Hi. I am searching some help to find the right 3D printer for the company I work for. We are selling silos for industry and a lot more. We where thinking to get one to print some for samples to show them but also when we come up with new ideas.
What printer would you recommend for this use? I would like to see a very smooth surface on the printed item if this is possible.
Hope some can guide me in the right direction.
For professional use, but still very affordable price (for company or creative pro user), there are Ultimaker 3 (dual material FDM/FFF) or Form 2 (precise SLA – stereolitography) for easy, reliable jump-start with repeatable and accurate results. (Both recommended by many well-known guides and reviewers.) And above this basic level there are production and industrial 3D printers. All depends on specific projects.
PS: I have tested both recommended printers and now running small showroom which they are part of (as the best of their classes on our EU market by my choice).
I use an ultimaker 2 extended (extra height) and it does an amazing job. It’s very accurate down to about .010" however I think that may be due to shrinking as the part cools. I’m about to try increasing the scale by 1% and see if it helps, I think it will. Overall, the ultimaker is very nice but I do have my gripes. None that are really that major to avoid buying one though. The prints come out great.
I wouldn’t use the Form1 or 2 unless you have someone with some experience dealing with epoxies. I’d highly suggest an FDM printer like the Ultimaker 2, which everyone else is suggesting. However, there is one printer everyone seems to overlook: the BCN3D Sigma.
If start with resins and precise stereolitography, Form 2 seems to be an ideal device to me as resin from tank is automatically dispensed. A chance that user will spread the resin outside is minimalised (a critical flaw of cheaper machines with bottles). And the software has one click functionality for positioning the model and supports which is crucial for SLA in beginners hands.
And Sigma? Promising and likeable machine, but when I compared benchmark prints I have reasons to choose Ultimaker 3 over it, even for higher price (UM3 is more precise, has perfect material profiles from Ultimaker, slicing is a matter of few clicks for beginners even for soluble supports prints etc.). Maybe now, with new customized Cura for Sigmas, the reliability and user experience will be closer. @Thomas_Sanladerer mentioned a comparison which will be interesting – even more with the coming Cura 3.0 and other updates.
I’m with @Tomas_Vit : if smooth surfaces are important, you probably want some sort of SLA printer. We have a Stratasys at work, and while I don’t like it, the prints it produces look like they came out of a plastic injection molding machine.
We use the BCN3D Sigma R17 for our product design office and love it. Currentyly printing very small gears (.28in. Dia.) With the .3mm nozzle and they work well running at 500+ rpm. Lots of good results with this printer.
My vote goes SLA. Since we have our beloved Form2 FDMs are almost out of a job. In fact formlabs did one hell of a job on F2, it’s an awesome machine-software combo. And the reliability track is just amazing. I don’t even go near surface quality, it’s just amazing. It’s also super easy to work with, no problems with resins. And resins are not epoxy based, in general no health hazards unless you drink it.
@Mads_Kristensen what exactly do you need to print? Like architecture models? Then maybe full colour is what you need? Maybe look at Mcor printers?
Hi Mads
Ask http://3dexperten.dk, they can guide you.
It will be like small scale models and prototypes of silos and other constructions.
What is the price range?
Right now I don’t have one but definitely not higher than the ultimaker 3
Is there another place in europe to buy the Ultimaker 3 for a good price?? http://3deksperten.dk cant give any discount or anything on this one.