1 Topic by lukepighetti

  • lukepighetti
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  • Registered: 2013-10-22
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Topic: Prototyping 3d Printer for university Innovation Center

Hi all,

I'm at a university in the northeast USA. We currently have two 3d printers, both of which are constantly causing problems for us. I'm researching options for printers to replace our larger one (a ZPrinter 450).

I know this is a bear of a question, but my research begins now and I'm hoping for some direction before I just randomly jump into this project.

Our smaller printer is fine for the 'diddly stuff.' It's a really cheap PLA extrusion type printer. You may have seen them at Staples before. This is good because it helps students get started with 3d printing for cheap, and if they decide to purchase their own machine later, they are familiar with the process.

That said, we need a real prototyping 3d printer that can do a variety of forms. A student came in the other day with a unique pen mechanism that he wanted to print and test, and we were completely unable to help him.

We don't need a large cutting envelope. 6x6x6 would probably handle 99.9% of all things that came through here. We need fine tolerances and we need medium strength. The easier the post processing, the better. And the less maintenance involved the better.

Any wisdom would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time.

I'm starting my search with the FORM 1 and we'll see where that takes me.

2 Reply by chuddly

  • chuddly
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  • Registered: 2013-07-24
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Re: Prototyping 3d Printer for university Innovation Center

Your gong to get alot of suggestions for the SD3 around here...its the nature of the beast.  Honestly i have had GREAT luck with my SD3.  While it does take a bit of "tribal knowledge" to get it up and going MINE is really a hit print and walk away printer.  Its very common for me to hit print and walk away or go to sleep and get up in the morning with a fully done part.  Some maintenance and upgrades are nice/required depending on the level of print quality you desire.  Strength is really more a product of design than the printer. Unless you are looking at metal sintering printers but those are CRAZY expensive. The SD3 has a build space of 8x8x8 so its larger than your requirements there.  It has a heated build platform and that should help you in alot of larger prints.  There is also a pretty good support base here so you can always figure out where you went wrong with things should you hit a wall.  When i was looking into buying mine i came to rest on the SD3 because they seemed reliable, available, upgrade able, open source, and reasonably priced for what you got compared to some others.

3 Reply by lukepighetti (edited by lukepighetti 2013-10-23 00:49:29)

  • lukepighetti
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Re: Prototyping 3d Printer for university Innovation Center

The Solidoodle 3 looks like a really good personal extrusion type. Looking at it now, I wish we had gone for that over the other extrusion printer we have. I'm looking for something a little more robust, perhaps in the sub $10,000 range. It needs to be able to print a cylinder on its side with ±0.002" tolerances, for example. I know this is a tall order, but that's the goal. smile