Shopsmith Forums

I'm sure there are whole forums dedicated to this subject but I am interested in the experiences and knowledge of those here because one of my main interests is in making pieces for jigs, accessories, and the like for woodworking tools. I'm wondering about making simple things like miter bars and slightly more complicated things like an upper blade block for a scroll saw, and finished parts like knobs and handles. I think the members of this forum could provide some quality insight on that kind of use.

It seems that to make objects with dimensions greater than a couple inches that FFM type printers are the only low cost option. Even if that is true are the low cost printers in the $200 - $300 range on Amazon of sufficient quality to make useful parts?

Any recommendations or experiences with specific machines would be appreciated, and the same as well for design software.

Edma. I purchased the Ender-3 Pro by Creality.

https://www.creality.com/goods-detail/e ... 3d-printer

It has a 220mm X 220mm x 250mm heated bed. I love it. You can even shut if off during long prints and pick back up where you left off.

It has done prints as fine as 0.12mm perfectly. I am very pleased with it's performance and would highly recommend it for it's price point of around $300.

I even printed parts for a MPCNC.

Thanks. I've been looking at the upgraded version of that, the Ender 3 V2, currently $279.00 at Amazon. These are getting good reviews for budget models, and a budget model is how I should get started. I might just go for this soon, my family has enough ideas for things they want to print to make sure it will get used.

I started out with a kit with, I think, and 6"x6" bed, 12V power supply, learned the ropes, had problems with it, fixed problems, rinse, repeat. It worked well enough with PLA and PETG, but struggled to get the bed and hot end hot enough for ABS, this due to the aforementioned 12V supply. I also wanted to print an occasional thing larger than the bed. I eventually gave that to my son-in-law and bought a JG Aurora A5 which is theoretically capable of around 12"x12"x12". The kit took me several hours over a couple days to assemble with a lot of cussing. The JG Aurora took maybe 15 minutes to unbox, inspect the components, and assemble; I could've done a second one in about 5 minutes. The latest model of this line is the A5S, not sure what changes occurred from A5 to A5S. It appears it is sold under both the JG Aurora and JG Maker brands, might be others using the same mechanicals.

What I like:
- very sturdy
- large size
- 24V power supply that gets the bed and hot end up to temps pretty quickly (I've given up on ABS, though, it stinks and is hard to print unless you have a lot of experience, and PETG is nearly as strong, no smell, and prints cooler and easier if stringy)
- usually works well, some problems may be due to some old filament that I suspect may not be consistently sized
- has an easy to navigate touch screen
- my bed is a textured glass that allows very easy parts removal once it has cooled down. parts generally stick to it very well in the ~center 8" or so. I don't know if the current model still uses this type of glass bed.
- the company has listened to the customers via FB group to make incremental changes

What I don't like:
- bowden tube means I can't print "rubbery" materials, although didn't do much of that with my previous printer; I think it may also contribute to above filament problems
- it doesn't seem to get as hot closer to the edges, I've tried printing some larger parts or multiple parts and have had a lot of issues with lifting. could probably get around this with some experimentation, but I haven't pursued
- getting to the electronics/electricals is a bit difficult if you ever need to do so
- it can be a little loud; I have some drivers that are supposed to drastically cut the noise, but haven't yet installed them (see previous bullet, LOL)
- I had a lot of problems when I first tried running it by laptop via USB cable. it is simpler anyway to copy your g-code file to a usb stick and plug that in to the printer and let the internal board do all the processing

If I were wanting to do a lot of printing and didn't need to do larger sized prints, I'd spring for a Prusa i3 mk3, but that's $750, and also the multi-material kit to allow up to 5 filaments. I've heard lots of people praising the Crealitys, but do check for the power supply voltage if you want to print something that requires higher temps.

Thanks Roy.

I had noticed the JG AURORA A5S on Amazon. It costs a little more but it claims a bed that's about 12x12" instead of 10x10". However, I did see some comments about issue like you mention with releasing larger pieces, and also about the noise. The Creality gets the best reviews everywhere for this kind of machine, but it's difficult to evaluate what that means even if when the reviews are real.

My criteria so far:
A. Filament printer. Other types are interesting but this is more practical.
B. Low cost, no more than around $300 for the machine. I can see I'll immediately be spending more on filaments.
C. Ready to run, minimal assembly. At another time I might be interested in assembling a kit and customizing a machine. Right now I'm not. I want to unpack, and start printing.
D. Not too noisy. Don't really know how to evaluate this yet.

I think the Creality is in the lead, but I have to talk to my son about the JG, he's had some exposure to these and other machines in use for commercial purposes.

I do not know much about 3D printers or CNC machines but found some on sale at Woot. The cost decrease could be a deal for some that are interested in getting started. Not sure if the price for the filament is a good deal either. https://www.woot.com/plus/sainsmart-3d- ... _dly_image

Ed,

This video shows the difference between the "not so quiet" and quiet drivers in the A5, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul2rboKmc6g. I don't know how to describe the max sound level. You don't need hearing protection, can carry on a conversation, much of the time it is far quieter than shown in the video depending on movement directions and acceleration. It wouldn't be overly annoying, say if you were in the same room surfing the web, but would be annoying trying to watch TV or something.

Here's a review video about the the Ender 3 v2, check out around 13:00 minutes in, lots of fan noise, but no discernible movement noise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6LHam6m3g4

I'm not trying to sell you on the JG, far from it. LOL, I'm not sure I'd buy another one at this point. Just wanted to share my experiences with it. I think the Ender would be a great first printer. Do be aware that these cheap chineseum printers use cheap chineseum parts, especially fans (as addressed in the second video), that may die prematurely and need to be replaced (not necessarily hard to do for someone remotely handy).

If you're also looking at slicing software, I recommend against Simplify3D ($149), at least at this time. Their last released version was pretty good at the time, but really is showing its age and the long promised next major version seems to be more vaporware at this point, also little or no support from them in recent years. I've switched to Cura (free and very good but overwhelming number of settings) and am about to try PrusaSlicer (free).

I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with the hardware currently in use (here to learn more about it, too) however, if you're worried about compatibility, this isn't a problem. There are many free solid modeling software programs available that can be used to design components. Most solid modeling programs that range from Blender through Fusion can save the model to an .stl (it's similar to it's the pdf of the 3D world) and depending on whether the printer is equipped with its own machine code-generating software, or if it was using Cura or Slicer but I'm yet to find a printer which does not accept .stl files. Also suggest to read some reviews about printers at this site.

I've considered it, but I am so bad at CAD type softwares, I would never get anywhere.

I can deal with CAD software for my needs because they are not complex. There are also numerous existing designs for parts available for free or for a reasonable cost.

I do have concerns about the hardware, two in particular, first that I'd be forever adjusting and fixing it, second that a new printer with much better value appears on the market 1 day after I can no longer return the one I already bought. My plan was to get a printer last summer but then other stuff kept happening. Just gotta clear some of the backlog out of the way before moving on to this.