New to 3d printing wanting advice on first 3d printer.

[mt92]

I am thinking of buying my first 3d printer. I have a 12 year cad cam background for my job but I have never used a 3d printer. I am wanting something that would have a work envelope of 7.5"X7.5". I also was curious if there is a filament that I could make an airbox boot for my motocross bike with. It would need to be resistant to gas and oil somewhat. I was thinking of getting a RoBo 3D R1 3D Printer??????????????
Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks
Mike

[dunginhawk]

I am brand new to 3d printing as of 3 months ago as well.. but NO cad background at all...

I finally landed on the Seemecnc.com rostock max v2.

HUGE build capabilities, and its a kit, so i know everything thats going on in my printer.
$1000 is a STEAL for this printer..
and their Support is AMAZING..
cant say enough good things.

[old man emu]

The specs of the RoBo look quite OK. The print volume will suit your needs. I like that the manufacturers have used Marlin firmware as it is being constantly improved and upgrades are easy to install. The printer comes with software specifically created for it, but the manufacturers say that it will run with any Open Source software, such as Pronterface. It is a good sign when a manufacturer doesn't restrict you to their machine specific software. The price is equitable

If you print in ABS, you won't have any problems with oil/fuel degradation any more than you would with something that has been injection molded.

If you have had 12 Years' experience with CAD/CAM, you won't have any problems catching on to the software used for 3D printing.

The only worry I have is that the link you gave to eBay shows the printer is in Illinois, but the original makers were from San Diego, California. I'd be going to http://www.robo3dprinter.com/ and making some enquiries before I bought off eBay.

Old Man Emu

[mt92]

I did some research and found a person who will sell a rostock max v2 assembled with some improvements for about the same price Here is a link to the website. Which one would be better?

WWW.Physical3D.net

Thanks
Mike

[dunginhawk]

[QUOTE=mt92;42401]I did some research and found a person who will sell a rostock max v2 assembled with some improvements for about the same price Here is a link to the website. Which one would be better?

It may be worth it depending on what he charges.... However i found one of the major reasons I wanted to build it myself is because I now know everything about my printer, should it break.. ANd things WILL go wrong with them in time.. Lots of moving parts.
I would strongly urge you to build the kit yourself, if you go with a rostock... Its a great machine, and fun to build...

[AClark1983]

I have 2 Solidoodle 4s and a Lulzbot Taz4. The Solidoodles outperformed the Taz4 out of the box but are no where near as capable of a machine. For me the $599 is hard to beat for a decent fully assembled and tested printer.

[truly_bent]

Did you guys notice 3Dprint's flow chart for selecting a printer? I can't speak to how comprehensive it is, but i followed it through. Like dunginhawk above, i should be looking at the SeeMe CNC Rostock Max V2 - mainly for it's size. Price is right, too.

I think that flowchart should have a dedicated web page and it should be updated whenever a new printer comes on the market. Mind you, the way new printers are hitting the market these days, that could be a full-time job.

[old man emu]

Did you guys notice 3Dprint's flow chart for selecting a printer? I think that flowchart should have a dedicated web page and it should be updated whenever a new printer comes on the market. Mind you, the way new printers are hitting the market these days, that could be a full-time job.

It is good to hear that the flow chart was useful to you in making your decision. There is some discussion on how best to present the chart. As you say, there are new printers coming on the market every day, so updating it would be an immense time taker. However, do you think that if the end point of the flow chart brought you to a class of printer, would it still be useful"

Old Man Emu

[truly_bent]

... However, do you think that if the end point of the flow chart brought you to a class of printer, would it still be useful?
Old Man Emu

If you're askin' me Old Man, i think most people want the decision to be made for them. When i first started looking, i hadn't seen a "delta" style printer before, and i have a CNC machine background, so i'm not entirely ignorant about machines. Telling someone that they should select one from that category isn't likely to help a great deal. I think Skateguy2000, who made the original flow chart, did a great service, but i expect having figured it out for himself, and not having any incentive to maintain it, he'll likely let it drop.

If someone were to design a web page, or several, dedicated to helping people figure out what they need in this brave new world - complete with all the ($#!%) advertising that is required to finance these things, they might have themselves a hot little site. I'd be interested in contributing time to such, because i'd learn a good deal in the process. By the way, i've built a couple of sites in the past (who hasn't?), using Joomla, so the idea isn't so far-fetched.

Instead of using a flow chart though, i'd immediately start looking at "mindmapping" software to organize everything. Something like Freemind or some such. Something written in Java that could be more easily embedded in php/html code. There's probably an app for that

[truly_bent]

old man emu;

Had some time on my hands today so i went ahead and created that mindmap of the flow chart, complete with links to the various manufacturer's sites. Posted it in the hardware section of the forum.