Advice on buying a new 3d printer

[Trippy86]

Hi all

Still fairly new to 3d printing but getting there.

I started with a Prusa i3 kit which was a great learning curve

I then bought a da vinci unit before going for an enclosed pro unit which was a great little printer out of the box. Never had any issues with it and prints were excellent

I want to buy a new and better printer as I printed a piece which has very small details in the surface but it couldn't print them well

The original designer printed it with a ultimaker 2 but unfortunately I cannot to buy one as much as I am tempted.

Can anyone suggest a printer like this or one that prints small details well but not going to break the bank massively

Thanks so much for your help

[curious aardvark]

you already have aprinter that prints small detials - 2 in fact.
All you need to do is change the nozzle size :-)

A 0.2mm nozzle has 4x the resolution of a 0.4mm nozzle.
Change nozzles, Adjust accordingly in your slicer and you've got almost resin grade print detail :-)

picture illustrates size difference beyween 0.4 mm - the big cylinder and 0.2mm, the small cylinder

point2inpoint4.JPG

It's all down to flow rate and viscosity. So for smaller nozzles you need to print slower and hotter, with smaller nozzles you get a lot more back pressure, so don't need to push quite as fast.
But you'll be surprised just how much difference using a smaller nozzle diameter can make.

[Trippy86]

Ok thanks for that. I've looked online but I'm not sure what size thread the nozzles are

[curious aardvark]

all pretty standard. Your i3 will definitely be standard thread.

it's a few bucks/quid - buy some and see if they fit :-)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/SIQUK-Print...gateway&sr=8-5

[Trippy86]

I don't have an i3 anymore, but it looks like you cannot change the nozzle size on da vinci jr you have to buy the entire extruder assembly

[curious aardvark]

in that case - either get a cheap resin printer if it#sa fairly small part. or get a cheapo kit and use a small nozzle.

[Trippy86]

I've thought about getting a resin printer but no nothing about them. Can you recommend a good one that doesn't break the bank

[curious aardvark]

watch the reviuew thread I posted, https://3dprintboard.com/showthread....ut-getting-one

there seem to be a few around now that are almost identical to the one in the review.

around the $2-300 mark.
The resin is still pretty expensive, and the post processing and apprently, the smell, is an issue.
But you can't argue with the eventual results. :-)

[djprinter]

I've thought about getting a resin printer but no nothing about them. Can you recommend a good one that doesn't break the bank

Anycubic photon, $300, is pretty popular.... all the inexpensive resin printers are the same in operation, but it's best to get one that has a following so replacement parts remain available.

FDM printers are all limted in detail, you'll be amazed at the detail you'll get out of a resin printer. Build size is the only limitation, it's very small.

[newprinter]

So to not start another thread I will just post it here.

I would like to know what is the difference between a 300$ 3d printer on ebay and this one Felix 3.1 http://www.secondoption.si/izdelek/f...ik-opa92fel001

I mean the difference in price is huge. Is there any reason for that? Are the materials used to build this printer so much better or what?

Thank you for your insight