General help

[Potter90]

I am looking into getting a 3D printer. I wanna start a small business as in probably just me, myself, & I. I would like some opinions on what my first printer should be. I would like to have a decent printer so I can deliver decent products. It seems like $2,000 might be a good amount. Also what are some key features to look for, as in features that are worth the extra $$$. Software recommendations would be helpful too.

[Wolfie]

Ok, lets look at this another way shall we?

Lets say for the sake of example here... you want to start a cheese factory. You have never made cheese before. You have no idea what equipment will make good cheese. And you have no clue what sort of cheese people really want in your area. You don't have any idea how much raw milk costs nor where to buy rennet.

That sound vaguely similar to your 3D printing business idea? It should.

It sounds like you want a 3D printer and are trying to justify it as a business expense. Have you answered any of these questions for yourself?

1. What types of materials do my customers need things made in?
2. What sizes of things do my customers need?
3. How fast do they need them?
4. What detail level do they need?
5. How many customers do I really have?
6. Why would these customers buy these from me instead of buying a printer themselves?
7. What expertise do I have in this field/market?

If you sit down and answer those questions for yourself, then that will tell you what printer(s) you need or will at least get you into the type of printer you will need.

I honestly don't want to discourage a new business. But, honestly, what makes you think someone will pay you to print something when it appears you have never actually used a 3D printer? Sorry, but the harsh reality is you simply can't buy a printer and hang your shingle out and have droves of people knocking at your door.

I should think you would want to get a printer for yourself and gain some first hand knowledge on how things work, how they print, how long it takes to print, how to design parts so they can be printed. If you don't want to buy one to do your R&D work on, look into the various hackerspaces around the planet. Many have 3D printers and people who know how to use them. Knowledge is power and power is money. You gotta start at step 1 with knowing how all this works.

[DonaldJ]

+1 !

OP, buy a printer, any printer (kit or assembled), but don't spend more than $500 or so. Then spend some time fiddling with it, tuning it, calibrating it, upgrading it, testing different materials, playing with different slicers and software, and cursing it. After a year or two you will understand what kind of printer you will need for your business, should you decide to proceed further.

Best of luck!

[Davo]

There is wisdom in these posts, Potter90.

[Timmeh]

Can anyone tell me when buying my first printer do i need usb connectivity or is sd slot only ok?

[Wolfie]

Need, no. Nice to have though. I have a Taz5 which has both. I used the SD card exactly twice. The rest of the time I run it off USB. But thats me.

I can see for a business, an SD might be nicer as you can run the printer standalone with no tethering to a PC. Drop the Gcode on an SD, plug it in the printer and walk away. This leaves the PC free to slice the next job for a second (third, etc) printer.

But with one printer, tethering was more convenient for me.

[Marm]

Maybe it's just the Davinci that does this, but it uploads the gcode to the SD on the printer, so I have the best of both worlds, and I can disconnect it from the USB if I want after it starts printing. I have a 10 port hub, and I could easily see running 10 printers at once (If the software on the computer works right).

Touching things will eventually break them, so the less physical contact I have with a machine, the better it is.

[Wolfie]

You are not alone. Simplify3D can upload to my SD card on the Taz (presumably many other printers too). Its slower than inserting the card locally though but its not a game killer. There may be other software that does that too. I only use S3D at this point so I don't know what else has that capability.