3D Printing - who has mastered this?

[Scorch]

I'm thinking about getting one. There's always some small part I wish I could create out of thin air for a bike, helmet, misc project. Right now, I'm wanting to make an H-shaped plastic bracket that would allow different windscreens to bolt onto bikes that don't have a specific model available, like a universal mount.

Is there a thread devoted to 3D printing projects here? Or are there any gurus here I could consult with? DFW_Warrior, have any advice?

​

 

[DFW_Warrior]

Oh man, we could talk HOURS on this. I’m at work today and break is almost up so I will leave you with this for the moment. In order to really get a handle on 3D printing, you really need to get good at three very distinct things. It all comes down to this:

Proper design (not just proper design, but also proper design for 3D printing)
Materials properties
Printing know how

I can elaborate on all of those later on, but let’s just say this. To do it well, it takes a LOT of learning.

To grab stuff off of the internet and print it, anyone can do that.

This will be a fun thread to dig into.

 

[LaserDave]

My good friend that's a true genius, working from his kitchen table telling software, IT and AI companies world wide what they're doing wrong for ludicrous money, did that 2 years ago. His goal was to build backpacks for his boys that looked like the ecto-plasma whatever things in Ghostbusters, so they could all go and be part of a contest. Despite the packs looking a little crude, they won. He said even with his skills, there is a definite learning curve for this, and patience is seriously needed.

 

[Pedro 2.0]

My good friend that's a true genius, working from his kitchen table telling software, IT and AI companies world wide what they're doing wrong for ludicrous money, did that 2 years ago. His goal was to build backpacks for his boys that looked like the ecto-plasma whatever things in Ghostbusters, so they could all go and be part of a contest. Despite the packs looking a little crude, they won. He said even with his skills, there is a definite learning curve for this, and patience is seriously needed.

We're down with being a little crude, not so much the patience...

 

[HiSPL]

I have an Ender 5 Pro. What I don't have is any CAD skills. My Son does though and he's prnted a lot of cool things on it. I've downloaded stuff and do pretty well.

Like you I want a ton of things that would be useful on my bike or car, but it takes me hours and hours to design even the simplest little part. I haven't even attempted anything complex. Texas A&M has an online course for Fusion 360 which I'm considering taking.

Fusion 360 Essential Training

fedc.engr.tamu.edu

 

[BrockP]

No expert but I have been utilizing 3d printing for several years now - Many advancements in last couple years have shorten the learning curve and increased usability of the machines. Just like DFW_Warrior said - the design work is where the skillset comes in.
I highly recommend the Bambu labs lineup - Start with the kind of parts you want to make, do a little research on appropriate filament for those parts, then you will be able to make an educated decision on proper machine capable of running those filaments. PLA, PETG or ASA covers most everything hobbiest need. I have a PETG dash on my DRZ that is 5 years old and still holding up.
Currently I run the BambuLabs Carbon X1C as I do get into some more complex filaments.
Software: If your commited, Fusion 360 is the standard but a steep leaning curve. Tinkercad - you can be drawing very simple parts in a day or two.
To start and get familiar with printing and the slicer software (operates the machine, not design) I would utilize the thousands (maybe millions) of availible free files on a handful of sites you with never find the end of, then venture into design. **Caution- its addicting - I have 2 machines running as I'm typing
Be happy to share everyhting I have learned- wont take long

 

[Pedro 2.0]

Soo, fired up the laptop to check out what I need to know... Supprised to find out it's been a minute since the last time we used it... Windows 7 is now obsolete and the computer is bricked... Also the forever windows 10 upgade isn't forever anymore either...
Thank goodness the "Apple 3" I phone is still operational and we can still fab up stuff with fiberglass...

 

[Rydah]

@Pedro 2.0 , you put the "old" in old school I love it!

 

[DFW_Warrior]

No expert but I have been utilizing 3d printing for several years now - Many advancements in last couple years have shorten the learning curve and increased usability of the machines. Just like DFW_Warrior said - the design work is where the skillset comes in.
I highly recommend the Bambu labs lineup - Start with the kind of parts you want to make, do a little research on appropriate filament for those parts, then you will be able to make an educated decision on proper machine capable of running those filaments. PLA, PETG or ASA covers most everything hobbiest need. I have a PETG dash on my DRZ that is 5 years old and still holding up.
Currently I run the BambuLabs Carbon X1C as I do get into some more complex filaments.
Software: If your commited, Fusion 360 is the standard but a steep leaning curve. Tinkercad - you can be drawing very simple parts in a day or two.
To start and get familiar with printing and the slicer software (operates the machine, not design) I would utilize the thousands (maybe millions) of availible free files on a handful of sites you with never find the end of, then venture into design. **Caution- its addicting - I have 2 machines running as I'm typing
Be happy to share everyhting I have learned- wont take long

I have a Prusa MK3+ and even though I love the machine, I would also tell new folks to get into the Bambu ecosystem.

On the software side, I would just say to always get Fusion360 or some other sort of "premium" software. I'm partial to Fusion even though I am a long time Vectorworks user for other things. Fusion was a complete paradigm shift for me in how I think about 3d but I was able to get it as soon as I realized how it wanted me to work within it. Plus, from what I understand, if you ever want to go from Fusion to something like Solidworks or anything similar, it is a really easy transition. I've got some friends that work in TinkerCAD and whenever I see their models I always cringe at the artifacts that somehow always seem to get in there somehow.

@HiSPL I would highly recommend the first step after downloading Fusion and getting the free version of it going, is to watch some of the various YouTube series on how to work within it. The series from this YouTuber is one of the ones that really helped me with my transition from Vectorworks to Fusion and shifting my mindset. I'm still not a pro by any means, but I can usually design what I am trying to accomplish without too much effort.

Product Design Online

Mission: Making CAD education accessible to anyone, anywhere. Learn Autodesk Fusion (formerly called 'Fusion 360') with our concise beginner-friendly tutorials for 3D printing, woodworking, and more! Are you serious about creating your own designs in Autodesk Fusion? Join the PDO Academy and...

www.youtube.com

Like @BrockP has said about going with Bambu, I would 100% agree. And I would even go a step further and say that you really need to get one that comes with an enclosure. As soon as you want to jump to something not even that fancy, but something like ABS, you will be kicking yourself for not having an enclosure. I know I kick myself for not having an enclosure all the time. That is also why I haven't upgraded my Prusa to the latest version because for the same money, I can buy an entirely new printer with an enclosure from Bambu.

The hardest part about this entire thing to me is actually the printing part. Trying to figure out applied forces to things, and how that corresponds to layer adhesion as well as different deformation limits of materials. Then you can dig into infill percentages and how different infill types can make a printed thing more or less strong or flexible when under different types of stresses. All that stuff is where I really wish I had a Tourmeister level engineering degree and it would make things so much easier.

@Scorch I guess it boils down to just what do you want to know? I will say this when talking about things like functional parts. There are some things that most 3d prints are good at, and a LOT that they aren't good at. Any time you have compression loading, you are just fine. As soon as you get to where something is under tension or under a shear force, 3d printing becomes a LOT trickier and requires a lot more thinking to be put into it. Orientation of the print, layer height, temperature that you are printing at, are you doing any fancy normalizing or curing of the object after, and more; all play into something's strength. When I said we could talk hours about 3d printing, we could probably just fill that time with this last talking point.

 

[LaserDave]

@Pedro 2.0 , you put the "old" in old school I love it!

Typing to you on a Win7 computer, and same for my old laptop. Guess that puts me in the Smithsonian.

 

[Scorch]

Oh great response, I was hoping there would be a few fans of this tech. I did try searching the forum and didn't come across any existing threads.

Right now, I'm interested in it as a new hobby. Watched a bunch of YT videos, yeah, Bambu seems to be recommended by many. I'm still looking into the process for taking measurements and translating them into the slicing software to create the piece. That's a little daunting. I am going to check the local Comm Colleges, it would be best to take a class so I can try this out before investing money.

The hardest part about this entire thing to me is actually the printing part. Trying to figure out applied forces to things, and how that corresponds to layer adhesion as well as different deformation limits of materials. Then you can dig into infill percentages and how different infill types can make a printed thing more or less strong or flexible when under different types of stresses. All that stuff is where I really wish I had a Tourmeister level engineering degree and it would make things so much easier.

@Scorch I guess it boils down to just what do you want to know? I will say this when talking about things like functional parts. There are some things that most 3d prints are good at, and a LOT that they aren't good at. Any time you have compression loading, you are just fine. As soon as you get to where something is under tension or under a shear force, 3d printing becomes a LOT trickier and requires a lot more thinking to be put into it. Orientation of the print, layer height, temperature that you are printing at, are you doing any fancy normalizing or curing of the object after, and more; all play into something's strength. When I said we could talk hours about 3d printing, we could probably just fill that time with this last talking point.

Ok, that makes sense, I'm guessing that a lot of factory parts are made using some kind of high temp/high pressure form injection system. 3D printing would not be as robust, is that fair to say?

A windscreen bracket would be exposed to sheer forces, right?

I envision stuff like these brackets, where one could make an adapter bracket to bolt to the bike and allow some accesory that is not made for the bike to bolt onto the 3D bracket.....

Luggage rack plate

 

[DFW_Warrior]

Oh great response, I was hoping there would be a few fans of this tech. I did try searching the forum and didn't come across any existing threads.

Right now, I'm interested in it as a new hobby. Watched a bunch of YT videos, yeah, Bambu seems to be recommended by many. I'm still looking into the process for taking measurements and translating them into the slicing software to create the piece. That's a little daunting. I am going to check the local Comm Colleges, it would be best to take a class so I can try this out before investing money.

One quick thing here and @BrockP eluded to it. The slicing software is only there to convert an already designed thing into gcode so your printer can print it. Now while doing that, you can setup all sorts of parameters like layer height, speeds, feed rates of material, inner perimeters first, or outer perimeters first, infill types and percentages, which way you want to print head to work around a round object, clockwise or counter clockwise (handy for dealing with overhangs and not using supports), and now that I mention it, supports or no supports (since you can't print in thin air, you have to have a way to 'support' overhanging pieces of your object.

But, the slicer should really only deal with an already designed object. Yes, there are scaling features on slicers, but for anything halfway functional and not just a desk decoration, I wouldn't use those.

All your designing would be from something like Fusion.

Seriously, get Fusion (you can get it for free), and slowly work your way through the video series I linked up above. You will pause it every 20 seconds to find the right button, but he has a great method of teaching.

Ok, that makes sense, I'm guessing that a lot of factory parts are made using some kind of high temp/high pressure form injection system. 3D printing would not be as robust, is that fair to say?

A windscreen bracket would be exposed to sheer forces, right?

I envision stuff like these brackets, where one could make an adapter bracket to bolt to the bike and allow some accesory that is not made for the bike to bolt onto the 3D bracket.....

It is VERY fair to say that 99.999% of factory parts are not 3d printed. You are 100% correct in that they are injection molded. With that injection molding, they can still choose from all sorts of plastic types, choose from different fillers/additives, and with it being injection molded, it is all melted together and then cools/cures together so it is a much stronger part. The weakest part of any 3d printed part is the layer below adhering to the layer above. That is why they are plenty strong enough under compressive forces, but much weaker in any other way. There are ways to help with this in rare instances like filament that has a continuous strand of carbon fiber running down the middle of it. However, the part has to be designed and printed in a way to take advantage of that property.

Let me hop on my other computer that has Fusion and the slicer on it and I'll walk you through my latest (and quite simple) creation that I made for my GPS. That little plastic plate took maybe 10 minutes to get all the measurements, design it out, and then send it to the printer.

 

[DFW_Warrior]

A windscreen bracket would be exposed to sheer forces, right?

Sorry, forgot to reply to this bit. The answer is yes, and no, but yes, and some other forces too. Now keep in mind, I am NOT an engineer, so if there are any on here, they will be your best bet for this kind of stuff.

Think about where it will bolt to the bike, those will be compressive forces acting on the plastic. No worries there, especially if you design that part of the part to have 100% infill (yes, you can have different types and amounts of infill for different portions of a single part). Then you have where the windscreen will bolt to the adapter, also under compression. Easy, right! Now we have what the air will do to the windscreen and what kinds of forces it will apply to it. One thing I have no experience it at all, but wish I did, is fluid dynamics. So I can make an educated guess at kind of what the wind will be doing to that thing at speed, but it would just be a best guess. Depending on the mounting of it, it would be shear forces where it mounts to the bike, but maybe in different directions as the entire thing would want to rotate if your mount isn't centered on the screen. It would all depend on the design.

I'm not saying this to scare you off at all. Most parts made will never need to go through this kind of thing, and heck, most aftermarket parts don't even do this. A lot of them go by the motto of, "just make it strong enough to handle anything short of hitting a mini-van, and we should be good." And with injection molding, that is pretty easy do to. We are just playing with much thinner margins with 3d printing so I wanted to bring it up before you have a windscreen come off and into your face while on the freeway. Not that it would happen, but also I'm not saying it wouldn't.

 

[DFW_Warrior]

This little bracket was going to be a super easy draw. First just grab a few measurements off of the bracket, figure out how thick I wanted the entire thing to be (I settled on 4mm), and then measure the little DC converter box that I wanted to mount, and add some space for me to drill a hole for a ziptie to hold everything. Once I had those numbers figured out, I started with an overall sketch.

For your first lesson in Fusion, EVERYTHING starts as a sketch. Well, maybe not everything, but pretty much everything. And you can have LOADS of sketches for one thing, depending on how complicated it is.

First sketch, super simple.

Once that sketch is done, I extruded that to the thickness I wanted and then I could start sketch number 2.

Yes, this is an isometric view, which is not how it was sketched, but it shows that the base has been extruded and that Sketch 2 or what I renamed as "Top" is actually sketched on top of the extrusion from Sketch 1 or what I renamed as "Base". Now without going into a ton of the details here, there is one hole drawn out, then that hole is mirrored across a center line, and then those two holes are mirrored across a perpendicular center line to make the 4 hole pattern. You can do this 10 different ways, and all of them are right or wrong depending on who you ask. I've drawn all 4 individually, I've drawn one and just use the pattern tool to get them where I need, but in this instance, I mirrored them. The one good thing about mirroring them, is that if I need to go back and adjust them slightly bigger or smaller, I just adjust 1 and the rest follow suit automatically. If I don't want that to happen, then I would choose a different way of modeling it.

Those dotted lines are construction lines which is what you use for constraining your parts and pieces of a sketch. So if you look at the non-dotted lines, you will see that all those measurements and symbols are really just there for 5 actual parts of the sketch. There are 4 holes and a square box. The holes will be extruded -4mm into the base for a cut operation, and the square will be extruded +20mm for the little water drip protector for the power supply. If I was really thinking, and wanted to, I could have enclosed it up and over the top of it, but then I would have needed supports and I didn't want to go that far for this one. If it rains that hard, I'll pack it up in the top box.

Once that is done, then you have this thing:

The only thing left to do is make it nice looking and where it matches the curves of the mount so it doesn't stick out and look silly. So I measured the corner radius' of the mount, and then filleted the corners of the mount. I did the same to the little shelf thing to get rid of sharp edged and it is good to go.

Next up, is to export this as an STL file. STL's are what slicers look for to then convert into gcode files that the printers use. We can get more into the weeds on STL's and gcode, but that will be for another discussion.

Into the Prusa Slicer it goes:

From here, all the things you can tweak from the printer standpoint are in this software. This one is super simple. I chose PETG for the plastic type, I know I wanted .2 layer height, and I'm going for 100% infill. I don't need supports, and then it is time to slice.

Sliced!

The top left, you can see what portions of the print are what. And in the bottom left you can see the time to print, how much filament it will use, and an approximate cost to print. If you look at the image, you will see the actual lines that it will print. This one isn't very interesting at 100% infill, but if I change the infill to say, 15% and change the patter to "stars" then when I bring that orange slider down to where the printer will be printing the base, you will see the infill pattern.

So that is what you would see (and print) if you chose 15% infill and stars as the infill pattern for this. I wanted 100% infill for reasons that we can discuss later on if anyone likes, and then sent it to the printer.

I don't have any photos of it printing so you will just have to use your imagination for that one. But about an hour later, I had one of these little contraptions that I could then go out and shorten the wires on my GPS power supply, and then put everything together.

Does this help at all?

 

[LaserDave]

My eyes have glazed over and I need more and

 

[DFW_Warrior]

An example of a much more complicated, albeit much smaller finished project is this little guy. It is also an example where I was nowhere near as disciplined at naming my sketches, which now looking back on I cringe when I see it.

This little thing is around 2" tall and 3/4" wide and cost around $1 to make. I melted in a 3mm brass melt-in insert in that little hole in the side of it to hold a set screw. This little piece of plastic in conjunction with a dial indicator has saved our company close to $75k the very first time it was used. Now, I would wager that on the conservative side, our savings is well over $100-125k, all from a little design work, $1 worth of plastic, and a dial indicator off of Amazon. Whoever says that 3d printing is only for junk that clutters up your desk, well... they are mostly right, but every now and again you can make some REALLY cool stuff that is very useful.

 

[DFW_Warrior]

My eyes have glazed over and I need more and

I don't blame you at all. It seems complicated, but honestly, it isn't that bad once you get use to working how the programs want you to work. And they work that way for many good reasons. As soon as you wrap your head around the why they do things the way they do, drawing and design work becomes much easier. And I'm still what I would consider maybe halfway to intermediate level when it comes to design work. There are true masters out there that I will never be able to touch.

 

[LaserDave]

I don't blame you at all. It seems complicated, but honestly, it isn't that bad once you get use to working how the programs want you to work. And they work that way for many good reasons. As soon as you wrap your head around the why they do things the way they do, drawing and design work becomes much easier. And I'm still what I would consider maybe halfway to intermediate level when it comes to design work. There are true masters out there that I will never be able to touch.

Yeah, I hear you. I'm just in the "get off my lawn" stage of life, but it's like programming lasers and lighting.
It's charts that look like a relief map of outer Tibet, and instructions in Mandarin Chinese.
Once you get past all that, it does fall into place nicely, and you wonder what the fuss was all about.

 

[BrockP]

3D printing has a very broad range of usefulness, skill set and complexity. DFW_Warrior is giving you a very good glimpse into just how amazing this technology is and we are just beginning on what effects it will have on consumer manufacturing. The best part is, it is accessible to everyone.
It will take time to fully understand the more advanced topics DFW has already acheived, but anyone can order one of these modern printers with a few user freindly features such as auto bed leveling, a good slicer software, and filiment presets. Load an .stl or .step file of an object off the internets and print like magic. To strengthen DFW's point on the enginnering topics, a basic understanding of the appropriate use of 3D printing will further your knowledge on how it can be utilized. The GPS mount he has shown is a perfect example - the 3D printed mount for his power adapter is a very good use of 3D printing - Hypotheticaly, if you wanted to replicate the Ram Ball Mount, the glass filled nylon is already the best solution. If you are interested in 3D printing, just start and grow with it. You do not need all of these skills at once to have a lot of fun with it.
If you can email, attach files, have a number 7 in patience on a scale of 1-10, watch some youtube tutorials and have a computer newer than Windows 7 (still my favorite OS) you'll be fine.

If your only purpose is to make a one-off part- Attempt to commision DFW_Warrior or someone of the like.

Although I do use mine for commercial endeavors, I keep it very simple and consider it another tool
in the toolbox, not the answer to all.

On a personal project, I am currently obsessing with organizing my hardware using "Gridfinity" bin system
-google it but be careful its a rabbit hole.

 

[blupupher]

I am just starting to play around with 3d printing, just making stuff designed by others, no experience or knowledge in creating stuff.
I got a Bambu A1 Mini.
Why, because it was $200 and was able to start printing 20 minutes after opening the box. No tinkering or "fixing" the printer to get it to work like so many others.
I was looking at an Ender 3 KE for like $150 refurbished, but the more I read, the more I came to the conclusion that the Bambu lineup was a better choice for me.
For the price, even if I did not like it or use it, not a huge loss, and could easily get most of my money back selling it used.
I have no plans to sell it, and nice to have to print things I did not know I needed.
I have printed a few functional pieces that others have designed that fixed issues I had (primary one was an issue with my Crown Vic's power window switch latch breaking), and a few little "tools" for around the house, and quite a few trinkets showing of the abilities of the printer.

I heard someone say the Bambu printers are for those that just want to print, others are for those that like to tinker with the printer as well as print.

 

[Tourmeister]

I have not messed with 3D printing, but I am curious about the type where the part is pulled up out of a liquid base so that there is no layering of printing as with the filament type of printer. I would think these parts might be much stronger than filament printed parts.

Also, pay attention to corners. If you have something like a bracket that is L shaped, vibration will tend to make it want to fatigue fail along the fold line. This is where doing something like a internal radius can make a huge difference in strength and longevity of a part. For even more robustness, larger gussets at each end of the fold and possibly even between the ends will also make a big difference. Print direction in light of loading directions with filament depositing will also make a big difference. This is what makes carbon fiber parts to strong, the ability to orient the filaments so that they are in tension along their length when loads are applied.

I use Solidworks for everything I do. I don't know if they have a free version like Fusion does for hobbyists. The main reason I use it for work is because they still sell perpetual licenses rather than forcing you to have a recurring subscription. They do have an anual "maintenance" subscription that allows you to upgrade to the new version every year at a price much lower than buying a perpetual license every year and it comes with tech support. If you let that maintenance subscription lapse, even for one year, then to get the next upgrade you will have to pay the full price again. So I basically upgrade about every five years as I don't really need to upgrade for features. I mostly need to upgrade so the computer OS and the version of SW will both play together. Believe it or not, I am still running SW 2020 on Win7. SW 2021 requires at least Win10. I have both of those, but I absolutely hate the process of upgrading because it is such a huge pain. Heck, I even still use Acad 2014 (which runs poorly in Win10).

 

[one Wolf]

For design, Solidworks has a makers version. I believe a subscription is about $50 per year. It is pretty much as full featured as the pro version.

 

[DFW_Warrior]

I have not messed with 3D printing, but I am curious about the type where the part is pulled up out of a liquid base so that there is no layering of printing as with the filament type of printer. I would think these parts might be much stronger than filament printed parts.

I'm glad you brought it up. SLA printing vs FDM printing is something to consider. The strength differences all lie in the type of material used. So if you use a really high end and robust filament and compare it to a substandard resin in the SLA printer, then you will find that the FDM print is stronger.

Also, despite SLA being around much longer, personally I feel one of the main reasons FDM has taken off far more than it is just the ease of use. SLA is a total pain in the rear. You are dealing with not very nice toxic resins, you need a wash station, a drying area, and a curing station. I have a friend that has two of them along with several FDM units and both of his SLA's are up for sale. When I asked him what I should tell people about them in the past, his answer was, "I hope they want to get familiar with proper use of PPE, because they will be needing it."

Also, pay attention to corners. If you have something like a bracket that is L shaped, vibration will tend to make it want to fatigue fail along the fold line. This is where doing something like a internal radius can make a huge difference in strength and longevity of a part. For even more robustness, larger gussets at each end of the fold and possibly even between the ends will also make a big difference. Print direction in light of loading directions with filament depositing will also make a big difference.

This is something that I stress all the time with guys at work when we are designing and printing parts. With my bracket that I posted above, if I change the orientation of it to 5 degrees from being level to the build plate, now the layers run through it at an angle which will do a much better job of tying in the little rain flap to the main portion of the print. I couldn't add a gusset to the top portion due to it being right next to the bracket, but certainly could have added one to the bottom side of the junction because there was room. I just didn't foresee any real stresses to that part in that direction so I kept it simple for this one. But they 100% certainly do help.

On a personal project, I am currently obsessing with organizing my hardware using "Gridfinity" bin system
-google it but be careful its a rabbit hole.

On a similar note, we have been printing a ton of "Thread Board" here. We have it in several rooms to help organize and I love making custom containers for it so I can clear workspaces and get stuff onto walls. It all can be a rabbit hole, that is for sure! But a good rabbit hole if you ask me.

 

[charliez]

What an interesting topic. Where I work we have 3D printers everywhere. Most of the teachers get them and don't really do anything with them. The standard for here are the little Dremel branded printers. They are enclosed, which I guess is cool for some things, but they are easily torn up by the kids, and most have been left inoperable. I have always said that they are cool but I had no use for them until someone gave my son a very small one, and he never got motivated enough to try it, so he sent it to me after a couple of frustrating days with Fusion I managed to start making things. I decided to upgrade to the Ender 5 Pro. It's been great and fun. I don't get crazy drawing up figurines and stuff like that. My style for me is the more practical items that I need and can do quickly. I got a new potty seat and the bolts were too small for the mounting holes. In no time, i had a set of bushing printed up and was sitting down comfortably without wiggle. I'm part of a beekeeping club, and we just did our yearly major event. I got a 2D pen pack refill of some really funky and twinkly colors, and printed up a batch of plugs to snuff out your smoker when your done. I even added a little loop on top so it can be clipped to it so you don't loose it. I printed some brackets to hold the frames on the side of the boxes while doing hive inspections. Yesterday, after doing an oil change on the bike, and helping my brother put his front tire back on, I printed some axle caps for my bike, just to finish it off. My bike came with a cup holder I didn't like. I couldn't find locally the proper already black bolts to go back with, (needed shorter bolts) so i replace them on both sides and printed little black caps to go over them. I also do knife sharpening and I've printed several little upgrades/ mods for my wet grinder to make it work for me better. I['ve been orinting all sorts of tool organozers for my new box so when you open the drawers your first reaction is WOW, thats cool. So far I've been only using PLA. Maybe one day I'll venture off into other types.

 

[blupupher]

...

Also, despite SLA being around much longer, personally I feel one of the main reasons FDM has taken off far more than it is just the ease of use. SLA is a total pain in the rear. You are dealing with not very nice toxic resins, you need a wash station, a drying area, and a curing station. I have a friend that has two of them along with several FDM units and both of his SLA's are up for sale. When I asked him what I should tell people about them in the past, his answer was, "I hope they want to get familiar with proper use of PPE, because they will be needing it."

...

I was looking into the resin printers a bit because I thought they seemed like a better option and was some interesting tech, till I started watching how they actually worked, and that using them inside was basically a no no due to the chemicals used and off gassing (although some of the filaments have issues with off gassing as well and should not be used in a room without proper ventilation).
Then I saw all the steps required, and the amount of space and effort required for resin printing,as well as having to store all the chemicals, and decided it was not looking further into.

My Bambu A1 mini takes up about a 30 inch x 30 inch area on my desk.
I do not have an AMS setup (an automatic multi roll filament feeding setup), so the foot print is pretty small overall.
Everything I print is one color, and switching filament is not a huge deal for me. Most of the time, I just print with whatever color is on there. I mostly have/use just basic PLA with several colors, but have a roll of black PLA+ and 1 black, 1 grey of PETG for prints that have strength or heat resistance needs.
I think I have more space taken up by filament storage than the actual printer itself.
I also think at this moment have about the same amount invested in the printer as I do in filament
Have not had any moisture problems yet (I store the filament in the bag they came in with the desiccant they came with), but has only been about 2 months so far.