3D Printer Recommendations

[DavidTunnard]

Hi All,

Apologies if this post isn't correct for this forum. Please move if so!

Do any of you have any 3D printers that you would really recommend? I would mainly want it to make parts with good enough quality for accurate prototypes and some small-scale production parts. Not really sure what my budget should be so all suggestions are welcome!

Thanks

[JDMather]

There is a lot involved in this decision.

Material

Resolution

Model Size Envelope

Budget

Stratasys F123 Series 3D Printers | Stratasys

Objet30 PolyJet 3D Printer | Stratasys

[-niels-]

I can't really make any recommendations since i only have experience with one 3D printer. (an Ender 3)
For me that was a really great printer for a good price to tinker with and learn how it all works.
You're saying you want to create accurate prototypes and small scale production parts, which suggests that you're looking for something more "works out of the box".

If you want better suggestions i'd recommend making a more detailed list of your requirements, like:
- what kind of material do you wish to use?
PLA has lower temperature requirements than Nylon for instance, but there are differences in strength, flexibility etc.
- what kind of process do you want to use?
My Ender 3 is an FDM printer, but you can also print resin with SLA printers. those are the 2 more common print processes.
- what kind of size prints are you expecting to make?
Build plate size matters a lot in printer pricing, if you need something large on a regular base then it pays to invest into a large printer, but you could get around with splitting large objects in smaller prints and then assembling them afterwards.

Find some specialized 3D printing forums after you've found some candidate machines and see what those users run into and what solutions they can offer.
(i got a lot of useful info for my Ender on Reddit)

Hope this helps a bit in your search!

[DavidTunnard]

Yeah, this is why I wanted some general pointers.

Currently, we pay for a company to do our 3D printing. However, we have been using the MJF process and I believe the printers that do that are quite expensive and out of our budget.

I think the resolution is the main priority as a lot of the parts will be for sub sea and a poor finish will attract all sorts!

[swalton]

What is your time worth?

Is a hobby-level machine that requires lots of user knowledge/setting tweaking actually a cost saving once you pay an employee to learn all of that?

What kind of performance do you need from your parts? look-and-feel or actual service parts?

How big are your parts?

Are you designing for 3d printing as the primary manufacturing process, or are you designing for castings, injection molding, machining, or some other manufacturing process?

How much are you spending on the service provider? What will be the payback time on the new machine and operator training vs sending out the work?

[Ray_Feiler]

https://markforged.com/3d-printers/x7

https://markforged.com/3d-printers/metal-x

[NigelHay]

We've been looking at this one, seems versatile with options to laser mark & CNC machine.

https://manchester-metrology.co.uk/product/snapmaker-2-0-3-in-1-3d-printer/

[SharkDesign]

Love these machines. Had 2 at my previous company and my current company bought one last year. 

https://www.raise3d.com/products/pro2-3d-printer/