5 replies to this topic

[Coops]

Anyone here have a 3D printer? Anyone want a printer? What do you or would you print?

 

I've been reading some reviews on some of the lower end ones (1-2k USD) and watching some videos. My husband has been talking about buying one for a loooong time now. He's a tinkerer at heart. But now I'm kind of thinking of applications for it and we're considering buying one. This is mainly just a general thread to talk about it, and hear people's thoughts about it, or experiences with them.

[Fikri]

3d printing is pretty awesome! one designer in project runway made an entire collection using 3d printing during the finale and they look amazing! (he didn't win tho.. *sadface*)

 

in my last semester at architecture school, my lecturer advised the studio to experiment with it to make our final models but most refused because it's expensive to rent our seniors' 3d printers and i heard it took some time to print the models. we were already super busy so everyone just stick to the good ol' manual model-making.

 

i'd love to own one one day day tho for funsies... maybe print a few dildos.

[Eefi]

I have the Makerbot Replicator Mini and I wouldn't really recommend it (can't complain since I got it for free). When something breaks you need to get it repaired and that's expensive. These mechanical things break easily and I had multiple times where the extruder jammed and we had to take it apart to get the little piece of plastic out.

It's very useful to print joints or stands, don't expect very precise results, the surface is very jagged. If you can already 3D model it's a huge plus, then you can make custom stuff! (I can't) There's a ton of models you can just download and print though e.g. at http://www.thingiverse.com/

I've printed small flower pots and cookie cutters and they came out nice (again, when high precision is not required). Filament costs are *very* reasonable when you don't buy directly from Makerbot.

Ah and printing takes a long time. For the flower pot which was about the maximum size the printer could print, it took a day. Depending on the printing surface, you also might have to split bigger models into multiple parts.

[Zieke]

I don't have one, but I was observing at a school that used one.

I would loooooove to make drone parts. Much more cost effective in the long run. lol

[Alyson]

There was a school elective that I went last year that held 3D printing classes, I mostly joined because we could embark on a project to print out whatever we wanted  Would probably go and purchase a printer when I do find a definite use for it next time?

[SamanthaBee]

I don't have one but I did go on a trip to the technology building at my school where they showed us it. It's really cool but it takes forever to make one small thing. You can leave it be though so as long as you don't want to make a lot of things in a short amount of time its good!