I need to buy a 3d printer in the very near future to work on prototype electronic enclosures. It's minimum capacity should be 5x5x5 inches. Does anyone here own, or have experience with, a good 3d printer brand?

I'm asking because I already did some searching, and found that there are literally dozens of brands out there, and that's only those that are listed in amazon. Having so many options is a little confusing for me.

At this moment I'm willing to spend up to $2,500.00 dlls on this gadget. Also, I can see that some printers are equipped with a laser engraving head... that's a feature that could come in handy too.

I've been looking at this for years, and still the technology isn't there. Too much clean up, too much inconsistency, too much diddling with the bed, the nozzles, the filament, or the the resultant object that's been created, let alone the lack of ability to actually do certain overhanging aspects in designs.

I've looked at deposition, and at the liquid kind that makes the part emerge out of liquid resin. All have issues.

$2500 is a chunk. I would offer this- see if you have a local maker workshop or maker-friendly printing place with a 3D printer that you can send your design to over the internet and go get your part. No hassle, no clean-up, and far less if you're doing only one, two, or a few initial pieces.

You spend far less, and you can evaluate aspects now unknown to you, giving you a better ability to find one that does meet whatever your criteria are for a price that you can justify.

 

I've been looking at this for years, and still the technology isn't there. Too much clean up, too much inconsistency, too much diddling with the bed, the nozzles, the filament, or the the resultant object that's been created, let alone the lack of ability to actually do certain overhanging aspects in designs.

I've looked at deposition, and at the liquid kind that makes the part emerge out of liquid resin. All have issues.

$2500 is a chunk. I would offer this- see if you have a local maker workshop or maker-friendly printing place with a 3D printer that you can send your design to over the internet and go get your part. No hassle, no clean-up, and far less if you're doing only one, two, or a few initial pieces.

You spend far less, and you can evaluate aspects now unknown to you, giving you a better ability to find one that does meet whatever your criteria are for a price that you can justify.

I appreciate the suggestions. But the real issue for me here is that I need to work as fast as I can. In the order of hours, and not days and much the less weeks, which is the normal downtime for local suppliers. On the other hand, learning to use this tech is proving not to be as hard as I had expected. Yes, setup and cleanup is annoying, but it's a lot faster than if I had someone else do it for me.

 

If there is "squish" (i.e., the resin is laid down properly but flows a little before it hardens) that could explain the slightly larger OD, and the ID should might be smaller. If the resin expands, the ID should be larger. A combination of the two factors might be hard to predict.

Is it possable that the submeshion in water has an effect? I remember from my early days in machining that Nylon used to swell from just humidity. Don't know what they ended up doing to the chemestry of Nylon but it doesn't seem to be a problem any more.

 

Hi, Shortbus,

Yes, there are always other factors. Nylon is similar to a protein (polyamide), and it swells with water.

The basis for my comment was that most resins upon polymerization shrink, including epoxy and polyester. Cross-linking pulls the molecules closer together. Anyone who has tried to make an epoxy-glass sleeve on a mandrel knows that. That is not to say some cannot expand, but I suspect (like with most things) the printer may have some compensation built in. I have no problem with doing that, In fact, I am quite impressed with cmartinez's results so far and am anticipating a purchase too.

How many times have you modified the dial readings to fit what you know will happen as you machine a part to final dimensions? ( I am talking hobby machines.)

 

At this point I'm processing an identical part to the tube I previously mentioned. But this time using the 70/30-Blu/Tenacious mixture I mentioned earlier. I have not done any dimensional compensations yet because I want to see how this new resin behaves compared to the previous one.

DARN! I can't wait for my UV light to get here. According to DHL, it should be delivered by tomorrow... let's hope that's the case.

 

Nice try, I have seen people make them out of beer cans and copper sheets... If I'm doing small runs I just paste by hand using a syringe... it takes a lot of patience and makes a mess. Otherwise I just order it. It's worth the cost. Currently I have 5 PCB's pending one more design to place an order... I'm too busy to experiement. Let me know if you get it working.

http://www.surfacemountprocess.com/...l thickness would,inner walls of the aperture.

 

Pulling out another part at this moment... 6 hours more to go. But this time the resin's transparent, and the printers UV light can be glimpsed through the slit between the platform and the pool... and it's looking spectacular!

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And as the part has grown, the light inside it has gone from violet, to blue, to green... I'm sure it's because as the part grows bigger, the uv light entering it loses more energy as it bounces back and forth between its walls...

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Decent printer? I can label the plethora of indecent and ought to start with any made at Canon - the Worlds most arrogant producer having any worst China product for head size above it. But if more serious, as for transparent film tech as well the paper and ironing method the demand are identical - must to have the powder-ink layer as thick as possible.

So, there rules a strongest Nature law - as better the resolution, as thiner the ink, therefore the most decent printer is those most oldest with most worst resolution. If 600 dpi = wonderful, if 1200 = bad, if 2400 = not applicable.

For my experience the old 600 series HP are well made (and cheap) and paint transparency is good enough for real life needs.

Rather popular tradename HP2600 yet is applicable, but very hysteric and needed density is possible only by printing in full colour mode (black= all three colour superposition instead of carbon alone).

Other very popular modell Canon Image Runner 2520 I still havent success to get out a good enough printouts, however I use it for iron method. But for Positivus-20 process it works like garbage. Never trust those crap-firm building into the special electronics generating the high voltage pulses to kill intentionally everything after 20 000 copy "let the udue quality prints never be made". When I first met with this I long wasnt capable to believe I am not in the deep-sleep nightmare, but it was true as their local branch told me when I demanded a warranty repair.

 

Oh, sorry, seems I read the label of article not carefully enough. For the case of 3D printing I use only two softs, if that is Windows machine then 3d-Mach. But Need to warn, any even most advanced Windows machine rarely may lost a steps because the system processes have superiority over load task. Thus, if say Mach makes a telescope rotation along the star movement, it always will beat-off the sight line.
In contrast, any Linux have load task superiority over the system interruptions calls, therefore steps are never lost. Then the right soft is Linux-CNC. Generally it is very the ame as Mach only as everywhere in Linux, if one have a button in right side of pan, then other has it symmetrically in left side of pan.

 

And as the part has grown, the light inside it has gone from violet, to blue, to green... I'm sure it's because as the part grows bigger, the uv light entering it loses more energy as it bounces back and forth between its walls...

After the print is done, what color is the product in room light? Does it fluoresce in UV (black light) or under the 405 nm lights? It may even show very dim and short-lived phosphorescence.

If it is colored (as in pale yellow), I suspect it is just some impurities. If it shows any of the emission phenomena, it may be due to the benzophenone, which is known to show delayed fluorescence and short-lived phosphorescence under some conditions. Before I go too much out on that limb, however, let's be sure it's not the former.

 

@cmartinez
I just told my son about a week ago I too wanted a 3D printer. Started looking around and I know all the guys here have just loads of money to buy those real expensive ones, unfortunately with Christmas coming up "I don't". Found a few that start at about $200 and up. While researching I also looked up vids on them and found this.

I think it's worth looking at if your going to buy one.

Brzrkr

 

After the print is done, what color is the product in room light? Does it fluoresce in UV (black light) or under the 405 nm lights? It may even show very dim and short-lived phosphorescence.

If it is colored (as in pale yellow), I suspect it is just some impurities. If it shows any of the emission phenomena, it may be due to the benzophenone, which is known to show delayed fluorescence and short-lived phosphorescence under some conditions. Before I go too much out on that limb, however, let's be sure it's not the former.

Arrrrggghhhh!!!! please stop asking me about how it looks under UV light!!!!... the stupid thing hasn't arrived yet and I'm pulling my hair here in desperation! .... good thing is that, according to DHL, it will be delivered today, which is one day sooner than I expected...

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And yes. The part came out looking a bit yellowish. I submerged it in isopropyl alcohol as soon as I detached it from the platform, but only for about 30 seconds. Which is what its user guide indicates... I don't know why that is, and I'd rather not find out. But I submerged the parts I previously made with eSun's resin for about 20 minutes and nothing bad happened to them. I tumbled the container gently while it was submerged, and then thoroughly washed it under the tap. Then I dried it using a hair drier, being careful not to apply too much heat.

Siraya's resin density is very slightly lower than eSun's, with the exact same part weighting 74g instead of 77g. Dimensional distortion is exactly the same. Total length being 112mm instead of 111mm. The part still feels a little rubbery when handled, but the one made with eSun's resin felt the same when I pulled it out. I'll just have to wait and see what its final consistency turns out to be.

I'll roast the thing for 20 minutes today under UV as soon as the cursed flood light gets here today... I'll also roast the other parts made wit eSun's resin after that, just to see if it makes any difference at this point.

 

It's not the curing light, it's actually a UV light that shows fluorescence. I have a couple here... you can use black light but the wavelengths are little different. There are different ones, some which are dangerous to the eyes. A quick check with a black light can help.

 

Yes!!! The UV flood lights are here! *opening box even as I type*

 

Et Voilá!

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That does look like fluorescence. Benzophenone does not fluoresce if oxygen or other quenchers of its excited state are present. Thus, in liquids, it is not seen unless the liquid is carefully de-oxygenated beforehand. Carbon tetrachloride is usually used as the solvent as it does not react with the benzophenone triplet. Solids are a different story, as the oxygen can be depleted by other reactions and does not diffuse in rapidly enough. Fluorescence from benzophenone is usually referred to as delayed fluorescence if from a singlet state and phosphorescence if from a triplet state.

Benzophenone is colorless. The yellow you observe may be due to impurities or reaction by-products. I suspect the fluorescence is mostly from the those by-products and/or impurities. The changing colors would also be consistent with reaction by-products. Longer exposure would give more by-products. They are probably at a very low concentration.

The emission spectrum of benzophenone has been reported in several papers (See: Figure 1, https://www.researchgate.net/profil...-with-Compensation-for-Thermal-Broadening.pdf ). That is probably well beyond any importance.

 

@cmartinez
I just told my son about a week ago I too wanted a 3D printer. Started looking around and I know all the guys here have just loads of money to buy those real expensive ones, unfortunately with Christmas coming up "I don't". Found a few that start at about $200 and up.
Brzrkr

I think it is quite a good idea to get one of those sub $200 kits for a start. Keep in mind you will get some frustration, but they are a great way to learn about the 3D printer.
Then, proceed to modify the machine to improve it.
My son's 3D printer kit cost me $169AU. Thea is around $115US. Not bad at all!
Then, we modified it, the main one was tying both Z axis drives together.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3542355
and I made a reel holder..
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3537201
It would have been better to use slots to hold the rod, but the beauty of the 3D printers is one can change things and try again.
Starting with a cheap kit, just keep in mind they print quality can be a bit rough for a start, and these will not go anywhere close to the resin printer being showcased above. But my son has printed Settlers Of Catan game pieces quite well. Along with many other things.
A lot of folk spend way more that $200 on a hobby or sport equipment without any worry. My hobby/sport is 3D printing

His 3D printer is laser cut ply, but it would not be hard to later convert it to Aluminum extrusion. All the electronics and mechanical drive stuff is there so a new frame may well be a good upgrade later.

 

Well, I've just cooked the parts for two hours under UV light, and sure enough, they've become quite stiff and sturdy. They no longer feel rubbery, at all. On the other hand, their surface still feels a little bit tacky, so I'm just gonna let them be for a couple of days, which is the time I expect will take for them to thoroughly cure on the surface, based on my previous experience with eSun's resin. Good thing is that now I can objectively compare the two.