Where to start?!

iLikeWaffles

I'm sure there will be a sticky of great guides for beginners in the future. I'm actually thinking of buying my first 3d printer.

I've been looking at an Ender 3 and may buy this month perhaps next month. No idea what to do when it arrives and will need to make a space for it. I have some ideas for projects with it but getting from designing on paper and printing seem miles apart at the moment.

What programs etc will be used?
What materials will be needed?
What tools will be needed?
What issues might a beginner see from the first setup?

Moreover if you were to start from scratch now what mistakes have you learned and what should others do to avoid them?

cherryghost

Very quick guide, but: Ender 3 is a good entry to 3D printing. The machine comes with required tools. It comes with basic PLA but only enough for a print test. Its 140 euro from Germany at the moment on TomTop

PLA quality varies from company to company, so do the research. I use Sunlu PLA from Amazon which has been good (good adhesion to the base Ender board, good quality filament, minimum clogging). Some good American quality PLA is sold on Amazon EU/UK but at a premium.

Software, I recommend using CURA and Tinkercad, theres Ender 3 specific settings on CURA too which helps first timers. The included Ender software is limited in scope. I think CURA is essential to most users though.

Issues: Probably lots. Once built, get a permanent home for it. Moving it means recalibrating it.

Calibrating it; when you turn on the ender, move the X,Y,Z axis (making Z 0), and adjust the Z axis in every corner, running paper under the nozzle, if it cleanly runs under it, its too far away from the bed, if its holding/pulling paper, its too close to the bed(theres knobs under the bed to close the gap). There's a few videos showing what to do exactly, but its a really easy thing to do once you've done it a few times.

Bed adhesion, nozzle temperatures; dabble with the settings, some PLA has different temperatures to stick. Good PLA should stick to the Ender 3 bed without too much trouble. PEI sheets can be used if you are struggling/frustrated with the sticking.

Tips; start small. Dont do a huge print without getting a few smaller prints out confidently and consistently. Keep the area clean of dust, clean regularly. Get to know the tools, dont be afraid to take things apart (eg if nozzle is clogged), you have to build it anyway so its a learning experience, building it makes you learn how the printer works. Check out Octoprint if you want remote viewing of prints with nice data to view there too

oscarBravo

iLikeWaffles wrote: »

What programs etc will be used?

First and foremost, you'll need a slicer to turn your 3D models (usually in .stl format) into .gcode instructions that your printer can understand. Cura and PrusaSlicer are good choices.

When it comes to design, I like FreeCAD. It has a learning curve, but it's free and open source which is important to me. TinkerCAD is a much gentler introduction to 3D design. Others will have other recommendations.

What materials will be needed?

PLA is the easiest material to print, so should probably be your starting point.

What tools will be needed?

Not many - my CR-6SE came with a wee toolkit, not sure what the Ender 3 comes with. Some hex keys and a couple of small screwdrivers should be adequate for most routine maintenance tasks.

What issues might a beginner see from the first setup?

Bed levelling and first layer adhesion, definitely. Once you get your first layer stuck down reliably, you're largely on a roll.

Moreover if you were to start from scratch now what mistakes have you learned and what should others do to avoid them?

Woo, too many to count...!!

iLikeWaffles

Good info!!

140 euro from Germany at the moment on TomTop

Wow thanks for that! That is about €50 cheaper than Amazon; €100 cheaper with the import fee.

Dust is one of the things I was thinking could be an issue. But mainly because it seems that the ender does not come with a cover. So perhaps a good project, at some point would be to print a panelled cover for it, ideally with clear PLA.

So the different materials would have different properties/melting points?! Can they be listed? I've heard of PLA and ABS+
Is the colour of the PLA colour coded / standardised or is the colour just for appearance. I'd mostly want to use black for projects.

How steady would the flooring have to be for printing. Most upstairs flooring has some movement, albeit small. Does walking across the floor have an impact on a print. Also how long would it typically take to print - I know it depends on the size of the job and how much space is being filled in/how solid but just typically.

How would I know how much filament a project would need? I'm hoping the program can tell me that.

How small can the Ender 3 print? Is there a resolution or min size; is that what the nozzle would do.
A project I want to do is a DSLR tripod plate. Including the screw to attach it to the camera.

Is there any great guides online you've come across that can answer any of these questions.

oscarBravo

iLikeWaffles wrote: »

Dust is one of the things I was thinking could be an issue. But mainly because it seems that the ender does not come with a cover. So perhaps a good project, at some point would be to print a panelled cover for it, ideally with clear PLA.

If you're talking about an enclosure, those are generally used for higher-temperature materials (like ABS) to keep the build space warm. The more immediate problem is dust gathering on the bed between prints, which will affect adhesion. You can mitigate by covering the bed with some cardboard or whatever, and/or cleaning it before you start printing.

So the different materials would have different properties/melting points?! Can they be listed?

The key properties are melting point (around 200C for PLA) and glass transition temperature - the point at which it becomes soft but not liquid - around 65C for PLA. ABS has a higher melting point and GT, which makes it harder to print but also better for high-temperature applications. It also stinks, which PLA doesn't. There's also TPU, which is a rubbery material, and PETG, wich is only slightly harder to print than PLA but has some better thermal properties... best bet is to stick with PLA until you have a need for something it can't do.

Is the colour of the PLA colour coded / standardised or is the colour just for appearance. I'd mostly want to use black for projects.

It's just appearance. Different filaments will have subtly different characteristics which might need fine-tuning in your slicer settings. Practice makes perfect.

How steady would the flooring have to be for printing. Most upstairs flooring has some movement, albeit small. Does walking across the floor have an impact on a print.

I wouldn't worry about that at all. The movement of the printer's own parts will have a bigger impact.

Also how long would it typically take to print - I know it depends on the size of the job and how much space is being filled in/how solid but just typically.

Most smallish prints take at least an hour. It's not an instant gratification hobby.

How would I know how much filament a project would need? I'm hoping the program can tell me that.

The slicer will tell you.

iLikeWaffles

oscarBravo wrote: »

Most smallish prints take at least an hour. It's not an instant gratification hobby. The slicer will tell you.

Well was thinking more to cover it when not in use, but great to know!

What would you define as smallish. How long do you reckon would it take to print something like the image below (in the hand) and also is PLA hard plastic or is that ABS or different material. Will be mostly printing small things like adaptors caps for camera, mostly stuff for camera and telescope maybe the inevitable orange peeler.

oscarBravo

I reckon that would take about half an hour.

PLA is a hard plastic, almost brittle in some circumstances, but quite durable. I printed a hinged cover for the vent hose on my tumble dryer. It's on a south-facing wall, so has been exposed to everything that Mayo weather can throw at it for at least three years now, and it's still going strong.

oscarBravo

I missed these earlier:

iLikeWaffles wrote: »

How small can the Ender 3 print? Is there a resolution or min size; is that what the nozzle would do.

The standard nozzle is 0.4mm diameter, but you can print layers down to 0.1mm or even less (the tradeoff is basically speed versus resolution).

A project I want to do is a DSLR tripod plate. Including the screw to attach it to the camera.

That would be an interesting one. A 1/4-20 screw thread should be well within the Ender's capabilities, but may need some tuning to get it to be a good fit with the camera. The "horizontal expansion" setting in your slicer can be your friend.

Are you thinking of a screw that can turn independently of the mounting plate? Designing assemblies is a relatively advanced 3D modeling task.

The nice thing about a 3D printer is the ability to iterate designs relatively quickly until you arrive at your final result.

iLikeWaffles

oscarBravo wrote: »

I reckon that would take about half an hour.

PLA is a hard plastic, almost brittle in some circumstances, but quite durable. I printed a hinged cover for the vent hose on my tumble dryer. It's on a south-facing wall, so has been exposed to everything that Mayo weather can throw at it for at least three years now, and it's still going strong.

Excellent! Can you recommend Black PLA for the Ender 3? I think I'll buy it now €140 is a great bargain.

oscarBravo

iLikeWaffles wrote: »

Can you recommend Black PLA for the Ender 3?

I usually just buy from Amazon. Eryone PLA seems to be on special fairly regularly. Make sure you get 1.75mm, not 3mm.

iLikeWaffles

Grand, thanks for the help ordered! I guess I'll be back to annoy you's when I run into issues :pac:

iLikeWaffles

Forgot to ask is there any good books on the subject?

CelticRambler

iLikeWaffles wrote: »

Forgot to ask is there any good books on the subject?

Books? What are they ...? :pac:

Since there was talk of 3-D printing on the woodworking thread, I've been thinking a bit more about getting myself one, but two doubts have (so far) held me back. This seems like a good place to address them:

(1) For an occasional user, how much material are you likely to waste, on account of false starts, forgot-to-change wrong settings, critical defects in small pieces ... ?

(2) How easy is it to accurately replicate an existing part, either to replace it like-for-like, or to make some small change? Most of the examples of things I'd like to print would be (very) small parts that have snapped or worn, and which include a threaded section, or teeth (on a cog), or have tabs that snap into another part.

iLikeWaffles

CelticRambler wrote: »

Books? What are they ...? :pac:

Since there was talk of 3-D printing on the woodworking thread, I've been thinking a bit more about getting myself one, but two doubts have (so far) held me back. This seems like a good place to address them:

(1) For an occasional user, how much material are you likely to waste, on account of false starts, forgot-to-change wrong settings, critical defects in small pieces ... ?

(2) How easy is it to accurately replicate an existing part, either to replace it like-for-like, or to make some modification based on the original? Most of the examples of things I'd like to print would be (very) small parts that have snapped or worn, and which include a threaded section, or teeth (on a cog), or have tabs that snap into another part.

Was thinking about threaded parts also. I guess a regular die and tap set would work very well on plastic after a print!

oscarBravo

CelticRambler wrote: »

(1) For an occasional user, how much material are you likely to waste, on account of false starts, forgot-to-change wrong settings, critical defects in small pieces ... ?

As I mentioned earlier, iteration is a key part of the design process. Think of it as rapid prototyping - design something, print it, test it, tweak the design, print again...

In terms of waste, I recently designed a wee bracket thingy for my bike to hold a bag that I got from China. The bag has a clear pocket on top for my phone, and velcros to the handlebars and stem - but my bike doesn't have a stem, so the part I designed gets cable-tied on in its place. It took two iterations to get it right (I'm starting to get good at this!) but each iteration used maybe 20g of filament. A kilo of filament is maybe €20 - iterations are really not expensive.

(2) How easy is it to accurately replicate an existing part, either to replace it like-for-like, or to make some small change? Most of the examples of things I'd like to print would be (very) small parts that have snapped or worn, and which include a threaded section, or teeth (on a cog), or have tabs that snap into another part.

The main skill there is design. WIth a fair amount of practice and a good set of calipers, you can replicate almost anything.

One of the biggest challenges is DFM - design for manufacturing. You can make a 3D model of almost anything you can imagine, but the hard part is designing it so that it's easy to print. I try to design everything to avoid having to print support material, for example, and to ensure there's enough bottom surface area for decent bed adhesion. If you're replicating an existing part, that might be a challenge - but then again, the trick is to understand which aspects of the original are critical to duplicate, and which you can improvise.

iLikeWaffles wrote: »

Was thinking about threaded parts also. I guess a regular die and tap set would work very well on plastic after a print!

Most 3D CAD programs will have some facility to design threads. I suspect (but can't say for sure) that tapping would be more successful than using a die ('dieing?!') - I've tapped internal threads, but generally printed external ones.

Something fairly chunky like a 1/4-20 isn't hard to print. M3x1.0, on the other hand, might test the limits of your machine.

mickdw

Computer wise, do you need anything special to get started?

iLikeWaffles

There's 3d scanners also but some of them are expensive. I reckon a photograph of something would aid in replication, if it is properly taken that is, for instance proper lighting, photo calibrated to scale and at different angles.

cherryghost

mickdw wrote: »

Computer wise, do you need anything special to get started?

Nah, most integrated graphics on laptops do the job. CURA is free, download and load in some models, you'll get a feel. I would assume some larger/complex models might struggle but end of the day unless you're doing something more serious (like CAD 3D editing), then nothing really to worry about

oscarBravo

Downloading Cura is a good idea. It's no harm to be familiar with its UI before you get a printer. Ditto TinkerCAD, or FreeCAD, or (for the nerds among us) OpenSCAD, or whatever 3D design software.

witnessmenow

Regarding books, I'm sure there probably is but I think Youtube is much better suited for learning stuff like this as a lot of its very visual.

For getting started, I think Chuck Hellebuyck is really good, not a lot of flash, just simple advice.

https://www.youtube.com/user/beginnerelectronics (ignore the old channel name!)

The most important thing about 3d printing (in my opinion) is leveling the bed and his video on it is really good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EfWVUJjBdA

It's a couple of example files you can put on your SD card and run anytime you need to re-level the bed. If you get your bed level right 3d printing becomes a whole lot easier.

Start printing small things, like little cubes, you will mess up your first few prints, no point it being a big thing and wasting a load of plastic.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but there is huge temptation to upgrade printers before they even arrive, especially 3d printed upgrades. My advice would be to run it fairly stock til you are happy/comfortable with it and as you experience the pain points these upgrades are fixing then maybe consider it.

The other bit of advice I would have is to start off printing by using a slicer (personally I like Cura) to put files on an SD card and print from that. You can print directly from your PC if they are connected via USB but there are two problems with this

- Your computer needs to stay on all the time a print is running
- The cheaper printers (such as an Ender3) have no backfeed protection on the USB ports, which means voltage from the printer can go to your PC, which is not ideal (problem and some solutions described here, it's within relation to a raspberry pi, but same things apply.

CelticRambler

oscarBravo wrote: »

One of the biggest challenges is DFM - design for manufacturing. You can make a 3D model of almost anything you can imagine, but the hard part is designing it so that it's easy to print. I try to design everything to avoid having to print support material, for example, and to ensure there's enough bottom surface area for decent bed adhesion.

witnessmenow wrote: »

The other bit of advice I would have is to start off printing by using a slicer (personally I like Cura) to put files on an SD card and print from that.

Hmm. What I'm getting from this is that for someone like me who very much wants to create one-off technical pieces, and not very often, is that it'd probably be enough to stick with the CAD software and take a ready-to-print file to someone with a machine.

And also that the machine should ideally have its own (semi-)permanent space in a workshop or studio?

From a practical perspective, and in the context of a non-lockdown life complete with real-world distractions, how long would ye say it takes (very approximatively) from when you first get an idea of a piece you'd like to make, through the design stage and trial prints, until you have the final usable piece in your hand?

oscarBravo

CelticRambler wrote: »

Hmm. What I'm getting from this is that for someone like me who very much wants to create one-off technical pieces, and not very often, is that it'd probably be enough to stick with the CAD software and take a ready-to-print file to someone with a machine.

Maybe. It's definitely harder to iterate designs that way, unless you're really friendly with the printer owner

And also that the machine should ideally have its own (semi-)permanent space in a workshop or studio?

That's advisable, yes. Mine live on a side table in my home office.

From a practical perspective, and in the context of a non-lockdown life complete with real-world distractions, how long would ye say it takes (very approximatively) from when you first get an idea of a piece you'd like to make, through the design stage and trial prints, until you have the final usable piece in your hand?

It definitely varies, mostly dependent on the size of the model (and therefore how long it takes to print a draft), and also on how many iterations you go through. Anything from half a day to a couple of days, in my experience.

CelticRambler

oscarBravo wrote: »

It definitely varies, mostly dependent on the size of the model (and therefore how long it takes to print a draft), and also on how many iterations you go through. Anything from half a day to a couple of days, in my experience.

:eek: That quick???

Surely it depends on complexity rather than size? My 3-D modelling experience to date has mostly been in the realm of animation and very intermittent, so I'd expect to be slow enough, but even the people I know with a fair bit of experience in that area would spend anything up to two months working on a single model.

I'm a little bit put off, too, by the suggestion that it's relatively normal to have to go through several printed iterations. Are my expectations too high in thinking that whatever I design in the computer will appear on the printer bed exactly as I designed it, correct to the nearest 0.1mm?

oscarBravo

CelticRambler wrote: »

:eek: That quick???

Surely it depends on complexity rather than size?

Print time is more of a function of size than complexity. Design time is obviously the other way around.

My 3-D modelling experience to date has mostly been in the realm of animation and very intermittent, so I'd expect to be slow enough, but even the people I know with a fair bit of experience in that area would spend anything up to two months working on a single model.

It depends what you're designing, what it's for, and what your expectations are. We discussed the example of a lens cap earlier - I've designed models for similar applications in an afternoon.

I'm a little bit put off, too, by the suggestion that it's relatively normal to have to go through several printed iterations. Are my expectations too high in thinking that whatever I design in the computer will appear on the printer bed exactly as I designed it, correct to the nearest 0.1mm?

Let's look at the example I mentioned earlier - the bracket for my bike. At first I designed and printed something like this:



It's basically a truncated cylinder with a cone subtracted from the end (to match the top tube of my handlebars), and a torus through which I can feed a zip tie to attach it.

It worked quite well, but was too low. I came up with a more complicated double-cylinder design, incorporating a built-in hinge (printed in place - that's a really cool ability of 3D printers) that allows me to swivel it out of the way when I fold up the bike:



In cross-section it looks like this:



I wasn't sure about the tolerances of the printer, so I printed the first centimetre or so, then stopped it and remove the print to see if it swivelled correctly - it didn't, so I adjusted the horizontal expansion parameter in the slicer (easier than changing the model) and printed again. I could see a visible gap this time, so I let the print finish.

The first design took me maybe an hour, and another hour to print. It took an afternoon on the bike to figure out that a redesign was needed, something like two hours to knock up the second revision, and two hours to print.

Will your printer produce your model accurate to a tenth of a millimetre? Maybe, if you've spent a long time obsessively tuning it in - bearing in mind you'll also have to tune it for each roll of filament, because different filaments have different printing properties. I just find it easier to iterate designs until I get a finished product that does what I need it to do.

oscarBravo

Here's another example, which you can see in action here.



I designed the brace for the oven's rear foot first. I wasn't completely happy with the fit, so I tweaked the design and printed another one, which worked fine. Incorporating what I learned from that design, I was happy with the first iteration of the design pictured - once I had printed and tested it, I flipped it horizontally in the slicer and printed another one. All three designed, printed, tweaked, printed again and ready to install in about a day, all told.

iLikeWaffles

As an aside and just to point out for future reference - the example I gave is a Bahtinov mask. It is used as a focusing aid when focusing on points of light such as stars. Basically it diffracts the light coming into a lens into an even pattern so when you're in focus & out of focus it is obvious; there is a centre spike that helps you find the correct focus which works like this:

oscarBravo

iLikeWaffles wrote: »

As an aside and just to point out for future reference - the example I gave is a Bahtinov mask. It is used as a focusing aid when focusing on points of light such as stars. Basically it diffracts the light coming into a lens into an even pattern so when you're in focus & out of focus it is obvious; there is a centre spike that helps you find the correct focus which works like this:

Very cool, ta! I must get printing...

Ubbquittious

Does the Ender 3 use support material? Do you have to change the spool manually after it has built the support structures? Havn't used a 3d printer in ages but would be tempted now to buy one as I need to make some cases for PCBs I'm making. The PCBs are about 10x10cm and would want a case thats a few CM high. Would it take very long to print?

oscarBravo

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Does the Ender 3 use support material? Do you have to change the spool manually after it has built the support structures?

The standard way to print support material is to use the same material as the main model and print it at the same time. The slicer will attempt to print it in such a way as to make it fairly easy to break away the support material from the finished model.

Havn't used a 3d printer in ages but would be tempted now to buy one as I need to make some cases for PCBs I'm making. The PCBs are about 10x10cm and would want a case thats a few CM high. Would it take very long to print?

Probably a couple of hours each. It's hard to estimate, and there are a lot of variables.

oscarBravo

iLikeWaffles wrote: »

As an aside and just to point out for future reference - the example I gave is a Bahtinov mask.

Look what I found...

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1987284

iLikeWaffles

oscarBravo wrote: »

Look what I found...

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1987284

Great, lots of amazing things on that site, you see something and it gives you an idea for something else, love it! This would have been a question, no doubt. Guess you answered it in advanced.

Where to browse for projects....