Please help me!

[Luke.marsh96]

Okay I have a business idea, and after a lot of research i am starting to think 3d printing will be a viable production method.
The product will weigh about 40 grams.
I will be spending between £1-2,000 on the printer, maybe more or less, too early to know.
With a printer around this budget how long will it take to print a 40 gram product roughly?
how reliable are printers at this budget? (as down time could cause problems)
Are they easy to repair/get hold of spares?
I've looked at plastics, but is it easy to get hold of different plastics with different properties? (my knowledge on this part is basically nothing)
Roughly how much do they cost to run?
If anyones got any other knowledge or ideas that you think will be of use to me, please share, I'll appreciate it a lot!
Thank you for reading,I hope you can help! i really appreciate it!
Luke

[awerby]

Okay I have a business idea, and after a lot of research i am starting to think 3d printing will be a viable production method.

[What makes you think that? What other production methods are you comparing it to?]

The product will weigh about 40 grams.
I will be spending between £1-2,000 on the printer, maybe more or less, too early to know.
With a printer around this budget how long will it take to print a 40 gram product roughly?

[It depends on how thick the layers are that you lay down, the size of the orifice and filament, and the speed the printer operates at.]

how reliable are printers at this budget? (as down time could cause problems)

[They vary a lot, but generally the more expensive ones are more reliable (although there are exceptions).]

Are they easy to repair/get hold of spares?

[It depends on which one you're talking about.]

I've looked at plastics, but is it easy to get hold of different plastics with different properties? (my knowledge on this part is basically nothing)

[Yes, that's easy, if you've got internet, a credit card, and some time to wait for deliveries.]

Roughly how much do they cost to run?

[How much is your time worth?]

If anyones got any other knowledge or ideas that you think will be of use to me, please share, I'll appreciate it a lot!
Thank you for reading,I hope you can help! i really appreciate it!
Luke

Your questions are pretty vague, Luke. I'd suggest using a service bureau to print some copies of your part in various materials, and see how it looks before investing in a printer. If you use a service like 3Dprinthub.com it will put you in touch with people who have various different printers and are trying to scratch out a little money by printing parts for other people. You can get output from all sorts of machines, and quiz the people who printed them about how long it took, and what the problems were. This will get you further along faster than simply spending money on a printer and hoping everything works the way you want.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[Luke.marsh96]

great thank you for your reply! really appreciate it.
Sorry about the vague questions, just in a really early stage and trying to get as much information and knowledge as possible.
Would you be able to give me an idea on how long a simple 40 gram product would take? if i went with a 3d printer that prints fairly quickly? this information is important for me deciding whether i will use it as a manufacturing method.
Thanks

[Luke.marsh96]

Also from 1kg of plastic (ABS) would their be wastage, or does the printer stop that from happening?
Thanks!

[LambdaFF]

Hi Luke.
You don't need a printer to get this information. Get slic3r, cura or any free slicer online and you can see straight what it tells you : filament length used, total time, some even calculate price based on spool price. You can also try to put several items on a build plate and see the impact on time.

The waste generated depends on filament used for support : this is highly dependent on geometry and whether or not you used soluble filament.

So we can provide general advice but little more without the model. Since it's a business project I can understand you don't post your model.

We can however give some explanations about the use of slicers.

[Luke.marsh96]

Thank you very much! Thats great! I will look into that! And its a very basic design, to give me an idea how long would it take to print out a hollow box wiht the dimensions of 140mmX80mmX10mm do you think?
And is there a thread on here you would recommend i should read about the different printers on the market with all the benefits. And does slic3r give you information for how long it will take with different printers?
Thanks !

[Marm]

Depends on the wall thickness. But a few mm difference isn't that much. Maybe a couple hours MAX on my davinci, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it under 1 hour.

Or is this a true polyhedron, and not a box without a lid? That 10mm gap would be nigh impossible for my printer to span without supports, and if you can't get to the inside to clear them out. I'd want to design in arches so it could be printed without support.

If there's anything I've learned from owning a 3d printer, it's how to view objects differently and how I would redesign them to be printed. Not saying I'm good at it, just that how I view the world changed when I learned how to design for 3d printing.

[LambdaFF]

Print speed is a factor of quality and printer specific. Try putting 100mm/s in your slicer it will give you a rough idea what to expect.

Printrbot recommends 80mm/s. Others recommend more. The Delta Wasp "allegedly" does 600mm/s.... The best would be to order from printers on 3DHubs so that you see the results.

Yes you can find much data about various printers in this forum. Be careful though : some are actually on sale, have a support team and a community. Others are ... well they're saying they're here.

[wenganxiang]

There are some good printers here: http://www.geeetech.com/3d-printer-3...r-c-24_98.html
As for printing speed, you can decide it your self.