Advice on first printer

Greetings,

I'm looking to get into 3d printing, and have started doing the basic research to become familiar enough about the hardware to talk about it intelligently. So far, I've found that the state of the art is moving quickly - it seems the hot thing now is using two sheets for the support structure of the printer, held at right angles to each other, the vertical sheet supporting the Z axis lead screws that carry the X axis mechanism, and the other supporting the Y motion carriage.

My background: recent Ph.D. in physics, also have M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. I'm no stranger to building experiments, having built parts to use in a wind tunnel, and constructed from scratch a large shaking apparatus. I can do basic machining, and have a good understanding of assembly and structure. My final thesis work was in simulations, and I have a solid understanding of Unix, LaTeX, C, and software in general. I've also used Arduino boards to control demonstrations and examples when I teach classes. (I'm currently an adjunct professor at two different schools, and am looking for a full time position.) All that said, I fully recognize the value of experience and practice, and think that my learning curve will rise more steeply than most as I enter this field, but I still seek guidance from experienced hands. No point in reinventing the wheel, or the Darwin.

My main interest is to get a printer to supplement my experimental work, build demonstration parts, gears and mechanisms. A secondary use would be to make cool small objects, parts for games, cute 3D words where it looks like one word from the top and another from the front, soma cubes, etc. And finally, I'm intrigued by the idea of self replication, where the only costs to produce are raw materials and printer time.

In terms of what I've seen out there, I'm attracted to the small size of the Huxley, but think the design of the Prusa i3, the Lulzbot TK-0, and the Mendel90 are vastly superior. I'm not averse to buying vitamins on my own - there's a Grainger warehouse a very short drive from my house, and I've used McMaster countless times, ordering stuff for experiments, even once while I was in Chile. And while I don't have access to a machine shop now, and don't have the time or space to set up my own small one, I can do some work with machined parts.

So my real question is this: are there any proven designs out there for a smaller footprint Prusa i3 or TK-0 style printer? Any sources for printed parts for those machines? (I've looked over a few older posts along these lines, but haven't found anything addressing my specific issues.)

I have several other ideas about where 3d printing can go next as it develops, but will save those for other posts.

Happy New Year to all!

Regards,
aeronaut

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2013 01:49PM by aeronaut.

Start with a StepRapPro Mendel kit. You will build and commission it yourself and gain much knowledge of the hobby. With that knowledge, you will be able to build your own machines.

You will be able to rapidly prototype parts on it and print parts for fun as well.

I'd be tempted to go for a mendel90 - they look really good. I have a prusa2 and a mendelmax, and I'd recommend the MM over the prusa2. Unless a small printer is really important to you, I'd go for a common, bigger design. They have the advantage of more documentation and support, plus it's a pain to find something cool on thingiverse and wish you had a larger print area to print it on. My mendelmax 1.5 doesn't take up a huge amount of desk space, and it can print 20x20x20cm which is really useful.

Hi Aeronaut,
Welcome to the forum.
I've been following the evolutions of the desktop sized offerings for a while now and the Mendel90 has to be top of my list of design, kit quality, value for money and technical backup at this point in time. If want an easy start into 3d printing that would be my recommendation. I've no association with the developer/supplier (Nophead here on the forum), but I'm a fan of his work.

Once you have a printer up and running then it opens up a whole new world of possibilities, as I'm sure you've realised. If you think you can improve on the printer with design enhancements then you have the freedom to do so. With a printer at your disposal you can design and build your own printer if you wish!

Enjoy the adventure!
Regards,
NumberSix

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Idolcrasher, James, NumberSix (great forum name, BTW),

Thanks for the input. I've continued my research, and I agree that the Mendel90 design looks the best. I've built experiments where precise alignment is important, and the hassle of getting two triangles to be plane parallel and the axes normal to each other is best solved by good design geometry. There are enough other things to tweak and adjust on a 3d printer without that extra hassle.

In terms of size, I'd love to build a sturdy version, but I don't have a dedicated workshop, and space is a big issue. I'm still debating this point - if the huxley sized version of the mendel90 were available, that would probably be my first choice, with the knowledge that I'm sacrificing some build size. The real question is what minimum size will allow me to print everything that I want to print with it.

Appreciate the advice. Cheers!

Regards,
aeronaut