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Desktop Fabrication-What are your favorite lasers, 3d printers and more?
I've got a K40 laser engraver that I've had a lot of fun getting up and running with K40 whisperer on a Raspberry pi, and lately I've been thinking about getting a cheap 3d printer. Does anyone have an entry level 3d printer they like and want to recommend? What kinds of projects do you like to make? Anybody have a desktop cnc or other fun toys? Let's hear about 'em.
I'm a member at a makerspace that has a 90w Epilog Legend co2 laser cutter & a bunch of Lulzbot minis and Lulzbot Taz 6s.
The Taz 6s are really pretty good in this situation very low faff and reliable, you can put your data file on an SD Card which is nice. However 3d printers are pretty specific in their uses: Stuff takes a loong time to print, it's not that strong mechanically & it doesn't look great without a bunch of finishing work. Oh and you need CAD skills. The best uses I've seen are replacing broken plastic parts, custom brackets and bespoke cosplay costumes.
The laser cutter/engraver is frickin AMAZING though, you can do relatively complex stuff to a 900x600 sheet of ply in half an hour and you can knock out little things really fast. Building a net is I find much easier than CAD, so I'm a big fan of that.
Gotta say though from enjoying the process I'd much rather just get down with normal woodworking tools: table saw, pillar drills and so on.
Pretty jealous about that epilog, what thickness of ply does it cut? I love my cutter but it's barely more than a toy, and ever since I started working on it I've had tons of ideas that could only be accomplished on a larger-format, more powerful machine. I'd really like to get a model that can handle full sheets of 3/4 ply for use in my shop.
I definitely love my traditional shop tools, and i would never get rid of them because they will always, always be useful-but I'm fascinated by the possibilities opened up by CAD and digital fabrication.
It can theoretically just about manage ~3/8" or 10mm maybe with two passes and lifting the bed for the 2nd pass.
In reality getting that out of the whole bed isn't possible because the makerspace doesn't manage to maintain it well enough plus the bed is warped & needs replacing.
If you're looking at 3/4" you'd probably be better off with a 2D CNC router.
maybe like this there are a few DIY plans for building your own. should cost a few thousand USD in parts.
Did you see the maslow kickstarter? very exciting if it can be made to work easily.
The maslow type cnc is pretty interesting, but the thin kerf and improved accuracy of laser cutters is something that really appeals to me. 3/4 is a pretty tall order, but I've heard that 120w lasers with air assist can just manage it. Even if not, 1/2 would be enough for me
Oh yea fair enough, yea accuracy and kerf is pretty hard to beat a laser for. What are you planning to make with it though? Manufacturing speed & cost I'd at least seriously compare a CNC router (although perhaps you already did!)
Should also say this is partly a grass is always greener situation for me, we don't have a working cnc router... yet.
CNC plasma is also on my list :D
I have a Creality CR-10S and... it hasn't been great. From the get go, the bed was bent, and I probably should have returned it or gotten a replacement. I have a lot of adherence issues, and I've tried every single thing ever printed on the topic. I'm switching out the extruder now because I think maybe there's a flaw in it.
When it works it is glorious, but it doesn't work a lot more than it does. I haven't had these issues with other printers in maker-spaces, but part of that could be that other people are maintaining and doing the fiddly bits of printer ownership there.
I've been thinking of getting a Prussia i3, saw a ridiculously cheep kit for on ebay.
If it's a used Genuine Prusa, go for it.
If it's a knock-off kit, do a lot of research first. Some of the knock-offs are good, but many others are a fire hazard.
Thanks, I think it was a nockoff kit.
I bought a Cricut vinyl cutter not too long ago. You can make vinyl decals, heat transfers for t-shirts and fabrics, cut card stock, fabrics and do pen plotting. I kinda hate the design software that you have to use, but you can upload any SVG to it. So I design in Inkscape and upload it to the Cricut design software.
We have a lulzbot mini 3D printer at work and its okay. Prints seem to stick so well to the build plate that you have to apply an uncomfortable amount of force to free them. I cracked the glass buildplate trying to free prints. The stock extruder also started leaking out of the sides at one point and had to be replaced. This was all within the first year of purchasing it and customer service was pretty bad to deal with. Though we had a makerbot before that and the extruders kept jamming and had to be replaced on the regular. I kinda want to buy a cheaper 3d printer myself for home, but not being overly impressed with some of the more expensive options makes me apprehensive.
I just got a meat grinder, so I've been experimenting with making my own burgers. Gonna try making sausages this weekend.
The vinyl plotter sounds cool, whats the bed size? I've been trying to figure out a way to print large-format shop drawings without buying an insanely expensive printer. Pen plotting might work.
I've heard a lot of 3d printers are pretty finicky, and honestly that's why I haven't bought on yet. I don't necessarily need something plug-and-play. I'm happy to tinker with or even build a device to get it working. But once it works i want something reliable, that doesn't have to be fixed every time you use it.
Congrats on the meat grinder, homemade burgers are the best! I;ve never made sausage before though. I'm about to get a stand mixer so I can make my own butter, pretty excited about that project.
The Cricut has different sized mats. The standard is 12x12 inches, but you can buy 12x24 mats. So, probably not ideal for large vinyl cuts or pen plotting. Pretty nifty for a Desktop vinyl cutter though.
Making your own butter sounds amazing!
Hah, I knew searching for Lasers would give relevant results.
I'm sure OP has since gotten their question answered, but here's my answer:
I recently got my hands on a Snapmaker Original, a 3-in-1 machine that can do 3D printing, CNC and Laser engraving/cutting. It can do all those things... relatively okayish. The bed is tiny compared to other printers (12.5cm x 12.5cm), the CNC feels even more cramped and there's not good way to deal with getting all the debris out while it's working... and the laser is a great engraver (though the same issues happen due to the small size), but it can barely cut. Legit a great quality engraver, though of course very slow, since the best laser on it is a 1600mW one.
So after a couple of weeks of being completely obsessed with the laser, I got myself a refurbished 10W diode laser that can do 40x40cm :D It cuts through 5mm plywood just fine, and an engraving "test" of a ~20mm slice of very dry, light wood almost ended in a fire because it dug 3 mm in, lol.
I just finished building a housing for it, with an exhaust system and added an air assist... I'm really excited to start doing bigger more complex pieces :D There are these multiple layer maps that are just amazing (if a lot of fiddly work to get right)