3D Printer?

[ivop]

12 hours ago, Bee said:

Without getting into too much tech detail, I can do 90% of my FDM printing on this:

 

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=21666&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkZiFBhD9ARIsAGxFX8Avanpr-l7pJMgCporQz0CI-fVG2XFQxaIy3ubt-NKwm2HGy3yBndYaApnbEALw_wcB

 

Also a nice entry printer.  Delta printers are a diffrent branch of printing.  This, pull it out plug it in, pretty much pain free on the Hardware side.

But the print volume is only 11x12cm On the other hand, I have an older Monoprice clone (Prima Creator, 12x12cm) which worked pretty well, until the temp sensor shorted itself and took the whole controller board with it. Not protection at all. You get what you pay for, I guess

 

Edit: Seems it has Auto Calibration (I assume auto-levelling). That's nice. I don't think I'll ever buy another 3D printer without it.

Edited May 21, 2021 by ivop

[Gunstar]

4 hours ago, mdivancic said:

Why would you want to? 3D printer, as @MisterOz points out, are not yet appliance level. Even the best need calibration and maintenance. Unless you have a burning desire to prove your Atari can do it it’s just adding another layer of difficulty to something that already takes considerable time and effort.

 

As many of the gaming friend I know point out, 3D printing is a whole new hobby. Many people don’t want to take time away from their current activities to get into this. 

I don't need my Atari to work with my 3D printer, I just want to be able to use ChromaCAD on my Atari for modeling and then have those converted to .STL or Gcode. Sure, I'd love to have a slicer on the Atari too, but I am also realistic in knowing this probably isn't worth all the trouble if it could be done. ChromaCAD is an incredibly advanced CAD program, for it's time and for the machine it runs on and is totally capable of making 3D models that are very detailed for printing. I love using it on my Atari, but besides just making models to display on a monitor and print out, there's no practical use for it. An .STL converter program/module to add to the ChromaCAD suite of programs would make it VERY practical and one more brilliant thing I can do with my Atari: make models for 3D printing! Of course if someone does manage a slicer for the Atari too, I'd love that too, just to get the PC totally out of the equation, but I'd be happy enough to create the models on my Atari, convert them to .STL and then use a slicer on my PC to produce the Gcode.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Gunstar

[ivop]

Slicing on the Atari 8-bit itself is out of the question. Even a 12x12x12 model, without overhang, and no need for support, can take several seconds on a 3.5GHz octacore. That would take years on a 1.8MHz 6502, ignoring the memory requirements, and when overhang and support has to be calculated. That would take a life time, or more.

 

Edit: but sending a properly sliced STL's gcode file from an SD Card through FujiNet to a WiFi enabled 3D Printer could work I think.

 

Is the ChromaCad format known?

Edited May 21, 2021 by ivop

[+mytek]

52 minutes ago, ivop said:

Slicing on the Atari 8-bit itself is out of the question. Even a 12x12x12 model, without overhang, and no need for support, can take several seconds on a 3.5GHz octacore. That would take years on a 1.8MHz 6502, ignoring the memory requirements, and when overhang and support has to be calculated. That would take a life time, or more.

I knew I should have started slicing back in the 80's. I'd be done by now

 

[+mytek]

I'm also entertaining the idea of getting my first 3D printer (you guys can't have all the fun). Is anyone familiar with the FlashForge Adventurer 3 Lite FDM 3D Printer ?

It's fairly inexpensive, yet seems like it has a lot of good features as well as what they claim to be a leveled bed, with no adjustment necessary (not so sure that's true). Also it can print up to a fairly large size (150 x 150 x 150 mm).

 

Yes I know there are much better printers, but I'm just wanting to get my feet wet, while keeping the cost reasonable in case it isn't my cup of tea.

 

[Mr Robot]

If you just want to try 3d printing and don't really want to get into all the minutiae of it, I would suggest this is probably a better starter printer, though it is a little more expensive. 

 

https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/994-original-prusa-mini.html

 

 

 

EDIT: I should explain my reasons I guess. I prefer REPRAP style printers, they are open from the start and there is a lot of community support for them. Even if your printer isn't the specific printer you are looking at, the chances are that you will get at least something from whatever YT video or article you are reading. Other open source projects are more likely to support your printer. Upgrades/addons/parts generally are more easily available. If some part doesn't fit your printer, someone has probably modeled something to make it fit and put it on Thingiverse.

 

As an example Flashforge printers have to have a special plugin to work with Octoprint, and even then you can only control the printer and upload to the SD card, none of the other cool stuff Octoprint does. Flashforge printers use a form of gcode from Makerbot not Marlin which is pretty much the standard everywhere else. This means you are tying yourself into their ecosystem from the start, you can't choose new nozzles from another vendor for example, you can only use their proprietary ones. 

 

Here's a review of the Flashforge Adventurer 3, I'm not sure if that's the same as the 3 lite, this video is from 2019

 

 

[+Stephen]

2 hours ago, Mr Robot said:

If you just want to try 3d printing and don't really want to get into all the minutiae of it, I would suggest this is probably a better starter printer, though it is a little more expensive. 

 

https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/994-original-prusa-mini.html

 

Wow - can that really make decent print and stay calibrated with the entire printhead assembly hanging out on that unsupported arm like that?  That design looks incredibly flimsy.

[Mr Robot]

Those Z rods are 10mm stainless rods with linear bearings, it can definitely handle the weight, it's only extending 180mm. Watch the reviews on youtube. There were some problems with the early mini's but they got ironed out and the mini+ is now here. Almost everyone seems to love it

 

[Bee]

@mytek it looks like i3 clone.  I say the term bed leveling came from a article I put on thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4741

 

Someone in the MakerBot google group replied to it as bed leveling, it went viral.  The point is a level bed has zero to do with printing.  Having a tool running in reference to the print surface is the way to get a successful prints in FDM.  

 

Looks like a reasonable place to start. 

[mdivancic]

I would also recommend the Prusa over the FlashForge. 

[MakerMatrix]

As always, it depends on the 14-year-old.

 

Prusa Mini is probably the best choice for the average one.  Minimal setup and fuss.  But the budget for that is double what it would be, for a larger, more entry-level machine.

 

If he is the type of kid that spends hours building his own Lego models from random bricks, then get some flavor of Ender 3.  Probably the Pro.  I use Ender3's in my print farm.  They are not that difficult to set up, and can be workhorses once you get settings dialed in.  But they lack some key features (such as auto-bed-leveling) of the Prusa machines.  This can be added later, but requires some mechanical skill, and the ability to manipulate arduino firmware.  The good thing is, Ender 3 is ubiquitious so there are a million videos and tutorials out there on all these subjects and more.

[+bob1200xl]

What do you all think about the Artillery Sidewinder X1?

 

Bob

 

[+mytek]

32 minutes ago, bob1200xl said:

What do you all think about the Artillery Sidewinder X1?

The reviews on Amazon were love it or hate it, but I suspect that the hate it complaints were factual. Many of the problems reported were not minor either.

[griz]

I've had a few different printers over the years. These days I'm running Prussa MK3s and they are reliable workhorses. They do cost more but work great period.

[atarialoha]

8 hours ago, bob1200xl said:

What do you all think about the Artillery Sidewinder X1?

 

Bob

 

I have used neither of them but it looks to me like the Sidewinder is around the same price as the "ORIGINAL PRUSA MINI+" and from reputation alone (e.g., many comments here) I would go with the latter, if I were to choose. It's smaller but this 3D printer is likely going to be the first starter printer for your grandson to learn about the whole topic.

 

https://www.prusa3d.com/original-prusa-mini/

 

Just my 0.2mm

 

(little 3D printing joke)

Edited May 27, 2021 by atarialoha