Question from a newbie about what printer I should get/

[Valandar]

I hope this is in the right forum...

Okay, so I've had several ideas over the past few weeks for things that I could 3D print, and use on the tubular battery holders of e-cigarettes - not the "cig-a-likes", but the larger, more varied kind found at vape shops. One, for example, is a dragon that is wrapped around the battery. I broke out 3DS Max and ZBrush, which I use for my work, and made one.

Now, I have since had that dragon printed for me by Shapeways. But when I asked my brother, who has a 3D printer (not sure what variety), he said he couldn't print it because it had far too many undercuts, and he needed a flat surface to begin with.

So, assuming that the critter in this link is the product, what would be the most feasible consumer grade 3D printer that could print something like this? http://valandar.3d-kitty.com/gallery...Testrender.jpg
((Ignore the pale green and grey bits, I'm only referring to the dragon on it))

[Maggie]

Hmmm I would think that if you integrate the right supports into the 3d model you print this would work fine on a Makerbot Replicator 2 or higher I would guess. I would wait for some other feedback first though as I am not 100% confident in my "guess".

[Valandar]

Ah, I kinda assumed that, but many of the designs I made were printed with no problem by Shapeways, but would be incredibly difficult to 'add support' to. Anyone else able to answer a cry for help?

[Valandar]

It's been ten days. Are there really no others on this forum willing to even say "Sorry, Maggie is right." at all? No suggestions? Nothing? Or is this forum simply that slow, something which I don't believe since this thread was already shoved back to the second page of threads.

[3D OZ]

That's relatively small object with a lot of detail and I think most home/hobby printers would struggle to produce an outcome that you would be happy with.
At the very least there would be considerable time required to tweak the settings to get an acceptable result.
Slicing software will add the required support, so no need to worry about that issue too much.

Can you post a picture of the shapeways print as it would give me an idea of the outcome you are after.

[Valandar]

That's relatively small object with a lot of detail and I think most home/hobby printers would struggle to produce an outcome that you would be happy with.
At the very least there would be considerable time required to tweak the settings to get an acceptable result.
Slicing software will add the required support, so no need to worry about that issue too much.

Can you post a picture of the shapeways print as it would give me an idea of the outcome you are after.

Well, this is the end result. I have it slid onto the battery case of my e-cig (or 'mod' for those familiar with vaping slang) right here:

http://valandar.3d-kitty.com/gallery...someDragon.jpg

[Roxy]

That is very good detail! Did you print that? Or is that from Shapeways? That is a very difficult design to print!!!

[Valandar]

It's from Shapeways, actually.

[3D OZ]

OK, cool. That's a fair bit bigger than I was anticipating and that's good because I think it now falls within the capabilities of a moderate level filament printer but only just.
Shapeways has some very high level equipment well beyond the reach of most hobbyists.


Your brother's printer probably is capable of recreating your Dragon object but it is a very complex print and he would need some skill and experience in setting slicing and printing parameters, perhaps beginning on a printed raft and tweaking the support structures.

You have set yourself a very difficult task.
I think your object is at the very limit of filament printers capability and you may need to look into some of the low end SLA (Stereo Lithography) printers.
I know little about the SLA and SLS options.
Hope that helps a little, sorry I don't have all the answers.