this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
74 points (100.0% liked)
3DPrinting
15271 readers
37 users here now
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: [email protected] or [email protected]
There are CAD communities available at: [email protected] or [email protected]
Rules
-
No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
-
Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
-
No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
-
No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing
-
Do not create links to reddit
-
If you see an issue please flag it
-
No guns
-
No injury gore posts
If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is 
Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Before you take the plunge, do some research and consider what you will be printing for most often.
This is an overgeneralization but there are two main types of printing methods-- vat polymerization and material extrusion.
The set up pictured in this post is VP. It uses light and mirrors to cure resin layer by layer. I think the main advantage to this method is fine detail and less post production polish. The main disadvantage is, unless you have a lot of money, you have a smaller printing space. Excellent method for artistic works such as miniatures.
The other way is basically pushing a plastic wire through a hot nozzle layer by layer. The main advantage is that it's faster, cheaper, and offers more printing space at entry level prices. The disadvantage is that the lines will be quite apparent and will require more post processing work for a clean look. Really good for rapid prototyping and functional prints.
Although it is a helpful skill to have, you don't need to know how to make 3d models. There's a ton of free models for just about anything you can think of.