Hi

I am trying to print a series of complicated objects. There are tiny details in them and I want it to be max 20cm in length (see attachment). I asked for HD printing price, and they said it costs around 170 euros to print each one. I need to print at least 10. So it will cost me 1700 euros. I thought maybe its better to buy a printer instead. But I don’t know which one to go for.

If my model has too many tiny details should I then care about the micron accuracy? Should it be 20 or 50? Is it about it being HD or Resin and the normal one? I really have no idea.

If I need to buy, I thought of CEL Robox, or Makergear M2 if I can find a cheap one.

Can somebody please give me some suggestions for a 3D printer, or a way to print this in a non-HD way but still with good details?

Thank you

By the way, I have had my eyes on FLUX 3D printer for a long time. How is that?

Its hard to say without any dimensions, but I doubt that “railing-like” detail at the top would even be printed on an M2 or any FDM. Microns dont matter when details are smaller than the nozzle (.35mm standard…optional .25mm). If I was you Id send a small cross section of that part to a a hub with a resin/SLA printer (like a Form 1+) and the same file to some one with an M2 to see if you can get the details with either. Might spend about 50euro that way but you would have a better idea of what you need.

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I had until recently a Flux 3d printer. It was a surprisingly good printer for the low Kickstarter cost, although the software is in Alpha stage and underwent many changes over my short ownership. There was a substantial learning curve to determine what combinations of settings and material produced good results and the results were frequently and surprisingly inconsistent. It has a cold (non-heated) bed, so PLA is the only option for printing material.

You asked about detail and micron level resolution. Consider that one can see easily layers as small as 50 micron, so even a printer that can go that small will have visible layering. Post processing will allow you to smooth the surface, making invisible those layers. The resolution reference is useful however, for the detail you will print as protrusions or recesses. If you have a ledge or a rail of say 0.5 mm thickness, it would be messy to print with 0.200 mm, as the printer would not be happy with two and one-half layers. Far less messy with 0.100 mm layers, even though print time increases.

Your models also present a number of complications. There are long bridges, horizontally un-supported structures. Expect to have droop from a conventional FFM printer using a single extruder. One can use support material created by the slicer software, but with one extruder, the difficult of removing the supports increases with the complexity of the model, as does the amount of post-processing involved to clear away the little bumps created by the supports.

I’ve recently printed what I would have considered an impossible model, but I used a BCN3D Sigma dual extruder. The second extruder was loaded with PVA wash-away support material. A bit of soaking in the water and most of it fell clear, while the remainder in the high-detail areas eventually dissolved on its own. The detail capacity of the Sigma is great and I’ve not set layers below 0.100 mm with excellent results.

If you are aiming for cheap, you may find your objective to be quite difficult to attain.

Do you have only the one model of which to print ten? 3d printers are not specifically production devices, mainly for prototyping, but ten is a quantity that falls into that arena, in my opinion.

If you purchase a printer, consider that there are virtually no used Sigma printers on the market. You could purchase one, use it to your satisfaction and then sell it used for a small loss and a good return on investment.

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Hi. Just basing this on the questions you are asking, doing this yourself is an option if you have a year or more in time to get up to speed. 3D printing isn’t like dropping bread into a toaster, pushing a button and voilla, you’ve got toast.

Having said that, if you have an interest in 3D printing by all means get a printer and the M2 is a good printer. It was my first. Not the best for this project but a great starter for sure.

This is an intricate piece. You couldn’t really do this correctly on an M2. If you are going to do this on an FFM (FFF) extruding printer you will need to do this in sections and put it together post printing.

Have you got the STL or OBJ file for this item? Have you got the original CAD file to break it down into parts?

My advice, for this project, is have the pro’s do it. Money well spent. Then get a 3D printer, maybe the M2, start learning it and the software (CAD and SLICER) for future projects.

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Thank you Mark.

I asked a freelancer on freelancer.com to make it for me. I may need to ask him to make it 3d print friendly for me now.

Nice info from you. Thanks a lot

Hi Fred, Thank you for the comment.
I can easily ignore that bar part on the top. Also thank you for letting me know about the micron differences. And thank you for sharing your experience on the M2

Good idea John.

I can skip that detail. I was just not sure how much it will cost. I thought it will cost me around 160.

Also I am not printing many from one item. Its gonna be different models. Then I will maybe make a clone in resin with silicon molding. That I can do easy! The printing though is a big question mark to me.