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  1. #1

    A good printer for small alphabet charms?

    My wife has just found out that alphabet charms she uses in bracelets she makes have been discontinued. As these charms are important for her business I am thinking the best replacement for them would be to buy a 3d printer and make them ourselves albeit in plastic instead of a metal alloy. From what I have found so far today on the internet I can use a silver metallic filament, so my hope is that they will look okay.I have been tempted in the past to get a basic 3d printer to play around with so all in all it makes sense to get one. However as it wont be used purely as part of a hobby I dont want to use it for a month or two and then come to the realisation I should have bought a better/more suitable printer.I have attached a jpeg with the charms as an example of what I will be needing to print and on the image there is the sizes of the charms.I am grateful for any advice.
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  2. #2
    Student jdvass's Avatar
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    Those are pretty basic shapes and pretty much any printer will produce them fine. Your budget will determine what printer you get. They start at about $250 and go up from there. Like anything, the more you pay the bigger and better you get with things like larger build volume, automatic bed leveling, filament runout sensor, etc. Not stuff you absolutely need, but is sure nice to have. If you want it all right away you may want to look at the Prusa Mini. It has a small build area so keep that in mind. But they are very good quality machines that comes with automatic bed leveling and runout sensor. They run around $350 US for the kit you assemble yourself or $400 for the assembled model. Prusa also has a larger model, the I3 MK3S. But you pay more for the larger build area, $750 US for the kit, $1,000 for the assembled printer.

    Of course there are other brands out there as well that will serve you fine. I have first hand experience with Anycubic, Artillery, and Creality printers and I have not had any particularly bad experiences with any of them. Any troubles I had were mainly user error. Personally I'm a tinkerer so I prefer to mod my printers the way I like them. So I prefer buying a more basic printer to begin with then add the parts and mods I want.

  3. #3
    Technician Axl_Myk's Avatar
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    For that detail you will have to go through a good calibration scheme for the printer. Then use a fine printing config in your slicer.
    There are lots of tuning videos available.

    You might want to look into a printer capable of using metalized filament.

  4. #4
    Thanks for the replies.

    I like the look of the Prusa Mini. Sadly they are not currently shipping to the UK due to Brexit. Hopefully in a couple of days they will change that.

  5. #5
    Super Moderator curious aardvark's Avatar
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    prusa mini is a good choice.

    you'll also probabky need to use a smaller nozzle diameter.

    no clue what 'pcs' stands for but they loook pretty small.

    ).4mm nozzles are good for mos things, but the limit is the 0.4mm wide bead (actually usually nearer 0.5mm)
    For something like that a 0.25 or 0.2 mm nozzle would probably be a better bet.
    Nozzles are dsead cheap and pretty easy to change.

    And it's hilarious that you think you won't use the printer for anything else - yeah right :-)

  6. #6
    Just an update on what I went for in the end. I wanted a Prusa Mini but due to Brexit and import fees and tax issues due to us no longer being in the EU it is not possible to get one in the UK currently.

    So I went for the Eryone ER 20. The main reason I got that was for the auto bed levelling and the easy build out of the box.

    And yes it was easy to build, within 20 minutes i had it plugged in and within another 10 minutes I was printing a test cube..........
    That didnt stick to the bed. Then it did but after 1/3 of the way through it didnt.

    Eventually I got one to print fully and it looked rubbish before the machine clogged up.
    After unblocking everything I tried another test print and it printed 1/4 of it and then got clogged up again.

    After doing a bit of reading I thought to try and change the nozzle however it snapped while trying to take it off, even though I had the temperature up 220c

    For something that was bought because it was meant to be easier to use for the newbie. I was more than a little disappointed. Thankfully it was bought via Amazon so it has been returned and refunded.


    Now I have an ender 3 v 2 and I am LOVING it. No issues and I have already managed to start test printing the letters I bought it for. Now I am just tweaking things.

    Tomorrow I will be trying a carbon fibre PLA with stronger nozzles as the letters need to be stronger.

  7. #7
    Technician Axl_Myk's Avatar
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    I print PLA at 215 with 220 for the first layer. Bed temp 60. I'll run a 2 layer skirt down to make sure it is going to stick to the bed. If the bed isn't fully heated it'll show up then.

    Did you snap the nozzle off, or the filament?

  8. #8
    On the Eryone I was printing at the default settings for the test cube and I did the same for the Ender 3 v2 for initial tests. The Ender prints great, the Eryone just wouldnt for the limited time it actually worked correctly (if you can even call it that)

    The nozzle snapped/sheered off when trying to remove it. I didnt even use much force as I was worried about breaking the hot end. I am sure I would have been able to get it out and replace it but between that happening and the other issues with it I had lost faith in it.

    The only positive the Eryone has over the Ender 3 v2 was how easy it was to build.

  9. #9
    Staff Engineer Roberts_Clif's Avatar
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    Most solid frame 3D Printers could print the charms.

    I would look away from any 3D Printer that in made with a plastic frame and look at those that have a rigid metal frame design.

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