Looking for 3D printing source options in North America

[Icon_Modeler]

Hi Guys,

Other than Shapeways, what options are available to have parts printed at the detail levels we require as modelers here in North America.

I have used a company called Forecast 3D in the past but the last quote I received from them was amazingly expensive when compared to Shapeways. I had shapeways print my parts but was not happy with the results. Every part I had done had a warp issue and needed fiddling with before it could be used.

Thanks!!

[bestbalsakits]

buying your own not an option? I'd choose any cubic photon. If it doesn't work out, not much money spent.

Wim

[JamesB]

I was going to say the same. Any quote of a silly small part rockets to a considerable fraction of a printer's price... resin printing as the one showed by our new fellow making the Alfa 184 looks really good. Not sure about te price

[Tyrone]

Resin Printers now are very cheap, after getting parts for a red bull printed from shapeways, I purchased an Elegoo Mars Resin Printer - they now also do water washable resin, so you don't need to use alcohol to clean up. I made this (unfinished) McLaren on the printer.

https://i.imgur.com/dmUYc4y.jpg

[sky1911]

I'd say the same thing on the Anycubic, but anywhere, scale Master (who builds the street version T70 and the Lotus 7 before) seems to like Fraxional. I am not affiliated with them nor have I used them...

[MoFo]

What is it you want printed? If it's moderately detailed and/or has fairly straightforward, non-critical geometry (and is small enough) then yeah, an inexpensive consumer printer like the Photon or Mars should be fine. If you don't want to buy your own (there's a definite learning curve, so don't expect amazing results with zero effort), there are probably members here who would be willing to print for you.

If it's highly detailed and/or has complex and exacting geometry, I wouldn't recommend an inexpensive printer. As useful as they are, they're still orders of magnitude behind higher end commercial resin printers. They're not very geometrically precise - edges will print ~.15mm thicker (or more depending on specific geometry and orientation) and their relatively crude supports make it hard to print fine, 360` detail (something like an aircraft wheel wouldn't turn out well).

I do a lot of masters for resin aftermarket sets, and I've been running my Photon for ~18 months. There are some items where I'd have no problems printing patterns (or production parts) on the Photon, either because the limitations don't impact the part, or I can design around them. But there are a lot of items where the Photon just won't cut it, and you need to look at farming it out to pricier printers.

[Icon_Modeler]

What is it you want printed?

Years ago (around 2005) I built my first complete CAD model. I used the project to learn the Solidworks software and when I was done I explored the feasibility of 3D printing and having the parts created via SLA. I spent about $1500 on parts before realizing that I did not tolerance the parts correctly (in fact not at all) and nothing fit together as intended. Since that time I have little by little gone back through the model and clearanced here and there so that the parts will fit together now. Some parts I was able to fix by sanding, filing or just general fiddling so not everything had to be remade. Some parts I broke down a little differently so that assembly would be easier etc. etc. It was my first CAD model so every time I look at it I see things I could do differently to make things better, easier, or hopefully cheaper. I have decided that it is time to finally have the remaining parts created and to finish this model once and for all.

I'm acquainted with the Anycubic Photon. I have a few friends who own them. Honestly the reason I have resisted buying one is that I'm not sure I want to go threw the learning curve to make parts and some of my parts frankly are way bigger than that little thing can manage. You give me an affordable printer that has a 12 inch cube print area and I'm all over it. Up to this point it has just been easier for me to send my files and have someone else create my parts for me. We will see though. I have heard that Any Cubic is about to release another printer with a larger print area. Maybe that will be my ticket and what pushes me to buy my own set up.

[dmarek]

Yay!! So glad you are revisiting this.

Dave

[MoFo]

I did not tolerance the parts correctly (in fact not at all) and nothing fit together as intended. Since that time I have little by little gone back through the model and clearanced here and there so that the parts will fit together now.

Well something like the Photon(/Mars/Epax/Peopoly/etc) will oversize each layer by about .15mm all around - ie. the edge of each 'shape' on each layer will print about .15mm further out than it's supposed to. If you've built in that tolerance, it'll work fine. If not, you'll have to fix it manually (or digitally, before you print). Or look elsewhere.

Here's a list of print services: https://all3dp.com/1/best-online-3d-pri ... -services/ that might be worth checking out. www.treatstock.com is the closes to what 3D Hubs used to be, where you can find individual printers/local services. There's also https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprintmything/ which lets you connect with individual users, but it's geared more to filament printers.

Honestly the reason I have resisted buying one is that I'm not sure I want to go threw the learning curve to make parts and some of my parts frankly are way bigger than that little thing can manage.

That's a valid concern. Based on my experiences here and on some 3D printing sites, some people struggle with their new machines. I wouldn't say it's *hard*, but I wouldn't suggest jumping into a big, complex project right off the bat. It's sort of like machining - it's as much a hobby unto itself as it is a tool for your model building hobby.

You give me an affordable printer that has a 12 inch cube print area and I'm all over it.

There are a few large consumer-grade mSLA printers hitting the market, but they're an order of magnitude more expensive than the Photon or Mars and not nearly as widely used in the community. Peopoly has the biggest, at 35 x 20 cm, which is the largest available at the moment AFAIK. Phrozen and Peopoly also do printers in the ~28 x 15 cm class, which seems to be the current "large" size. Elegoo and Phrozen and Wanhao (and probably Anycubic and Creality, soon) do printers in the ~19 x 12 cm class. So not as big as you'd like, unfortunately. Even the professional machines tend to be smaller, so you'd need to do a bit of research to see what machines can print as big as you want, in the quality you want, *then* start looking for a place that runs those machines. Though, since you've got most of the large parts printed already, you might be able to make do with a Photon. Might be worth asking one of your friends to run a test print to see what you think.

[Icon_Modeler]

Might be worth asking one of your friends to run a test print to see what you think.

That's exactly what I thought I would do. The brakes and rotors for example. In the pictures of my previous post the brake calipers and the brake rotors are each one piece. I have since decided that I will turn the rotors out of aluminum and made the brake caliper a seperate part along with each brake pad. I'm going to send those over to a friend and see how they come out.

Thanks for the links. There is a section of the undertray that has broken so I'm pondering a complete redo or there is a section line where the underwing comes apart on the real car. I might cut it apart there and just have the broken area reprinted to save cost but that depends on if I can get the undertray to fit correctly into the body.

Thanks for your input