3D Printing

madscotsman

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Anyone on here into this or have knowledge of printers and software? Wife and I have had a few new product ideas and are interested in maybe delving into the 3D printing world to create some prototypes.

Was looking at the Dremel 3D45, and see that it has it's own software. I was also reading about Simplify3D program that seems to be pretty popular in the 3D printing world. Both those software programs seem geared toward using existing files you download.
Not really sure what software would allow you to scan something and create your own files, or just create your own from scratch to then manipulate before printing. I have a degree in CAD from 2001 that I 'm hoping to blow the dust off of.
 

bullitt2735

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I have experience with everything from cheap $100 machines to 30k machines and thousands of prints. Printing a bunch of different materials and different types of machines from SLA,SLS, and FDM like the dremel printer above.

As for scanning, the sub 3.5k scanners are all crap in my opinion unless you are just making "art". For CAD software I high suggest downloading Autodesk fusion360. Its completely free for hobbyists and small business doing less than 125K in revenue. Mostly an awesome program, I actually started using it more than solidworks lately because I like its workflow so much better.

Feel free to PM if you have any questions
 

nickf2005

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I have experience with everything from cheap $100 machines to 30k machines and thousands of prints. Printing a bunch of different materials and different types of machines from SLA,SLS, and FDM like the dremel printer above.

As for scanning, the sub 3.5k scanners are all crap in my opinion unless you are just making "art". For CAD software I high suggest downloading Autodesk fusion360. Its completely free for hobbyists and small business doing less than 125K in revenue. Mostly an awesome program, I actually started using it more than solidworks lately because I like its workflow so much better.

Feel free to PM if you have any questions
Another option would be to use the free design software's out there to develop a model, and have the printing jobbed out. There are companies everywhere that will cover one-offs if you're just looking to do a couple. May end up in better quality and less invested than buying your own.

Sent from my SM-G975U using the svtperformance.com mobile app
 

04YellowGT

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We do a lot of 3D printing at my place of work. We have older industrial printer that ran 50k+ new. Its a workhorse and almost impossible to screw up a print job. The material is super expensive, it only prints ABS at max resolution of .007, and its SLOOOW. We just bought an Artemis from SeeMeCNC. It can print just about any material at super high resolution, the material is cheap, and it prints a job in half the time. The down side is its finicky and I've had my fair share of failed prints. I'm getting better but its not a set it and forget it like are old workhorse. The software we use for the new printer for slicing the STL files is Cura and its a freeware that is pretty user friendly.
 

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