How large of a printer should I get?

I have been toying around with the idea of purchasing a 3D printer for a while now. I recently spoke with a contractor who builds houses, and suggested that he offer a 3D model of the house made from the blueprint to show his clients so they could really visualize what their new home would look like and how the rooms would be arranged.

I've been considering the MakerBot Replicator 2 for a while now, but I'm wondering if that will be large enough to print the houses in an appropriate size. The other option I suppose would be to print out sections of the house separately and somehow attach them afterwards.

I have ZERO experience with 3D printing, but I have used Cinema 4D quite a bit so that part of it would be an easy transition. I would appreciate any feedback on this, whether it sounds like it could be a profitable service to offer, or if I'm going about this the wrong way etc.

Thanks,

Do you have any idea how large the models will be on average? That information would allow us to give you a good recommendation.

I've seen architectural models of houses printed on desk top 3D printers. They were quite presentable. At the moment, the largest common print bed is 8" x 8" (240 mm x 240 mm) and the print height is usually the same. You can figure out from those sizes what scale you could print the model at. Just for safety, limit your plan view size to 7.5" x 7.5" so you know it will fit on the printer bed. If you want to print out 52-room mansions for movie stars, you will have to print modules.

Old Man Emu

The houses wouldn't be mansions as far as I know, but they would be high end and larger than the average house. I really don't have a specific size, but larger than your usual ranch style home, with higher ceilings as well.

The Makerbot Replicator 2 has a bed of 11.2" L x 6" W x 6.1" T. This seems like a great printer, and at a nice value as well so I'm considering purchasing this one, but I'm not sure if you take a larger house and scale it down to 11", if it will be large enough to get a feel for what it will look like finished. But at the same time, you want it small enough so people will keep it afterwards, and not be too large that it would be in the way.

Here's a couple of photos from the houses this contractor has built.

Attachment 579Attachment 580Attachment 581

With a bed length of 11.2" (~285 mm) and width of 6" ( ~152 mm) you could print a building with a length of up to 12.7" (~320 mm) if you aligned the long axis of the building to the diagonal of the print bed.

OME

Good thinking...I didn't even think about going diagonal. I'm looking at the Makerbot Replicator 5th Generation, and the Makerbot Replicator 2. I'm having some problems understanding what the difference is between them. It appears as though the Makerbot Replicator 2 can print larger, yet it's less expensive.

I'd also look at min. layer height and accuracy since for architectural models you'd probably want the objects to look as smooth as possible. It will also help in creating accurate connector elements in case you want to print a model in modules. 100 microns may still be a bit too rough, you may want to compare how it looks next to one printed with 50 or 75 microns layer height. I have heard some negative experiences with the Makerbot printers. I know that Ultimakers are quite accurate, but also the Helix printer showed some impressive results with 100 micron layers and a resolution of 4(!) microns. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...on-3d-printing

Creating a printed piece out of multiple elements will not be a problem if you smartly work away the seams. Some pin-hole connections or LEGO-style snap connectors may do the trick. Count on at least 0.1mm deviation so you'd probably not want to stack too many separate pieces since then the total tolerance cumulatively increases. For your application it seems that a print volume of 8" cubed will work fine. It seems to me also that you should be able to find some business, especially if you can provide not only the 3d printing service but specialize more in the service of architectural modeling, using 3d printing only where that is the rationally justifiable optimal option.

Thanks for the reply. I did order a sample from makerbot but they said that it would take 3 weeks to get here. That helix looks really nice, and would be a great solution for what I would need too. It is a bit more expensive but would provide a better product so that's worth something too.

It would be difficult to price this kind of service. Obviously the material wouldn't cost that much, but the time it takes to do the 3D work would add up quickly, and I would want to be able to recoup my costs from the purchase of the printer, especially if I get the helix which is quite a bit more expensive. It seems like with large architectural projects and custom built homes, there would be a decent budget built in to where I could charge enough to make some money at it.

The only issue with larger prints is that more can go wrong the longer the printer is making the model - I've had prints take 12 hours and on the 11th... you guessed it... material warps or unsticks from the platform and an expensive chunk of useless PLA finds its way in the garden. This has been my experience with "consumer" 3D printers... industrial machines are far better though and more accurate so this isn't as much of an issue.

Jon

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Originally Posted by CNCKing.com

The only issue with larger prints is that more can go wrong the longer the printer is making the model - I've had prints take 12 hours and on the 11th... you guessed it... material warps or unsticks from the platform and an expensive chunk of useless PLA finds its way in the garden. This has been my experience with "consumer" 3D printers... industrial machines are far better though and more accurate so this isn't as much of an issue.

Jon

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Interesting point Jon. Would you consider the helix an industrial printer or would that be considered a 'prosumer' product?

I want a good product, but I'd like a relatively affordable one as well since I would be just starting in this industry and I'm not sure how busy it would really be. You always hope you can bring in enough to make a profit but you never truly know until you try.

That being said, you want to be putting out a quality product as well, especially in the beginning. The challenge is finding that balance where you have a good machine at an affordable price that will bring in the business you want.

For architectural models, you'll want a machine that can provide easily-removable supports, or that uses a powder bed to support the print as it's being made. Otherwise, when trying to span across a window or door opening with a FDM-type printer, your filament will sag. People get these hot-extrusion printers thinking they can make anything they want, but the low-end models are actually fairly restricted in the configurations that can be printed successfully. I'd suggest sending off a model to be printed by the type of printer you're thinking about getting, so you aren't disappointed with your purchase. The size of the model is a secondary consideration.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

I would first figure out your cost of the service and your profit and then talk to the builder about the price and if its worth it to the builder to offer this as a service to his clients. It all sounds nice but when its all said and done you have to have someone that wants to spend the money. As a photographer they all want high fashion style photos but all on a camera phone budget :)

Unless you think you can compete against Shapeways and their kin, I wouldn't bother to be honest opening a 3D printing services business - you need to spend hundreds of thousands on expensive industrial machines - don't think you can open a firm using makerbots and cubes and expect to get enough business to give yourself a living. Basically, by the time your logistics, employees etc... are all set-up, you need to focus on VOLUME in order to break even and like I wrote, unless you can beat the Shapeways of the world (which you can't btw), you have a losing proposal from the start.

Jon

How about using a Replicator Z18? Perhaps you could print the houses on their sides so that you have the 18 inches for the width of the house?

CNCKing.com, I really wouldn't be trying to compete against Shapeways and those types of companies, I would mainly be doing this for local builders. Maybe it doesn't make sense to buy a 3D printer when you can order from that sort of a place. Maybe it would make more sense for me to do the 3D work myself, and then send the file out to them for printing. I'm not sure how long it really takes for them to make something like this, but I've been thinking this whole time about having the printer here so I can do this on-site, but maybe that isn't really the logical first step in all of this.

JamesTuthill, that would also be a good choice and it seems like a nice size for something like that if it got to be a large enough house. It would just be a matter of if it would support itself at that sort of height with the top open. I would almost guess that some of the upper walls may want to sag a little bit if there was no 'ceiling' on the house. I really don't have any experience with 3D printing yet so I wouldn't be the guy to tell you, but from what I have read that could be an issue with that.