Getting started with 3D printing

[Raminator]

Cheers for the help Rob, much appreciated. I'm not concerned about print bed size, I think I'm mostly interested in printing fairly small components. I'll definitely come back to all this if/when it comes time to think about buying a printer of my own, thanks!

$5 for one track link? If I tell you that I can print 16 for £0.25p in an hour, using PLA, you will see where Shapeways make their money.

It's not a track link, it's a set of parts to make the hinges on the SU-152's hatches.

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I realise there's going to be a markup when any middleman is involved, but economies of scale come into play here too. Particularly when I'm just starting out and testing the waters.

[wibblywobbly]

Ah, that makes a bit more sense, yes, Shapeways are good for one off parts that you need in high quality.

They do pay for themselves once anyone gets past the CAD design part. I have two, and have just ordered a third. I am hoping that the new one will allow me to print very accurate replacement parts for the first two. That's the great thing about reprap printers, they all pretty much use the same standard parts, 6mm or 8mm smooth rods, 2020 aluminium extrusions and Nema 17 motors, the electronics are usually Arduino boards, and hotends are common across all printers.

The best way to get one cheap is watch Ebay and look at what people are selling, often they have assembled one badly and don't know how to fix it, look around on the web, You Tube etc, and see what the reviews say, if it's a good printer then you could pick up a bargain. Just avoid the Kickstarter abominations, one or two are very good but most of the super cheap ones are a complete disaster.

[Raminator]

Got the hinges from Shapeways today, the print quality was even better than I expected. The parts required next to no cleanup, and they feel nice and strong.

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First lot dry-fit in-situ:

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With a 2.2 mm styrene tube covering the exposed paperclip, they'll look like the real deal while maintaining the strength of the metal axle and full-thickness hinges.

Thanks for the help, guys! This opens up a whole world of possibilities and means I might be able to tackle a whole bunch of builds I've thought about.

[midlife306]

Orientating the model becomes important when using a domestic printer, Cura makes this easy, just rotate it any way you want, but I have a feeling that Slicr doesn't allow this, so you have to save the STL file in the orientation that you want it before loading

Hi chaps, I’ve always used Slic3r & using it I’m my opinion is really easy, I’ve tried Cura but I find it quite complicated in comparison.
Just to confirm that Slic3r does allow you to rotate the .STL file as desired & then export the GCode immediately.
Cheers
Wayne


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