Where to start with 3D printing....today.

Getting back into Big Gun R/C combat after a long hiatus now that I'm retired. I'd like to get into 3D printing but not sure where to start with the most current information and models. Christmas is coming and Momma wants a "wish list" from me, but I'm not even sure where to start.

Any guidance in this area would be most appreciated. I'd also like to be able to laser print/cutout parts for ship building.

I was one of the original members of the South Coast Battle Group with J.C. White back in the late 80's and would love to see that club resurrected in SoCal and would really appreciate hearing from anyone in the Southland that would like to see Big Gun Combat return and are looking forward to building, fighting and fun.

Basically.....where do I start with 3D printing and laser cutting??

 

For 3d printing, it depends on what you want to build, and what you want to spend (time/cost tradeoff). I make cannons, so I have to be able to print ABS. After farting around with a cheap chinese-made printer, I bought a Lulzbot Mini 2. It had the right combination of features for me: plug-and-play reliability and a very high quality output straight from the box. My older printer was capable of the same quality, but would have required quite a bit of tweaking and tuning to achieve that level of performance. Since I work ten hour days, I'd rather spend my limited building time with boats rather than tweaking a low-cost printer. So here's my quick-and-dirty review:
benefits: reliable, high-quality printing straight from the box. Able to print many exotic materials. reliable and accurate automatic bed leveling, SD card printing, and other modern amenities. Very handy for printing cannons, superstructures, propellers, small transport ships, and anything else that fits on the bed. I have used mine for vacuum cleaner hose fittings, gaming miniatures, and many other things outside the R/C warship hobby.
Costs: a lot. This printer (and thermal enclosure for printing ABS) cost around $1500. The print volume is relatively small, around 6"x6". While suitable for printing cannons and some superstructure bits, you won't be printing whole sections of WWII battleships.

Another thing you'd need for 3d printing is CAD software. I use Fusion360 for its relatively easy-to-use interface. I tried FreeCAD first, but struggled to learn how to use it. Both programs are equally powerful CAD programs, but Fusion360 is more user-friendly. As for laser-cutting, I have no idea. What little laser cutting I've done was by sending CAD drawings to an online shop and having a professional with an industrial cutter do the work.

 

We have printed guns, and even whole ships here. @BigGunJeff, I summon thee. He is the expert at 3D printing within our club.

 

I have many 3d printers but the best by far is the new ender 3 pro 206 dollars, little assembly, with a new magnetic bed for pla or add glass for abs, 220x220x250mm bed

 

3D printing is fantastic, but dependent on what you intend to do. If you are comfortable or willing to become comfortable with a CAD package like Fusion 360, the sky is the limit. You can design and print an entire ship. However, I hear of folks building an entire ship in a week or two out of wood, which is faster than 3D printing.

If you want to print an existing design like Superstructures or published cannon designs, I think that you could do that without significant CAD knowledge.

 

I'd like to learn CAD for printing parts, bits and pieces besides designing and building actual gun systems. I like experimenting and coming up with new designs as well as improving what's already out there. I actually like the building aspect of ply and balsa, (there's just something about the smell of sawdust in the morning....it's the smell of VICTORY) Sorry - got carried away there, but you've got to love the precision and ease building of laser cut frames and such.

I prefer Big Guns and really like your efforts there Jeff and would like to work in a similar nature as well as miniaturization of systems for smaller ships of the line like cruisers and destroyers, not to mention truly functional secondary batteries on BB's and BC's.

I'd also like to be able to build earlier pre-dreadnaughts and Steampunk R/C combat ships.....just for the heck of it. So I want to be able to CAD up frames and such for laser cutouts. I'm retired so now I finally have time to play like I've always wanted to without interference of ugly things like "work".

 

Well, in that case... I would get Fusion 360 and a printer. Fusion can be downloaded from Autodesk and used for free with a hobbyist license. @GregMcFadden mentioned some limitations with the number of documents that you can have "live" with this license, so be aware of the limitations.

On the printer side, there are a few options...
Ender 3 is a good, inexpensive printer for hard materials ( but I am wary of it for flexible materials because is uses a Bowden tube arrangement)

Prusa I3Mk3 is more expensive, but prints both hard and soft materials well...

On filament, everyone has their opinion... Mine is to print mostly in PETG for hard objects. When durability is required, I go with Flex

Hope that helps.

 

Jeff has a good comment here on traditional methods of building a ship vs 3D printing. Cutting/removing/shaping wood is definitely faster than 3D printing- but in terms of labor hours and skill/tools you have (or don't have) 3D printing might have an edge. Currently I have a very, very large hull section of USS New York ACR-2 printing at the moment (100+ hours) but it has features and details that I couldn't do without significant amount of tools, materials, and skill (all three of which I distinctly lack!).

 

Just a comment on the Enders. I picked up an Ender 5+ after Nats and it's been solid. I have made a couple of upgrades - enclosure, magnetic PEI print bed from TH3D (they have higher temp magnet sheet than some which is important for ABS), a Microswiss hotend and direct extruder setup, and an octoprint setup.

The PEI print surface and enclosure were the two biggest gains for me for boat work since that is mostly in ABS. The Glass surface that comes with the printer is nice, but not great for ABS at least when printing large superstructures. Even adding a PEI sticker to it (my interim solution due to availability issues on the spring steel pei sheet) made worlds of difference in how things printed without warping. However the spring steel sheet is pure win. Makes part removal a snap. I just grabbed the Creality enclosure and it's been plenty good for the task at least here in Texas. If you're up in the frozen North and your printers lives in an unheated room, you might need something more substantial.

The microswiss hotend was added to print TPU. I had no issues with the bowden setup for ABS or PLA. TPU being rather squishy needs the shorter filament path and greater control with the extruder on the hotend. Was an easy upgrade.

The Octoprint server is a quality of life thing. My computer is in one room and the printer being less than silent lives out in the boat room. Octoprint allows me to control it over the house wifi via a web interface. Easy to setup after a quick order of a Raspberry Pi (and related power cord, etc.) from Amazon. Also allowed me to add a webcam in the enclosure so that I can remotely monitor the prints.

Most fiddle bit in getting good print quality on the 5+ so far is ensuring proper Z height after leveling the bed. Once that's done, it's pretty darn solid. I used a lot of loctite during assembly. Could use a bit more solid workbench as the folding table it's on isn't the best for stability.

 

My hobbyist version of Fusion 360 expired after a year. Is that how it always was or did something change? Are there other free options or am I going to have to pony up?

 

You have to renew it every year. (the hassle of that is pretty small compared to what you're getting)

 

Thank you! Everytime I tried to click on the expired button it tried to get me to buy it. It wasn't very intuitive to renew the hobbyist version, in fact im not even sure how I did it, but it seems to be good now.

 

After about three years with the Anet A8, I just picked up an ET4pro. I really like the new stepper drivers (quiet) and the 24v supply really heats the bed and hot end up so much faster. Nice machine if you can catch it on sale.

 

OK....I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a 3D printer. Looking primarily at the Anet ET4 Pro, but also considering the Anet ET4X and the Anet ET5X

Anet ET4 pro 3D Printer, DIY 3D Printer with a silent Motherboard & UL Certified MeanWell Power Supply, High Precision Resume Printing, Easy & Fast Assembly, 220X220X250mm

Would appreciate any feed back on recommendations on this on or what would be better to go with (or better models available). I'm totally new to 3D printing. I want to be able to build 1/144 scale bits and pieces for adding realistic detail to ships: hatches, radar, superstructure sections, turret shells, up to building motor mounts, sprockets, and rotating Big Gun systems, magazines and parts for building guns and such.

I really liked the simplicity and straight forward operation of the Anet ET4 Pro 3D printer. Who is the best source to buy from. I see prices for this model all over the place from under $200 to $400?????

Guys....am I even in the ballpark??

 

I don't know much about that printer, but I would recommend an Ender. I have a friend who just got one and it works well, and it also is pretty affordable.
Maybe someone else knows more about that printer?

 

Anet doesnt have the best reputation. Their A8’s had all sorts of issues from fried boards to fire starters.
An Ender 3 Pro or V2 is your best bang for the buck of that price and size. I have one and it has been my most reliable printer to date.

 

Thanks....I'll check out the Ender 3 Pro.

 

Prusa for me, basically plug and play. You can even get it already built...