This design is pretty ingeneous a 15x15x22cm chasis with a print area of 8x8x8cm which doesn't sound like much but for most small parts it's more than enough the venerable makerbot cupcake had a comparable build area from back before makerbot sold the fuck out and then started making expensive crap
It uses PLA 1.75mm filament which is a smart move pla takes less heat doesn't warp as much so removes the necessity of a heated build platform. The print quality looks reasonably good in the small amount of test prints I've been able to find.
Hobbyking do it for 179 dollars out of their chinese warehouse so there's some shipping and potentially customs to add on that so the under 200 dollars claim is just for the kit so a little misleading, but the design is based off the open source Tiny Boy 3d printer and so I would expect kits to pop up elsewhere before long if this gains popularity. It uses a lasercut plastic construction so easy to run off for people with the equipment.
This is making 3d printers that much more accessible to people until now 300 bucks was the lowest you could get a machine for though the chinese manfacturing otufits like xyz have been driving prices down with their mass produced factory built machines.
Interesting bit of kit
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£115 is very tempting.
For a complete novice, what would I need? From the description it says USB, so I'm assuming you plug it into a PC, run some software(?), and then it's a case of downloading a model (I've recently done my first Shapeways order...a GoPro mount for use with zip-ties), and then feed it some plastic?
From the details on the site it's a RAMPS based controller (which is an open source/hardware controller that takes in standard Gcode and uses it drive the printer) so it'll work with a lot of software. They seem to recommend Repetier-Host which I've not used but it looks fairly standard.
It'll connect to a pc with USB which will control it. Or if you're feeling adventurous there are various mostly raspberry pi based print systems like OctoPrint or Astroprint which will support wireless printing over the wifi.
Depending on how it's put together it might require a bit of calibration the more expensive models use extra hardware to get round some of that by autoleveling and so on. With a cheap machine you need to do that manually so it can take a few prints to get things working with best quality.
So with 3d printing there are essentially 3 stages to the process Modelling, Slicing, Printing.
Modeling:
you create a model that fits the requirements of 3d printing (making sure it's manifold ie no holes totally contiguous, watching overhangs, clearance of holes, thickness of any small bits some of the modeling packages will help with these things) and convert that to an STL file or you can just get a model someone else has done from somewhere like Thingiverse.com
Slicing:
So once you have your model it needs slicing this is the process of taking the 3d model and breaking it down into as series of flat 2d layers and then the tool paths (Gcode) for it to print it in plastic. You can think of it turning it into a line drawing for each layer that it will lay one on top of the other to create the object in 3d. It also can do things like add rafts (for better bed adhesion & can prevent curling due to heat contraction) or support material (for overhangs greater than 45deg (plastic can only print when there is something under it so the maximum overhang on these things is 45deg)
There are a variety of slicers with various levels of ease of use. Repetier host seems to support almost all of them and acts as a front end on top of them. I've used Skeinforge (a nightmare of settings and crazyness), Sli3er (slightly more user friendly),Cura (which is fairly user friendly). Usually the slicer will have a profile for the machine in question (things like it's speed and dimensions) hopefully Hobbyking will provide that or someone online will sort that out. Slicing takes a short while converting the stl file to a gcode file.
With Repetier host it seems to integrate the slicing into it's own software so it will then move to the printing stage. On other software you then load the gcode into your printer control software (which will send the codes to the printer).
Printing:
The Printing stage is fairly simple set it up put the plastic in check it's extruding (there is usually a code in the pc software to extrude a bit of plastic to check it's getting to the extruder) set the thing going it will home it's axis and start printing. First couple of times its good to check the calibration is right (it needs the separation between the nozzle extruding and the print bed so it sticks down) make sure your reel of plastic is free to turn so the machine can get plastic as it needs it if it gets snagged then it will be unable to pull enough plastic to print.
wait for a few minutes to hours depending on settings and size of object. Once it's done give it a little while to cool it can be a bit soft just after printing. Pry it off the print bed maybe tidy up any bits that need it and Enjoy.
So, assuming that I'm not going to be doing any 3D modelling, it would be (potentially) be feasible to use one of these with the Repetier-host software, then get pre-made models from Thingiverse, and the software will handle the work to speak to the printer?
I can see it being handy for basic, but specialist stuff (there is a company who 3D prints custom Garmin mounts for bikes with non-standard handlebars, I have one of their lollipop mounts, for example. They also do GoPro mounts). That said, all their stuff is fairly solid, not the layered stuff. The Shapeways stuff feels more like it's made of dust glued together, rather than layers...different method of 3D printing? It's very strong (which is important...)
There are a number of techniques for 3d printing and shapeways use several depending on the material all work by laying out layers to some degree
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS): Using a laser to melt a powder (usually plastic) layer by layer by having a tank with descending platform and some sort of roller to apply a fresh layer of powder each time. This is mostly used in only commercial printers a couple of enthusiast machines have tried it like this awesome beast (http://candyfab.org/) that uses sugar for it's powder and a heat blower to fuse it to create large low detail prints (that are potentially edible :D )
Stereolithography (SLA): Using a resin that photo sensitive a laser or DLP projector traces or projects each layer into a bath of resin curing it so it becomes solid. Again each layer is done one at a time there is a speed advantage with the projector based machines as they can essentially do each layer in one shot. The build is then lowered or lifted to make way for more resin and the next layer is added. This is a growning area for the home machines still very expensive but with things like the peachy printer its becoming more likely to be mainstream.
Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM): this it what most of the consumer 3d printers use they take in a plastic filament heat it up and then squirt it out hot basically like a glue gun (early prototypes often where modified glue guns) and they draw a layer of plastic out like toothpaste. The plastic cools and hardens and another layer is added. When the new layer is deposited on top of the old layer the heat from the liquid thermoplastic will slightly melt the underlying layer and so fuse with it creating a solid object. This method is used on the majority of home 3d printers and a lot of the comercial machines too. Comercial machines tend to have much finer print resolutions and proprietry smoothing technologies to produce nicer prints though you can get consumer machines have resolutions down to 20microns.
In terms of part strength there are a lot of factors, the material, the print settings, the way the part is designed, how well configured the printer is.
So for this machine it's currently only supporting PLA which is fairly strong but can be a little brittle
Settings you used this is how small you set the layers to be the smaller they are the better they will stick together but the longer it will take to print. There are hard limits here based on the mechanical accuracy of the machine.
The level of infill and the infill pattern used. So 3d printers very rarely make totally solid objects as in almost all cases this is a waste of plastic and time. Instead they make basically an solid outside shell (usually between 2-3 shells the size of the printers nozzle 0.4m in this case) and then fill the inside space with some pattern (one of the most popular is honeycomb) typically you might use 40% infill that would mean the remaining 60% was air. By increasing the amount of infill you can create stronger objects.
A lot of this is a case of experimentation. You find or make the model you do a print with your default settings and then adjust to perfect it.
On the modeling side of things I came across https://www.tinkercad.com/ it's an online cad software (I think it's an autodesk product) very simple to use designed around the needs of 3d printing easy to make quite complex shapes out of sets of primitives and positive and negative shapes. Allows for precise sizing and alignment.
You know 3D Printing is mainstream when you can buy one on the high street...spotted in Clas Ohlson...bit pricy though...
Clas Olsen literally have everything except the shit I need.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
here in the us Dremel have been selling their 3d printer (which I think is actually made by flashforge) in lowes and home depot (basically the equivelent of b&q)
I was just looking at the spec for a new work laptop and noticed that Dell now have 3D printers as optional extras!
(MakerBot Replicator 3D Printer 5th Generation [£2,199.00 or £81/month-1])
Although it might be handy for replacing some the plasticy parts that always seem to break on Dell laptops.
makerbot machines are massively overpriced for their capabilities they have no heated bed so can't print in abs or some of the more esoteric materials and their resolution is middling for that sort of price they can manage down to 100 microns things like the ultimaker 2 can do 40microns for the same price the lulzbot taz5 can do 50microns for about 500 bucks less and both of those machines have heated print beds and will print abs and all sorts of weird and wonderful filaments metalized wood ninja flex nylon