Old Guy with a Ton of Questions

Biting the bullet and looking into 3D printers to support my wife’s obsession. I recently retired after spending around 40 years running CAD (ComputerVision, CATIA, and NX). I’m hoping to get some help with all the beginner questions of 3D printers/printing.

1- Looking FDMs as a starting point. Any recommendations in the sub $400 range? So far l am looking into Bambu A1 Mini, Elegoo Neptune 3+, Prusa Mini, and Creality 3 V3.

2- Running a laptop with Intel Core 9, 32GB ram, 128 GB Intel Graphics card. Will this be sufficient?

3- How does the printer interface with the laptop? Looking at the various manufacturer’s websites they really don’t discuss interfacing or printer driver(?). Only state what minimum OS is required.

4- Will I need a modeling package to get started? any recommendations?

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to this adventure and I hope i don’t bug the crap out of you guys.

Lovely to see another Retired Gentleman join the club. No Old Guys here (LOL).

Any of the machines you mentioned are good but if you want to print larger things, review build volumes.

The laptop you mention is plenty, I have a lesser laptop and run the slicers and Fusion 360 without any problems.

Most have wifi connection capabilities, very easy to set up.

As stated before I run Fusion 360 (free version) but others like Tinkercad and a host of others, personal preferance really.

I am a retired draftsman that has used a host of cad programs, Autocad, Rhino, Xsteel, Revit and Solidworks. The last 25 years I have been using 3D cad software.

Welcome to the Madness!

As stated any of those printer will be OK but for everyone that loves a particular printer there is someone who hates it. It’s a personal thing. You just need a slicer program, Orca seems to be the flavour of the month right now but others are Prusa slicer, Bamboo Studio and Creality Print. There is a family linage. As far as CAD goes SolidEdge is a great parametric program (equivalent to Solidworks, Inventor, Fusion 360 etc. and it is a free standalone (no cloud required) download for hobbyists. Most printers use WIFI but can transfer part files by USB card too.

1 Like

Thanks HobbyMaker3d,

I do appreciate as much help and advice I can get on this stuff. I would hate to lay down a fist full of cash and then have regrets down the road. I started trying that tinkercad and got pretty frustrated with it. I heard about the free fusion for hobbyist but when i went looking at their website all I could find was a free trial and then had to cancel or pay for a license. Same with the SolidEdge, which seems like a great fit for me since it is a lesser version of the NX I have used for the passed 10(?) years.

Just to confirm, it sounds like whichever printer I go with they will supply a driver to interface between my windows 11 laptop and the printer. I will have to buy a “slicer” that will prepare a file from the 3D model I want a print of. This “sliced” file will be sent to the printer for production.

Again thanks in advance for all the help and advice.

Thanks Loosenut,

I appreciate the info as I am looking forward to this adventure. Hope I don’t lose my sanity on the way. Do any of the slicer programs work with any of the modeling packages? Would love to figure out how to get the free version of Solid Edge since it is the lesser version of the NX I worked with in the past. All I can find is the free trial. Again thanks for any and all advice you can share with me. I’m starting with a blank 3D printing slate.

Most if not all slicer programs are free. I have Creality machines and find that Orcaslicer does a fine job with them.

Check this out for free Solidedge,

Thanks!!! That is exactly what I was hoping for. Going to signup and get it running tonite.

1 Like

Go to this website and download. You do have to sign up but it is free. It is the community edition which is the same as the commercial editions but uses a different file format and doesn’t have the parts library. Other then that it is the same. It operates in two mode synchronous and Ordered. Start with the Ordered mode first, it is a parametric solid modeller similar to what you are used too. The synchronous mode is different and I can’t say what is different since I haven’t really tried it. There is info on what it dose on the website.

Any software program that can export files like STL and 3MF can be used. Most of the slicers can import them and other files like STEP files too.

If you are wondering about the potential sanity damage it is probably to late so just jump in the pool and try not to go under.

1 Like

OK we both sent you to the website, you shouldn’t get lost.

1 Like

Thanks guys. Got the package downloaded and am already spitting out models. This is perfect. Interface wise it looks exactly like NX but functionally a bit different. Easy to figure out.

I really do appreciate all the help.

1 Like

Your welcome!

If I can be any help in the future feel free to contact me here.

Down thee rabbit hole we go!

  1. I’d recommend a Creality. They have come a long way and Creality still supports open source. (Not everyone is a Bambu fan boy).
  2. Overkill. What you have will be excellent for CAD (way over what you need to run a slicer).
  3. This depends on the printer. For years, it was SD cards (and some models still have an SD card reader). USB and WiFi are getting popular.
  4. There are thousands of models available on MANY websites (and MANY are free)

I’m another retiree, and just want to warn you that you are about to head down a rabbit hole. We won’t stop you because we’re already ahead of you.

printers fall into new categories these days, tinkerers and tools.

there are many printers (open source and walled garden) that are turn key. buy it and one the box and print basically out of the box. the others are opened it constantly tinker with it and spend as much time ‘tinkering and printing’ It is an old school mentality.

everyone has thoughts. You should decide, open source where little is copy righted (Prusa is the principal in this format, everybody has copied theirs innovations forever.)

The walled garden is where everything is tuned and sorted out often locked so there is no tuning possible or really needed. Bambu lead the charge here.

Walled gardens are not tinkers delights and the pinnacle of tinker machines are the kit printers like a voron which only sell plans. You have to source all the parts and build it from scratch. Ratrig sells kits but still components and Prusa sells kits with many components in assemblies already. (They have crazy good instructions)

I personally suggest what ever way you go take I easy don’t mod the printer until you absolutely understand the printer. Have fun and be patient it has a learning curve

maybe this might lend insight to what I am saying.

My first printer (Tiko) never works well, needed modifications out of he box to make a poor print. It eventually printed but was never good.

The second printer was a mono price it worked out of the box but rapidly parts started to fail and lots of mods to correct poor manufacturing choices were needed to keep it running. (who doesn’t put strain fitting on a moving bed? good grief)

The third printer was a Prusa Mk3 I spend a few evenings following the instructions and assembled it. It was a fantastic experience and worth the cost of the printer, very very enjoyable. The mods I added over the years made it worse, so it is bone stock and still makes unbelievable quality prints. I have upgraded from the MK3 to a MK3s to a MK3s+. and considered an MK4 upgrade and maybe a Core upgrade even. It is the most versatile and Prusa support is the best and has a long history of upgrades to newer models.

I then bought a sidewinder X1. It never printed out of the box and an huge amount of hours and frustration and pathetic after sales support it prints and makes poor quality prints. By far it has the most time and money in it. It has basically be re built completely.

I then bought a FLsun v400 it runs open source klipper. There was no real profiles and nothing really from the manufacturer. I spend a lot of time tuning it calibrating it and testing before it made prints reliably and consistently. it makes ok prints FAST really fast lately it killed its moonraker and the control board looks fried. Its in the corner.

I bought a Prusa XL tool changer, it has been a good experience and makes good prints with a persistent ringing issue. The tool changing works well, although I use it only for putting soft grips on things. It is reliable but not the quality of the Mk3 is.

I got a Bambu P1S out of the box it made prints almost as good as the MK3s+ makes. No tuning no issue no effort it just works. The first print was close to perfect and almost flawless .Until there was a power surge recently with a communication issue started. I have been inside it for the fist time recently. The AMS multi material is a different story an massive mod later It finally works well. Python mod, take it apart toss the housing redesigned all the physical parts…

I bought a Bambu P2S last week as the P1S is still down, and I have come to rely on it. the first print off the P2S is, as hard as it is to say, better than prints off my MK3s+. It is fast reliable so far and stock everything, cardboard cores and all, no issues yet that so far includes the AMS2 but I suspect it will meet the big snake sooner than later (Python mod AMS and AMS2pro suffer from the same it needs friction to work, what are they thinking…)

there is a U1 in the future too. Klipper again.

A tail of open and closed.

With a rocket on your back!

Be careful and do your homework about going with Bambu. People love them BUT they seem to keep tight control over the printers. There has been a lot of bad press about them and how the firmware has been changed to restrict how you can print. I have not delved deep into this but it looks like they are trying to control what filament you can print with and/or having to use the cloud to print. Other may be able to shed some light on this.

As far as any other printers this also needed some research. I agree with TIMINELMIRA as far as Creality goes, they have come a long way with their printers. I had an Ender 3v2 which ran well out of the box but I did mod the hell out of it. It’s an addiction, adding bits and changing things but it printed great. I now have a K1 MAX and it has been a good printer although since I only use PLA I didn’t need an enclosed printer. Should have done more research!

I think there is a lot of over reaction to that. The new one will print strictly from a usb stick if you want. I tend to send through the cloud unless it is something I care about then I use a direct connection.

What is the point in forcing people to send prints through the cloud in the first place instead of just sending it directly by WYFY. This is what everyone is questioning and so far there doesn’t seem to be an adequate reply from Bambu. Most people seem to think it is an invasion of privacy or they are trying to initiate some kind of control over what you print. That would not be hard to do. The workaround they gave does have some limitations and You Tube is full of “bitchy” videos from very unhappy people.

I would definitely stay away from any printer that uses RF tags on there filaments, as many Bambu printers do. Bambu may claim it is to automate the settings for each type of filament used, not a bad idea in itself, but it is a short step to making it impossible to use filament from other companies just like paper printers who force user to buy their brand of over priced print cartridges using similar methods.

If nothing else it has been a PR disaster for Bambu.

Both of my Creality machines (K1 and CR10SPro (Klipperized)) run from WIFI.

I am skeptical of the need for printing from the cloud. It is an option for the K1 but never used it.

Maybe it is a control thing for me, LOL.

Thanks Guys. This is a lot to digest as I tumble down the hole, but I am confident I will get there.

Every manufacturer has its issues Creality certificates of conformity are suspect, GPL violations poor tech support. Bambu copyright issues, and privacy of the cloud.

If you do decide to buy creality buy from a Canadian supplier whom does electrical certification.