[Thinking of getting a UM2]

Thank you so much. I have really taken on board what you have said and will definitely be looking into that, that's really useful information, i really appreciate it!

 

I have just been looking, and I see a lot of price per print, but I don't see any where I can get it from that does it in bulk to keep costs down?

Thanks

[Thinking of getting a UM2]

I would also recommend for a low cost start up option using something like 3dhubs - you could benefit from the knowledge of a hubster (is that even a word) with printers near you without ANY capital outlay - no repairs, no weeks off as there are loads of hubs and the prices are broadly similar.

While printers are getting more print and play, they are still a bit like a well designed hammer - in skilled hands they look easy, in less experienced hands they are lumps of metal on handles.

for true scalability look at a situation where you get 100 orders in a day (which your local hubs could easily handle) so every case you make you know you are making some money, as opposed to the capital cost of setting up, where you then have a minimum order number to cover your learning.

Then, when you have proven the viability and want to bring production in-house you can become a manufacturer (as well as marketeer, inventor, designer, post room, etc etc - take the difficult non-scalable bit out of the equation

PS - I would always recommend getting a printer - but a year down the line and you may still be learning the winkles!

 

Thank you so much. I have really taken on board what you have said and will definitely be looking into that, that's really useful information, i really appreciate it!

 

[Thinking of getting a UM2]

Before choosing CAD, answer the question - are you designing things like iphone covers, gears, boxes, mechanical parts? Or are you designing things like horses, trees, heads, people, rocks, cartoon characters?

This is very important as you want totally different software.

If you start a new business you need to understand that you are going to have to give up some major time. In other words: no TV for a year. None. If you can't do that you probably shouldn't start your own business. Learning CAD really isn't that hard. There's tons of video and web tutorials for all major cad packages out there. ONSHAPE is very new so I'm not sure how much online help there is but probably plenty.

Learning CAD software is a big time investment so don't choose too quickly. One trick is to google the name of the software along with something like say "rotate part" and see how many google hits there are versus some other CAD software - usually this can give you an idea of how much is out there on the internet. Doing the above for onshape gets 64 results versus 2000 for autocad, 97 for DSM, 400 for sketchup (don't use sketchup!). Maybe "rotate part" was a bad example - maybe I should have done "change color" or "calculate area". Anyway I noticed the autocad query pulled up some nice tutorial videos.

You can be up and using CAD within 5 hours and generating useful stuff but it will be frustratingly slow. To be super fast at it takes a year or more. At that point switching will be not worth it. In fact withint 5 hours of starting you will feel like you invested too much time to switch CAD.

 

Thanks for your reply!

Its an phone cover with a compartment to put certain personal possessions in.

And major time... your telling me! turned 18 4 months ago, left school at 17, been working 50 hours a week since to raise money for my business, all the time i spend not working, i'm working on my business, not an easy life, but will be worth it one day!

And as long as it pays off, i don't mind! Really eager to learn how to do it!

Thank you for your advice!

Luke

 

[Thinking of getting a UM2]

When it comes to 3D CAD it really depends on how your brain works, What is easy for some is confusing for others.

you have to find one that works for you. I would not recommend Sketchup, its free and easy to use but its not that good when you want to print what you have just drawn and for small objects. If you don't mind cloud then give ONSHAPE a try. its also free and simple, there are heaps of videos and tutorials of how everything works and how to get started. Plus you can email them if you get stuck.

Its really a matter of trying out heaps and finding one that you can understand quickly and works for you.

In cura there are Quick print settings, you can try with those first and if you run into problems then check out these guides http://support.3dverkstan.se/category/31-guides

they are really helpful at understanding what is going wrong with your prints.

If you still cant sus it then jump on the forum here and ask away. there are always friendly people that can point you in the right direction.

 

Thank you very much!

where is ONSHAPE available to download for free? as I couldn't see anywhere to get it.

Is there any other free software you would recommend using? I've been trying to use sketchup but not getting along with it very well, not good for finer details that i am trying to achieve.

 

[Thinking of getting a UM2]

Wow! Cant believe all these great responses! I really do appreciate this a lot, its helping me loads!

I'm an entrepreneur not a 3d designer so I'm having a little difficulty understanding some of the things you are saying so will do further research on the information you have provided. But this forum is really making me think I'll go with ultimaker with such good online feedback and help. I'll be downloading Cura and will be having a look at that, that sounds perfect for what i was looking for.

A few more questions:

How confusing to a complete novice in 3d printing will adjusting the settings to get the final print to come out as good as possible, is there a lot of guides on the internet that will help me get the best possible product?

What is the easiest software to use to 3d model a product, as this is something I am struggling with, and may have to employ someone to do this, but I need to keep my start up costs to an absulute minimal so if i can avoid doing that, that would be great. Is there any software you feel offers a lot of help showing you how to do different things, and is easy to use, and obviously compatible to a 3d printer?

I apologise for all these questions, but you guys are doing excellent!

Thank you a huge amount,

Luke

 

[Thinking of getting a UM2]

Hello everyone!

I'm an entrepreneur looking to get a 3d printer to prototype my product, and manufacturer it on a small scale until I can afford to take it to China.

Is there a big difference between the original and the 2nd model? As i can get basically 2 of the original one for the same price as the 2nd model? what is the differences between the two?

As i'll be using it to manufacturer the product on a small scale, speed and quality is probably my highest priority and that is why I am edging towards the UM 2 compared to other printers on the market in that price range.

What will happen to the printer if its constantly printing?

how many hours a day do you recommend?

What parts are most likely to fail when doing a lot of printing?

What precautions should i take? Such as keeping the room cool, as little dust as possible, a fan on the printer?ect.

If my printer breaks, how long should i expect to wait if i have to send it off to be repaired?

how hard are they to repair your selves? A bit of a vague question as it depends on the problem, but any information will be great.

Do you have to have the computer plugged into the printer for the whole print?

What are the best/cheapest filaments you can get for the printer, PLA and ABS?

Whats the software it comes with like? ( I am a complete newbie at 3d modelling)

The speed of the print varies between what quality setting I am on, can different parts of a single print be done with different qualities to increase the speed?

I may have some more questions, i hope you can help me!

Thank you very much for taking your time to read, i really appreciate it.

Luke