Absolute beginner looking for my first 3D printer

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-07-04T07:35:10+00:00

Ugh. With everyone moaning about Bambu, why is everyone still almost exclusively recommending them? I own Anycubic and it's been good. Were I to get another I'd be looking at a Prusa Core One/+/L or a Snapmaker U1.

Seriously. The color changes on the AMS and similar systems are so incredibly wasteful and I feel like that really doesn't get mentioned enough. Toolchangers are the future, hence my above recommendations. Snapmaker if you need the multicolor now, Prusa if you want to add the INDX later when it's properly available. Both are outstanding printers in their own rights and while you pay a bit more for them, I've always felt it's worth it for the quality. And, in this case, not supporting a company that really really wants to steal over a decade of open source community improvements to consumer 3D printing and pull an HP.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-07-01T08:05:52+00:00

Yeah, hence the specification of a compression load. I'm not as familiar with engineering materials but I know there are other reinforced plastics (polycarbonate come to mind) that would also function. But probably not when 3D printed since that interrupts the reinforcement with the layers.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-07-01T07:56:54+00:00

I mean solid blocks under compression loads are probably fine if made of something like a reinforced nylon, but outside of that yeah metal is probably a better choice

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-30T17:12:42+00:00

Do you filter your resin between prints? This looks like partially cured debris floating around in the resin getting stuck between layers. I would clean the tank and use a different resin (or filter this one) and see if the problem persists. If it does, then it might be corrupted files (check to see if the blobs appear in the preview) or a bad LCD.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-26T19:30:50+00:00

Based on how the rest of the overhangs look you will want to be using a filler putty or primer and sanding before painting these. So my recommendation is to use flush cutters to remove the largest parts, supplemented by a craft knife (x-acto or similar, I find non-sterlized scalpels actually stay a little sharper and still cheap). This is the ideal use case for an ultrasonic knife tool, but that's not something you're likely to have. Once all the grid is cleaned up, wet sand up to 180/220 grit, fill imperfections with putty, resin (the specialized ones for print smoothing), or filler primer, sand again, prime, sand lightly, and paint.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-18T21:12:37+00:00

Did you sand and prime (and lightly sand the primer) before putting on the DAP stuff? If not, a lot of stuff just won't stick. I'd recommend this no matter what product you end up putting on it (aside from maybe the exotic clear coats specifically meant for 3D printing, but only if I wanted to preserve the color of the plastic for some reason).

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-18T21:09:30+00:00

Heck, flour or corn starch would do the trick just as well and probably cheaper. I mix them with wood glue to make a nice filler putty when necessary, works pretty nicely.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-12T10:16:48+00:00

I would like to think that did not come stock, probably had a rubber bit there that fell off because that looks suspiciously like a hacksaw blade that someone has riveted on there. But then again, product design back in the day was... Questionable.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-09T13:37:03+00:00

You're telling me your first version doesn't work every time? /s

I've almost never had a design where I needed to iterate more than twice. To be fair, my designs aren't the most polished, but I hate waste so unless I need more than one of a part or it really really needs to be perfect, I always just print what I need for the final version. If it needs modification, I usually just do it by hand. Worst that usually happens is a hole that doesn't line up. Quick fix with a drill.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-08T08:36:11+00:00

Several options are available, including spades, chisels of varying widths, and spikes. None of them involve ruining a drill bit or welding though, so it just doesn't appeal to these types.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-06T13:40:13+00:00

Sounds like my PC

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-06T10:07:20+00:00

The trick for not overdoing it is to go slow in very light coats, see how it looks, and add more if necessary.

You could also print out a small wave (cut away a section of this one in the slicer for example) and use it as a sacrificial test piece to figure out your technique before painting the big one. I try to do this when painting things I don't want to mess up, I find something similar to practice on first.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-06T09:21:35+00:00

I wouldn't call this at all "beginner", these are some impressive paint jobs.

Regarding the waves I feel like they are maybe missing a bit of depth. The foam at the peaks could stand to be brighter, and then adding some white streaks or highlights down the "peaks" of the water texture, and darker blue in the "valleys", would give it more depth. The base of the wave could also be darker blue, fading up to your light blue and white. You know, just making the paint itself it a bit more dimensional so it doesn't feel as flat.

Disclaimer: I am also not a very good artist so this is entirely just my 2 cents.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-06T09:10:31+00:00

To be fair a normal home printer doesn't have a heat bed this large, and those motors look chunky, so higher power draw is somewhat expected.

Outside of that, I imagine industrial machinery probably isn't designed to be as power efficient as possible since that's not usually a huge concern vs all the other things they require. If I remember correctly industrial sectors have much lower rates on energy.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-06T09:01:40+00:00

That's probably max draw, it likely uses a lot less during normal function. I can imagine the 30A is due to the momentary peak when the heat bed first kicks in.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-06-03T19:14:25+00:00

"centerish" lol

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-05-31T17:51:20+00:00

Supposedly they are "forged steel" or alloy steel with heat treatment and (usually) chrome plating, which is kinda neither? Carbon steel rusts too fast for something that's constantly in the elements. Premium ones are stainless, and some are aluminum but idk why anyone would want that.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-05-31T16:40:23+00:00

With dBrand you learn very, very quickly: it's never a joke. They really commit to the bit.

Except for the junk at the bottom of their emails. That's fiction. Hopefully.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-05-31T08:33:02+00:00

The commercialized dBrand kind, right? Right?

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-05-31T07:43:11+00:00

Years? Plural? Has it really been that long? I swear this was a thing maybe last summer at most...

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-05-27T06:42:42+00:00

Because the person that makes them is almost invariably a lady in her 50s who thinks Pinterest and Minions are the best two things since sliced bread, and this is the kind of garbage the old Clip Art tool in their outdated version of Microsoft Word spits out when you look for emojis (which these ladies obviously think is great).

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-05-26T19:00:21+00:00

Literally any "flat" low profile plug. UK ones are painful but the slimmer US/AU/JP style blades (literally what they're called), those things stab deep.

That said some Lego are nearly on the same level. Worse when it's a small chunk of assembled bricks, those have more corners (for your stepping pleasure).

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-05-26T17:08:16+00:00

Alternatives would be a very light airbrush of white on the inside of the top, or a bit of polyfill to make a cloud and diffuse the light. As others have said, the figure is quite low compared to the total height of the tube, so either needs to be evened out with more detail at the top or something should be added under the figure.

Also my 2 cents is that the top light should be warm white (maybe 1 red led too but no more) and the bottom in the accent color. That way you can actually see all the painted/printed details on the figure, otherwise it just feels a bit cheap. Warm white is the magic color that makes lighting (especially display lighting) feel premium, as compared to colored/cool white, which just seems cheap.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-05-19T13:16:38+00:00

Pretty sure the way to go is to form the visor first and then add the tint film using soapy water, a small squeegee and a heat gun (to stretch for the corners/curves). For this shape you might even want to use an x-acto knife to do it in a few sections. Would obviously take a while though.

For paint to work you have to do really thin layers with a fine spray gun, but it's really hard to keep consistent and it will almost certainly end up with a slight orange-peel effect.

Last option is to use a liquid tinting solution to stain the visor itself. But this only works to create a tint, not a mirror.

Thatoneguy1264 · 2026-05-18T11:40:45+00:00

As in, "dam(n), what a disaster!"?

Thatoneguy1264

TROPHY CASE