/3DPG/

/3DPG/ Pastebin v2.1 - Last updated 7-1-2019

>General info
3D-printing is the common name for what is technically called additive manufacturing. Traditionally, manufacturing methods used to be subtractive: you start with some material, take a lathe/mill/hammer/whatever and remove all material that is not the end product. Additive manufacturing start out with nothing and adds material in just the right places to form an end product.

The most common forms of 3D-printing for hobbyists right now are FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) and SLA (Stereolithography), with FDM being the most common and most discussed type in /3DPG/: most of the information in this pastebin applies to FDM. FDM boils down to taking filament (basically plastic wire in a standardised thickness) and shoving it through a heated nozzle. That nozzle is then moved in three dimensions (hence the name 3D-printing) to extrude material and form the end product.

Workflow for 3D-printing is as follows:
>Obtain a 3D-printer, assembly if necessary
>Obtain filament
>Design a product using CAD
>Turn CAD file into machine code using slicing software
>Start printing
>Fail
>Troubleshoot
>Repeat last few steps untill succesful

https://www.3dhubs.com/knowledge-base
https://www.3dhubs.com/what-is-3d-printing
https://opendesignengine.net/projects/vg3dp/wiki
Additive Manufacturing Technologies:3D Printing, Rapid Prototyping, and Direct Digital Manufacturing, Gibson Rosen Stucker

>Buyers guide
For a more up to date version of this guide, always check the OP. Also, do your own damn research or you risk the fact that OP is shilling chinkshit meaning you end up with useless garbage.

What is chinkshit you ask? Succesful printers like the Ultimaker, Prusa i3, Ender 3 or CR-10 get cloned in China within months and can then be found on sites like Banggood and Alibaba. Their quality can vary wildly, although their instruction manuals and warranty are almost universally useless, ergo: chinkshit. Some of the common ones are Anet, Anycubic, Dalai Lama, Creality, Geeetech, JGAurora, Tiananmen 1989, Tevo, Tronxy, Uyghur Autonomic Region and Xiaomi.

Not too long ago the golden standard used to be the Prusa i3. It offers great quality prints at a price well below 1000 USD, which was to be considered amazing at the time. A homebuilt Reprap could do the same, sure, but it was distruptive nonetheless. The i3 is not a perfect printer, but it's still a good benchmark to compare against and is arguably the best printer you can buy for 1000 USD.
Then came the Creality Ender 3: basically an improved i3 for a fraction of the price. It's probably the best printer per dollar on the market right now, although it's still chinkshit and should be considered as such. Most printers in the 200 USD bracket are chinkshit though, and the Ender 3 is king of the shitheap.
The Creality CR-10 is basically an upsized Ender 3 with some minor mechanical improvements: it's also arguably the best printer you can buy for under 500 USD - emphasis on arguably.
Do you want to spend more than 1000 USD? Are you really sure? Consider a Lulzbot or Ultimaker if you've got this much money to spare, or buy several of the aforementioned cheaper models.

https://www.3dhubs.com/best-3d-printer-guide [Outdated as per 1-1-2019]

>Filament
This stuff is the food of your 3D-printer: feed it garbage, and it will shit on your carpet. Simply put a spool of filament is just a roll of plastic wire. Sounds simple right? The main problem manufacturing this stuff is controlling chemical composition and ensuring a consistent diameter of the filament, which is not as easy as it sounds. Buy name brand stuff if you're starting out, only with some experience should you move on to the cheap and possibly unreliable stuff. Remember: there's nothing more expensive than a failed print.
Filament comes in different materials and different diameters (usually 1.75 and 2.85mm). The most common materials right now are PLA, ABS and PET. PLA is really easy to print with and should be your starting material. ABS is stronger but much harder to print, which explains the popularity of PET: it has most of the strength of ABS without the printing difficulties. Beyond these there's about a dozen reasonably common materials, each with their own material properties, printing temperatures, speeds and difficulty level.
http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/28-material-guide
http://www.matterhackers.com/3d-printer-filament-compare

>Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting what went wrong on that list print is an art to be mastered. Simplify3D has a great guide on their website, if that fails, use the other two below. If that doesn't work, post your failure in the thread, we can then have a laugh at you and possibly come up with a solution.
https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/

https://reprap.org/wiki/Print_Troubleshooting_Pictorial_Guide
https://support.3dverkstan.se/article/23-a-visual-ultimaker-troubleshooting-guide

>Where to get 3d models?
There are huge online communities where people share 3D files to be printed, some of them are mentioned below:
https://www.thingiverse.com/
https://www.grabcad.com/

https://www.yeggi.com/
https://www.youmagine.com/
https://www.myminifactory.com/
https://www.3d-druck-community.de/showthread.php?tid=214

>Making 3D models yourself
3D-printing requires CAD-software (Computer Aided Design) and a design (duh). Optimising your design for 3D-printing can make a huge difference in both print time and failure rate:
http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/38-designing-for-3d-printing

As for CAD-software, you can use a plethora of programs: Solidworks, AutoCAD, Fusion360, doesn't really matter. Fusion360 is free for hobbyist users and relatively easy to learn, so I'd recommend that unless you have particular requirements.
https://www.blender.org/
https://www.onshape.com/
https://www.openscad.org/
https://www.freecadweb.org/
https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/

>Slicers
Once you've made a design in CAD, you can then export it as .stl (Standard Triangle Language) or .3MF (3D-manufacturing format).
These files types can then be used by a slicer program, which then slices (hence the name) it into layers for your machine to print.
These layers can then be exported to your machine in .3MF or .gcode (machine code) format, through an SD-card or cable connection.

The three biggest slicing programs right now are Cura, Slic3r and Simplify3D, each has it's pros and cons.
Cura is free, will suit most amateurs just fine with an easy interface, and yet has enough depth to it for expert-level users.
Simplify costs money (but is easy to pirate) and has slightly more expansive options than Cura does.
Final choice would be Slic3r, the OG open source slicer - the perfect choice if you're a /g/entoomen running some wierd Linux distro.

>Open source community
Not just the slicing component can be open source: the entire printer you build can be. Several projects have existed that are at the foundation of the hobbyist 3D-printing movement, chief of which is the Reprap project. The Prusa i3 and it's clones are all based on Reprap architecture, meaning that most of the amateur level market consists of these things. Note that not all printers have to be cartesian-style (XYZ): the Reprap community has experimented with almost every different kinematics system under the sun, including extremely complex ones and also every possible combination of the X-, Y- and Z-axis.

https://reprap.org/wiki/
https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Machines
https://reprap.org/wiki/Mechanical_arrangement
https://forums.reprap.org/
https://forum.duet3d.com/
#RepRap @freenode

>Calibrating a printer
https://prusaprinters.org/calculator/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Wb0i0-Qvo
https://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasSanladerer
https://reprap.org/wiki/Triffid_Hunter's_Calibration_Guide
https://support.3dverkstan.se/article/30-getting-better-prints

>Hotend
E3D and their V6 hotend are the industry standard right now if you want to build your own printer.
Micro-Swiss offers a lot of ready-to-go kits to upgrade existing printers, might want to check those out.
If you need high temperatures (>300C), consider a Prometheus V2 or B3 Pico. For sheer print speed, the E3D Volcano is hard to beat.

>Extruder
Bondtech/BMG extruders are probably the best in the market right now - but also the most expensive.
A good alternative would be the E3D Titan - a compelling package when combined with the E3D V6 hotend.
You could also stick it to the man and print your own: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2289203





>How to make a new /3DPG/ thread
Only make a new thread when the old ones is well past bumplimit.
/diy/ is a slow board so the thread won't die within a day, when it hits page 5 you might as well make a new thread.
Make a link in the old thread to the new one, remember to put /3DPG/ in the subject line, and use the copypasta below.

Save some of the images from the previous thread, upload them to:
https://www.befunky.com/
Use them to create an new image for the OP.



>Copypasta
[Edition] Edition
Old thread: >>[Post number of previous thread]
All the info you need about 3D-printing: [Link to this pastebin]

>Need help with prints? Go to:
https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/

If that doesn't help you solve your print problems, please post:
>A picture of the failed part
>Printer make & model
>Filament type/brand
>Bed & extruder temperature
>Print speed

>What printer should I buy? [Last updated 7-1-2019]
Under 200 USD: Creality Ender 3
Under 500 USD: Creality CR-10
Under 1000 USD: Prusa i3 (Mk2 or Mk3)
Over 1000 USD: Lulzbot or Ultimaker
Buyer beware: some chinkshit clones are garbage. Some can be genuinely good, though.
Instead of buying a new printer, you could consider building your own: https://reprap.org/wiki/

>Where can I get free things to print?
https://www.thingiverse.com/
https://grabcad.com/
https://google.com/

>What CAD software should I use?
Solidworks, Inventor, AutoCAD etc. all work, but Blender and Fusion 360 are free:
https://www.blender.org/
https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/