[chbot] 3D printer of choice for 2020

[Andrew Errington]

Hi Robin,

Not sure about the printer. I expect they're all much the same these days
as their function is well understood and all of the costs have been
minimised. I'm still very happy with mine, bought almost 3 years ago, but
the print volume is only 120mm to a side.

Materials-wise, everyone uses 1.75mm PLA. It doesn't smell, and it's
available in a range of colours and finishes. You should probably choose a
printer that is capable of handling other materials, but I expect you'll
only ever use PLA.

You might want to look at dual extruders for doing multiple
colours/materials in the same model, but only if you have a compelling
reason for this.

Finally, your software of choice is OpenSCAD, not least because it is
scriptable. If it's not OpenSCAD then it's whatever your friend is using,
because it can be tricky to get started. Actually, you should probably get
whatever printer your friend has too, then you can swap spare parts when it
breaks.

Andrew




On Wed, Feb 26, 2020, 16:07 Robin Gilks <robin at gilks.org> wrote:

> I've found myself browsing for a 3D printer again but a lot of the
> information on the 'net is spread over several years so its tricky to work
> out what is a good deal.
>
> I'm looking for an absolute minimum of 200x200x200 print size, I'd like a
> choice of materials (but I don't really know what the choices might be)
> and if in kit form then not requiring a 3D printer to make some of the
> parts (chicken & egg assembly).
>
> My budget lies firmly in the 3 figure range but I'd go to the upper limit
> of that for something decent that will last a while.
>
> I'll also be looking for Linux modeling s/w that doesn't require a PHD in
> topology.
>
> Cheers
>
>
> --
> Robin Gilks
>
>
>
>
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