RobertL184
USA
Asked
— Edited
I see DJ new ez robot lab has at least two different 3d printers: one MakerBot Replicator 2 and one 3D Systems CubeX Trio.
Any comment on which 3d printer is best for making robot parts?
What software is best for 3d robot part design on a budget of course? This is a hobby after all.
Any comments on materials abs or pla etc.?
There is a recent topic about this.
Both 3d printers EZ-Robots have are good 3d printers. They had problems with the makerbot but they have now (eventually) been resolved and I believe it is the printer they use most of the two.
It depends on the sizes of the parts etc. but the makerbot is the 3d printer that is best known on the internet.
Software - there are a few free packages. AutoDesk 123D is great, I've used AutoDesk products for coming close to 15 years now on a daily basis and I have rarely been let down. 123D is no different. There is also sketchup, I personally prefer 123D over sketchup. Or you can buy solidworks (I assume this is the best out there) or AutoDesk Inventor. Inventor is expensive, I don't know about solidworks.
Materials, PLA is more environmentally friendly.
I purchased a Flashforge dual head extruder model being sold on ebay for $1199 and free shipping from China, (it only took 4 days to arrive at my door). It has the ability to use both ABS and PLA extrusion material. The ReplicatoG program is used along with seinforge5.0 for slicing the .stl 3D image file when preparing to print. The final results are placed into a .x3g file that is then loaded into the Flashforge printer using a 32 G SD card then printing begins. I also use the AutoDesk 123 Design software and going through a learning curve when trying to design a 3D print.