The first time I was considering to buy a 3D printer was when I heard they were getting more reliable and affordable from a colleague back at work.
I always wanted to 3D print objects I have designed, toys for my kids, or print some parts around home that can use a fix even. The problem is... no matter how many YouTube videos I watched, I don't think its the same as when you are there looking at it in action in front of your eyes.
And that is correct.
You cannot assume the build quality and print quality is good by an Amazon.com jpeg image. 3D printers to me as a designer are like musical instruments to a musician. If I am a musician and I need to buy a violin... would you just look at a photo on Amazon/eBay and decide what is best for you? No! Of course not. :)
So I headed to Micro Center when I was living in Georgia and really took it all in and be open minded about brands and price point. So off I went in!!~
I decided to go with the Creality CR-10S.
https://www.creality.com/
I just looked up to see if my model was there however I think its replaced with the much better CR-10 Smart. The underlying basic principles should be the same. This is the newer model below and I think mine is now discontinued.
The first time I opened the box and took the printer out to be honest it was scary. Because I had no idea what is what... it was so alien to me at first I didn't know how much I needed to tighten or anything what so ever.
I would like to comment. When I bought this one (2 years ago) 3D printing was about to get some traction before the Corona Virus hit worldwide. But maybe its still kind of at a development stage? This is not something you see on the ads of 3D printers... its NOT plug and play. So don't expect it to be like HP ink jet printers, where you just place in the ink carriage and off you print. I do know that day will come some day... but not now.
I was a little worried when I first saw this actually.
I always go through the manual once before I begin... mental install first. :)
Slowly but surely its starting to look like a the Creality CR-10S!
I didn't even know what this was at first...
Now starting to connect the wires one by one through the pins.
TADA!!! Finally built the damn thing and ran a test run Benchy on it.
and it worked great!~~ The very first time when building something new it does get intimidating for sure. However this is why I went with a lower budget printer at first so I can familiarize myself with it.
Since FDM Printers like this one all work on the same set of foundations and other brands have small tweaks here some minor features there. Overall basic functions are the same.
For a budget printer its actually very good in tolerance and models are pretty detailed even with normal 0.2mm height. I was very satisfied with the test quality and started to print a bit more complex shapes to see if the printer can handle stability when printed high.
I decided to go with a vase design and I learned on the 3D Printing software its called a "spiral outer contour" where it will print the model outer shell with the thickness of the print nozzle. So basically egg shell thin... Did it work?
Well.... Amazingly well. :)
For what it is... it exceeded my expectations for sure.
There is no warping or drooping of material to the side... just clean.
At the time I knew I was going to have so much fun printing other things and various materials. I felt like a kid again!!!!
I realized that 3D printers the larger they are the more silent they are too. One thing that was cool at first but started to get annoying fast was the sound of the servo motors winding and the internal fan noise is pretty loud. I recommend do not put this next to where you sleep. I did in the beginning because it was so cool however the noise later was too loud for me to sleep.
As all 3D printers they will require some maintenance because there are a lot of moving parts and temperatures of nozzles go as high as 240 C. Wear and tear of the belts later will create issues in so many factors but I will explain that for another day.
The story goes... I have ended up buying 2 more Large 3D printers (Creality CR-10 MAX) and also 2 Dental Grade Resin Printers later using it for both my work and hobby alike. So stay tuned for some more experiences from a complete NOOB to now I can say I am pretty confident 3D Printer Specialist?
I would like to let people know that they can go from nothing to learning something and becoming pro. If I can do it.. then anyone can do it.
Thanks for viewing my post and swinging by today!
Hope you guys will have a wonderful day/night.
Set Da Tone!!! :)
