I’ve been learning how to 3D flat multi-color prints at home, after taking the 3D printing basics class a few months back, and came up with this sign for the Fab Lab door. I asked Dave, and he said it shouldn’t be a problem, so here’s our new sign.
If any of the other rooms would like a sign like this, just shoot me a message and I can see what I can come up with. 
That. Looks. Fantastic! Well done.
Thank you!
So how do we get a class on how to do this again? This is 3D printing??
We currently do not have any 3D printing classes scheduled, although I am hoping to be able to do several sessions in December.
If you would like to learn how to use the printers over there, and I am in town (I travel fairly frequently for my job) I could possibly meet you over there and go over the basics for how to operate the printers, and familiarize you with other resources available for printing.
To answer your other question, yes this sign was done with 3D printing, although I did this on my printer at home, which can do multi-color printing much easier. Printing similar to this could be done at the space, but doing it identical would require sitting and the printer and doing all of the manual color changes for likely the good part of an entire day…
I can answer questions about using both the single-color printers at the space and multi-color printers that are available outside the space.
I heard somewhere that the 3D printers at the maker space are getting older and having issues that make it frustrating… would it, in your opinion, be worth looking into raising the funds for a multi color printer for the space?
The printers are fine but I think Prusa 1 has a couple years (2018ish) on the other three MK3s (2021ish) and Prusa 5 (the MK4) is practically brand new. Multi-material is definitely something to look at (and doesn’t require a whole new printer), but I think they may still be just finnicky enough that they’re better suited for home use.
I’m going to be the one to say what nobody wants to really hear…
Yes, we could get the MMU upgrade for the Prusa MK4, for $299, which then would have to be assembled, or we could get an entire new Bambu Lab A1 Combo printer for $489.
While I realize the Prusa MK4 is technically a “new” printer, it is, quite frankly, extremely slow compared to other modern printers. I learned on the MK3 from Gemma over there, but they could be rather frustrating to use as a beginner, and I was nearly ready to give up on the hobby until I picked up a Creality Ender 3 V3 KE on sale back in April. Not one single failed print on that machine now with over 1,200 printing hours. With the Prusa, my percentage of prints that came loose from the build plate was roughly 30%. At home, the KE is still my go to printer, as it’s the fastest of the three I now own for single color work.
I picked up a Bambu Lab A1 Combo that had already had the heat bed replacement done to it. All currently sold models of the A1 have this modification already done, so the recall is a non-issue. This printer also has over 1,200 printing hours on it. I’ve had a few failed prints on it, but about a 98% success rate. There is only one issue that could be considered an annoyance about these machines, which can be remedied with four drops of LocTite. It’s a documented issue that Bambu is aware of.
I also have a Sovol SV06 Plus, and while faster than the MK4 machine as well (with a Raspberry Pi controlling it) it still wouldn’t be a candidate for the Space.
The Bambu Lab is much faster than the MK4, easily doubling the speed and then some. Maintenance tasks are prompted by the machine, and QR codes for Wiki pages on how to do the maintneance are displayed. Changing nozzles is a breeze, and can be done cold in a matter of less than a minute.
The printers and slicer makes it easier on beginners, but at the same time, allows more advanced users to experiement and have fun with it. As long as the build plates are thoroughly cleaned in between prints, there’s little to no issue with these printers at all.
I also have about 1200 print hours so far on my Bambu, and while nowhere near the 1000+ print DAYS that the Prusa printers have, it might be nice to get a little fresh blood in the lab, and let some of the users that would like to experiement with multicolor on the same layer do that.
I still do print things on the Prusa printers occasionally, but I bring my own build plates over when I do now, as I have much better luck with adhesion when I use my own plates.
May not be an extremely popular opinion, but it’s my two cents worth.
By the way, I could be persuaded to bring my A1 up to the lab one of these evenings if I am in town, and people would like to see a demo and get questions answered about them.
I hate to say this, because I always tell the world “community makerspaces are awesome, we don’t have to buy all our own individual tools, let’s collaborate!” but 3d printing finally broke me and I bought my own tool. I felt like I was ALWAYS bugging poor gemma about failed prints and she was always fixing those dang prusas! I don’t know what to do with them, I was thinking about it last weekend, I was at the space on a nice sunday and there was only one printer going, the newest prusa, and it was just making a giant pla disaster blob, and it’s like everyone else has given up on our band of printers because they were all either marked out of order or just idle. I quit trusting them.
last spring I had so many failed prints, tried to get all the advice I could, but so many heater issues, connector issues, sensor issues, plate sticking issues… I gave up. I thought, “3D printing must just be really hard. At least if I get my own 3D printer, I won’t have to make a car trip to my failed print, I can just see it in my room.” so I bought a bambu A1 combo for like $500.
And OMG it’s fast, awesome, and NEVER FAILS. It’s just a workhorse! my kids and I have been printing for several months, we never run out of ideas to print, it’s made our lives better and it’s so much fun!
I feel like when we first got the 4 Prusas at the old space on douglas, they were reliable. I remember being at the old space around christmastime and they were always just cranking away with cool stuff. But now they are not. I don’t want to dumpster them all just because they’re old, but 3d printing technology and reliability have gotten better, and are we burning out our wonderful fablab volunteers by trying to maintain printers that constantly break down?
I’m kinda like john, afraid to be the bearer of bad news because I want to be supportive and I know the fablab team works hard, but maybe that’s WHY we need to give them some relief and buy some new printers?
I am not a 3d printing expert by any means, but my bambu…
My 11yo daughter set it up. It was so easy, they even color-code the screw locations.
has printed crazy tiny 5mm posts that still stuck to the plate
has a 4-color AMS system so I can multi-color print… but really, we just enjoy having 4 colors loaded all the time so whenever we want to print we just tell the software “uh, red”.
cuts filament when it’s done with a print so you don’t have to heat up the hot end and wait to change filament. You just pull and insert.
textured plate makes a nice finish on the bottom of prints
we’ve had maybe one or two failures, and we know what caused them, it’s 99% great prints
it’s made me love 3d printing… but also makes it so when new people come to the space and ask “how do I get into 3d printing?” I cringe and I don’t know what to say!
Most of the time, I feel as if I shouldn’t be the Fab Lab lead. From what I’ve seen, 3D printing is fussy. I’ve been told that Prusa is the least troublesome printer but we do seem to have constant issues with them.
I’m totally reliant on those who use the printers for direction on what needs to be done. If there is enough input from members, I’m more than happy to go a different direction. The caveat is that I want those who provide input to be the ones that help maintain what they asked for. I would love to have equipment that ‘just works’. Is anyone interested in spending their time to help set direction?
As I have said in the past, when I am in town, I am more than happy to help out in the Fab Lab, and would definitely be up to helping teach people how to use the Bambu Lab printers. Of course, the stipulation on this is that I have to be in town to do this, and my schedule can be a bit unpredictable at times.
This is probably going to be a bit of a ramble.
3D printing occupies an odd space in that it was fairly niche when the makerspace was new, but now it’s gone a lot more mainstream and is probably the single tool that the most makers have acquired (myself included) over the last decade that they didn’t previously own. I am going to guess that most machines that are personally owned will perform better than the ones in the makerspace if the owner is even a tiny bit mechanically inclined. Most of my MK4 failures have been to improper slicing or thinking “hey I can do this without supports!”. I think as a makerspace we tend to tend to run lots of our equipment to the ground with minimal maintenance… and with something that’s running into the hundredths of millimeters to be successful it’s not always going to be super forgiving.
Pivoting from the current state of things - before purchasing another printer maybe we should do some searching and figure out if the makerspace should take the posture of: a) we want to provide a dip-your-toes experience into 3D printing before you go buy your own; or b) we want to provide the this-is-what’s-possible experience and go more cutting edge than what came out 7 years ago and into things like AMS/MMU. I think the approach for years was to build a fleet of similar printers for maintenance sake but that doesn’t mean we have to keep that route. If we want to pursue something new it may behoove us to sell at least one of the ‘old’ Prusas while they still have residual value.
As a board, I think we’re trying to take the posture of pursuing more “pro-sumer” equipment than simply the cheapest option so that’s something to consider if someone wants to make the case for us acquiring a new printer.
@admin - this thread probably needs re-titled or split into “should we buy new 3d printers” because there is some great discussion here.
@xrunner - I appreciate your openness to collaborate. you should DEFINITELY be the fab lab lead, and I’m not just saying that because nobody else wants to do it, but because you’re a great example of an area lead who harnesses people’s energy for good, we know you’re not going to do it all yourself, you just get the right folks in place and great things can happen! I always said that the best way to run an all volunteer non-profit is like an improv comedy troop… who’s got the idea of the day that we can say “yes, and…” to? affirm and build!
@jmholmesjr1967 - I just said bambu A1 because it’s the one I happened to buy but I am not an expert, so I really want to hear from you on what printers you’d get if you were king of everything and wanted to find the most reliable printers out there.
@shack I agree the world has changed. I’ve been arguing with myself on this. I always said the makerspace is great because “I don’t have room in my house for a table saw” - but I DO have room for a 3d printer, and unlike a table saw, you don’t get to drive in, use it, and leave with your finished thing. It’s always trips back and forth - which makes me agree with you that most people are just going to buy their own darn printer.
That said…
3d printers ushered in the golden age of makerspaces about 10-15 years ago, and when they became easily obtainable by anybody, we saw makerspaces shutting down all over the place. But I still say they’re important. 3d printers remain an identity thing for makerspaces - we HAVE to be able to say we offer 3d printing.
Privilege check. I flippantly mentioned spending $500 on my own printer - we have to keep our purpose in mind though, $500 is a lot of money for many people, especially in our surrounding neighborhood. MakeICT is a non-profit that increases accessibility for making. Buying a $500 printer might not seem as cool as a $5000 one, but it can change somebody’s life. I’d rather be the catalyst that helps someone print their first PLA boat than the one that helps somebody make titanium fittings for their business - in fact “production rate” members have a tendency to frustrate us anyway, I know I’m not alone in saying that.
Reality check. The tormach is a very professional machine, and I never see it used. There are other makerspaces in Wichita trying to focus on professionals, and they are not thriving like we are. Sometimes we try to be something that we’re not, and it never works out.
Our favorite, most used tools aren’t the fancy ones, they’re the bread-and-butter ones that are easy to use, common, versatile, and a gateway into making.
So with that rant in mind I say we slowly approach this topic, keep open minds, hear each other out, and maybe put together some 2025 budgets for 3d printers. We don’t need rash decisions.
and heck maybe john’s build plates will eek some life out of our troublesome band of prusas!
I had been wanting to learn about 3D printing for nearly a decade, but seeing what other people went through in online photos scared me away from even looking into it.
I was quite happy to find that MakeICT had a class for 3D printing, which basically served to get my feet wet. I quickly found that clunky, slow, 3D printers were more of a discouragement after I took the class. I was hesitant to get my own at first, since I was told that Prusa printers were the top printers out there, but I found my first one, the Creality Ender 3 V3 KE on sale and decided to take the plunge.
What I discovered was that while the Prusa printers may have, at one time, been at the top of their game, they are, unfortunately, not the ultimate experience in 3D printing. I still have yet to have a single problem on the KE that was not caused by my own hand. I’ve even printed a part (the parts fan duct) for Prusa 1 at home in ABS, since I couldn’t get the ABS at MakeICT to print for squat. I was able to pop out 6 of those ducts on my KE in the same time it would have taken any one of the Prusa machines to print a single one, assuming they could have gotten a first layer to work.
I am very appreciative that the class at least gave me enough knowledge to know it was something I really wanted to expand upon, but the Prusa printers just weren’t going to cut it for me for long.
I’d still like to see the 3D printing classes happen, and I’m hoping maybe I can arrange to do a few myself in December if nobody else has stepped up yet, because I know that it was just what I needed to move myself in the right direction. Like Kim had said earlier, it is just a little nerve wracking to have those be the printers we would teach a class on. I would bring my own build plates to at least eliminate that from the equation if there weren’t other printers in there, since I have had extremely good luck with brand new plates on the Prusa printers.
Of course the Bambu Lab is a great option because of the multi-color/multi-material, but they are not the only game in town if we went that route.
At the same time, there are cheaper options, such as the Creality Ender 3 V3 KE, that was my first purchase, that while they still only do single color, they are not only much faster, but also show that one doesn’t have to spend vast sums of money to get a good printer. I got mine on sale for $230 at the time, and that is still my go-to printer for single color items.
I was utterly amazed when I got it set up in 15 minutes, rather than the day or more I heard it would take to put together a Prusa. Of course, I had to run a benchy, since I had printed a couple of them at the space. I watched in amazement as that printer cranked out a perfect benchy in 20 minutes.
The Bambu Lab A1 combo was one of those impulse buys. It popped up on Facebook Marketplace for $400, and I sent the guy a message, and an hour later, I was watching it do a test print for me at his house, and handing him $400. While slightly slower than the Creality in single color, the multi-color capabilities is what I was after. Nicer still to find that you can use PETG as a support interface when using supports on PLA prints (and vice versa) so that supports literally fall off with no trace of having been used.
I also have picked up a Sovol SV06 Plus that I found on Facebook Marketplace for $100. It’s got a large print area (300x300x350). It’s considered a Prusa knock-off, and while it’s a generally problem free printer, I couldn’t say I would recommend that as a Maker space purchase.
Those three are the ones I have personal experience on, but there are several other modern options out there that, at least from a consumer level, are far more accessible than a Prusa machine, and offer a far better experience for the end user.
@jmholmesjr1967 I hope you didn’t take my comments as being directed at you - they were not and I appreciate the work you do when you’re available.
My main goal with the 3d printers is to have machines with the fewest problems. There seems to be a short supply of those willing/able to work on them and the folks that do work on them get overloaded with problems that they did not create.
As the area lead, I’ll need to be involved with decisions, but I’ll rely on people who use them to help direct any acquisition of new machines. Setting criteria for capabilities, budget, etc. will also need to be done by a group of members willing to spend some time on it.
Oh no, I didn’t think you were pointing me out at all. I’m still willing to help where and when I can. 
Wow! That was very well stated.
