3D Printing Community Questions and Answers by mikebit 3d printing

3D Printing Community Q&A mikebit 3D printing


Please use CTRL+F for Search
Q1: If you had to pick just 1 which would you say was the best 3D printer you’ve used?
Q2: If you sell printing time, how much do you charge per?
Q3: What’s the best way to unclog a blocked hot end/nozzle?
Q4: What extras would you like to see in the next gen of 3D printers?
Q5: What price do you consider reasonable for a 3D printer?
Q6: What do look for first when looking at a new 3D printer quality or speed?
Q7: What was the first thing you 3D printed (or going to print if you don’t have a 3D printer)?
Q8: Is there any advice you wish someone told you before you bought your first 3d printer?
Q9: If you could have a desktop machine to make your own filament would you?
Q10: Have you used flexible filaments? If so which one did you use? And what did you print with it?


Q1 mikebit 3d printing: If you had to pick just 1 which would you say was the best 3D printer you’ve used?

Afro3dPrinter-3D打印机: Honestly it depends what I’m printing, every 3D printer is not perfect just yet;
John: I’m trying to save up for a second printer, but I keep buying more filament! #3DPrintingProblems
Chris Russell: I couldn’t choose just one. Each printer I own excels at different things. Than again… my MK3 hasn’t shipped yet. That could change my mind…
James – Print N Play: Its always super hard to pick just one. Each of them brings something different to the table. Since I’m doing a lot of large scale printing, the CR-10 is my go to for the moment. But the Ultimaker line delivers beautiful prints with high consistency. So hard to pick!
Jay’s 3D Adventure: For me it’s the printrbot metal plus.
Sarah Slater on Tech: For reliably getting a print my Dremel 3D40, no fuss in all the time ive had it.
Plastic Blacksmith: Creality ender-2 is the best I’ve personally used. The best I’ve seen used effectively is the Craftbot.
Kirby Downey: Makerbot replicator 2 and an ultimaker 2
Filaments Directory: I’m quite happy with my UM2 I will not say I hadn’t issues. The good point is that you can still repair it yourself.
Evan Morgan: Moai FTW! Check out my review. I have two now and they run almost non stop!
Fotis Mint: Really happy with my ZMorph3d 2.0sx
Geof @ G3 Machining: I dont think i could pick one out of all of them lol
Greg Genung: My Makergear M2, I have over 10,000 printing hours on this machine. It is my most used 3d printer by far.
Juri: Ultimaker 3
Richard H: Apples and oranges – all still have different good and bad points, and it’s often the SW, FW & tool-chains that fail to impress. Would be fun to list pro/con of all machines, and then why ‘we’ still don’t have a great & friendly desktop #3Dprinting system yet…
Jeff Lagant: Ultimaker UM2+
Simone Fontana: Agree UM2 +
Fernando Jerez: I specially like my first printer: the @BQ_3d Hephestos (a prusa clone), maybe not the best but prints great and i have a special love-hate relation with it. Also love the simplicity of the Creality CR-10.
Victor Pons: Zmorph 2.0 a very solid machine.
Neotko Sebas: Just one… I would get 2000€ and make the Gudoxycore from scratch. But from a shop? I would get a sigmax for volume size and x2 prints at the same time. Ofc I would mod it with zge and probably some tunes here and there for extra juicy speed.
Chompworks: Always remember seeing the ZMorph at the London 3DPrint show. Always impressed us as a standout of the show back then, and it’s been good to see it go from strength to strength!
Kit: My up mini is a solid machine, it almost plug and play.
NoGimmicks3DP: CraftBot2 without Question
3D Maker Noob: I can tell you my top 4; josefprusa mk2s, MatterHackers Pulse and the bcn3dtech Sigma R17 and the mostfun3D Pro
Vicky Somma: My makergear M2 has been a most reliable workhorse. I have made it travel with me and do things like print outside in 90 degree weather. It has also survived all my experimentation (and occasional miscalculations) with embedded parts. We’ve been through a lot, the M2 & I.
Matt Weber: The creality ender 4, evwn with its locked firmware. I now have the firmware from them even so just have to bootload it and itll be unlocked firmware then too.
Makerwiz: Definitely the LulzBot TAZ 6 for overall quality and usability. Every print is perfect!
William M Devine Jr: While I have been 3D printing for about 3 years, I only have 2 printers. 1 is a Prusa I3 Clone and not a good one. The other is a Genuine Prusa I3 MK2S with MMU. So obviously my choice is limited. I3 MK2S with MMU is the better of the two. My plan is to convert the old I3 clone into a laser engraver. That is if I ever find the time lol.
yoda 3d: I only tested mine

Q2 mikebit 3d printing: If you sell printing time, how much do you charge per?

3DPrinTek: This depends on the risk of a failure and the material. Usually I don’t charge per time – I’d prefer to charge per weight.
Tessa: I don’t sell printing time or prints generally. But I do sell custom 3d designs sometimes. I quote a price based on an estimate of time/effort and complexity of the model, whether it has a tight deadline and what programs I might be using.
Samantha Welch: I sell prints of my designs but not print time, I enjoy designing things for people too much to want to operate as a fab shop, although I print things for friends/family on request.
Steve Abrams: I pretty much do the same. To me 3d printing is a way for me to express my creativity, Selling stuff I design supports the passion and the ego.
Victor Pons: I have sold prints by cubic cm or inches. The Price included filament, time, utilities and machine wear/depreciation.
Spectra3D: We charge for Material needed, print hours needed, set up, post processing..
Sahil: I charge for a lifetime of taxi service and shopping bag carrying service when clothes shopping for the wife. Not looking bored is a extra charge. Normal bag carrying is foc obviously.
Spike: Not really sold any prints so far. For me it’s more of a hobby. When I do prints for others, it’s usually family or friends. Lots for my daughter lately.
welbot: Haven’t really calculated it yet, as my printer is quick enough to warrant not worrying about it really. Perhaps when my workload increases I’ll put more thought in to it 🙂
3D Maker Noob: i tend to charge a flat rate per printed gram of filament which includes material, electricity, overheads and time. if it’s a complex print which requires a lot of post processing i might charge a small extra fee.
Pokon: Printing time is cost of material +wear of printer but most of the time it’s hey can you print this (20cent of material) and you get a full spool + money like 2 euros or so.
Matt Weber: $2/h i feel covers the resources it uses plus wear and tear on machine.
3damss: I print HT stuff so its the cost of material(including supports) X 3 to cover all costs and make a little profit 🙂
Dizingof: I never sold a print but i’m really curious to test buyers reaction say on etsy/ebay about a #3Dprinted designs/sculptures with Metal Skin like these 2 examples. What do you guys think?
Ron – The Happy Extruder: Never sold prints, I would have to research what others are doing.
Mmmfishtacos: I never charge enough.
GreyBeard3D: $5/hr print time is a good start. Shipping, post processing, or design time is separate.
Geof @ G3 Machining: Depends on alot of things but material, time, set up, clean up, shipping. Of course there is always some wiggle room to help out and try to keep it in the “ideal budget”. Lead time is the big one, if needed NOW, it gets pricey as all jobs have to shift.
Dan the 3D Printing Dad: I don’t – I 3D print for a hobby only. I don’t think I need another job.
NAK3D Designs: Yea, I don’t want “ another” job either but sure would be nice if I could find a way to make 3D printing and traveling to trades shows my only job. I had a blast at ERRF.
Cat (Katja): I‘ve never sold a print. So curious to hear what the other ones say.
NAK3D Designs: The few times I have I’ve charged the cost of filament put $1 an hours, but that was just to recoup expenses wasn’t really trying to make a profit.
Chompworks: I don’t have a hard and fast rule for pricing of my prints – it depends on too many variables (I tend to go off of: print time/material cost, post processing time, hand painting time, and whether that price is “right” for the end product) There are some downsides to that, but …… I try to make it fair. From what I can tell from my customers, I seem to be getting the balance right.
Lauren Renee: My rate is $35-50 per set of ears but that includes headbands and bows plus labor. And $25 for brush holders. I have not sold any other prints I usually give those away.
William M Devine Jr: I really depends on what is being printed and what the material is. I charge more for ABS as it fails more frequently. I am listed on @3DHubs and I am currently the only printer available in the Temecula Valley
3D Print Tech Design: I really don’t count that. If I specify a line called “production” in a quotation it’s a calculated print cost, which is material, running costs, allocation and a estimated failure-% cost. On top of that would be administration/handling/preparation. Usually it’s just 1 line.
Beardy McBeardface: I don’t sell my work. I’ve done a few jobs for friends who insisted on paying so I just tell them how much filament I’ve used and cost/metre

Q3 mikebit 3d printing: What’s the best way to unclog a blocked hot end/nozzle?

Geof @ G3 Machining: Standard material jam I remove it and use a small confection torch to “burn out” the jam. Then season the nozzle when I reassemble. Totally honest- while in production I just replace the nozzle with a brand new one…got a bin of dirty used nozzles to clean lol.
Tinkerz: Let’s just say my first experience was with a @E3DOnline cyclops hotend. Couldn’t ever get that thing to keep both materials hot enough to not jam…. Can’t count the number of times it had to be disassembled.. Only ever got one side to work reliably.
Tessa: Replace nozzle 😉
Sahil: Needle file and acetone. Or burn it off. And once I am done destroying my nozzle I wait and buy a new one when I can afford one.
welbot: I’d love to chime in with a legit answer, but my printer doesn’t have a nozzle! 😉
3DWithUs: We tried most of the ways including cold pulling etc. In short time – nozzle still gets clogged. So the best way is to change worn nozzle completely.
Makerwiz: Torching the nozzle works most of the time, but you need to take precautions working with open flames. Also not torching nozzle in place, but after nozzle has been taken off the printer. Obviously.
Vaughan_ZA: So inexpensive, just buy another one.
Richard H: Carefully… Highly depends on what/why it’s clogged – Never overheat ‘cook’ PLA or any metal or wood-filled material. Warm gently and pick out with dental picks / drill if bad. For others (ABS,PET & HIPS etc.) you can often overheat and do atomic pulls with NYLON. YMMV…
Victor Pons: Usually with a Creme Brûlee burner and a suitable metal guitar string to unclog the nozzle.
THT – Passed the Turing Test: Cold pull unclogs my nozzle everytime.
Toni Ryan: I have had good luck when printing PLA with the acupuncture needle & atomic pull. Pick a “sticky” PLA to pull with. ABS jams I do needle/atomic pull first, if still clogged, I remove the nozzle & acetone soak.
3D Printing Lab: Really it depends on where the clog is. One time I thought it would be a good idea to just heat the nozzle to about 250 this was with PLA. And just left it for a while. About 20 minutes later there is a pop, smoke is coming out of the nozzle, and there is this orange powder on the bed. For me if the clog is stuck in the cold end of the heat break, I like to take some 1.5mm wire and shove it down as hard as I can to get the filament to go through. But one time I also had an issue where it got clogged in the PTFE tube going into the hot end, this was on an E3D v6, I needed to take apart the whole hot end to take the filament out of the tube, it had over-expanded in the PTFE. Only way out was to cut the PTFE apart, and put a new tube in.
Pokon: Flamethrower, or a torch to heat up and melt the crap out of your hot-end but dont do this with hotends that have a PTFE insert the fumes are not okay.
Emvio Engineering: Get a new one 🙂
Chris Russell: Drink lots of water, and if you think it’s something serious, see your doctor. Make sure you let him know if you have any heart conditions as some of the medications for these types of things ain’t good for the ol ticker….
catohagen: usually an ‘atomic pull’ solves most clogs 🙂
AlkeshOne: Only one I’ve had was from a CR-10s which was clogged on arrival. We ended up heating it up and pulling it back out. Then noticed that the Bowden tube was not pushed all the way in.
Barb: I just want to say it’s not always a clogged hot end. I had a hobbed bolt wear down once on my flexystruder (@keebie81 fixed it) and now maybe some other jam (not clog) on my aerostruder. Good thing I have more then one toolhead as I still only have 1 printer.
Chris Taylor Jr: So far for me assuming it’s not a mechanical fault Jam I just jack up the temperature to 260 and push works almost every single time the only time it didn’t work was when the nozzle was physically clogged with glitter 🙂
William M Devine Jr: Ok so joking aside on this. Like some others have said, I jack up the temperature and push the filament through. If that does not work the depending on the diameter I remove the nozzle heat with a torch and use an appropriately sized drill bit to clean it out.
3D Print Tech Design: Hot-Pulls! Then Cold-Pulls if that doesn’t work and last resort is a needle/surgical needle =)

Q4 mikebit 3d printing: What extras would you like to see in the next gen of 3D printers?

Plastic Blacksmith: The big one would be the ability to restart a print from wherever it failed. Too many large prints go in the bin of doom when they are missing half a head etc.
William M Devine Jr: Integrated octoprint or similar capability
Fotis Mint: A button that makes the day go from 24 hours to 48
Pokon: less print time is always nice but im really with @fotismint with the button idea
Fernando Jerez: A desktop @blackbelt3d !!!
Spectra3D: Go back to simple.. Manual bed level no bed leveling sensors.
Geof @ G3 Machining: speed without quality loss, smarter slicers/support generation, closed loop electronics so the axis know where they are and can correct or shut down (safely). Would settle for a E-STOP. Pretty standard overlook on most machines IMO.
Vicente Gascó: I agree, manual bed leveling is not a hazzle. I would love dual extrusion with reinforced nozzles and heated bed to be standard on all printers. And a smarter way to recover or continue prints after power loss. All other dreams are slicer related. Like for example, non-planar extrusion moves. Finally controling density along the Z-axis for both infill and supports is coming along. At least with Cura and Simplify3D.
Jeff Lagant: Automatic shutdown when print is failing. A pressure sensor near the nozzle should be able to do the trick but it’s easier said than done haha
Chris Russell: I’d like to see more onboard diagnostics to tell you exactly what part is bad when something goes wrong. Example- instead of just a thermal runaway, tell me I have a shorted thermistor or blown cartridge.
Richard H: Inteligent hot-ends need to happen. Then even if the main system fails the hot-end should still be under control and safe. It could do a self-check each power on too. Modular. Easy to repair – quick fitting! As we are discussing – Why don’t we have a viable Open-Source Hardware & Software structured light #3DScanning solution yet… Something like the great Artec Eva / Lite but for 1/10th cost. That’s a community project I would really love to see get off the ground.
Neotko Sebas: 3 materials (color, flexibe, pva) a-la idex or mark2 with #tinyg acceleration control .
Richard H: Just failure free printing. No one wants to waste materials. Industry standard spool size (+ machines to accept it) and all filament suppliers using recycled or sustainable spools / spool-free filament + any sort of minimum packaging system for shipping #3DPrinting consumables.
Victor Pons: Full Color printing!
Jonathan Watters: Fully automated calibration. Servo motors that level the bed. Sensors to measure frame skew. Accelerometer for vibration analysis to keep printer in limits. Using filament pellets so parts can be crushed and reused. Closed loop linear motion
Robert Eads: Better leveling sensors maybe a color LED screen.
Olivier Bordes: depends, at what price ? a multi material printer (PLA, ABS, nylon…) with great print quality and enclosure for less than 500$
yoda 3d: super fast printing
Rae: Non planer slicing.

Q5 mikebit 3d printing: What price do you consider reasonable for a 3D printer?

Chris Lee: What works out value for money….
Fernando Jerez: For my personal use and as hobyist, i think around 500$ it’s a fair price.
Filaments Directory: and for a pro around 2000$. I’m always cautious about recurrent costs (proprietary filaments, licences, …), support and spare parts. Open source is a must 😉
Geof @ G3 Machining: I dont mind the cost if it fits my needs and I can ROI the machine fairly quickly. The big killer is R and M and part availability/support. You cant buy parts/support it doesn’t matter what the machine costs. 😀
Greg Genung: I think $500.00 for an entry level printer, $1000 for the intermediate user. $2k plus for those looking for workhorse production. I think the community around each printer level is just as important. To collaborate with others who own your printer make it a better experience.
Vicente Gascó: Depends on use of course. There is no excuse for propietary filaments in my opinion. Replacement parts and great customer service are a must. Below $500 for amateurs sounds good. At $2-3.5k mark I would expect dual extrusion, heated bed and quality components. No more than that for FDM. Looking forward to desktop SLA and SLS machines.
Jason Groom: It all depends on the printer and what your needs are. Sometimes a $200 printer is OK, other times you need a $2000+ printer to accomplish your goals.
Robert Eads: I would say 1200$
Rae: The price that you can afford based on your economic situation and available income are the defining factors to me. $200 will buy a printer that can be improved to perform very well. $2000 should buy a printer that provides repeatable performance for almost any random user.
3D Maker Noob: see now that all depends on the printer and it’s capabilities 🙂 for example, the 101 Hero should be exactly 23.99 and should include haribo with it.
NoGimmicks3DP: That all depends on the Printer. £500 – £1000 for a Desktop Printer would be reasonable. £1000 – 2000 for Prosumer is reasonable. Anything over that isn’t realistic for the home user. As with most things you pay extra for a name but it doesn’t make it a better machine.
Tanya Wiesner: Beginner under $1000 Intermediate: $1000-$3000 Pro: Over $3000
text: I would say about $300
Chris Taylor Jr: That is literally an unanswerable question as worded because it depends on what you demand of the printer what your requirements are. You can buy a $150 printer that will give you spectacular results and you could buy a $500 printer that’s garbage so it’s kind of a case-by-case.

Q6 mikebit 3d printing: What do look for first when looking at a new 3D printer quality or speed?

Almost all respondents preferred quality to speed. Here are some answers:
Lauren Renee: I never look at speed, like ever! I look at quality, features available, my needs (aka what I’m looking to print with it materials and design wise) and lead time vs need time.
Matt Weber: Quality. Speed is meaningless without quality.
Richard H: Mechanical quality first. Then print quality, because you can tune that if you have solid machine build and good extruder. You can always squeeze out a bit more speed when you have everything setup well. Or cheat and use a bigger nozzle 🙂
Jason Groom: Because of how I use my printer, strictly as a hobby, I look for a nice mix of quality and speed. If I were only making products to sell, it would be quality all the way, if it was simply things for me, it would be speed, but because I mix the two, I try to mix the features.
Vicente Gascó: Quality of components, quality of community and quality of customer service.
Tanya Wiesner: Both
Vaughan_ZA: Quality most definitely . want speed have it injected molded.

Q7 mikebit 3d printing: What was the first thing you 3D printed (or going to print if you don’t have a 3D printer)?

Barb: keychain 😀
Lauren Renee: A whistle and then a dual extrusion traffic cone both came on the Flashforge SD card. First thing I printed that was my own design was a scarf holder.
Jay’s 3D Adventure: God that’s taking me back a while, lol. I think it was a part cooling bracket, I didn’t know anything about calibrating a printer back then, I just went straight to printing :-). It was a @printrbot LC btw.
William M Devine Jr: The test print provided with the printer a 4 leaf clover vase
Vaughan_ZA: A 10x10mm cube
Plastic Blacksmith: First thing was the cat on the sd card printed with no head.
Chris: Calibration circle then a PLA oiler…
Fun King 3d: The Anet Chinese chess piece. The initial layer was horrible and the rest has some issues, but I will never get rid of it. 🙂
Cults: Ultimaker robot.
Chris Lee: Spare part for my RepRapPro mono many years ago.
Louise Driggers: Oooooh! The first thing I printed was a model I had made – a knurled knob. Back in 2012 on our first printer (a Prusa i2) before we knew much (anything) about calibration. I cringe now, but I was soooooo proud at the time.
Fillamentum.com: Bowl 🙂
Chris Russell: Guitar picks!
D3D DYNAMO3D: In 2013 we remember that was a mask low poly
Filaments Directory: Ultibot 😉
Vicente Gascó: A Stanford bunny haha.
Fernando Jerez: A small rubber duck
Richard H: A wade extruder block #3DPrinted on a repstrap I built in 2009. Awful print, but so exciting to see a machine I designed and hand-built print anything. It is also the very first entry on my blog. I still have that print. happy days 🙂
Heather: My maker coin for the series I did called #pickthepink
Joel Bonasera: I tried to print a Settlers of Catan mountain tile that I had designed. It failed 3 times, but once I finally printed it I had moved on to other projects.
3D Maker Noob: My maker coin which i had designed before i got the first printer 🙂 that coin was in pink and was sent to @ddhedder as promised.
Matt Weber: My first print ever for the anet a8 was yoda.
MAGIGOO: mmm i believe it was calibration stairs 🙂 just like these
JATMN – CaptainBAWLS: Minion from Despicable Me. In brown coffee color wanhao pla with clear plastic as support material. Sliced in rep g This print no longer exists looked like hell from no part cooler and support was fused to the print Wanhao duplicator 4.
Kristian: #1 ultimaker robot, #2 fail, #3 Yoda… Shame on me
headGeek: @Ultimaker Maker robot on an Ultimaker 2Go.
xSchattenfluchx: Aside from calibration prints? A magazine release lever for a Nerf Rapidstrike
NoGimmicks3DP: A 10mm Cube. Then about 50 more till it was actually 10x10x10mm.
Makerwiz: A loud Money Frog
3D Print Tech Design: On my own, first 3Dprinter, a sign, back in early 2012 – warped as you can see
Neotko Sebas: First print was an Ultirobot. That was the first day I thought anything was possible (but super slow and with fan errors). So I did spend almost a year moding my machines until I was able to print a correct one & fast https://youtu.be/ddeZN9QSRLU Was quite a ride.
Pokon: Shot glass to celebrate my first print
Eduard Sukharev: Test cube!
3DWithUs: +1 test print gnome. We would recommend to print test prints on any new 3D printer first, there is point in it.
Spectra3D: Was the makerbot Jaws, Jan 7th 2014
Tessa: my first 3d print was a replacement duct for the part fan, because I broke the original while building the printer. lucky they had provided the files for all the printed parts on the 3d printer.
3DGBIRE: #GameOfThrones “Hand of the King” pin – Connor
Vicky Somma: International Symbol for Breastfeeding (for both @Shapeways and the @makergear M2)
SPANNERHANDS: 20 x 20 x 5mm Test Print, on a poorly executed homemade reprap in 2008.
Cat (Katja): It was a small Pikachu that came with the delta printer I‘ve assembled.
Jen DW: 1st: a client project lost to time somewhere in early 2000’s on a Stratasys FDM the size of a fridge. On my own printer: the Printrbot fan shroud!
Tanya Wiesner: March hare https://www.myminifactory.com/object/march-hare-24657

Q8 mikebit 3d printing: Is there any advice you wish someone told you before you bought your first 3d printer?

James – Print N Play: Figure out what is most important to you… size, speed, accuracy, reliability, filament support. Then find the printer that checks the most of those boxes at your price point. Also, learn some basic CAD if you don’t already. You will get so much more out of the experience!
Spectra3D: Ask yourself.. Why do I need a 3d printer.. My answer was to start a business..
Cat (Katja): Someone should have told me earlier how awesome it is!! And yes, it’s highly addictive!
3D Maker Noob: Get a part time job cause you’ll need it….
123 cardigan: Make sure your partner doesn’t mind the noise or loss of space.
NoGimmicks3DP: They are but a stepping Stone into a vast world of Possibilities, not the end game.
Neotko Sebas: I would suggest to visit someone with one (any model of the kind he wants). And probably I would recommend the new @3DHubs book, but I would wait for a pdf/free version since seems mostly what one can google on most places if has interest.
Tanya Wiesner: Buy painter’s tape
3D Printing Lab: I feel for the first time user, you want to have auto-leveling, it makes your life 100x easier when you have no clue how to level a bed.
Geof @ G3 Machining: They multiply 😀
Joel Telling / 3D Printing Nerd: No. I really don’t think so. I’ve enjoyed this journey by finding my path. I don’t think anything anyone would have said in the beginning would have prepared me better.
Richard H: No, it’s an amazing adventure. What I tell people now – (Q – why do you need one?) then, make sure you have plenty of time to invest, and if you only need or want the finished #3Dprinted parts, consider using a service rather than owning/running your own machine.
Jeff Lagant: Learn to 3d model if you want to experience the true power of 3d printing
Matt Weber: Prepare to be addicted..
Kit: Less useless tips about with 3D printer is the best and more veritable info on how a 3D printer work and what you need to get started!
Greg Genung: Make room because once you catch the 3d printing fever 1 printer will not be enough!
Fotis Mint: Prepare the divorce papers
Fernando Jerez: Be careful, it’s addictive!
Tinkerz: Don’t buy a delta kit as your first printer!
Chris Russell: Read the manual 17 times before putting it together, and google known issues before even starting. Even the best manuals, written by the person who designed the machine, aren’t often clear for n00bs who have no clue what a hot end is.
Barb: I put hard drives, ram chips and i/o cards in PCs so I thought a 3d printer kit would be a snap to assemble. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the 85 page assembly guide. I paid someone to put it together for me.

Q9 mikebit 3d printing: If you could have a desktop machine to make your own filament would you?

The majority of respondents answered positively. Here are some answers:
Tessa: I have one and don’t, it sits in the garage gathering dust
Chris Taylor Jr: That depends how much is the machine what maintenance does it require and will it make me filament for less than $10 a kilogram that’s usable
Vaughan_ZA: Not really as there are so many good filaments out there to choose from. Only if I had a large volume of printing to do in one type of filament.
ElsMeulendijks: You can build ons yourself http://www.preciousplastic.com
Richard H: Yes, but not using new pellets. I want a single efficient & reliable machine that collects scrap/failed prints (PET/PLA). Shreds them up, and when it has enough processed material – dries it out (important step), then makes a ~500g spool to use. This needs to exist already…
Jeff Lagant: Probably yes depending on the cost and quality of the extrusion
Vicente Gascó: Yes I would. Specially if I could turn PET bottles into filament.
Geof @ G3 Machining: Id try, alot of work but would be fun to learn the process
Cat (Katja): Yes absolutely, as I love to test and create!
Afro3dPrinter-3D打印机: Haha I have an extensive knowledge of filament processes, I have distinct feeling creating my own custom and recycled filaments is a definite step forward in the right direction, as a creative and a recycler…
Chris Russell: Sure. Does it include the desktop?

Q10 mikebit 3d printing: Have you used flexible filaments? If so which one did you use? And what did you print with it?

SPANNERHANDS: I only use @Fillamentum Flexfill 92A & 98A people always ask me if its any good and I always just say… Well if it was not any good why would I print through 20kg + of it a year?
3DWithUs: So far we used SainSmart TPU and Ninjaflex. We loved SainSmart TPU for its colour variety. Mobile cases are obvious choice for 3D printing in flexible filaments.
i dig 3D: Water bottle and can koozies (pictured), iPod cases to fit old card scanner, flexible straps, hinges, vibration dampeners, feet, lens diffuser. Used FoxSmart TPU. Colors will fade in bright sun over extended time.
Tessa: Generic TPU and I made Id card holders to attach to lanyards
Tanya Wiesner: sainsmart tpu and ninjaflex. Prototyping products for work.
Rae: The elastics from Weistek are very good quality for low shore hardness. Flexy2 is great quality tpu and Yoyi is decent quality tpu at a low price. Mostly, I make doll clothes & action figure accesories for my kids toys w/ flexibles but have made bracelets, rings and belts too.
TheCreatorx3D: I love @ColorFabb #ngen #flex . Made an awesome #wolverine #cowl. Gave it to @PrintedSolid who supplied me with the spools for testing/design. Hope they still have it.
Chris: Flexibles are fun! NinjaFlex, Cheetah, Sainsmart TPU…
Chris Lee: Used a fair few different brands over the years but most recently filamentum flexfill 92a. Used it to make a number of different items, mainly for a car detailing business to provide protection on tools with metal exposed.
Cat (Katja): No, not yet
Barb: Hah I sell flexible filaments: Ninjaflex, cheetah, semiflex, filaflex, makeshaper, x60, sainsmart, filamentum, flexy, flexy2 Oh yes and ngenflex
Richard H: Use Filaflex all the time, especially for squishy requirements, it’s the most flexy-stretchy. Often use nGenFlex for a large gaskets, that’s stiffer and great at holding itself in shape. Never quite clicked with Ninjaflex, must try again…
Chris Russell: No, I have not. But on my to-do list eventually…
Kester Clegg: FilaFlex. Tried to print sea fishing lures for cod, but even FilaFlex is to stiff! However I would be tempted to have another go with finer nozzle, non Bowden set up and vase mode. TBH, what I really want printable, fast UV setting silicon!
William M Devine Jr: Yes but have not been successful with it

3D Printing Community Questions and Answers by mikebit 3d printing
Screenshot and PrintThatThing blockzoo puzzled monkey

PCBWay Metal 3D Printing and CNC Services

Leave a comment

We encourage and welcome topic related comments. Comments with links will be held briefly for moderation. Links to social media profiles can be inserted into the Website tab. Your email address will not be published. To have an image/avatar, users must be registered at Gravatar. Happy Commenting!