Some questions and doubts about filaments like PLA and resin

Hello i am Stew
I am intersting in buy a 3D printer but after read some articles and reviews all my doubts not seem to be solved. Some people buy 3D printer like Ultimaker that work with filaments ( PLA, ABS and more) but i am looking for something little but more modern and fast like 3D printer of FormLabs, like the Form 1+, but the Form 1 work with liquid resin and UV light. Both 3d printer cost the same but use different technology to print, so i want know what is the best investment?

Thank you all

Liquid Resin looked Way too Messy for Me :) , so went with filament type printer.
Filament printer is much more Versatile and much bigger selection of object files are available online.
You can get a CTC-Bizer for $450. now on eBay, which is a great printer to learn on,
then upgrade to more expensive type if you have a need.

Different technologies for different needs. Resin seem to be more detailed - but more complex - and as EagleSeven said messy - with more post processing. Also the build sized are not as large. Filament or FDM printing seems more accessible and has been on the market a bit longer, so there is a wider offering of printers and materials.

Formlabs is NOT fast, it's slower than most filament printers. The peeling process, where the resin is peeled off the bed to print the next layer, slows things down and causes a ton of problems. Supposedly the company "carbon3d" has solved this and has a resin printer that prints in thin air and does so 100 times faster. No word yet on what they'll charge, but considering their primary investor is google, my guess is that it will be a consumer machine priced competitively with ultimaker and formlabs.

BTW, the ultimaker is one of the most expensive FDM printers, cheaper options like the flashforge are 1/3rd the cost of the form labs.

I will be the first, or 10,000th person to say HELL YES to the flashforge creator pro. It was my 2nd printer, and is amazing. The quality I get out of that printer is amazing. Combined with my multiple geckotek build plates for different materials, its the perfect printer. If they had one with double the build size, id own one of those.

THe makerfarm prusa i3v 12" was my third printer (still own it) and has been a BIG workhorse for me. its a kit, but easier than the rostock max v2 (my first printer) to put together. If you tinker enough, and mod it you can get some great quality prints from it. I added auto bed leveling, additional layer fans, a solid state relay and a metal bed to help. Its a great printer for the money.

Now my fourth printer which I am just starting to play with. (in fact its printing the torture test right now, and by all accounts its KILLIN IT) is the Lulzbot taz 5. Ive decided to re invest 1/4 of my profits for print jobs back in to upgrading my printers. My latest job paid well, so in comes the taz. All indications are that this thing is simply amazing.

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Originally Posted by djprinter

Formlabs is NOT fast, it's slower than most filament printers. The peeling process, where the resin is peeled off the bed to print the next layer, slows things down and causes a ton of problems. Supposedly the company "carbon3d" has solved this and has a resin printer that prints in thin air and does so 100 times faster. No word yet on what they'll charge, but considering their primary investor is google, my guess is that it will be a consumer machine priced competitively with ultimaker and formlabs.

BTW, the ultimaker is one of the most expensive FDM printers, cheaper options like the flashforge are 1/3rd the cost of the form labs.

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Yes its true now i know, i hear something about 3D Carbon and seen some videos, it's really interesting new technology but i think that It will not be an affordable products.

Anyway there are a post about the new Form 2 by FormLabs, http://top3dprinterkits.com/formlabs...rinter-review/

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Originally Posted by dunginhawk

I will be the first, or 10,000th person to say HELL YES to the flashforge creator pro. It was my 2nd printer, and is amazing. The quality I get out of that printer is amazing. Combined with my multiple geckotek build plates for different materials, its the perfect printer. If they had one with double the build size, id own one of those.

THe makerfarm prusa i3v 12" was my third printer (still own it) and has been a BIG workhorse for me. its a kit, but easier than the rostock max v2 (my first printer) to put together. If you tinker enough, and mod it you can get some great quality prints from it. I added auto bed leveling, additional layer fans, a solid state relay and a metal bed to help. Its a great printer for the money.

Now my fourth printer which I am just starting to play with. (in fact its printing the torture test right now, and by all accounts its KILLIN IT) is the Lulzbot taz 5. Ive decided to re invest 1/4 of my profits for print jobs back in to upgrading my printers. My latest job paid well, so in comes the taz. All indications are that this thing is simply amazing.

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What's your latest job?? XD

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Originally Posted by TheLow

Yes its true now i know, i hear something about 3D Carbon and seen some videos, it's really interesting new technology but i think that It will not be an affordable products.

Anyway there are a post about the new Form 2 by FormLabs, http://top3dprinterkits.com/formlabs...rinter-review/

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What about the Carbon 3D makes you believe that it won't be priced for the consumer market? From a manufacturing standpoint, it will likely be less expensive to produce than the form 1.

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Originally Posted by djprinter

What about the Carbon 3D makes you believe that it won't be priced for the consumer market? From a manufacturing standpoint, it will likely be less expensive to produce than the form 1.

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when Carbon 3D models will be release for the market?

saw the form 2 in action last week - fast it isn't.

Each layer goes through 4 seperate processes to print.
The part is dunked into a thin layer of resin. Then the laser flashes round all the bits to be printed - a lot slower than I was expecting it to. Then the part is lifted out of the resin, the resin is scraped across the vat and a new layer sloshes back across then we're back to the part being dunked back into the vat for the next layer.

The carbon 3d and the other one that works in a similiar manner, just seem to pull the part from the vat with none of the lifting, dunking and wiping.
So I would expect them to be a lot more expensive - not necessarily because it'll cost more to make the machines - but because people will pay more for the speed.

Now to the realities of fff versus resin machines.

At the moment the resin for the same weight is 2-3 times more expensive than filament.
It also lacks the massive range of filament types that fff has. This will no doubt change in the neft couple of years.
Resin machines also tend to have much smaller build volumes.

So unless you really need ultra high resolution prints - for the most part you will be better off with an fff machine.

I would say go for Ultimaker. I love Ultimaker and it's one of the best startup printer.

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

The carbon 3d and the other one that works in a similiar manner, just seem to pull the part from the vat with none of the lifting, dunking and wiping.
So I would expect them to be a lot more expensive - not necessarily because it'll cost more to make the machines - but because people will pay more for the speed.

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Nobody is going to pay more than $2500 for a "consumer" machine, regardless of speed. So unless they are aiming at a small industrial or niche "prosumer" market, the price won't be any higher than a formlabs or an ultimaker (unless those machines drop their prices).

I expect the Carbon 3D to come out at between $2 and 3k, but I wouldn't be surprised to seem them sell it for as low as $499, if they really believe they can be the first real "consumer" 3d printer.

Now that I know how really Good my $500. printer Is,
It would have to be something Really Special, like Gold-plated, ;)
before I would pay more than that for any Other dual-extruder printer. :)

Any Single-extruder printer that's not less than $500. is Way Over priced !

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Originally Posted by EagleSeven

Now that I know how really Good my $500. printer Is,
It would have to be something Really Special, like Gold-plated, ;)
before I would pay more than that for any Other dual-extruder printer. :)

Any Single-extruder printer that's not less than $500. is Way Over priced !

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I appreciate your opinion but i fully disagree.THere are certain things about any printer that people find valuable. Otherwise they wouldnt be selling them.
I have had a rostockmax , flashforge, markerfarm prusa, and taz 5. all of them had their plusses and minus's (i still own the latter three)

the Printrbot is really cheap printer and i read some about it, all good reviews, just seem be little bit slow.

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Originally Posted by dunginhawk

I appreciate your opinion but i fully disagree.THere are certain things about any printer that people find valuable. Otherwise they wouldnt be selling them.
I have had a rostockmax , flashforge, markerfarm prusa, and taz 5. all of them had their plusses and minus's (i still own the latter three)

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What I'm saying is that Spending a Lot of Money for a printer does Not make it better,
than those at a more reasonable price !
If the lower priced printers work Great and Do what you Need and Want,
which ours definitely Has !

there are reasons for paying more. Some of the new machines make dual extrusion simple and painless. That's worth paying for.

But as far as single nozzle machines go - yeah, you won't see much difference in the print output.

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

there are reasons for paying more. Some of the new machines make dual extrusion simple and painless. That's worth paying for.

But as far as single nozzle machines go - yeah, you won't see much difference in the print output.

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??? Our $500. printer has No problem doing Dual-extrusion objects !

But creating the Dual .stl Files is Far from "Simple & Painless" ! LOL ;)
I have Not learned the Trick to doing Those files yet ! ;)

try using openscad - making dual print files is really easy.

Essentially you pick the lines of code you want for each file and either copy and paste into two seperate files. Or what i usually do is just '//' out the lines I don't want.

My main issue is getting simplify3d to actually print anything in dual extrusion mode. :-(

The best dual extrusion machine I have seen to date is the bcn3d sigma. Has two seperate extruders. But only uses one at a time - the one that isn't being used gets parked.
So you don't get oozing, you don't need swipe/wipe walls, purge columns. None of that crap. It just prints two colours or two materials as simply and cleanly as every other printer prints one material.
Now there are machines that use two extruders into one print head. But they can't do multi material where the two materials have different extrusion temperatures.
The bcn3d sigma will do any two materials.

Decent print volume too.
At the moment out of the hundreds I've seen, that's my first choice for a desktop machine.
Spanish company - so could be expensive to import into the us.

If I had the money I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

try using openscad - making dual print files is really easy.
Essentially you pick the lines of code you want for each file and either copy and paste into two seperate files. Or what i usually do is just '//' out the lines I don't want.

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Thanks for the Info !
I have downloaded Openscad but never took time to really learn and use it.
I will certainly Do that !

Mesh-mixer has been able to do all the Editing needed so far
but I want to learn more Design software also.

Copy & Paste and Remarking out code certainly Don't sound very easy :(
but I will try to figure out what you mean.