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.
The printer require a lot of maintenance.
IMO you should just use an online 3D printing service.
When I checked online printing services the last time, they were really expensive. For my very first project (4 custom card organizers) it would have cost me more than a hundred bucks. My printer + the initial accessoires were around than 200 bucks and I’ve printed so many functional parts since then that it easily amortized itself within the first year.
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.
Take a look at the Prusa Mini and Bambu Lab A1 Mini. It sounds like you want something reliable so I’d stay away from the ultra cheap stuff.
I can’t think of any printers that would get smaller if you could slightly disassemble them. They would all take a lot of disassembly, and then still take up almost as much space as before.
I like the idea of just using a print service. More expensive per print, but if you don’t print often, it’s probably cheaper than buying and maintaining your own.
The library idea is really good, too.
I own an Ender 3 V2 that I use around 10 times a year. It is one of the less sophisticated printers and still it does not require that much maintenance. You have to remove the dust, level the bed and sometimes clean or exchange the nozzle. More sophisticated printers can also do some stuff automatically (e.g. the bed leveling part).
However, the initial assembly and fine tuning took some time (approx. 1-2 hours), so I wouldn’t recommend to dis- and reassemble it all the time. If you don’t have that much space, maybe check for a small printer.
When I did my research 2 years ago the Prusa Mini was quite popular for small printer. But if you want to print big parts a lot, it might be a bit annoying as you always have to cut them into smaller chunks, print separate and finally glue them together.
If you’re going to move it, whatever you get, makes sure it has auto bed leveling. Fucking around with that kills the spontaneity every time. I move around an Ender3 V2 with the BLTouch leveler all the time, carrying it with me back and forth from the farm to the city. I plunk it down and it sorts itself out easily.
Stick to a cartesian style though, I have a delta I built and even with bed leveling, it gets out of calibration if I move it.
