What to Get, First time Out.

[Comfortably numb]

I am looking for a 3D printer. Dont know anything about them, I know Sumner has an Ender 3 Pro and thats what I was thinking of. I just want to know if Nscale detail showes up on somthing like the Ender? What you Guys think.

[sid]

ive got a plain ol ender 3 also have the pro but i dont like it all that much. i like my plain ol ender 3. as far as details that depends on what kinds of detail your looking for.
ive printed many things and have pretty good detail for my liking. but i have a lot of mods to my ender 3 . its far from stock.
i understand that a resin printer can print way better details but from all ive read they are prone to not standing the test of time with out breaking down. Ive had my ender a few years now and after i did all the mods its bullet proof so far. every now an again i have a problem but its mostly an adjustment or a clean new nozzle.
one of my favorite prints is a mansion i printed for somebody. i cant find the pic but it came out very nice.
been working on this grain thing but i dont like the tanks , im going to reprint those to something else. but over all its not bad for details.

[Gary Rowan]

A filament printer will generally not produce as good detail as a resin printer will. You can try swapping to finer nozzles but you will probably still have to deal with the layer lines. If you're looking for better detail, a resin printer is probably the way to go. I have an Elegoo Mars resin printer that I've been more than happy with. It does pretty good detail and it certainly passes my "close enough" test. With any 3D printer, expect to devote some time to calibration and tweaking your prints.

[bigfoot21075]

i have a nice filament printer, the Creatlity CR10 and it is great, reliable and easy to use. it can print anything and has decent resolution (much like the ender), but no, it can't print model quality 3-d items. It takes a lot of work to make something printed with that type of printer ready to be seen in the 3-dworld. The layering is just too obvious even on the finest settings. You have fix it with filler and sanding, but it takes alot to make it look good.

Last year I got a Elegoo Saturn2 8k printer and THAT thing is flat out amazing. I use the Elegoo no odor 8k resin for it and i am astonished at how great it prints. Like the Creality, there was a learning curve, but there are tons of resources out there for it. it is a GREAT setup for fine scale printing.

[Sumner]

First the following is based on the fact that you would like to get into this for under $300 total (printer and printing supplies) and closer to $200 if possible.

Get both...........well at least eventually as they both have their pros and cons. I'm a big Ender 3 Pro fan, have two of them, and have printed hundreds of items with them I still feel if you only have the money for one printer and you need to print items that will be used mechanically (pushed and pulled on and screwed to) and could be larger (cases, servo brackets, turntable, larger buildings, etc.) the filament printer is the way to start.

Now if you are looking for the best detail and what you print isn't over about 6 inches long and 3 inches wide the resin printer is going to give results closer to or better than commercial models you can buy. I've found the resin printer to be easier to use than I thought it would be and doesn't smell like I thought it would be but that is probably due to the resin I'm using. I bought several but have only used Siraya Tech's 'Build' Sonic Grey and found it to be great on detail, very little smell and mechanically OK in some situations (not real brittle if not over cured). Still not as good as filament though where you need any strength and it will split/crack if you try to screw into it unless it is very thick in that area and you have a proper size pilot hole or drill and tap the hole.

Price wise if you spend any money at all for scenery items and other items for your layout that a printer can print (almost anything) the printer will be free as you will save so much money on items you can print that it will be as if it is free. There has to be thousands of items out there with free print files for model railroading now (I have about 150 up). You can now print almost anything you need and the filament and resin is not that expensive when you see how much you can print with it.

Now the bad news....well not real bad....a filament or resin printer is for sure not for everyone. If you get frustrated when your paper printer jams maybe forget it. There is a setup and learning curve and there will be some maintenance issues down the road. From my experience with both at this point maintenance is probably more with the filament printer as there are more mechanical parts that are moving.

The resin printer will probably work until it doesn't. Mine failed after a half dozen prints (not normal). I fixed it for about $60 in parts but a job many wouldn't of felt comfortable doing. Having a problem that soon is not the norm thought and it didn't put we off from continuing on with a resin printer (bought a second one and fixed the broken one). You will need a better workspace and a larger one for a resin printer with the cleaning and curing of the part that is printed. I added a wash/cure station and highly recommend that to make resin printing more enjoyable (not needed with a filament printer).

With the filament printer there is a spool of filament on the printer and the printer and that is it. Take the print off and paint it. With the resin printer you are putting resin in and out of the vat on the printer. Removing prints from the printers build plate that are dripping in resin (you will be wearing gloves), cleaning those parts in one solution or another and then curing those parts before moving on to painting. I've taken the time to build a nice work station to do that and also store everything I need to do it. One of my filament printers sits right besides me in the house. It would be hard for me to have a resin printer where it is in the living area but some do.

I would stay with a major brand that has a good internet following with lots of how-to YouTube's up I also look at what you can print and see how the prints look to you from both type printers. Take a look at the following links for what both printers can do. I think you will find that for a lot of N scale items a filament printer can do them and that a resin printer can also blow you away with the detail if you are the type that looks at something from 6 to 10 inches away....

https://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/3D-Prin...ter-Index.html

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q...&sort=relevant

https://cults3d.com/en/search?q=n+Scale

Sumner

[Rodsup9000]

I've have a number of resin and FDM printers. Each has it's merits. The FDM cam print large items where as the resin printers are mostly for smaller items. The largest resin printer I have is a Anycubic Mono 6K with one of the largest build volume available in budget resin printers. It'll do almost anything I need to print for N scale. My largest FDM printer has a 12"X12"X12" build volume. I print large items like building foundations and car card boxes on it. About everything else is done with one of the resin printers.

All the resin printers I have are Anycubic's and they have been great. My first Photon M3 was dead (bought on Amazon) and sent it back and got a replacement. I now have 2 M3's, Mono 6K and 3 of the original Photons.
The best resin I've found is Elagoo ABS like resin. It's a lot stronger and not as prone to warping.

[P-LineSoo]

I would like to learn more about 3D printing. I'm hoping to retire in 5 years, and supplement my retirement income with model railroading items and decals. It will probably take most of 5 years to master the learning curve on both to get to that level. Very interested in knowing what that curve entails.

[Comfortably numb]

Fusion 360 went a way for me and they will not let me have any more free time to learn it. and I dont have that kind of money to buy it. so what ealse can be used?

[Sumner]

Fusion 360 went a way for me and they will not let me have any more free time to learn it.

Strange, I've been using it for 3+ years now and renewed with no problem. Maybe I'll find out different next time but are you going here....

https://www.autodesk.com/support/tec...usion-360.html

I hope to not have to pay for it but if I did then I probably would at this point. If that happened then I'd probably have to think about also charging something for my designs. Hope to not have to go there

Sumner

[Gary Rowan]

I primarily use OpenScad. Other programs are FreeCad, Blender, and SketchUp. Google "Free Fusion 360 alternatives" for more options.

[Comfortably numb]

https://www.autodesk.com/support/tec...usion-360.html

Thanks Sumner , That is a difrant page than the one I keept get. I had to redown load the software and run it. 30min. and I was back in to my stuff. Part of my problem was , I let my subscription run out , alot so I was missing the sign in key.
All working Now !

[Comfortably numb]

20231120_163044[1].jpg I got one used. It printed that green thing, adout half way it quit printing but still was going throught the movements. I think I have a massive cloge... that sucks !

[jimbo.0455]

For the Clog you have to make sure that the Boden tube has a very tight seal at the heater. Also the only upgrade I made to mine was to put on a metal extruder arm, they are prone to crack and then it will not feed any filament that can also look like a clog. Love my ender 3P but I use the 3 foot rule and am very happy with what I have printed so far.

[Comfortably numb]

Mine has a drerect drive on it, but it is not very smooth to load. and for some reason the zed starts out an 1/8" to high. I have tryed three difront drawings. I tryed Sumners servo mount and I know it's right so somthing is wrong with the primter. But I haveing fun with it.

[Bryan]

I just got an Ender 3 Neo Max.
I’ve only just started tinkering with it, but so far I like it.
3D printing is like a hobby to itself.

[Sumner]

something is wrong with the primter.

Sounds like you got the clog fixed.

If if has auto bed leveling then for sure find a video that shows how to manually level the bed to start with and let the auto bed leveling work afterwards to level making very small adjustments. I helped my nephews son get his working and it had the auto-leveling and it was a total mess until we found a video on manually leveling the bed at first.

Print with a 'skirt' and if the skirt isn't going down like fishing line or flatter on the build plate then stop the print right there and get the bed leveled so that it goes down like that. If it is too close the skirt will look like it is smashed to the build plate and be missing in places as the filament can't come out. Until you get the bed setup for a near perfect skirt and first layer you will be fighting it for ever and have failed prints.

Mine are manual leveled beds and I love it that way. You can run a program that will put the head at the four corners and middle and level with the spring screws in about a minute. Any time the skirt isn't going down right or I've worked on the printer or removed a clog I re-level. Takes a minute and then don't usually have to redo it for quite a few prints. I use a magnetic bed and it is very easy to remove the prints with it so no pushing on the build plate to remove prints and maybe messing up the bed level.

Sounds like a pain but get it right and you will be putting out great prints. With Cura get familiar what the printer can do on the various print qualities you can select. I use standard for most things (faster) and only the highest quality for small very delicate prints.

Sumner

[Comfortably numb]

Ya, I got it all replaced with new. Had a burnt and broken wire.

Yes I manually got it leveled, and the auto leveling works right.

But when I go to print it starts to high. I thought that mabey my drawing was floting when I sliced it,
No it's flat down.

It's like it forgets where 0 is when I go to print. Did I mess up the ferm ware or somthing?

Thanks Sumner for helping me.

[Sumner]

I probably can't help with that model as it is different than the two 3 Pros I have. I can't set the Z on mine as far as I can tell from the control panel (have never looked to see if that is an option). It has the limit switch on the side that could be adjusted but I've never had to do that. On leveling with software I use the head goes down (I don't control to where). Then I level and get the distance I need between the head and the table with the sprint adjustment.

With my great nephews if I remember right somewhere along the way of manually leveling it we set the Z offset. When you manually level yours with dragging a paper can you set the Z at that point with the control panel. I believe the video we used showed us how to do it. The machine in the video doesn't have direct drive but does have the auto-leveling so I'll bet what you need to do is similar...



... I'm sure you'll get it and I doubt you messed up the firmware.

Sumner