It seems like they're all really expensive, with most halfway decent ones being over $1000. It also seems like they're really finicky and hard to get working consistently.
Are there any 3d printers that are actually a refined product, something you can just get and start using? I don't want to spend most of my time fiddling with the settings and having to buy a ton of upgrades in the hopes of getting it to be a functional machine that can actually be used to print out parts.
If there are any out there that are basically self-maintaining or highly automated in terms of configuring themselves correctly, is it only the really expensive ones, or are there more affordable sort of "get and forget" printers that you can just set up and start using?
I use 3d printers to make parts on a weekly basis.
The fdm (squirting) ones that are “set and go” start around $2000.
Most of that is having a controlled environment for the squirt to transition in and having “profiles” appropriate for doing more than making bowsette statues.
It’s hard to use the information in the diy community to make functional parts because they’re all making bowsette statues.
The exception is guns. The gun people have extensive information that will allow anyone to produce a functional (?) firearm (?) using a $99 printer and the cheapest pla on Amazon.
There is little to be learned from the gun people because the properties a functional (?) firearm (?) requires are super specific and don’t really correspond to much else.
To get a functional “good” diy fdm setup, you need to start with a ~$1000 printer like a prusa knockoff and build an enclosure with climate control around it and set up some kind of sbc that will manage all of that and maybe send commands to the printer to adjust its bullshit to whatever +/- 1 degree variation occurs.
Everything I just wrote is about fdm with non-basic pla stuff. If you just wanna make bowsette statues and guns then get whatever your files are sliced for (it’s an ender 3) and use that.
Resin printers can be more set and forget, but you need to buy a good one to start with, have ventilation, have wash and curing stations and it has to be able to handle whatever goofball non-warhammer-figurine material you’re using.
If you just want to print warhammer figurines then get an elegoo mars (?) and use it.
My goal is to be able to make little functional and decorative parts that look "good" without too terribly much post-processing. For example, I'd like to be able to print a case for the communist fantasy console project I'm working on and have the different parts actually line up instead of being all warped. Little functional parts for fixing things around the house, or printing decorations or prosthetics (Canadian healthcare basically only covers them in BC, so a lot of people never even have the chance to get one.) idk about printing a gun, especially as far as legality goes, but it sounds like that's on the "easier" side of FDM manufacturing from what you say
Okay, when you said you wanted to print parts I assumed you meant components with nylon or rubber attributes or something like that that needed to be more performant than pla.
If it’s just “stuff” you want to print but don’t want it to turn out all “fucked up” then get an ender and a cardboard box and some insulation and put the insulation on the inside of the box surfaces and put the box over the ender.
You won’t be able to see what’s happening, but after you calibrate the printer for use with an insulated enclosure (a cardboard box with old insulation stapled to it) it’ll be able to consistently crank out quality parts.
When you start getting self conscious about your trailer park ass 3d printer, look up some of the nicer clear plastic enclosure builds and make one of those.