Good day everyone. Been into the hobby since around 2014. I own 3 FDM printers currently.
Started on a Ecker Tech reprap kit.
Got a Wanhao D3, modified the hell outta it.
Latest as of a few years ago is a Ender 5Plus, have a CoreXY kit on there, swapped the board to a 32bit BTT, and added a microswiss extrusion assembly.
The FDMs have done me well over the years, and I’ve highly enjoyed tinkering around with them. But now I have the itch for something new and fresh. I’m thinking of dipping my toes into the resin printer market, and am looking for some reccomdations and experiences of fellow 3D printer enthusiasts.
I’d like to keep it around $2000 CAD (roughly 1500 USD, ouch CAD lol). I’m no stranger to tinkering and modifying. Have a shop with plenty of space, ventilation, and what not.
If you have any suggestions on a new FDM printer I’m all ears! (Maybe somthing multi-filament compatible?) So feel free to suggest some as well.
Thanks in advanced!
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I got an Elegoo Mars awhile back so I have a resin and a filament printer (ender 3 pro). Resin printing can be fairly affordable just make sure to also get (or diy) a decent cleaning and curing station. Oh and gloves, lots and lots of gloves. Resin sucks to get on skin. I had one model that didn’t cure right, I picked it up days after print and it cracked and resin poured out on my hands. Many days of my hands feeling burned
Was it a closed hollow model without drainage holes? I think some cured resins will actualy weaken if they are in extended contact with their uncured counterpart.
get (or diy) a decent cleaning and curing station
The budget station all need rework. Bought an Anycubic cure & wash and had to upgrade the stepper driver to Trinamic to get smooth and silent rotation. Anycubic uses the old Allegro 4988.
Additionally, they use steel bearings within the tank that rust. You might want to replace them with polymer/ceramic/glass bearings.
For resin: I am considering exiting it. Resolution is very nice but FDM is easier to handle and in my experience less/quicker maintenance. Currently considering exploring additive-subtractive manufacturing.
I grabbed a cheap elegoo mars 2 a couple years ago. It’s a lot of fun to mess with- resin printing is a very different beast. You trade fiddling with 700 parameters for a more complicated setup, cleaning/curing, and cleanup process.
I use it to print small sculptural things, chess pieces, low torque tiny gears, etc. I’d say go for it! It was cool learning to print all over again.
I’ve seen the Mars 2 mentioned around a few times. I’ll take a deeper look into it for sure. Thanks!
I’d ask what you’re mainly using your printer for, and what you hope the new one will do that you currently can’t.
I use my printers various random objects, functional repair prints, stuff like that. Not doing any sort of production on them. I mainly just enjoy the hobby and messing around with the printers themselves with no objective.
Main reason I’ve been considering adding in a resin printer is more intricate small designs like game peices or some more complex shapes in general. Currently I get some pretty nice results as far as surface finishes go on the FDMs, but feel I could get more out of a resin print as far as micro details go.
Thanks!
Great answer - I’ve considered a resin printer but my use case doesn’t include any miniatures or game pieces, so I’m sticking with FDM, but if you’re after super fine detail, more than you can get with 0.2 or 0.25, then go resin but be prepared for the mess, toxicity, and other drawbacks before you make the jump
If you want detail, resin printing is the way to go but you don’t need to spend nearly so much on the printer itself: You can get a decent one for maybe $250-300 unless you’re looking to print really large volume stuff.
If you want more detail out of FDM, you can look at using a smaller nozzle, but if you want a solid FDM printer, PRUSA makes good stuff. If you go with resin, you’ll want to get washing and curing stations.
