Considering purchase 3d printer for my crafts. Need Help please

[crafty me]

Thank you. A friend uses polymer clay for a few things. I have very arthritic hands so clay for me would be only if absolutely necessary. Thank you though

[curious aardvark]

Hmm, well your first job is to have a look at some cad programs - I agree tinkercad is the best place to start - and see if you can actually model the parts you want.
https://www.tinkercad.com/

For 'mass' manufacturing you could simply print a mould. and press clay into it to make the parts :-)

These sound like smallish parts so have a look at these:
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Sel...0650584&sr=8-4

https://www.amazon.com/TECHNOLOGY-Pr...650643&sr=8-11

https://www.amazon.com/QIDI-TECHNOLO...6-f96e7b0f409c

https://www.amazon.com/QIDI-Technolo...6-f96e7b0f409c

The qidi x-smart looks like the best little machine around. the build volume is a 6 inch or 150mm cube.
That's larger than you think.
Good manufacturer with excellent support.
It's about as plug and play as you can get :-)

[crafty me]

Learning curve here, playing with things on Tinkercad, trying different things, not liking it n dumping it, n starting again. The printer I'm talking to people, reading lots. I want to know what im.talking about when asking questions so I'll figure out 1 day at a time. Thank you your ideas will check them out.

[curious aardvark]

it takes a while to get your head around designing in 3d.

I use Openscad, I am really crap at drawing - I seem to think in 3d and appear to be missing the bit of the brian that translates a 3d image in my head into a drawn 2d flat image.

What I love about openscad is that I don't draw anything. I just tell the computer what shapes I want and where I want them, and it does all the drawing for me.
It does take a while to get into - but once you've got the hang of even basic shapes - it's amazing what you can actually make :-)

[fred_dot_u]

One of our maker space members won't touch openscad, especially since he recognizes that organic modeling is more difficult in text than in gui. Our group has recently discovered sculpt feature in Fusion 360, but it's a tougher curve/hill to climb. At least it's not blender!

[curious aardvark]

sculptris is fun. I've yet to make anything recognsable, but it's fun :-)
https://pixologic.com/sculptris/
Give that a try.