I wish you all the best 3D printing is nothing to be scared of, varying heat is a challenge to be sure, but a simple cardboard box over the printer goes a long way to stop prints peeling of the bed because they get a cold draught over the bed.
Filament is cheap, maybe where you are the electricity supply might be a little flaky, so a UPS would be in order (lived in Michigan for a while so I can sympathise - but they are super cheap compared with EU versions!) but yeah - just have a bash
There are a few things that need to be clarified about 3d printing. Firstly it isn't just a matter of taking a file, putting it through slicer software, and then printing it. There needs to be an understanding of component orientation so that the component when printed has the required strength in the desired orientation on the model, and that it is printed in the right position to maximise the detail and reduce unwanted bits from having to be removed after printing. There are other issues to be considered including size and scale, and quite often the component will need to be printed multiple times with parameters and orientation adjusted to obtain the desired end result.
Asking someone else to do this for you will result in a cycle of print/adjust/reprint/retry which is likely to be both frustrating and expensive as each iteration will involve packaging and posting. If you invested in your own printer you would learn how to carry out all this fairly quickly by trial and error, and would have the added satisfaction of creating your own components and model.
I have completed numerous commissions for club members and do not undertake these lightly as they take a considerable amount of time and are undertaken as favours as there is inevitably no comparative remuneration for the time and effort expended to do it correctly, typically barely recovering the cost of the material and postage and packaging involved, so I suspect you will not find it easy to recruit someone to do the printing for you.
All that said I wish you well in your new projects and look forward to seeing the results you achieve.
Just to put in my two pence, I actually printed something similar to that turbosquid file with the same delicate fan detail and believe it or not, they actually do print very very well. I have the Anycubic Photon S resin printer and it does the job very well.
However, everything Alwyn said before about time, orientation, trial and error etc are all true and not to mention the material costs of failed prints. 3D printing is not cheap to say the least but the result is soo worth it =)
I think that the attractions of 3D printing will remain a dream to many of the members of this Forum who would struggle with anything harder than plugging into a Heng Long RX18 MFU,
If it is more challenging than switching on the light in the kitchen then forget it but 3 D printing does hold great promise for people with the courage and the money to pay the upfront cost of a 3D printer and are prepared to spend a little time practising to achieve the promise of self building parts for their builds.
Check out the 3D printers on sale,
They really are a world apart from what was on offer just 5 years ago.
For those considering a printer, I would just emphasise that anyone considering an FDM printer (I have no knowledge of resin printing) then Creality printers should be the go-to brand. I originally tried a cheap PRUSA clone printer and quickly replaced it with a Creality when the nightmare of maintenance and poor quality of the PRUSA printer almost caused me to give up 3d printing in despair and frustration.
There are various vendors selling 'used' printers and given the number of these they sell, then I can only think that 'used' is simply a tactic for getting around retail price maintenance agreements from manufacturers. In any case there are many suppliers of replacement and upgrade components for creality printers and mine has been thoroughly reliable, stable, and very high quality.
[quote="AlwynTurner"]There are a few things that need to be clarified about 3d printing. Firstly it isn't just a matter of taking a file, putting it through slicer software, and then printing it. There needs to be an understanding of component orientation so that the component when printed has the required strength in the desired orientation on the model, and that it is printed in the right position to maximise the detail and reduce unwanted bits from having to be removed after printing. There are other issues to be considered including size and scale, and quite often the component will need to be printed multiple times with parameters and orientation adjusted to obtain the desired end result.
Asking someone else to do this for you will result in a cycle of print/adjust/reprint/retry which is likely to be both frustrating and expensive as each iteration will involve packaging and posting. If you invested in your own printer you would learn how to carry out all this fairly quickly by trial and error, and would have the added satisfaction of creating your own components and model.
I have completed numerous commissions for club members and do not undertake these lightly as they take a considerable amount of time and are undertaken as favours as there is inevitably no comparative remuneration for the time and effort expended to do it correctly, typically barely recovering the cost of the material and postage and packaging involved, so I suspect you will not find it easy to recruit someone to do the printing for you."
Having had the privilege of receiving on of Mr Turners commission builds, I can vouch for his words of caution for actual costs, time(uncharged) and basic materials & what is reasonable to charge, do not respectfully cover the true cost of what it takes to produce the visionary parts & project components we all crave, but I for one am sure glad he(they) do
I can achieve a lot of things in my life if I want to, but as ole Inspector Callahan once said............."a mans got to know his limitations"
And 3D printing- I.T. voodoo is well above my limitation
Well thank you everyone for your comments, feedback and thoughts. Even the cheeky ones! There are many aspects of this hobby that one must bring together from an RC mechanical aspect, painting, weathering, historical information and scratch built pieces if you so desire. Not mastering all and continuing to build upon your skill set as you go should be encouraged. Not meet with cheeky comments about how easy it is to spend your hard earned money on printer, PC, filament and other materials. And if not go back to plugging in henglong mfc's. So to you sir, bless your heart. I'll continue to looking into alternatives and enjoy this build as it keeps moving forward