3d printer

[robtown]

Dear Rob

I'm not going to get involved with 'who's is the biggest or best', but.. When I bought our first 3d printer, I got it second hand and at a bargain price. And if I were to do it again I would have asked myself the following.

- How to Choose Between Cartesian and Delta 3D Printers
https://www.fargo3dprinting.com/choo...a-3d-printers/

- Heated bed or not!
http://bootsindustries.com/heat-bed-3d-printing/

- Filament
http://www.fabbaloo.com/blog/2015/7/...inter-filament
http://3dprintingfromscratch.com/com...ypes-overview/

- You'll need design software
https://www.dobot.cc/resource/top-15...beginners.html

- You'll need slicing software
What is slicing software and what does it do?
https://www.goprint3d.co.uk/blog/wha...at-does-it-do/

- Is there a user forum and manufacturer support?

You won't know this when you buy it, but how easy is it to clean out the nozzle. 3D printer filament must be kept clean, which can prove difficult in a wood cutting CNC environment. Any dust on the filament gets carried in and clogs up the nozzle.

Anyway best of luck, I'll watch this thread with interest. Please post when you've made your choice.

Sincerely
Martin

I'll spend some time going over these links this evening, thanks.
This printer will be purchased to be used at my job, so it won't be setup in a woodshop.
I do software development now, I still use my ShopBot for side projects and volunteer projects, but full time I'm an application developer for a creative marketing agency.
At my job I'm given a $1200-$1500 a year training budget.
This year instead of going to some lame conference to sit in meetings and breakout sessions and get pitched on the latest development framework hotness, I've requested a 3d printer for us devs to play with.
A couple years ago I pitched (to my current company) the idea of doing a 3d AR app for our annual Christmas card, they accepted and we did it. Then in 2016 we made it a mobile game. I modeled the 3d characters for both, and created the animations for the characters.
If you're interested to see, go to www.willymelt.com there are links to the both of these apps at the bottom of the page. (this year our creative department did a "where's waldo type thingy, they were sick of dev showing them up... it's not as cool.)
So part of my 3d printer pitch is that we play with making the characters and possibly making a stop motion animation this year. Or creting these characters as lego characters, or something.