Idea to help recycle 3D prints better: Maybe slicer folks can add an option to automatically place a recycling symbol on the base layer of prints derived from the material sliced.
This is actually kinda genius. **EDIT** The only problem is (I just confirmed this) that the vast majority of plastics are not recycled in most municipalities, at least in the USA. The plastics are thrown in with the trash in most cities. I've also been told quite a few times by several different people that it's because China is no longer buying our plastic waste and our recycling facilities cannot profit from recycling plastics in house. I cannot confirm this part but it doesn't much matter. What does matter is that ***ONLY 8%*** of plastics that people put in their bins ACTUALLY gets recycled. 8 percent. Turns out, The companies that invented and popularized using plastics also started the recycling campaigns to trick consumers into believing that as long as they recycle, they don't have to feel guilty about their impact on global warming. Just search UA-cam for "does plastic actually get recycled." Also, PLA makes up 95% of all 3D printing waste, is technically biodegradable BUT only at certain special recycling facilities which are few and far between. So in other words we need to figure out how to make plastic recycling PROFITABLE, or just.. you know... stop being greedy capitalists obsessed with profit and worry more about the species surviving and maybe not worry so much about profitability of recycling? Maybe uhhhh make recycling a **government** responsibility?!?...instead of a f*cking private business, ya know??? ...but yes, your idea is still genius. Just only 8% effective at best because of the recycling bottleneck upstream 🥲
PrusaSlicer provides easy modifiers that you can add to a part, and I already add the symbols to all bigger prints where it does not hurt the aesthetics. To do this automatically would be quite complicated an error prone (this is also why an open PR that would handle this is open since forever).
If you add the type of plastic used that will be helpful. Recycling is best done when different types are separated. In Europe you can put PLA in the green waste, but it has to be shredded, otherwise it is recognised as ordinary plastic and will be disposed as ordinary plastic after all. In shredded form it is compostable in all industrial compost plants.
Wouldn’t care one bit of the symbol is there or not. What would make me care is if I send in x many pounds of filament waste from supports and failed prints, I get a discount on more filament. Then I would care, otherwise, meh.
Well, the number you put into the symbol for PLA is . . . 7 . . . which stands for "other." I made some prints with the symbol, but started forgetting, then realized some of my parts are too small for it, then researched around how to recycle, then discovered the truth that I can't really recycle it, then eventually decided to stop pursuing putting the symbol on my prints. PLA is considered one of the most eco-friendly printing materials too. Really the best way forward is to establish a recycling system specifically for 3D printing filament. Regular recycling is unfortunately not available for the vast majority of people, even if you put a sort symbol on all of your prints.
Maybe I can add another one: you might not have much to print / it might not be used much after the initial excitement wears off. I definitely don't regret getting a printer, and I still use it from time to time, but for some reason it feels like I had an endless list of ideas to print before I bought it (but not after).
I feel like this is why so many people end up trying to run print farms: they have a project that 3d printing would be good for. They buy a printer and spend a fair amount of either time or money or both getting it really working. (I don't care if you spent 1500$ on an X1C that requires little user effort to be reliable, or 300$ and six months making your Ender-3 into a workhorse, that's a significant expense either way.) The finish their project and then they're all "well, now I feel like I spent all this money/effort on something just sitting there..." And so they turn to "let's print things for other folks for money" as a way to make it feel like the printer is still useful.
@@davydatwood3158 ha, excellent point! Would not surprise me in the least if that's the road many went down. For me personally, I spent an average amount of time/effort - definitely not excessive - and I try to print something useful for myself once or twice a month, so overall I'm still happy
For me it's opposite - when I was buying it I thought "oh I'd have this and that to buy" but several months in I still find myself finding stuff I want to print, and my printer rarely has a day off.
For the plastic waste parts, there are filament manufacturers, like AddNorth, which i buy most of my filaments from, who will gladly ship your empty spools and plastic waste back to them for free to reuse and be recycled into new filament that they sell. Pretty cool.
As someone who purchased his first 3d printer in December of 2022, spot on. When starting out, often one perceived problem is caused by several things going on, which is a bit overwhelming until you figure it out. Without videos like yours and others, along with some helpful advice from printer-specific community support groups, there would be a lot more used 3d printers on ebay for sure! Keep up the good work!
When i first started 3d printing i knew what i was getting into, but i had a burning passion for being creative and designing and making stuff, and for some reason i enjoy tinkering with stuff, so det downsides mentioned weren't much of a problem for me, and i also reasercched alot on the start to make sure i knew what i was doing and have minimal struggles and haven't broken my one and only creality 3 v2, which i hqve had for many years now without breakdown, very happy with my purchase. Glad you are making this video to help people think twice before getting into it, not everyone is made for this and might make hasty decisions on the spot of inspiration but, might struggle and regret ever touching a 3d printer, you need to have patience with this kind of hobby.
Bought a Tevo tarantula when they were all teh rage and did soo many upgrades, i could have just bought a prusa BUT I learned so much tinkering with that machine.
This kind of honest pragmatic well informed and carefully explained point of view is the main reason i love your channel, this kind of content will help for the grow of a better 3d printing and maker community in the future. Thank you .
I'm a mechanical engineering student who's used to working on things constantly since I grew up on a farm, I'm looking at building a Voron 2.4 this year. I want a project I can get to a point where I'm satisfied with the performance so I can use it to build other things, like maybe a second printer. It will wind up being a project but I hope to see more uptime than repair time.
3d printing is very difficult. It involves many specialized skills including machine operator, maintenance, graphic design in the form of CAD software, slicer programs and the difficulties of 3d printing itself like leveling the bed, bed adhesion, clogging, temperature settings, extrusion rate, and edge compensation for the squished material, which for a 0.4mm nozzle at 0.24mm layer height, is almost exactly 0.15mm for each side. This compensation allows for sub-millimeter (micron) accuracy of print.
"I refuse to be right because there are people committing greater wrongs." Also: No single raindrop believes it is the cause of the flood. Also also: Whataboutism.
All the trash plastic yuo make (and all of us) is nothing compare to 1 plastic company , in China there are ...1000000 ....i don t known but a Lot , or the fhashion or clothes industry
I have been collecting all of my support material and failed prints planning to melt them down into flat pieces to use for other projects. Usually, its just a 3 perimeter brim, I try to design my parts so that no support is needed. It's been over 5 years and I still don't have enough scrap/waste to fill the box, yet.
I understand your concerns, save I'll say first that yes, you and I as individuals are an insignificant part of the problem, a tiny, tiny almost negligible fraction... but that's not a great mindset to have. It's like saying "I'll stop (burning down forests/dropping nukes/insert any destructive action), if you do first" and the other person saying "no u" until the Earth is destroyed. Someone has to be the bigger person or else the entire species and most life on Earth WILL DIE, forever. Death of the species. The end. It's kinda bigger than you or them. Don't be the guy going "well they're doing it toooo!" Yeah, they suck, but we all have to care as much as we can AND YES, boycott, stop supporting and take down the corporations that are really doing the real damage, the oil and fossil fuel industries, Chinese plastics, most manufacturers all over the world using lots of plastics, and politicians who are paid off by their lobbyists. The American manufacturers who made and popularized plastics are THE SAME PEOPLE who have fed us lies about recycling claiming if we recycle then we can use as much plastic as we want without feeling bad.. well guess what? Only 8% of plastics in the US actually get recycled. 8 percent. So direct your anger at the right people, not the individuals flying in the jets but the companies they represent, big companies in general, and you know.. everyone I already said. K have a great day ❤
If you've ever stepped a foot in any production company that sources multiple components from around the world, you'll realize that your plastic consumption is so miniscule, that you can print everyday for a year and still use less plastic than the amount that was wasted just transporting the individual components of your car to be manufactured. While we're on that topic and shitting on china and rich people, have you guys seen airbus? The lovely airplane company that every European country wants a piece of? All of the components are produced all over the place and then FLOWN across europe or the globe to put them back together in one place. The amount of environmental damage and waste that is produced just so we can show the whole world how great a united Europe is, is staggering.
Thanks Tom, I´m a long time follower of your work, and basically it was your Videos that made my first steps in 3D printing possible abt. 7 years ago. So thanks for all that you´re doing and keep on ! Grüße aus der Oberpfalz, Manuel, DL2MAN
If you print PEEK-CF, you can get somewhat close to the strength of metal (aluminum 6061, for instance). PPSU-CF is also great. Other than that, yeah, plastic is quite limiting for functional parts that have a harsh duty cycle.
@@samgribben5891 Sure, if you have access to multi-jet fusion, selective laser sintering, or selective laser melting, you can do some amazing things. Alas, the cost...
I've accumulated 3 fdm and 1resin printer,6 years later and each and every print still amases me,yeah they can be frustrating but when you get a flawless print its oh so worth it
A double whammy today! Honestly I get why you made these two contradictory videos; while I am enthusiastic about and neck deep in the technology myself, when I get asked about buying one from people who know me I feel that I have a responsibility to point out the fact that every machine will require some amount of time troubleshooting, even the ones made to be "hands off." The point about knowing to CAD is another point I hit on (a printer is way more useful if you know how to truly make things yourself), and I feel resin machines while they've come very far from the first "hobby" SLA machines are never going to really be desktop machines because of all the other things necessary to use them. The issue of plastic waste is an issue that I'd like a solution to if the machines to grind and melt it back into filament weren't either projects or thousands.
nice video I have should watched some years ago when i bhought my first printer because i wanted to print some parts for my car. now i have my 3. 3d printer up and running and pretty good in mashing recktangengles dogether in fushion 360
The 5th negative aspect: printing takes time, even after watching all the videos it still surprised me how long it took. I'm definitely more in designing small parts which I could then print, not really being interested in tweaking the printer. Thanks to you I went for a Prusa Mark i3 Mk3 some years ago. Still happy printing on it. Using fusion 360 to design some stuff...
I'd suggest if you're on the fence, see if there's a makerspace/hackerspace/fablab near you that has a printer you can try out. Some libraries also have printers, and you can always see if some friends want to go splitsies. Two of the printers I've used were actually at my work (two different jobs), even though neither company had an "official" use for them!
While I was a complete "newb" to 3D printing I do have some relatable characteristics for being successful on my own teaching myself. Definitely don't regret the Prusa Mini purchase because it definitely made things easier to be successful vs having to "tinker" with the printer just getting it working. There was a slight learning curve learning Fusion 360, but has been a lot better at this point. Even got into threaded inserts recently. Being able to go from idea to physical object in reality quickly being a common consumer is completely awesome mind blowing. Definitely do not regret getting into 3D printing what so evar.
@@bdavi_1 3D Printing and Specifically Fusion has only been since around Sept. '22. The other skills that are relatable to either 3D printing or CAD, a lot longer before even considering 3D printing. Not sure on that one, but for CAD the hardware was always the biggest factor.
This video is almost 2 years to late for me! LOL! But I actually knew what I was getting myself into as I really like to tinker on things since I have a degree in Engineering Computer Aided Design and am an IT Admin, it's just my nature to always want to improve things. I started at the bottom with a $90 RepRapGuru i3 clone printer and have made some many mods it's not longer it's original self by any means but the print quality is awesome now! I've since moved on to my garage salvage/trash picked $20 Anet A6 and am basically rebuilding the entire thing. I'm get such great prints from it too after spending about $100 in parts. So know what you are getting yourself into if you go down this path! LOL! But I love it everyday and love the fun prints I do sometimes.
What I've always hated about online communities is the, "You should do it this way" answer. I lay out what I'm trying to do, why I want to do it that way, and what's wrong. Instead of a helpful answer about how I can make it work my way, I'm told I'm an idiot and should do it another way. Even if I say, I know that it would be better/easier/faster to do xyz, I am doing abc for this reason, I still get answers saying I should just do xyz. The other one I hate is when someone says, "Just do this," but "this" is something that's five menus deep and they don't tell you how to get to it. You have to ask where it is, and then they tell you to RTFM. 99% of the time, I get crap answer or no answer at all when I ask an online community. (That may be a gross exaggeration, but I'd say it's 50/50 at best.
Just takes a picture of a failed print when venting about your own accidents for "helpful idiots" to all come out and tell you all the things you did wrong and how to fix it..... Even without you asking for or needing help!
The only reason I go online to ask how to fix an issue I am having is because I have to go through everything i tried and explain it in a compiled version of my problem, which usually helps me understand better my issue and I end up fixing it myself. It's extremely rare that someone actually comes up, reads my explanation and gives a proper insight on the issue. That's probably because the people who can solve my issue are not actively seeking someone to help and they are very unlikely to stumble upon my question. While other people having issues might read your question in the persuit of finding an answer to their own problem.
@@ageorgiev89 I mean whole calibration process and I had clog and some other stuff with software and some small hardware issues. Discord is always better than reddit and some other stuff, besides it being real time chat you can talk with more people at once.
The first reason, its overwhelming is 100% true. I've had friends who are very capable people get overwhelmed by 3D printing sometimes and they are people who are engineers and other jobs that also require a lot of skill. So this is definitely not a "hobby" that anyone can just jump into. Its a fun hobby but it takes some real dedication to it to really get into it.
Рік тому+7
I would like to extend this with the fact that 3D printing something is not the same process as sending a Word document to a regular printer which literally just a click away usually. You have to plan ahead, choose what part you like to print, with what material (type and color) and settings. Also if you don't like to leave the printer unattended you have to schedule when and what to print, the beginning of the print requires some babysitting (transferring the gcode, wait for the warm-up, cleaning the bed, feeding the filament, checking the first layer), the failure rate even on better printers is not zero (either hard failure or you just using a bad slicer configuration) so you might have to repeat this a couple times until you get the result you want. I love my printer, but these extra steps makes me use it less as I originally thought I would, as I don't always feel like going through these hoops.
I totally agree. I don’t get how others just print multiple prints on the same level. That never works for me, I always have to re-level and make a new mesh, which takes more time to do or things will go south. I guess it’s helped me become a more patient person in the long run, which is good.
Many, many people have gotten curious when I got 3D printer to work and indeed I always have to remind/turn them off by remembering them that anyone can get into it, but 3D CAD skills, not much, but very basic ones are mandatory to have if you wanting to get into printing stuff. I have to say that I went bit different as I knew 2D CAD drawing really well, but I wasn't just motivated enough to learn it, cause I didn't have any applications for the skills. So I got 3D printer to "force" myself into learning 3D too. It was almost unusable Anet A6, but enough to implement drawing skills to machine that barely does anything. Now I'm quite adept with 3D CAD stuff if I say to myself.
You are correct, however I really enjoy using my 3d printer. Despite its limitations I constantly marvel at the practical unique things I can design and make . I seldom use custom made designs and never interact with the maker community as I am too busy making stuff and fixing my own problems. Every practical thing I do, fixing cars, mending electronic equipment, plumbing and wood work all end up incorporating 3d printed parts . If you own a hammer every problem looks like a nail. I do wish there was a good solution to plastic waste . I try by not printing things just for fun, or printing useless trinkets . Reusable filament spools and slicing tricks such as tree supports and lightening infill certainly help. Good design can also help to keep plastic use to a minimum. Plastics are not going to go away we just have to find better ways to manage them.
To be fair, it has continued to get easier and easier. I have a super low cost Ender 3, had it for several years, and it still just prints what I ask. Sure, its only like that because I know how to design 3D parts ( as a hobbyist) but when I look back to my rapman v3 printer, we have come a long way and will continue to do so!
(FDM) (and maybe others) 3d printing and its maintenance is a *skill*, not simply press the 'print' button. 'print' is the most mislabelled word for (FDM) 3d printing, no it isn't your average laser or inkjet printer. maybe we should compare 3d printing to driving (a car) and being its mechanic as well
I got mine partially for creating custom parts. But I also got it as a robotics project. I grew up with LEGO robotics, and once you want to go further, things get out of hand quickly. I got an Ender 3 V2 for $100 and have probably spent more than that on upgrades, because I've wanted to learn it from a foundational level rather than everything being done for me. That made it easy to get or recommend 3D printers for friends, because I know what isn't worth the hassle and can recognize deals better. If the novelty wears off and I just need parts printed, this will probably work fine, but if it doesn't, I'd probably just go with something from Bambu and call it a day.
The first printer I tried to build was the mendel. realizing it was going to take a fortune to get things working I put that aside converted the mendel to a pc board engraver and watched the show. I just draw what I want and send it to a printer service. Just recently I got a FDm and a resin printer and even I have my printers if the prints are going to take longer than 10 hours I still outsource it.
on the community aspect, especially for voron, i was a new comer to building a voron and i had general questions, watch myself get "corrected" on terminology by a voron "expert" sorry my vocabulary isnt up to your standard but you knew exactly what i was asking. 60% of the time my questions get ignored or over shadowed by others convos. pretty frustrating. but whats more frustrating is theres hundreds of youtubers and or videos about new things on vorons and hardly any freaking how tos and deep dives to go with. making it super frustrating if what you intend to do/upgrade can and will work as well as how. had to deep dives 5 different klicky/klickyNG/unklicky githubs to even understand what it was i needed as well as what to print and narrow it down in cad files. but i did it after ripping out hair.
I temper my expectations. I only mainly want to use cheap 3d printer to model a base character in parts to sculp over in monster clay rather then just using the monster clay or wire structure. 3d printing could make the work flow for traditional sculpting easier as I wouldn't have to worry about using too much clay for volume and everything would be kept cimetrical.
Good video. Keeping it real. The biggest reason to avoid 3D printing is that you can spend a lot of time trying to fix a 3D printer or diagnose printing problems, but we are finally fairly close to the industry being mature enough that isn't as much of a concern. We're now seeing some 3D printers that are easier to set up and use than some 2D printers. Klipper and auto bed leveling have done a lot for usability and reliability.
I've suggested a couple friends start by learning modeling and then, only if they like that, to consider buying a printer. I advise them on what features won't print well and print their initial designs. At the rate printers are evolving, a delay in buying one while they see if they are willing to put in the time investment is a win-win IMO.
I got my Ender 3 Pro 3 years ago. Last week, I finally got the bed level with a 0.604 deviation across 25 points. That is the best I have ever gotten it, and I don't mind tinkering with it. Some guys get cars to rebuild for their mid life crisis project. I got a 3D printer.
Well stated👍 If I had known all of this, I would not have purchased my first 2 printers. They have definitely been project upgrade printers to make them better. My 3rd printer, however, has been a fantastic out of the box experience. The only thing I changed was the print surface to PEI sheet because the glass provided would not release the print.
I don't know what kind of sun you have there, but my tendrils became brittle and cracked after bending more than with fresh material. After a year in my room they started to get brittle
You do make some good points, I agree on the project hobby upgrade printer, and a good OOB printer that really just works, too many go for the cheap Ender or Kingroon and expect a good OOB experience, these people if not tech savvy, will ultimately be let down.
Curious to see if you uploaded these at the same time to see which video garnered the most views (poistive or negative), funny to see in the same amount of times this one has double the views
that is the most smooth promotion transition ever... he bambuzeled me with that window and woodpecker in the nature to get a 2 years subscription... great job.
Why do they even make teflon-lined V6s? More complex, more expensive, harder to use, they degrade much faster, clog much more when heatcreep occurs. I don't know any advantages to be honest over regular all-metal V6s.
I think the environmental impact is my main concern having just bought my first resin printer. I’m using water washable resin so less impact (other than the resin impregnated wash water) but what really gets me is the support material and failed prints. Maybe I can use them as scraps in dioramas or my model railroad. I’m also using sturdier gloves to avoid using so many disposable ones and using a damp microfibre cloth to wipe my build plate and any spills to reduce using paper towels.
I got my first 3D printer over a year ago. It is an Ender 3 V2. It wasn't to best I could get but it is what I could afford. But with very few upgrades it has become a very reliable and nice 3D printer. I have printed hundreds of hours with it and I've gotten to the point where I can look at my print, find an error and almost immediately know what is wrong with the Ender 3 V2. Mainly because it is such a simple platform that if you have some common sense and basic knowledge on how 3D Printers work it is easy to diagnose the problem. I have printed some neat stuff including a fully 3D Printed RC Hovercraft I designed myself. I have grown to love my Ender 3 v2, to the point where I am glad I spend the 270$ on a basic platform instead of the 600 or more on a Prusa. Have a machine that requires a little bit of work to get printing nicely in my opinion is ideal because you learn how to fix it. If you buy a machine that does everything itself, you learn virtually nothing. And when it eventually does break you will have no clue what happened and how to fix it.
1 is true for any hobby. For me, I wasn't prepared for the material maze: different properties, applications, brands, temperatures, fumes, etc. I'm still not sure which one to use and just use types that other people use, and the brand of the printer maker (prusa)
My experience is one of your points also in that you have to be willing to spend a lot of time capital to the hobby in order to get optimal prints which are only of real value if those prints serve some custom function that can not be better obtained from commercial production. Dialing in printer hardware, software and procedures to not constantly create plastic trash feels endless as for example slight alterations in temperature affect cohesion dramatically. Simply put, printing commodity products for entertainment is expensive especially in time and quickly loses its excitement but it has value in using it to engineer new ideas and concepts which takes even more time and dedication. Think of it like a musical instrument that gives back only what you are willing to put into it and for many that becomes space in a closet.
best part of learning 3d printing was a tool and die company use to charge out 200/hour for that sort of service, then from there it went to cast modeling, machining the part, then into line production. Costs were into the hundreds of thousands just in research development. Now any ten year old can spit out a part in a afternoon.
Print time can take also insane long on budget models. What will cost more based on electricity. Budget model that prints 8 hours, or a X1 that does it in 3hours. I love 3d printing, but i just hate the long print times sometimes on my Ender 3 pro.
I remember getting my first 3D printer (not an ender 3) and no matter what i did could not get it to work. I asked on a facebook group and an "ambassador" just ended up being rude to me when i expressed frustrations with the printer. After that experience I got an ender 3 and used the other printer to upgrade it! There's a weird level of ego when it comes to the communities with one side thinking they're better than the other and both can have their pros and cons.
Maybe 3D printing is not for everyone but I enjoy it like many others for bringing ideas to life and being creative modifying and looking and learning from others using Arduino, raspberry etc. There are safety concerns with printers raisin being toxic compared to filament like anything else with trial and errors as flying a drone and regulations purchasing and making decisions and reviewing guidelines there are no guarantees in life for success or failure but one can try and not be afraid to move forward and may likely prove a positive perspective and experience.
I look at 3D printers as a source for making parts. I collect and repair old film cameras. Many times a part, for example the rewind lever, or a battery or a door latch is broken. There are part datasets available to simply load and 3D print many of these. However most of the 3D printed parts are not strong enough and snap or break after a few uses. That is my problem, if I'm going to spend the time to design and print a 3D printed part and it's going to fail, why bother? I've read articles about annealing PLA to increase the strength but the jury is still out on that. I see 3D printers are now between $250 to $300 USD. Reasonable enough, but my concern is strength, especially with cameras that use springs attached to a tiny hook or tiny nubs that would be melted to form a tiny "weld" so a a metal contact will stay in place. Search for a Canon EOS door latch. There are many ready to 3D print, but all fail quickly when put into use. I have to see more improvements in material strength and ease of design before I buy one. Thanks for the videos though, both are very helpful.
I disagree ,there are metal filaments which can be printed with steel nozzel and it produces pure metal parts. Morever CF infused plastics are stronger too. I agree on the recycling part. It becomes a big problem if the plastics can't be recycled
Currently, PLA is something like 80% of 3D FDM printing, at least at the hobbyist end of the market. I compost my PLA waste, even PLA+ materials.... its visibly gone in a year in mature compost heap. Recycling is a bit of a con.... everything we do impacts the environment in some way.
I got a 3d printer intending to make drones and rc cars, but the printer was so unreliable at my skill level, that iburnt out at learning how to tweak the damn thing and never made progress past making the control board for an om i wheel tank i couldn't finish the body to. I then made the mistake of doubling down on the printer instead of the project. Three years later and i finally got around to learning to make stuff with a handsaw and some cheap plastic cutting boards. All my stuff looks like boxes on wheels, but at least stuffs getting done. I'm considering a bambulabs because I've heard great things from people with the same frustrations as me.
I don't know how you could measure it, but it'd be really interesting to know what proportion of all the printers sold get bought by folks who don't actually have any requirement for one. I imagine printing trinkets which someone else designed and they downloaded would get very boring very quickly. In my opinion anyone buying a 3d printer who does not either already have experience with or a strong interest in engineering design or the arty 'Blender' type design is far more likely to lose interest once the novelty wears off, or when they realise how steep the learning curve can be than someone who already had a specific requirement for printing things. My guess would be the proportion must be quite high. Similarly, it'd be interesting to know how many kg of filament is printed on average before a printer is sold or thrown away. I would guess it's very low, with many folk buying bet hardly using their printers, and only a few getting through large quantities. No doubt the many not very good printers are responsible for a lot of people losing interest too.
A point you didn't really hit: There will be plenty of times when you don't feel much need to use the printer. You get one; you print lots of toys you found online; maybe you fool around with design software and print your own designs. Then you don't really have anything you want/need to print. Even when you realize that you can duplicate most of the cheap, useful stuff at an IKEA or a Bed, Bath, & Beyond, ...you only need so many coat hooks, desk organizers, keychain charms, and wall cubbies. When you DO need a cheap plastic crap, being able to print one in the color of your choice is wonderful; when you don't, you have a lonely robot and some raw print material that's slowly getting older.
The place to get help is r/3Dprinting, not FB. And you get what you pay for in a 3D printer, so don't buy a cheap one and expect great performance. My 3D printers are some of the most used and indispensable tools that I have.
If you are not printing day and night, it might be better to find a 3rd party manufacturer to print / CNC mill it for you. It is definitely going to give a better quality and consistency, in exchange for several days of waiting time and a little extra service fee.
The background blur and bokeh on the pegboards, which looks like motion blur, combined with the seemingly perfectly sharp edge of the shelf/cupboard on the other side is completely screwing my depth perception.
When I was researching out of curiosity "why aren't we recycling 3D prints?", the answer was, "There are a bajillion different formulations of every polymer type, and if you mix and match in the recycling process, it's gonna fail spectacularly even if the base polymer is the same." That was an eye-opener, to say the least.
Another important one, needing space. Due to noise and temp constraints you may have difficulty finding a place for one. Ha, just watched the pros, I guess we disagree a bit on the noise bit.
It started with a hobby project. Hobby project could use some 3D printed parts... One of the 3D parts needed something more resistant to heat than PLA. My 3D printer didn't have an enclosure, thought making one myself. Ended up with some issues and printing enclosure parts takes too long... Upgrade extruder and hotend for something that doesn't fail so often. Enclosure done, but too many issues with flimsy parts. Started printing voron parts and will slowly gather the required componets as budget allows. Don't remember the project I got the 3D printer for. Don't know for which I will use the voron once it's done... 3D printer is my new TV, except to watch videos about 3D printer. I think I may loose my mind eventually. Newcomers, beware.
Biggest Missing Reason: - Do you really need *your own* 3D printer? Universities and Libraries often have 3D-printers available to the public, and if not them any 3D printing hobbyist will offer you their services. It will still cost you, but finding out the hobby just isnt for you 5€ and 4 hours at the library in is better than 200€ and 20 hours spent tinkering with the settings. And I dont just say that bc I have my own 3D printer. But if you have a project in mind...
what i tell people when it comes up, why do you want it? if do you wanna just make things and not put in alot of effort get the most expensive you can afford or if you want to make it a hobby just buy a cheap one and learn it from the ground up. second question what is it you wanna make? for small artpieceswith ultra high resolution and dont mind playing around wiht chemicals get a resign printer or if you wanna cleanly press out everyday items or prototypes get fdm.
I think this will always be a hobby and never pass the value threshold of owning one as a means to an end. So unless you can say "I see myself as an aspiring 3d printer hobbyist who enjoys the reward alone of spending my time and money 3d printing and modeling" then DO NOT buy one
You should consider having one video with reasons for getting and not getting. You currently, have 2 seperate videos on your channel, people who have little idea about 3d printing are bound to get really confused as they may see only this video and not the other. Having one video, for and against, would provide a balanced analysis. Right now it just seems a little click-baity with the promotion right up front.
I think you missed one major, major element of 3D printing that hobby/project/low budget printers require; tuning. I love printing, but I really, really hate tuning with a passion. It's absolutely required on many printers and it's a hugely wasteful process with literally hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of possible settings combinations. Understanding how to tune and what you're actually doing when changing settings in a slicer is frankly boring, repetitive and takes a long time with test after test after test. It's a largely thankless task because no one cares how many hours and how much money you lose to tuning your setup, they just care about what the finished product looks like. There's only a handful of friends I'd suggest a 3D printer to, and they're all already working in engineering. For most of the others, I just offer to print anything they want or suggest they go to their nearest maker space and try out using one there first.
is it worth Knocking the Dust off of a Tevo Tornado, With The Gold Fan cover ? it has some upgrade's not installed with it, like a All Meral Hot end Kit made by Micro Swiss. I inherited it !
Thanks for this video. In searching for a new interest to explore I picked up exploring CAD software which led me to exploring 3D printing. I have watched many video's now from many of the wonderful contributors on UA-cam and you have hit on the one issue I can't square. What to do with all the waste. In the states of Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois the 3 closest states available to me for recycling services. Many of the recycle companies simply will not accept the waste. Especially if there is no recycle code. As explained to me by these patient operators. It's so easy to contaminate a recycle stream by processing incorrectly sorted plastics that It's just not worth it for them to even try. Searching out solutions for the waste has been pretty time consuming. How do you deal with the waste? I'm assuming you have enough waste available and that you sort it correctly to make it viable for a recycler to accept the waste from you. How does everyone else deal with their waste? I feel like I'm missing a simple solution here. The video you have that reuses bottles as tubular filament is pretty neat! There must be other homemade ways to reuse the print waste as well, right? I have yet to dive in to my first printer purchase. You gave me a lot to think about! thank You! Will most likely end up with an original Prusa kit. This hobby just seems so interesting!
The problem with the hate in the forums comes down to mostly youngsters under the age of 25. The 3D printer space has become littered with the younger generation who likes to use the first search result they find as "the answer" (and tend to go all in on that bandwagon) instead of doing some legwork. It is a societal issue that has bled its way into the 3D maker space.
I agree 3D printing is kind of a trouble, I’ve started with one printer, now I have 5. Built them and I believe even all have been said is really true… most important thing is.. it is FUN and the freedom of creation is … no one can describe 😊
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Idea to help recycle 3D prints better: Maybe slicer folks can add an option to automatically place a recycling symbol on the base layer of prints derived from the material sliced.
This is actually kinda genius.
**EDIT** The only problem is (I just confirmed this) that the vast majority of plastics are not recycled in most municipalities, at least in the USA. The plastics are thrown in with the trash in most cities. I've also been told quite a few times by several different people that it's because China is no longer buying our plastic waste and our recycling facilities cannot profit from recycling plastics in house. I cannot confirm this part but it doesn't much matter. What does matter is that ***ONLY 8%*** of plastics that people put in their bins ACTUALLY gets recycled. 8 percent. Turns out, The companies that invented and popularized using plastics also started the recycling campaigns to trick consumers into believing that as long as they recycle, they don't have to feel guilty about their impact on global warming. Just search UA-cam for "does plastic actually get recycled."
Also, PLA makes up 95% of all 3D printing waste, is technically biodegradable BUT only at certain special recycling facilities which are few and far between.
So in other words we need to figure out how to make plastic recycling PROFITABLE, or just.. you know... stop being greedy capitalists obsessed with profit and worry more about the species surviving and maybe not worry so much about profitability of recycling? Maybe uhhhh make recycling a **government** responsibility?!?...instead of a f*cking private business, ya know???
...but yes, your idea is still genius. Just only 8% effective at best because of the recycling bottleneck upstream 🥲
PrusaSlicer provides easy modifiers that you can add to a part, and I already add the symbols to all bigger prints where it does not hurt the aesthetics.
To do this automatically would be quite complicated an error prone (this is also why an open PR that would handle this is open since forever).
If you add the type of plastic used that will be helpful. Recycling is best done when different types are separated.
In Europe you can put PLA in the green waste, but it has to be shredded, otherwise it is recognised as ordinary plastic and will be disposed as ordinary plastic after all. In shredded form it is compostable in all industrial compost plants.
Wouldn’t care one bit of the symbol is there or not. What would make me care is if I send in x many pounds of filament waste from supports and failed prints, I get a discount on more filament. Then I would care, otherwise, meh.
Well, the number you put into the symbol for PLA is . . . 7 . . . which stands for "other." I made some prints with the symbol, but started forgetting, then realized some of my parts are too small for it, then researched around how to recycle, then discovered the truth that I can't really recycle it, then eventually decided to stop pursuing putting the symbol on my prints. PLA is considered one of the most eco-friendly printing materials too.
Really the best way forward is to establish a recycling system specifically for 3D printing filament. Regular recycling is unfortunately not available for the vast majority of people, even if you put a sort symbol on all of your prints.
To be be honest I enjoy every process related to 3d printing so much that these 4 things sound like very minor inconveniences rather than problems.
Completely agree
Maybe I can add another one: you might not have much to print / it might not be used much after the initial excitement wears off.
I definitely don't regret getting a printer, and I still use it from time to time, but for some reason it feels like I had an endless list of ideas to print before I bought it (but not after).
Yeah, I printed so many things in the first three months. Now I haven't printed anything in months
Same, I had so many ideas but guess what… troubles, so many troubles, from supports, rafts, bed levelling…
It was a nightmare.
I feel like this is why so many people end up trying to run print farms: they have a project that 3d printing would be good for. They buy a printer and spend a fair amount of either time or money or both getting it really working. (I don't care if you spent 1500$ on an X1C that requires little user effort to be reliable, or 300$ and six months making your Ender-3 into a workhorse, that's a significant expense either way.) The finish their project and then they're all "well, now I feel like I spent all this money/effort on something just sitting there..." And so they turn to "let's print things for other folks for money" as a way to make it feel like the printer is still useful.
@@davydatwood3158 ha, excellent point! Would not surprise me in the least if that's the road many went down. For me personally, I spent an average amount of time/effort - definitely not excessive - and I try to print something useful for myself once or twice a month, so overall I'm still happy
For me it's opposite - when I was buying it I thought "oh I'd have this and that to buy" but several months in I still find myself finding stuff I want to print, and my printer rarely has a day off.
For the plastic waste parts, there are filament manufacturers, like AddNorth, which i buy most of my filaments from, who will gladly ship your empty spools and plastic waste back to them for free to reuse and be recycled into new filament that they sell. Pretty cool.
As someone who purchased his first 3d printer in December of 2022, spot on. When starting out, often one perceived problem is caused by several things going on, which is a bit overwhelming until you figure it out. Without videos like yours and others, along with some helpful advice from printer-specific community support groups, there would be a lot more used 3d printers on ebay for sure! Keep up the good work!
When i first started 3d printing i knew what i was getting into, but i had a burning passion for being creative and designing and making stuff, and for some reason i enjoy tinkering with stuff, so det downsides mentioned weren't much of a problem for me, and i also reasercched alot on the start to make sure i knew what i was doing and have minimal struggles and haven't broken my one and only creality 3 v2, which i hqve had for many years now without breakdown, very happy with my purchase.
Glad you are making this video to help people think twice before getting into it, not everyone is made for this and might make hasty decisions on the spot of inspiration but, might struggle and regret ever touching a 3d printer, you need to have patience with this kind of hobby.
Bought a Tevo tarantula when they were all teh rage and did soo many upgrades, i could have just bought a prusa BUT I learned so much tinkering with that machine.
This kind of honest pragmatic well informed and carefully explained point of view is the main reason i love your channel, this kind of content will help for the grow of a better 3d printing and maker community in the future.
Thank you .
I started reading it like "This kid is honest" :D And I kinda liked it.
@@martincerny3294 Ahaha, you just guessed what a 40-year-older version of me could have said.
I'm a mechanical engineering student who's used to working on things constantly since I grew up on a farm, I'm looking at building a Voron 2.4 this year. I want a project I can get to a point where I'm satisfied with the performance so I can use it to build other things, like maybe a second printer. It will wind up being a project but I hope to see more uptime than repair time.
3d printing is very difficult. It involves many specialized skills including machine operator, maintenance, graphic design in the form of CAD software, slicer programs and the difficulties of 3d printing itself like leveling the bed, bed adhesion, clogging, temperature settings, extrusion rate, and edge compensation for the squished material, which for a 0.4mm nozzle at 0.24mm layer height, is almost exactly 0.15mm for each side. This compensation allows for sub-millimeter (micron) accuracy of print.
3:50 lol definitely talking about bambu lab and DPT
3:57 Cough "Design Prototype Test"
Thomas, I agree with every sentence you say. I also took all these steps, but I have no regrets. It's still a great hobby.
I will be concerned about my minor amount of plastic waste when the climate people stop flying private jets to talk about the climate.
"I refuse to be right because there are people committing greater wrongs."
Also: No single raindrop believes it is the cause of the flood.
Also also: Whataboutism.
All the trash plastic yuo make (and all of us) is nothing compare to 1 plastic company , in China there are ...1000000 ....i don t known but a Lot , or the fhashion or clothes industry
I have been collecting all of my support material and failed prints planning to melt them down into flat pieces to use for other projects. Usually, its just a 3 perimeter brim, I try to design my parts so that no support is needed. It's been over 5 years and I still don't have enough scrap/waste to fill the box, yet.
I understand your concerns, save I'll say first that yes, you and I as individuals are an insignificant part of the problem, a tiny, tiny almost negligible fraction... but that's not a great mindset to have. It's like saying "I'll stop (burning down forests/dropping nukes/insert any destructive action), if you do first" and the other person saying "no u" until the Earth is destroyed. Someone has to be the bigger person or else the entire species and most life on Earth WILL DIE, forever. Death of the species. The end. It's kinda bigger than you or them. Don't be the guy going "well they're doing it toooo!"
Yeah, they suck, but we all have to care as much as we can AND YES, boycott, stop supporting and take down the corporations that are really doing the real damage, the oil and fossil fuel industries, Chinese plastics, most manufacturers all over the world using lots of plastics, and politicians who are paid off by their lobbyists. The American manufacturers who made and popularized plastics are THE SAME PEOPLE who have fed us lies about recycling claiming if we recycle then we can use as much plastic as we want without feeling bad.. well guess what? Only 8% of plastics in the US actually get recycled. 8 percent.
So direct your anger at the right people, not the individuals flying in the jets but the companies they represent, big companies in general, and you know.. everyone I already said. K have a great day ❤
If you've ever stepped a foot in any production company that sources multiple components from around the world, you'll realize that your plastic consumption is so miniscule, that you can print everyday for a year and still use less plastic than the amount that was wasted just transporting the individual components of your car to be manufactured.
While we're on that topic and shitting on china and rich people, have you guys seen airbus? The lovely airplane company that every European country wants a piece of? All of the components are produced all over the place and then FLOWN across europe or the globe to put them back together in one place. The amount of environmental damage and waste that is produced just so we can show the whole world how great a united Europe is, is staggering.
Thanks Tom, I´m a long time follower of your work, and basically it was your Videos that made my first steps in 3D printing possible abt. 7 years ago. So thanks for all that you´re doing and keep on ! Grüße aus der Oberpfalz, Manuel, DL2MAN
Your note on the community is spot on.
If you print PEEK-CF, you can get somewhat close to the strength of metal (aluminum 6061, for instance). PPSU-CF is also great. Other than that, yeah, plastic is quite limiting for functional parts that have a harsh duty cycle.
But it's still the weakest in the z-plane for FDM. Other 3D printing processes are far superior to FDM which everyone else uses
@@samgribben5891 Sure, if you have access to multi-jet fusion, selective laser sintering, or selective laser melting, you can do some amazing things. Alas, the cost...
What about resin for functional prints? I've seen some people say some resin is pretty durable like the strength of a ceramic or pyrex style material.
@@OccultDemonCassette you need to use specific resins, Formlabs for example has these and are currently in use by NASA on the ISS for example.
I've accumulated 3 fdm and 1resin printer,6 years later and each and every print still amases me,yeah they can be frustrating but when you get a flawless print its oh so worth it
A double whammy today! Honestly I get why you made these two contradictory videos; while I am enthusiastic about and neck deep in the technology myself, when I get asked about buying one from people who know me I feel that I have a responsibility to point out the fact that every machine will require some amount of time troubleshooting, even the ones made to be "hands off." The point about knowing to CAD is another point I hit on (a printer is way more useful if you know how to truly make things yourself), and I feel resin machines while they've come very far from the first "hobby" SLA machines are never going to really be desktop machines because of all the other things necessary to use them.
The issue of plastic waste is an issue that I'd like a solution to if the machines to grind and melt it back into filament weren't either projects or thousands.
nice video I have should watched some years ago when i bhought my first printer because i wanted to print some parts for my car. now i have my 3. 3d printer up and running and pretty good in mashing recktangengles dogether in fushion 360
The 5th negative aspect: printing takes time, even after watching all the videos it still surprised me how long it took. I'm definitely more in designing small parts which I could then print, not really being interested in tweaking the printer. Thanks to you I went for a Prusa Mark i3 Mk3 some years ago. Still happy printing on it. Using fusion 360 to design some stuff...
I appreciate the even-handedness with which you present your views and opinions.
I'd suggest if you're on the fence, see if there's a makerspace/hackerspace/fablab near you that has a printer you can try out. Some libraries also have printers, and you can always see if some friends want to go splitsies. Two of the printers I've used were actually at my work (two different jobs), even though neither company had an "official" use for them!
I got a 3d printer 2 years ago and never had problems with printing just not sticking to bed but fixed it thanks to Tom I got it down
While I was a complete "newb" to 3D printing I do have some relatable characteristics for being successful on my own teaching myself. Definitely don't regret the Prusa Mini purchase because it definitely made things easier to be successful vs having to "tinker" with the printer just getting it working. There was a slight learning curve learning Fusion 360, but has been a lot better at this point. Even got into threaded inserts recently. Being able to go from idea to physical object in reality quickly being a common consumer is completely awesome mind blowing. Definitely do not regret getting into 3D printing what so evar.
how long have you been doing it?
@@bdavi_1 3D Printing and Specifically Fusion has only been since around Sept. '22. The other skills that are relatable to either 3D printing or CAD, a lot longer before even considering 3D printing. Not sure on that one, but for CAD the hardware was always the biggest factor.
This video is almost 2 years to late for me! LOL! But I actually knew what I was getting myself into as I really like to tinker on things since I have a degree in Engineering Computer Aided Design and am an IT Admin, it's just my nature to always want to improve things. I started at the bottom with a $90 RepRapGuru i3 clone printer and have made some many mods it's not longer it's original self by any means but the print quality is awesome now! I've since moved on to my garage salvage/trash picked $20 Anet A6 and am basically rebuilding the entire thing. I'm get such great prints from it too after spending about $100 in parts. So know what you are getting yourself into if you go down this path! LOL! But I love it everyday and love the fun prints I do sometimes.
What I've always hated about online communities is the, "You should do it this way" answer. I lay out what I'm trying to do, why I want to do it that way, and what's wrong. Instead of a helpful answer about how I can make it work my way, I'm told I'm an idiot and should do it another way.
Even if I say, I know that it would be better/easier/faster to do xyz, I am doing abc for this reason, I still get answers saying I should just do xyz.
The other one I hate is when someone says, "Just do this," but "this" is something that's five menus deep and they don't tell you how to get to it. You have to ask where it is, and then they tell you to RTFM.
99% of the time, I get crap answer or no answer at all when I ask an online community. (That may be a gross exaggeration, but I'd say it's 50/50 at best.
Just takes a picture of a failed print when venting about your own accidents for "helpful idiots" to all come out and tell you all the things you did wrong and how to fix it..... Even without you asking for or needing help!
The only reason I go online to ask how to fix an issue I am having is because I have to go through everything i tried and explain it in a compiled version of my problem, which usually helps me understand better my issue and I end up fixing it myself. It's extremely rare that someone actually comes up, reads my explanation and gives a proper insight on the issue. That's probably because the people who can solve my issue are not actively seeking someone to help and they are very unlikely to stumble upon my question. While other people having issues might read your question in the persuit of finding an answer to their own problem.
idk I found discord 3d printing community very helpful and not as narcistic as you had sadly
@@doki-_-7002 Maybe you go there with simple problems?
@@ageorgiev89 I mean whole calibration process and I had clog and some other stuff with software and some small hardware issues. Discord is always better than reddit and some other stuff, besides it being real time chat you can talk with more people at once.
The first reason, its overwhelming is 100% true. I've had friends who are very capable people get overwhelmed by 3D printing sometimes and they are people who are engineers and other jobs that also require a lot of skill. So this is definitely not a "hobby" that anyone can just jump into. Its a fun hobby but it takes some real dedication to it to really get into it.
I would like to extend this with the fact that 3D printing something is not the same process as sending a Word document to a regular printer which literally just a click away usually. You have to plan ahead, choose what part you like to print, with what material (type and color) and settings. Also if you don't like to leave the printer unattended you have to schedule when and what to print, the beginning of the print requires some babysitting (transferring the gcode, wait for the warm-up, cleaning the bed, feeding the filament, checking the first layer), the failure rate even on better printers is not zero (either hard failure or you just using a bad slicer configuration) so you might have to repeat this a couple times until you get the result you want. I love my printer, but these extra steps makes me use it less as I originally thought I would, as I don't always feel like going through these hoops.
I totally agree. I don’t get how others just print multiple prints on the same level. That never works for me, I always have to re-level and make a new mesh, which takes more time to do or things will go south. I guess it’s helped me become a more patient person in the long run, which is good.
Many, many people have gotten curious when I got 3D printer to work and indeed I always have to remind/turn them off by remembering them that anyone can get into it, but 3D CAD skills, not much, but very basic ones are mandatory to have if you wanting to get into printing stuff. I have to say that I went bit different as I knew 2D CAD drawing really well, but I wasn't just motivated enough to learn it, cause I didn't have any applications for the skills. So I got 3D printer to "force" myself into learning 3D too. It was almost unusable Anet A6, but enough to implement drawing skills to machine that barely does anything. Now I'm quite adept with 3D CAD stuff if I say to myself.
You are correct, however I really enjoy using my 3d printer. Despite its limitations I constantly marvel at the practical unique things I can design and make . I seldom use custom made designs and never interact with the maker community as I am too busy making stuff and fixing my own problems. Every practical thing I do, fixing cars, mending electronic equipment, plumbing and wood work all end up incorporating 3d printed parts . If you own a hammer every problem looks like a nail. I do wish there was a good solution to plastic waste . I try by not printing things just for fun, or printing useless trinkets . Reusable filament spools and slicing tricks such as tree supports and lightening infill certainly help. Good design can also help to keep plastic use to a minimum. Plastics are not going to go away we just have to find better ways to manage them.
You fr post this the day that I was planning on going to micro center and buying an ender 3 V2 with the coupon. Is this a sign
To be fair, it has continued to get easier and easier. I have a super low cost Ender 3, had it for several years, and it still just prints what I ask. Sure, its only like that because I know how to design 3D parts ( as a hobbyist) but when I look back to my rapman v3 printer, we have come a long way and will continue to do so!
(FDM) (and maybe others) 3d printing and its maintenance is a *skill*, not simply press the 'print' button. 'print' is the most mislabelled word for (FDM) 3d printing, no it isn't your average laser or inkjet printer. maybe we should compare 3d printing to driving (a car) and being its mechanic as well
It's a little late for me but you bring up great points that I wouldn't have thought about.
I got mine partially for creating custom parts. But I also got it as a robotics project. I grew up with LEGO robotics, and once you want to go further, things get out of hand quickly. I got an Ender 3 V2 for $100 and have probably spent more than that on upgrades, because I've wanted to learn it from a foundational level rather than everything being done for me. That made it easy to get or recommend 3D printers for friends, because I know what isn't worth the hassle and can recognize deals better.
If the novelty wears off and I just need parts printed, this will probably work fine, but if it doesn't, I'd probably just go with something from Bambu and call it a day.
The first printer I tried to build was the mendel. realizing it was going to take a fortune to get things working I put that aside converted the mendel to a pc board engraver and watched the show. I just draw what I want and send it to a printer service. Just recently I got a FDm and a resin printer and even I have my printers if the prints are going to take longer than 10 hours I still outsource it.
Nice to see that you’re sneaking FreeCad in when talking about design software !
Probably because it throws an error dialog...
on the community aspect, especially for voron, i was a new comer to building a voron and i had general questions, watch myself get "corrected" on terminology by a voron "expert" sorry my vocabulary isnt up to your standard but you knew exactly what i was asking. 60% of the time my questions get ignored or over shadowed by others convos. pretty frustrating. but whats more frustrating is theres hundreds of youtubers and or videos about new things on vorons and hardly any freaking how tos and deep dives to go with. making it super frustrating if what you intend to do/upgrade can and will work as well as how. had to deep dives 5 different klicky/klickyNG/unklicky githubs to even understand what it was i needed as well as what to print and narrow it down in cad files. but i did it after ripping out hair.
I temper my expectations. I only mainly want to use cheap 3d printer to model a base character in parts to sculp over in monster clay rather then just using the monster clay or wire structure. 3d printing could make the work flow for traditional sculpting easier as I wouldn't have to worry about using too much clay for volume and everything would be kept cimetrical.
I enjoy fixing and working on, and changing things on my printers more then printing most of the time
Good video. Keeping it real. The biggest reason to avoid 3D printing is that you can spend a lot of time trying to fix a 3D printer or diagnose printing problems, but we are finally fairly close to the industry being mature enough that isn't as much of a concern. We're now seeing some 3D printers that are easier to set up and use than some 2D printers. Klipper and auto bed leveling have done a lot for usability and reliability.
Make a video about why you should or not buy a CNC machine.
I've suggested a couple friends start by learning modeling and then, only if they like that, to consider buying a printer. I advise them on what features won't print well and print their initial designs. At the rate printers are evolving, a delay in buying one while they see if they are willing to put in the time investment is a win-win IMO.
I got my Ender 3 Pro 3 years ago.
Last week, I finally got the bed level with a 0.604 deviation across 25 points.
That is the best I have ever gotten it, and I don't mind tinkering with it. Some guys get cars to rebuild for their mid life crisis project. I got a 3D printer.
Well stated👍 If I had known all of this, I would not have purchased my first 2 printers. They have definitely been project upgrade printers to make them better. My 3rd printer, however, has been a fantastic out of the box experience. The only thing I changed was the print surface to PEI sheet because the glass provided would not release the print.
Well did you try to wait for the glass to cool
@DanielloDD86 definitely, I've even tried putting it in the freezer. Still had to fight to get it off.
I don't know what kind of sun you have there, but my tendrils became brittle and cracked after bending more than with fresh material. After a year in my room they started to get brittle
You do make some good points, I agree on the project hobby upgrade printer, and a good OOB printer that really just works, too many go for the cheap Ender or Kingroon and expect a good OOB experience, these people if not tech savvy, will ultimately be let down.
Curious to see if you uploaded these at the same time to see which video garnered the most views (poistive or negative), funny to see in the same amount of times this one has double the views
that is the most smooth promotion transition ever... he bambuzeled me with that window and woodpecker in the nature to get a 2 years subscription... great job.
Why do they even make teflon-lined V6s? More complex, more expensive, harder to use, they degrade much faster, clog much more when heatcreep occurs. I don't know any advantages to be honest over regular all-metal V6s.
I think the environmental impact is my main concern having just bought my first resin printer. I’m using water washable resin so less impact (other than the resin impregnated wash water) but what really gets me is the support material and failed prints. Maybe I can use them as scraps in dioramas or my model railroad. I’m also using sturdier gloves to avoid using so many disposable ones and using a damp microfibre cloth to wipe my build plate and any spills to reduce using paper towels.
With an FDM printer, you can get high quality filament that is 100% recycled and can be re-recycled.
I got my first 3D printer over a year ago. It is an Ender 3 V2. It wasn't to best I could get but it is what I could afford. But with very few upgrades it has become a very reliable and nice 3D printer. I have printed hundreds of hours with it and I've gotten to the point where I can look at my print, find an error and almost immediately know what is wrong with the Ender 3 V2. Mainly because it is such a simple platform that if you have some common sense and basic knowledge on how 3D Printers work it is easy to diagnose the problem. I have printed some neat stuff including a fully 3D Printed RC Hovercraft I designed myself. I have grown to love my Ender 3 v2, to the point where I am glad I spend the 270$ on a basic platform instead of the 600 or more on a Prusa. Have a machine that requires a little bit of work to get printing nicely in my opinion is ideal because you learn how to fix it. If you buy a machine that does everything itself, you learn virtually nothing. And when it eventually does break you will have no clue what happened and how to fix it.
1 is true for any hobby.
For me, I wasn't prepared for the material maze: different properties, applications, brands, temperatures, fumes, etc. I'm still not sure which one to use and just use types that other people use, and the brand of the printer maker (prusa)
For those who seem daunted by 3d modeling, I found fusion 360 in 30 days made learning fusion fairly simple.
My experience is one of your points also in that you have to be willing to spend a lot of time capital to the hobby in order to get optimal prints which are only of real value if those prints serve some custom function that can not be better obtained from commercial production. Dialing in printer hardware, software and procedures to not constantly create plastic trash feels endless as for example slight alterations in temperature affect cohesion dramatically. Simply put, printing commodity products for entertainment is expensive especially in time and quickly loses its excitement but it has value in using it to engineer new ideas and concepts which takes even more time and dedication. Think of it like a musical instrument that gives back only what you are willing to put into it and for many that becomes space in a closet.
best part of learning 3d printing was a tool and die company use to charge out 200/hour for that sort of service, then from there it went to cast modeling, machining the part, then into line production. Costs were into the hundreds of thousands just in research development.
Now any ten year old can spit out a part in a afternoon.
Print time can take also insane long on budget models. What will cost more based on electricity. Budget model that prints 8 hours, or a X1 that does it in 3hours. I love 3d printing, but i just hate the long print times sometimes on my Ender 3 pro.
I remember getting my first 3D printer (not an ender 3) and no matter what i did could not get it to work. I asked on a facebook group and an "ambassador" just ended up being rude to me when i expressed frustrations with the printer. After that experience I got an ender 3 and used the other printer to upgrade it! There's a weird level of ego when it comes to the communities with one side thinking they're better than the other and both can have their pros and cons.
Where would I send my extra PLA filament to recycle?
Maybe 3D printing is not for everyone but I enjoy it like many others for bringing ideas to life and being creative modifying and looking and learning from others using Arduino, raspberry etc. There are safety concerns with printers raisin being toxic compared to filament like anything else with trial and errors as flying a drone and regulations purchasing and making decisions and reviewing guidelines there are no guarantees in life for success or failure but one can try and not be afraid to move forward and may likely prove a positive perspective and experience.
I look at 3D printers as a source for making parts. I collect and repair old film cameras. Many times a part, for example the rewind lever, or a battery or a door latch is broken. There are part datasets available to simply load and 3D print many of these. However most of the 3D printed parts are not strong enough and snap or break after a few uses. That is my problem, if I'm going to spend the time to design and print a 3D printed part and it's going to fail, why bother? I've read articles about annealing PLA to increase the strength but the jury is still out on that. I see 3D printers are now between $250 to $300 USD. Reasonable enough, but my concern is strength, especially with cameras that use springs attached to a tiny hook or tiny nubs that would be melted to form a tiny "weld" so a a metal contact will stay in place.
Search for a Canon EOS door latch. There are many ready to 3D print, but all fail quickly when put into use.
I have to see more improvements in material strength and ease of design before I buy one.
Thanks for the videos though, both are very helpful.
I disagree ,there are metal filaments which can be printed with steel nozzel and it produces pure metal parts. Morever CF infused plastics are stronger too. I agree on the recycling part. It becomes a big problem if the plastics can't be recycled
Currently, PLA is something like 80% of 3D FDM printing, at least at the hobbyist end of the market. I compost my PLA waste, even PLA+ materials.... its visibly gone in a year in mature compost heap. Recycling is a bit of a con.... everything we do impacts the environment in some way.
I got a 3d printer intending to make drones and rc cars, but the printer was so unreliable at my skill level, that iburnt out at learning how to tweak the damn thing and never made progress past making the control board for an om i wheel tank i couldn't finish the body to. I then made the mistake of doubling down on the printer instead of the project. Three years later and i finally got around to learning to make stuff with a handsaw and some cheap plastic cutting boards. All my stuff looks like boxes on wheels, but at least stuffs getting done.
I'm considering a bambulabs because I've heard great things from people with the same frustrations as me.
I don't know how you could measure it, but it'd be really interesting to know what proportion of all the printers sold get bought by folks who don't actually have any requirement for one. I imagine printing trinkets which someone else designed and they downloaded would get very boring very quickly. In my opinion anyone buying a 3d printer who does not either already have experience with or a strong interest in engineering design or the arty 'Blender' type design is far more likely to lose interest once the novelty wears off, or when they realise how steep the learning curve can be than someone who already had a specific requirement for printing things. My guess would be the proportion must be quite high.
Similarly, it'd be interesting to know how many kg of filament is printed on average before a printer is sold or thrown away. I would guess it's very low, with many folk buying bet hardly using their printers, and only a few getting through large quantities. No doubt the many not very good printers are responsible for a lot of people losing interest too.
A point you didn't really hit: There will be plenty of times when you don't feel much need to use the printer. You get one; you print lots of toys you found online; maybe you fool around with design software and print your own designs.
Then you don't really have anything you want/need to print.
Even when you realize that you can duplicate most of the cheap, useful stuff at an IKEA or a Bed, Bath, & Beyond, ...you only need so many coat hooks, desk organizers, keychain charms, and wall cubbies. When you DO need a cheap plastic crap, being able to print one in the color of your choice is wonderful; when you don't, you have a lonely robot and some raw print material that's slowly getting older.
Just made an order for my 3d printer and this is the first recommended video after that :D
Some more remarks: 3D printers are slow for bigger items. And plastics are also not very rigid, even compared to wood.
The place to get help is r/3Dprinting, not FB. And you get what you pay for in a 3D printer, so don't buy a cheap one and expect great performance. My 3D printers are some of the most used and indispensable tools that I have.
i have 7 pepper plants potted up in 3d printed volcano pots. you cant overwater and they retain proper moisture well.
You videos are my go to for printing information, thank you.
If you are not printing day and night, it might be better to find a 3rd party manufacturer to print / CNC mill it for you. It is definitely going to give a better quality and consistency, in exchange for several days of waiting time and a little extra service fee.
The background blur and bokeh on the pegboards, which looks like motion blur, combined with the seemingly perfectly sharp edge of the shelf/cupboard on the other side is completely screwing my depth perception.
what is that little orange machine in the background?
Great video! Thank you for setting realistic expectations.
When I was researching out of curiosity "why aren't we recycling 3D prints?", the answer was, "There are a bajillion different formulations of every polymer type, and if you mix and match in the recycling process, it's gonna fail spectacularly even if the base polymer is the same."
That was an eye-opener, to say the least.
Another important one, needing space. Due to noise and temp constraints you may have difficulty finding a place for one.
Ha, just watched the pros, I guess we disagree a bit on the noise bit.
He says with three printers in the frame
Love your're doing videos like these. I will recommend people visit your channel in the future, because of videos like these.
Don't get into FDM unless you're a fan of shredded wheat.
It started with a hobby project. Hobby project could use some 3D printed parts... One of the 3D parts needed something more resistant to heat than PLA. My 3D printer didn't have an enclosure, thought making one myself. Ended up with some issues and printing enclosure parts takes too long... Upgrade extruder and hotend for something that doesn't fail so often. Enclosure done, but too many issues with flimsy parts. Started printing voron parts and will slowly gather the required componets as budget allows. Don't remember the project I got the 3D printer for. Don't know for which I will use the voron once it's done... 3D printer is my new TV, except to watch videos about 3D printer. I think I may loose my mind eventually. Newcomers, beware.
Great video. I think I'll stick to simple woodcrafting for pretty much solid non organic models. Just need a method to cure wood to make it very hard.
Biggest Missing Reason:
- Do you really need *your own* 3D printer? Universities and Libraries often have 3D-printers available to the public, and if not them any 3D printing hobbyist will offer you their services. It will still cost you, but finding out the hobby just isnt for you 5€ and 4 hours at the library in is better than 200€ and 20 hours spent tinkering with the settings.
And I dont just say that bc I have my own 3D printer. But if you have a project in mind...
what i tell people when it comes up, why do you want it? if do you wanna just make things and not put in alot of effort get the most expensive you can afford or if you want to make it a hobby just buy a cheap one and learn it from the ground up. second question what is it you wanna make? for small artpieceswith ultra high resolution and dont mind playing around wiht chemicals get a resign printer or if you wanna cleanly press out everyday items or prototypes get fdm.
Valuable advice. Thank you, Thomas.
I think this will always be a hobby and never pass the value threshold of owning one as a means to an end. So unless you can say "I see myself as an aspiring 3d printer hobbyist who enjoys the reward alone of spending my time and money 3d printing and modeling" then DO NOT buy one
You should consider having one video with reasons for getting and not getting. You currently, have 2 seperate videos on your channel, people who have little idea about 3d printing are bound to get really confused as they may see only this video and not the other. Having one video, for and against, would provide a balanced analysis. Right now it just seems a little click-baity with the promotion right up front.
Thanks! Your video just reminded me to order a new opto TAP pcb for my voron.
I think you missed one major, major element of 3D printing that hobby/project/low budget printers require; tuning. I love printing, but I really, really hate tuning with a passion. It's absolutely required on many printers and it's a hugely wasteful process with literally hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of possible settings combinations. Understanding how to tune and what you're actually doing when changing settings in a slicer is frankly boring, repetitive and takes a long time with test after test after test. It's a largely thankless task because no one cares how many hours and how much money you lose to tuning your setup, they just care about what the finished product looks like.
There's only a handful of friends I'd suggest a 3D printer to, and they're all already working in engineering. For most of the others, I just offer to print anything they want or suggest they go to their nearest maker space and try out using one there first.
is it worth Knocking the Dust off of a Tevo Tornado, With The Gold Fan cover ? it has some upgrade's not installed with it, like a All Meral Hot end Kit made by Micro Swiss. I inherited it !
Thanks for this video. In searching for a new interest to explore I picked up exploring CAD software which led me to exploring 3D printing. I have watched many video's now from many of the wonderful contributors on UA-cam and you have hit on the one issue I can't square. What to do with all the waste.
In the states of Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois the 3 closest states available to me for recycling services. Many of the recycle companies simply will not accept the waste. Especially if there is no recycle code. As explained to me by these patient operators. It's so easy to contaminate a recycle stream by processing incorrectly sorted plastics that It's just not worth it for them to even try. Searching out solutions for the waste has been pretty time consuming. How do you deal with the waste? I'm assuming you have enough waste available and that you sort it correctly to make it viable for a recycler to accept the waste from you. How does everyone else deal with their waste? I feel like I'm missing a simple solution here. The video you have that reuses bottles as tubular filament is pretty neat! There must be other homemade ways to reuse the print waste as well, right? I have yet to dive in to my first printer purchase. You gave me a lot to think about! thank You! Will most likely end up with an original Prusa kit. This hobby just seems so interesting!
The problem with the hate in the forums comes down to mostly youngsters under the age of 25. The 3D printer space has become littered with the younger generation who likes to use the first search result they find as "the answer" (and tend to go all in on that bandwagon) instead of doing some legwork. It is a societal issue that has bled its way into the 3D maker space.
I agree 3D printing is kind of a trouble, I’ve started with one printer, now I have 5. Built them and I believe even all have been said is really true… most important thing is.. it is FUN and the freedom of creation is … no one can describe 😊
Good sensible advice all round.
4:00 yeah that guys sucks
Many will know exactly who he is talking about without saying his channel or name. That person was speedrunning how many bridges he could burn.
Came looking for this comment the moment he said that, was not disappointed. Sad how that guy torpedoed his channel.
who are you guys referring to ?
Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!!
"I've been 3D printing for 10 years, but don't do it because it's bad for the environment" what a fat hypocrite this guy is.
Recycling your plastic filament leftovers, failed prints, etc is more of a religion than anything that truly helps the world.