I have back-to-back 520gr, 26hr prints going on. 1 down.
What are you making?
Stemware rack for a corner china cabinet. I've flipped it in this pix to show detail better.
It's too large to print in 1 piece, so 4 pieces. Each piece is close to one or more printer dimension limits. The teal & pink are each a 26hr piece. The triangular pieces are printed and were 13hrs each. It'll mount it the top section. Cabinet will be mostly full of crystal, leaded glass, etc.
pix of cabinet copied off Amz, not apartment.
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Teal is finished, pink about 15%.
When working with an irregularly shaped model half the trouble is figuring out how to position it and also how to support 'hanging' parts of it. Here's a software rendering of the pink one in position and using 'tree' supports (green). The supports are trouble-prone (very thin & wispy) but you have to have them.
Here's the same piece in position & no supports so you can see why they're needed.
That's a pretty cool use of the printer. What type do you have and how much have you invested in it? What filament do you like to use?
>cool use
I'd guess that 95% of my prints are in the 'functional 3dp' category (tool holders, kitchen & bath, convenience, repair) like so.
https://www.reddit.com/r/functionalprint/new/
Doing functional prints, I'd say my ROI is at least 50% and likely higher.
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My setup is the Bambu Lab A1 Combo, currently $359. That's approx what I paid for mine about 18 months ago. Note that includes the 4-color feeder.
https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/a1?from=home_web_a1_detail&id=579550514255634440
I had another brand (3 printers) prior. I gave them to family members and they're still chugging away.
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Almost everyone starts with PLA filament ($25/kg average). It prints the easiest and has the largest variety of colors and finishes (matte, textured, etc) and is great for figurines (VERY popular) & decor. BUT it does not tolerate much heat (will deform in a car in the summer) or UV (so not good for longer outdoor use).
I use PETG. Withstands summer car heat and will last a couple of years outdoors, so better for functional stuff. I spend about $17/kg average. It is a bit harder to use but I adapted quickly when I switched from PLA.
This is my go-to, do-everything filament. Amz says I've purchased 65 rolls over last 3+yrs.
https://www.amazon.com/Filament-Printer-Printing-Materials-CC3D/dp/B09B4XFJQ9
This is the one I'm using for the stemware rack.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HCTS3Z12
The colors in the pix of the thin-walled candle holder are good. The filament on the roll is shown a bit too dark and brown. I'd describe thicker prints as penny-colored ...copper coin that has just started to darken. So the rack looks pretty close to metallic copper.
I have about 25 1kg spools of assorted colors, gradients, etc. in stock. About half of those have had some use. Some assorted color bulk deals were bought for as low as $6/kg. A few special-feature spools (gradients, multi-color) were $28/kg.
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You do not have to be able to do cad/cam to make use of 3dp. There are huge libraries of models to download and a great many of the models are free. Thingiverse.com is the oldest and Printables (https://www.printables.com/model?ordering=newest) is now among the most popular but there are other big sites as well.
Yeggi.com is an aggregator site.
BTW, the stemware rack I'm printed started with this free model. I adapted & modified it extensively but you can see it's the origin.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2641758
Found it on yeggi
https://www.yeggi.com/q/wine+glass+rack/