My wife will be getting me an Ender 3 V2 printer for Christmas. I am very much new to 3D printing, but I have seen great results by others and I am looking forward to this. I have an engineering background, so I don’t think I will be completely new to design, although I must admit I haven’t laid eyes on a CAD program in 15 years. (I work in the field in project management) I believe my first questions will cover the basics: 1. What CAD or other design programs so you recommend? 2. Are there sites you frequent that offer download files for various items to print? 3. I’m sure not all filament is the same, so what brands or retailers do you prefer? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
#1 i like tinkercad , its free and works for dummies like me. #2 thingaverse is full of free down loadable things ( you will get lost ) #3 HATCH box... filament is very important because from my printing experience ( witch is not a lot ) buy good filament . i buy hatch box because its very reliable. what ever you do not buy the cheap crap , its garbage and will only frustrate you. print settings is everything once you master that its all good. also from my experience Aqua net hair spray is very good on the build plate. DO GET A GLASS BUILD PLATE!!!! very good build surface. i have two one gets dirty i wash it and while its being washed i use the other one. ive used sunlu filament before and have mixed results sometimes i get a good batch and some time not. ive printed really small gears with very good results.
Congrats on the Ender. I love mine and feel it is a great all around printer. I use Fusion 360 for my CAD work and highly recommend it if you are looking to do complex designs. If you can imagine it you can design it with Fusion 360. The drawback is that you aren't going to learn it in a couple hours. Still I was able to create some nice things after a couple days watching some YouTube videos. Here is the one that helped get me started.... If you aren't looking to design, print and sell items you can download the full version under a personal/hobby free license. That is what I've done. You renew it yearly but that doesn't take long. Here is the link to renew (which can be hard to find) and you can also find the link to start a new license ... https://knowledge.autodesk.com/supp...bbyist-enthusiast-license-for-Fusion-360.html Like Sid said..... thingiverse.com is a good site despite some of the bugs on the site. My account is ( HERE ). Also like Sid said I use only HatchBox filament (HERE) and like the gray. Started with black but found gray easier to paint over since I also use gray primers. For the build surface I like and use Creality's removable magnetic build surface ( HERE ). It is easy to remove the prints and works well as long as you keep the bed level ( good description and program to quickly do it ( HERE ). When setting up the Ender I'd strongly suggest getting the horizontal bar that the hot-end rides on square to begin with as shown ( HERE ). He also replaces the springs. I have new springs but still use the originals after 100's of prints. I do take a few minutes to relevel the bed any time I change a nozzle or cut the Bowden tube shorter. I wish I would of done that from the beginning. Not to overload you at this point but you are going to have to replace a few things as you use it. The nozzles will eventually clog and need replacement. Also the Bowden tube that the filament goes through to the hot-end/nozzle will eventually build up with filament deposits inside by the hot-end and the filament will get stuck in it. You will know when you hear a clicking sound and the extruder can't push the filament through and the filament won't come out onto the print. The fix is to cut enough off the end of the Bowden tube to get back to a clean inside (I might do a web page on an easy quick way to do this). I can do that now in 4-6 minutes and get back to printing. You will need to start the print over though. I always run the program to relevel the bed ( Found HERE ) when doing any of this work (it only takes a few minutes and will save a lot of frustration). It can sound a little overwhelming at first but follow those links and set the printer up right to start with and you will be rewarded with tons of great prints and yes a filament printer can't get the detail of a resin printer but for anything at normal viewing distance it can have outstanding results.... .... and .... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Roundhouse/Roundhouse-Index.html ... print larger items than all but the more expensive resin printers. Sumner
1 - I use Autodesk Inventor, but I think you can get Fusion 360 for free. They are basically the same program, but Fusion 360 has a more streamlined UI. I find Fusion 360 to be cumbersome, probably because I'm used to Inventor. Autodesk tried to simplify the layout on Fusion, which means a lot of the functions are hidden in drop downs. It just seems like a lot of wasteful clicking to get anything done. Inventor's UI can be overwhelming at first, but you get used to it, and at least it tells you what functions you have available, rather than having to search through folders and drop-down menus to find what you want. You may want to see if you can get some free trials of other software, or work from open-source programs like Blender. I tried Blender for a bit, but it seems like it had animation features as well, which you don't really need for CAD modeling. 2 - Thingiverse and Shapeways are the big ones. Thingiverse has free files for download, while Shapeways does the printing for you and mails the finished product. I am not a huge fan of Thingiverse; it just seems like everything on there related to trains is for wooden railway toys. Looking up 'model train' or similar search terms always brings up a bunch of stuff that looks like a high-school design project. There are some good structures, but rolling stock is basically non-existent. I wish Thingiverse had better filters like Shapeways does, just so I can filter out the junk and get to the actual quality models. 3 - I don't have a ton of experience with FDM printers, but the other guys here can hopefully recommend some good products.
Thanks for the help, everyone! I did check out Thingiverse and found some interesting items to consider in the future. I’m looking forward to Christmas now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
