I an new to this 3d printing. I can do 2d design all day long. Have laser cutter also.
What I am looking for is a 3d printer and what software I should get. I don’t want something cheep but not something that will break the bank. What brands to stay away from. Pros and Cons of different manufactures and models. What is everyone’s choice and why? I am wanting to make a variety of different things. Parts for some of my wood shop equipment, jigs for the shop, etc. Maybe some nick nacks toys. Also want to make things like gears and bushings for whirly gigs.
That covers it for the most part.
I have been doing this for about 9 years and if I was starting now I would get a mid range machine.
I have a Creality K1 and it is my go to machine. Good size print volume, newbie proof and it can handle materials from PLA, PETG, PC, ABS and sometimes TPU (flexible).
It is also a speed demon, max print speed is 600mm/s but usual print speed is 300mm/s.
I have had very little problems with it in the 1.5 years I have had it.
There are cheaper but this has more bang for the buck in the long run.
My two cents worth.
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The Creality K1 MAX is a little bigger with a few more bells and whistles and can be found on sale right now since the K2 is just out. These machines (K1 and K1 max) have great print quality. Ask Mathew, on this site, for printer advice if you are not sure. He is knowledgeable on these matters.
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There is a huge amount of opinions and a range of what do you want from a printer.
Creality is not well known for good tech support and well thought out designs. They typically require a lot of alterations to print well.
The other end is things that just work. Typically Prusa or maybe Bambu with some hesitation on my part. Ankermake looks good I can’t really say I have never used one. Qudi also looks interesting but again I have not used one.
The price and how much tinkering you want changes everything.
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Creality support does suck, as with many companies.
As far needing a lot of mods, that was true in the earlier machines like the original Ender 3 series but they have added a lot of features to the newer printer so that really doesn’t apply any more. That being said there is always someone coming up with mods but do you need them…
@Loosenut Thanks for the recommendation 
I always ask 2 questions when someone is looking for a recommendation on a machine, what is your price range and what size are the parts you need to make?
Let me know about these things and I can make some recommendations based off of that!
Matt
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Buy the largest print volume you can afford, it can always print small things.
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What hobby maker said but remember the standard rule of thumb for printer beds-------it will always be 1" to small.
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I bought a printer i got the K2 Plus. now i just need to learn about designing what is a good progran for doing design work. I know its going to be a learning curve. I have done a lot of design work but it has all been in 2d . I have a lot of time because I just got out of a 6week stay at the hospital. I am working at getting my strength back. I was in a very bad way. I have wanted a printer for quite some time, I figured this would be a great way to occupy my time. I hate doing nothing it drives me crazy. So hopefully I can learn this during my recovery time. It’s going to be a long slow recovery. Looking for ideas and hints to get started. Links to videos are always helpful.
Thanks in advance Duane
What do you want to print.
If you are into the artsy side of thing then a lot of people use Blender. It is a good free program. If you are more into exact dimensioned things, engineering pieces etc. then you need a CAD program. Many use Tinker cad, Sketcher and Fusion 360. Tinkercad is a simple but limited program intended for children to get them interested in CAD but can still be used to make good designs . Sketcher is an open sourced cad program and I don’t know much about the current version but it used to be somewhat limited. Fusion 360 is a full cad program but it is an online program and has limitations also. Onshape is the same. You can also get Freecad which is a free open source cad program, some like some don’t. I have just started out with Solid Edge cad it is a full featured cad program that is free to home/hobby users, it is the same program that is sold but uses a different file format that isn’t compatible with the commercial version. It is a downloaded standalone program which is good forever. There are others available for free, some are good but most have some limitations or just old programs of dubious use . these days.
Try some out and see what clicks.
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As Loosenut said there are a lot of options, no one will fit all. Take a look at plasticity as well. It is similar to Fusion in some ways. To me one of the most valuable features is a timeline. Undo if you would like. It allows to step backward and undo a misstep.
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Personally I like Fusion 360 because it is much more mathematical in my opinion. I have tried blender and some other ones but to me it almost feels like sculpting, which is definitely not my strong suit lol.
I have friends who are much more artistically inclined than myself, and they seem to like blender much more.
Any cad program takes time to get used to and get proficient at, I know some people who swear by ONShape but whenever I have tried it I get confused as the layout is quite different from Fusion360 (and from what I can tell the feature set is not extremely different, if anything ONShape is a little less featured but much lighter to run).
Most cad programs have free options these days so just noodle around with a bunch of them and see what you like. When I was first starting I did the same thing, a couple of them felt ok but as soon as I used F360 I knew it was what I wanted to use. But just keep in mind that CAD programs are not the most user friendly, and it really takes time to get proficient at them, so don’t get discouraged that you are having trouble finding things, that is completely normal.
That’s being kind.
After about 25 years using Autodesk Inventor I lost access to it so I needed a new program and went with Solid Edge. I could have used Fusion since it is the baby brother to Inventor and similar in operation but I don’t like the idea of having an online presents. Your at risk of Autodesk saying “no more free usage” and you loose your files. The same with Onshape which wasn’t that instinctive to use. The biggest problem with CAD programs is that there isn’t any kind of interface convention IE: everybody names the same things differently or organizes them in a different way and you have to learn these differences. Since I started to use Solid Edge I have to relearn everything in the interface just to do the same things I did without thinking about before. At my age I’m getting close to circling the drain and can’t afford to spend years learning a new program. Fortunately It hasn’t been that bad, both programs do pretty much the same things in a relatively similar manner, this is true of most of the better commercial programs.
You just have to jump in at the deep end and be careful not to hit your head.
P.S. if you think learning a cad program is daunting remember that professional draftsmen may work for a company with several clients and each of them may demand that you use a different cad package. You end up having to learn 3 or 4 or 5 or… and try keeping then compartmentalized.
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As a retired professional draftsman, you are correct with your postscript. I have had to learn probably 10 to 12 different CAD programs during my career. I am currently using Fusion360 but am investigating others, for the same reason you mention in the main body of your post. Solid Edge seems good but will always be wary of them changing to " no more free usage". I have even debated paying for a full license, when on sale, for Fusion.
Solid Edge is good but it is a pain having to learn a new program after all these years BUT it is free for ever.
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Thanks for the info! I don’t like the online. I like the stand alone programs. I have a program that is over 10 years old that i use for design work. Works great for me. They keep trying to get me to up grade but then you have to pay a monthly sub no thanks! I will check those out thanks again.
Thanks I will check it out.
Thanks for that info! I am not planning on having clients, not at my age. This is for hobby use. Making parts for somethin i might have broke, oops. I also do woodworking and want to be able to design up some jigs etc.
Another program you can try is Design Spark. I haven’t looked at it years so I can’t give you an pinion about it. It is professional grade, that’s about it.
Unless you have a reason a cubic foot is All
You need in my opinion & keep in mind I have been 3DPrinting since Christmas 2015 I will however advise more is better then less so if you ever need a larger project consider larger
Also be sure to have spare unopened materials