3D printer who has one

[Daggerty]

Looking into getting a 3D printer. Yeah there is a million articles about this. I would like to get some insight from some car oriented people who used them for car things. 

Disclaimer: not going to spend 5 thousand on one but if that's what you use, I'm still interested in your insight.

[Bassboy3313]

I have been dabbling in the idea of getting a 3d printer too. Subscribed.

[Jdesign]

What would you like to know? How much ARE you willing to spend? What type of car parts are you thinking to print?

There are a lot of different processes and all have different resolution and strength. FDM's are cheaper and tend to have poor resolution, SLA's are what I would suggest to anyone but that all depends on your use case. Formlabs and makerbots have printers I would look into as they are more user friendly. I have about 5 or 6 printers at my work, and the guy that runs our 3D printing department is a big BMW guy. He has built his own printer from scratch and its one of our more capable machines.

 

[HipMF]

The parts made on the cheaper ones aren't strong enough to use for anything beside decorative things, and they look like crap, so pretty useless IMO.

The expensive one we had when I was in school was pretty nice. Parts looked better and were much stronger. However, the material to run that machine was really expensive...

[jc43089]

I don't know much about 3d printers but a few of us at work were pushing for the shop to get a MarkForged one, 5-6 grand gets one that can print carbon fiber reinforced parts.  I have seen a demo part and a thin little thing is nearly unbreakable.  They also have one that can do metal printing for around 25,000 I think.

[Daggerty]

I'm going to spend around 1500.

I'll probably use it for interior pieces mainly. 

Its one of those things I'd like to have because you don't think to use it for things if you don't have it, but when you do you can do some really neat stuff.

[REKIII]

I have 3.  One really fancy but old one, it's pretty much decommissioned probably will go to ebay soon.

The other 2 are much less expensive ABS/PLM single head printers.  They print OK, but not to the level of the fancy one.  Both print better than the example shown on Jdesigns pic.

If you are going to use it to print interior parts you will want to look into the heat capacity of whatever you are printing with.  Interirs can get very hot.  Most 3D printer material melts at a lower temp than molded plastic used for interior pieces.  Interiors can get hot and you don't want your parts getting soft.

[Bassboy3313]

REKIII said:

I have 3.  One really fancy but old one, it's pretty much decommissioned probably will go to ebay soon.

The other 2 are much less expensive ABS/PLM single head printers.  They print OK, but not to the level of the fancy one.  Both print better than the example shown on Jdesigns pic.

If you are going to use it to print interior parts you will want to look into the heat capacity of whatever you are printing with.  Interirs can get very hot.  Most 3D printer material melts at a lower temp than molded plastic used for interior pieces.  Interiors can get hot and you don't want your parts getting soft.

What's the one you're getting rid of? Price?

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[REKIII]

It is a stratasys dimension dual head printer with water soluable support.  New price was $55K it looks like they are selling between $1500 and $4K depending on age and whatnot.  Mine works, but it would need some maintenance done with the belts and such.  I'd be looking for the lower end of that.

Sucker is as big as a refrigerator though.  Not exactly desktop lol.

[Bassboy3313]

Lol wow! That's crazy!

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[Jdesign]

REKIII said:

It is a stratasys dimension dual head printer with water soluable support.  New price was $55K it looks like they are selling between $1500 and $4K depending on age and whatnot.  Mine works, but it would need some maintenance done with the belts and such.  I'd be looking for the lower end of that.

Sucker is as big as a refrigerator though.  Not exactly desktop lol.

Im intrigued. Can you let us know if they are for sure selling it, I am interested.

I assume it looks like this:

[REKIII]

Newer than that one I think.

[Jdesign]

Nice! Let me know if you are selling it. Obviously @Daggerty has first dibs.

[Jdesign]

Now adding to the discussion.....

Discuss!

[jc43089]

Jdesign said:

Now adding to the discussion.....

Discuss!

Is that actually a functional part?  That looks amazing, serious weight reduction.

[REKIII]

If it was printed with a metal printer, yes.  Usually these have the same properties as a sintered metal.  It would also probably be prudent to give some work to the ring grooves to verify consistency all around.