWIW, people pay about the same price for terrible home designed tee shirts that are professionally produced on good quality shirt stock by various companies without even thinking of setting up their own screen printing operation at home. Like my "LOSER" tee shirt from the "Masters of the Upper Register, vol. 1" video. 3D printing can be the same.

[jbeatenbough]

Check out the Ender 3 and 3 pro. I too have been pondering a 3D printer.

https://www.creality3d.shop/products/cr ... 3d-printer

Hey Steve, when you get your 3d printer, will you print be a sterling silver king 2b bell section and a set of valves?

[timothy42b]

Old thread, but I see there's a trumpet mouthpiece maker using the resin layer type rather than the filament deposition I've been thinking about.

https://all3dp.com/1/best-resin-dlp-sla ... thography/