3D Printer

[Goosesdad]

Looking to get a 3D printer. I used my brother-in-laws Anycubic Kobra 2 Max recently and it worked great. I have access to SolidWorks.

Very much appreciate any advice.

[dontlifttoshift]

Bambu X1 is the only answer currently. They just work. No tinkering, no making parts just so you can make parts.

https://bambulab.com/en-us/x1

[Goosesdad]

Thank you Donny.

[MtotheIKEo]

Second the Bambu. Excellent experience with it.

[patriot68]

member CamaroAJ has been making some nice stuff. Might want to see what he's using aswell

[Goosesdad]

Second the Bambu. Excellent experience with it.

Bambu X1 is the only answer currently. They just work. No tinkering, no making parts just so you can make parts.

https://bambulab.com/en-us/x1

Much appreciated advice. Thank you. Ordered.

[CamaroAJ]

I know its an older thread now, but I also have an X1C. Because of how impactful its been at the shop with my car and some small things I've printed for the shop one of our customers bought a flashforge creator 4 so I can print him door panels, trunk panels, and his dash since its more then double the size mine can print. Its crazy how useful it is not with just car stuff, but I've printed a ton of stuff to organize my toolbox and a bunch of random stuff. I've had it i think about 4 months or so and its already clocked over 1500 hours on it.

[camcojb]

Some day I want to get into this. :thumbsup:

[Ketzer]

Some day I want to get into this. :thumbsup:

Same...totally intimidated by the cad/software side tho...I've poked around on several of the free tutorials and come to the conclusion I am too old or too dumb to get the hang of it.


Jeff-

[Vegas69]

Not to pour salt in the wound, but my son mentioned that they are learning to 3d print in school shortly. By the way, he's in 4th grade. LOL

[dhutton]

I know its an older thread now, but I also have an X1C. Because of how impactful its been at the shop with my car and some small things I've printed for the shop one of our customers bought a flashforge creator 4 so I can print him door panels, trunk panels, and his dash since its more then double the size mine can print. Its crazy how useful it is not with just car stuff, but I've printed a ton of stuff to organize my toolbox and a bunch of random stuff. I've had it i think about 4 months or so and its already clocked over 1500 hours on it.

That’s a $10k printer. Now that’s an awesome customer!

Don

[CamaroAJ]

That’s a $10k printer. Now that’s an awesome customer!

Don

I stumbled across it used about an hour away for $7k. Its taken me a bit to get it set up and running like it should since the Bambu is so much easier to use and prints so much faster and better quality its been kinda frustrating. The guy we got it from showed us the prints that came off of it and had it printing when we got there so I know it puts out really nice stuff. If I didn't start with the Bambu it would have not been an issue, but they set the bar so so high that its just crazy to compare the two.

[dhutton]

I stumbled across it used about an hour away for $7k. Its taken me a bit to get it set up and running like it should since the Bambu is so much easier to use and prints so much faster and better quality its been kinda frustrating. The guy we got it from showed us the prints that came off of it and had it printing when we got there so I know it puts out really nice stuff. If I didn't start with the Bambu it would have not been an issue, but they set the bar so so high that its just crazy to compare the two.

How many sections would you have to print a door panel in? Can you easily hide the seam or would they be wrapped?

[CamaroAJ]

How many sections would you have to print a door panel in? Can you easily hide the seam or would they be wrapped?

With my Bambu it was I think 15 pieces. With the big printer I think I had it down to 5 pieces. They would be bonded together and have alignment pins in them all and then use one of those plastic welders to melt in the S clips for reinforcement. Body work after that and nobody will ever know once its wrapped or it could be painted and a mold pulled for carbon panels.

[Goosesdad]

With my Bambu it was I think 15 pieces. With the big printer I think I had it down to 5 pieces. They would be bonded together and have alignment pins in them all and then use one of those plastic welders to melt in the S clips for reinforcement. Body work after that and nobody will ever know once its wrapped or it could be painted and a mold pulled for carbon panels.

AJ, would you scan the door? What scanner would you use? Honestly, had I have done the 3D printer a year ago, I likely wouldn't have done all of this glass work. Next time!!

[CamaroAJ]

AJ, would you scan the door? What scanner would you use? Honestly, had I have done the 3D printer a year ago, I likely wouldn't have done all of this glass work. Next time!!

I have two scanners, one is mine and its a Revopoint Mini2. It does well with small stuff like knobs and switches. It doesn't do medium to large stuff very will if at all. The customer that got the printer also got me a Einstar Shining 3D scanner and with it I've scanned the entire left side of my interior so I can model panels off it. That's been a crash course in learning on how to do that so I only mess with it every once in a while when I feel like getting my ass kicked. The last week I've been tinkering when I've had the time with my trunk. Here is the 3D scan imported into Fusion 360 for modeling (if anyone has modeling tips I'm all ears).

I did edit out a bunch of the image I didn't need so it would take less memory to run in the program so thats why it looks chopped up and not like a full scan.

[jarhead]

I bought the Bambu X1C about a year ago. I had never 3D printed before and it is quite easy to do with this printer. I have also been learning Fusion 360 for a couple of years and it is very simple to export a file to print.

I have made a few tools with it. I made the Z Axis drive adapter for my knee mill. It's ABS with a full infill and it has yet to break in 10 months.