About to Buy my 1st Printer -- Need Advice

[GOC]

- The delta printers are awesome, I've recently purchased an Orion Delta from SeeMeCNC and have had fantastic results. The cost is around $1300 and it features a very fine print resolution. This printer has a smaller print-bed than the typical rectangle, but I wanted the higher resolution.

[curious aardvark]

I notice nobody has mentioned openscad for modelling.

Now if you're artistic - then the cad programs mentioned are okay. Although try as I might I could never get sketchup to do what the people writign the tutorials said it would.

But openscad has a very short learning curve and for non-artistic type models is - for my money - much much easier to use to actually make 'things' than any other cad package out there.
It basically works by you telling it what you want and where you want it. No drawing required.

And the more you use it, the more things you discover it can do.

You only need decent arithmitic skills. No higher maths.

Download it, work through a tutorial or two - plenty around. And see what you think.

I find it much much faster than traditional cad packages. With the advantage that it's very easy to make parametric models.
Just modelled a model railway carriage wheel.
Set it up so you could have however many spokes you want by changing just one number and redrawing.

It's also excellent if you need precision. I have a number of models where 100ths of a millimetre matter - model train wheels not least among them.
It also generates models ready for printing. No buggering around with converting surface based models or running anything through netfabb.
Just model, export and print - job done.

I've used it for everything from a trolley token to a chapati press - Via various bits for domestic machines, screw trays, bird feeders, bird pluckers, parts for b&D workbench, adaptors, sling bullet moulds, basically anything really.

But like I say I don't do artistic models. Other people have and use openscad quite succesfully. It's just not something I'm particularly interested in.

But cad package wise - it's hands down the best, quickest and easiest to use for 3d printing.
Try it :-)

ps.
Nice blog Goc - just had a quick look - lots of good info and advice :-)

Although I'd quibble with the 'stay away from ebay for filament'.

Not sure when you wrote the blog - but I've found that even the cheapest ebay filament can be decent quality.
The vast majority of basic filament (ie: non specialist) is made in the same factory in china - no matter who you buy it off.
So I'd say it's worth risking acouple of real cheap rolls to see if there's any real difference.

That said I love the reprapper tech ltd pla I get from 3dfilaprint. It's as durable as abs, non-brittle and prints like a dream.
But sometimes I just want a big non-detailed part - so at £5 a kg less, I'll use the cheap ebay stuff.

Keep your options open :-)

[GOC]

- Thanks for the complement on my blog 'curious aardvark'. My opinion on eBay filament was derived from second hand experience. A friend and myself both purchased the same printer around the same time. When making our material selections I choose to go with distributors & he choose to play the auction game on eBay. He did get more material per dollar, but he also went through three times the hassle. One of his rolls was so out of tolerance it got stuck about every 1-2 meters. The others weren't as bad, but still had issues. So with that I choose to stay away from eBay in general.

- If you know of some successful eBay experiences, would you mind sharing the seller names. I wouldn't mind trying the cheap route, I'm just a bit nervous after seeing my buddy go through hell.