By filament dryer I mean something like Dryer Pro by PrintDry. The material station is a huge overkill for me at the moment.
For the time being, I have no prerequisites. I want to get familiar with the most commonly used materials, print silly as well as tricky things, see how the printer behaves, learn it, learn the materials etc. It's a hobby, not a business.
Hence, any recommendations for accessories and materials to buy first?
Once again, thank you all very much for any advice.
Start off 'small.' By this, print some non-complex things with a couple of materials to start with. Right now, I like the PLA and TPLA: Easy to print with and does not need much oversight.
I printed a series of cubes with different infills and such to play with and watch how it all works. Also try printing things like these:
These will let you know what your overhang angles will print well as well as give you hollow shapes.
Having an Exacto modeling knife, small putty knife/scraper, micro-files (sometimes called needle files), a pick set (like dental tools), sandpaper of various grits, long-nose tweezers, a small pair of side-cutters (nippers), needle nose pliers, etc., can make life a lot easier when it's time to remove supports and clean up a print.
In addition to the above:
- Glue suitable for the filament you use, e.g. cyanoacrylate for PLA.
- A drill for *manually* cleaning small holes (see picture).
- A very thin needle (0.39mm) in case the 0.4mm nozzle would clog. Be sure to round-off the needle tip, so it does not damage the fragile and soft brass nozzle.
- And indeed, all tools you would use for model airplanes, cars, trains,...
- Tissues for cleaning the nozzle immediately after printing, to keep it clean.
- A sealed box, with a bag of desiccant to store filament dry.
And then try a lot of simple but usefull models at various settings. Keep watching while printing, so you see and learn what happens.
I just came across this site "widgetsupply.com" . I don't know anything about them but they carry a lot of hobby tools and stuff.
Thank you all for your input.
Would you kindly suggest which brands should I consider when buying filaments? I am thinking of PLA and ABS.
PLA and ABS PETG. Read up on ABS before jumping in. It's a whole 'nother animal. PETG is much easier to work with, doesn't have noxious fumes, and the mechanical properties aren't that far off from ABS.
I don't like to advertise because someone always takes offense. I'm in the US and I tend to stay with MatterHackers Build Series PETG and PLA. It's their bottom end filament line. It's well packaged and they go through a lot so it's always fresh. For what I do it's fine but they do run out and there can be a wait. On Amazon you aren't ever really sure what's going on or how long it's been on a shelf. I ordered a couple of rolls of filament from a vendor there (MatterHacker was out of stock) and it was packaged OK but the moisture content was very high. It was essentially unusable until it had spent 8 hours dehumidifying. The Silky colors are nice but I find that layer adhesion isn't very good and they are better suited for art than for functional parts.
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SandervG 1,521
Hi, welcome to the community and congratulations! Do you have any idea what you will be printing or what materials / properties you will be needing? With filament dryer I think you mean the material station? It has much more value than just drying your filament. It allows you to store up to 6 filaments, and it can automatically select the material that matches your print job (when it is loaded). And if material A runs out, and the same material is in B or C, it will automatically load that one.
This could be quite useful, depending on if you aim to do any remote printing, if you will print mostly very large prints or just like the convenience of not having to worry about the end of a spool.
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