I’m thinking about buying a small 3D printer for the odd project once in a while.
Problem is, I will not use it very often and I don’t have much desk space for it to sit around.
Ideally (and I know this is utopia), I would like a device that I can pull out of a closet, fasten four screws, plug it in and be ready to go.
Is there something even remotely like that available? Every review I’ve seen just seems to assume that printers are basically static.
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Idunno why you would want a 3d printer for a print here and there. Most of the fun with 3d printing comes with the printer itself. Hot end gets clogged, bed adhesion problems, levelling problems, diagnosing and going overboard on a simple fix, that what the fun is all about.
Well, I don’t want to do that. For me a printer is a tool, not something to tinker with.
I get where you’re coming from, but I’m tinkering at another front.
The printer require a lot of maintenance.
IMO you should just use an online 3D printing service.What service would you recommend? I’m only familiar with xometry and pcbway from their ads, so there are probably better services out there.
You could try to find some local dude that got into 3d printing and made it a business.
Yeah, I have a friend who got a used print farm, but I’m looking for large sla printing.
Well that’s definitely a different usecase
How “not use it very often” are we talking about? The critical thing for any printer is first and foremost bed leveling. If you get something like an MP select mini The footprint is about 30cm^3. You can absolutely throw it in a box and just pull it out whenever BUT you will need about 30 minutes to relevel the bed just perfect and potentially run a test print. That said, this machine also only prints a 10cm^3 and it will handle PETG IF it’s been modded otherwise it’s PLA and that’s it.
Which segue nicely into my next question: What will you be printing? Models and minis? Functional parts? Random statues you find online of waifus? (Only slightly kidding)
This matters a LOT.
For the first: The mini will sorta work but not be great with details. Fort the second plan on a printer that can handle PETG at least. For the latter, you want to look into a resin printer. They WILL fit into a closet when emptied and cleaned BUT the cleaning process is both lengthy, tedious and potentially noxious and requires quite a bit of space so I didn’t even mention them in the first part.
Most of my current printing needs would be small-ish structural parts. Maybe brackets for mounting something into a weird place, cases for microcontrollers,… that kind of stuff.
