3D PRINTING

RatLabGuy said:
If by deal you mean what you get for a dollar I'd love to hear what you think to be better.
Other things may be cheaper but you're going to pay for it in time and frustration.
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A1 is better.
 
Stepped on a nail :laughing:
 

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If anyone is interested in getting in to this, my resin printer is for sale in the for sale section. I bought it with the intention of making some parts for resale, which is why I bought a printer with such high quality prints, but never really panned out so I'm going to a small filament printer that I can keep inside and clear up some space in the shop.
 
Blaze said:
If anyone is interested in getting in to this, my resin printer is for sale in the for sale section. I bought it with the intention of making some parts for resale, which is why I bought a printer with such high quality prints, but never really panned out so I'm going to a small filament printer that I can keep inside and clear up some space in the shop.
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FWIW, at work we're now using resin and FDM extensively for all kinds of weird things (e.g. printing skull surrogate bone materials that are actually porous like live bone, not just solid as most are).

Resin is the go-to for some very specific applications, especially if you need tiny details, and the variety of what you can do is massive (we just printed something in squishy silicone, how crazy is that). However the newest gen of FDM printers can do almost anything that a home hobbyist would ever need.
 
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This guy works for a CNC etc custom fabrication shop working on high volume orders.
They built this robotic arm system to automate removing prints so they can keep them going 24/7. Said switching to Bambu X1 printers made it effective for the first time of their level of reliability.
A human comes by on occasion and checks the quality, clears and cleans off the trays so their ready to be put back in.


The thing I can't figure out is how they get the PEI bed off of the tray. The magnet is very strong, and pulling straight out is the strongest direction the magnet has.
 
RatLabGuy said:
This guy works for a CNC etc custom fabrication shop working on high volume orders.
They built this robotic arm system to automate removing prints so they can keep them going 24/7. Said switching to Bambu X1 printers made it effective for the first time of their level of reliability.
A human comes by on occasion and checks the quality, clears and cleans off the trays so their ready to be put back in.


The thing I can't figure out is how they get the PEI bed off of the tray. The magnet is very strong, and pulling straight out is the strongest direction the magnet has.
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I just want to know what 3d printed stuff people can sell enough of to justify that kind of expense. Sadly I am not smart enough to engineer some highly sought after 3d printable item that would make me rich.
 
Tacoma747 said:
I just want to know what 3d printed stuff people can sell enough of to justify that kind of expense.
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No shit.
Have you joined the Bambu user FB group? Of course tehre are several, but the one I'm on - there are a bunch of guys that have massive farms that they have going 24/7. Makes me really curious.
Sadly I am not smart enough to engineer some highly sought after 3d printable item that would make me rich.
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Some of those guys have talked about the numbers and claim they are doing many thousands weekly in revenue. But who knows how much of it is actual profit after you account for all axpenses (power, material, insurance, etc etc).
While I can see how you could be cranking out a lot of stuff, and maybe you could make some nice spare change it would have to be a tremendous amount of volume to be more than a normal job and not more work. Especially since you're now dealing with self employment taxes and all the paperwork of a business.

The ticket is definitely finding a niche market with a specialized thing there is a demand for that nobody else wants to bother with so you're not going to just get copied and undercut by another guy w/ a printer that values his time less.
 
Model train hobbyists are always on the lookout for unique things to add to their layouts. Some 3D folks in that market but definitely room for ones that cater more to what customer wants. Most are hobbyists themselves who have their own ideas.

Here’s one that would be fun in O scale. ;-)


An example: https://a.co/d/fuoDUe1

A good example of a marketing technique too. Make ‘em buy up.
 
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We just printed this bad boy in SLA draft material. Sheep skull from a 3d scan. Hand for scale. Only 14 hrs on the Form3BL. Next one will probably be a bone simulant (way more costly). Its got me wanting to do one with horns in FDM just for show.
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Figured y'all would like this one too.
At work we're making a method to create a complex shape agarose based gelatin "brain" inside another structure but need to be able to backfill space around it with a 3rd material.
Normally you'd use dissolvable filament, but since the agarose is water based that's not feasible. So we're exploring casting into ABS then dissolving in acetone (which other things are robust to)

Behold - the classic "sphere in a smaller cube" model that would be impossible to manufacture via normal assembly but this time the sphere is made of agarose gel and the cube is Nylon...
Proof of principle achieved
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In other news we were quite surprised to learn Ultimaker brand ABS doesn't dissolve in acetone. Turns out it has polycarbonate in it, despite not being advertised as pc-abs.
 
My 5 y/o loves Nightmare before Christmas, so for the Trunk or Treat at church I am going to be Jack, she is going to be Sally. Printed the mask with glow in the dark filament. I had to make a larger back piece so it would fit my noggin. The front/back are held together with magnets. I also printed her a small wreath, also glow in the dark obviously.
 

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New QIDI printer released that is a serious competitor against the Bambu X1 series.


Ideal for industrial prototyping. Huge bed, true leveling, incredible temperature control.
No AMS directly but QIDI has a separate unit coming very soon.

... And it's only 800 bucks
 
RatLabGuy said:
New QIDI printer released that is a serious competitor against the Bambu X1 series.


Ideal for industrial prototyping. Huge bed, true leveling, incredible temperature control.
No AMS directly but QIDI has a separate unit coming very soon.

... And it's only 800 bucks
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My X1C has 1070 hours on it now, I would guesstimate I have spent about 4-6 hours in total 'tinkering' with it. Not having to manually level the bed every so often probably has saved the most time, but failure rate is very low as well. The AMS has been the largest issue, much of that due to non-Bambu spools, or low on filament spools. I hear the A1 AMS is pretty much foolproof, the P1/X1 AMS definitely has some quirks. I wouldn't trust it enough to do a large multicolor print while I am sleeping.

I would highly consider the Qudi if it had been available before I purchased the X1C
 
Tacoma747 said:
My X1C has 1070 hours on it now, I would guesstimate I have spent about 4-6 hours in total 'tinkering' with it. Not having to manually level the bed every so often probably has saved the most time, but failure rate is very low as well. The AMS has been the largest issue, much of that due to non-Bambu spools, or low on filament spools. I hear the A1 AMS is pretty much foolproof, the P1/X1 AMS definitely has some quirks. I wouldn't trust it enough to do a large multicolor print while I am sleeping.

I would highly consider the Qudi if it had been available before I purchased the X1C
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I've done several overnight multicolor prints. No problems. All my issues have always been non-bambu brand filaments.

Coworker and I are already discussing buying this QIDI for work. We need the bed space and are likely printing PPA and POS soon.
The real question is how much tinkering, repair, and service time QIDI printers require. We need Bambu level reliability, I can't afford the downtime expense of a couple PhDs messing with printers. And at home I've gotten too spoiled to deal with it also.
 
Some current projects. Jack Skellington hands for Halloween, and a bluebird house that will hopefully deter sparrows with the wide opening.

The hands are pretty cool, I wish I had found a different type of stretchy string, I am not sure what I used will last, and of course the stretchy string isn't really installed in a way that makes it replaceable.
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YJJPWrangler said:
Late to the party...buddy upgraded his printer to a Bambu Lab X1 so I got his older one for a steal. It's an Anycubic Vyper. Got it setup and printing "Benchi" the boat.

Should be yet another hobby I get way to far into...
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It’s a time suck, money suck, rabbit hole, intriguing pain in the ass that I need together back into… haven’t printed since May
Good luck!
 
Blkvoodoo said:
It’s a time suck, money suck, rabbit hole, intriguing pain in the ass that I need together back into… haven’t printed since May
Good luck!
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Agreed 100%!
 
First two prints are done. First benchy had some issues mainly bc my buddy programmed it to print right at the limit of speed for mine. I slowed it down and the second boat came out a lot better....still doesn't float though.

Wife has already found many things she "needs"
 
YJJPWrangler said:
First two prints are done. First benchy had some issues mainly bc my buddy programmed it to print right at the limit of speed for mine. I slowed it down and the second boat came out a lot better....still doesn't float though.

Wife has already found many things she "needs"
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90% of problems are either improper leveling, too fast/too much acceleration, or bad retraction settings.
its a lot like welding... all comes down to flow and making sure everything matches it.
 
RatLabGuy said:
90% of problems are either improper leveling, too fast/too much acceleration, or bad retraction settings.
its a lot like welding... all comes down to flow and making sure everything matches it.
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The vyper has an auto leveling bed feature which is nice. I've been taking it nice and slow until I get a feel for the machine. I've been playing with Bambu slicer and Cura
 
YJJPWrangler said:
The vyper has an auto leveling bed feature which is nice. I've been taking it nice and slow until I get a feel for the machine. I've been playing with Bambu slicer and Cura
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After "growing up" with Cura and my primary for years, I didn't like Bambu Studio initially. Had to learn it bc at the time there was no other option for a Bambu printer.
Its really grown on me and now I like it better. Its not quite as flexible but damn if it doesn't work well.
 
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