Experience of Prusa £D Printers

[Tallpaul69]

Hi All,

 

It has been suggested to me that a Prusa 3D printer is a good machine for producing 4mm Wagon and coach parts.

Can any one post their experiences in using this machine?

 

Many thanks

Paul

[JimFin]

No direct experience but only the SL1 from their range would deliver what you are looking for. I have never been able to understand why it seems so much more expensive then the Anycubic Photon or Elegoo Mars.

[Skinnylinny]

I've only had experience of the Prusa i3 filament type printers. They're very good for filament ones, but you still get the layering effect that one expects from a filament printer, so prints will need cleaning up and sanding smooth before painting. With that being said, their slicer software is excellent.

You'd get a much smoother surface finish with a resin printer (specifically an Anycubic Photon). This photo was taken under a macro lens of a 4mm cattle wagon I'm working on. The model's had its supports removed but no other cleanup, just a quick mist of filler to show the detail better. The surface finish is pretty good.



I will say though that resin printers are not as user-friendly as filament ones - they need regular maintenance and tweaking, and the resin is smelly and toxic, while a good filament one can be "install and forget" - the Prusa i3s can do dozens of prints without needing any maintenance if well set up.

 

[Edit: to clarify: the "hairs" on the image are not human hairs - they're clothes fibres, and thinner than human hair! To give an idea of size, the bolt heads are about 0-3-0.4mm across, and the planking grooves are 0.2mm across.]

Edited February 26, 2020 by Skinnylinny

[monkeysarefun]

Unless the slight brittleness of the cured resin and the small print area is an issue  (120mm x 68mm by 155mm for the Mars, a teeny bit less for the photon), resin printers would be the way to go.  Brittleness can be mitigated by adding a small proportion of flex resin to the standard, and print size can be worked around by judicious angling and splitting up of prints.

 

And here at least they are far cheaper than any Peusa printer - even the Prusa mini FDM.

Edited February 26, 2020 by monkeysarefun

[woko]

I would agree with Monkeysarefun and Skinnylinny I have tried printing wagons on fdm printers, its ok, but nowhere near as good as a Resin printer for the detail.  I have yet to start printing on my anycubic, but bought it just for creating rolling stock! I would get the Anycubic or the Mars, though some reviews suggest the Mars is slightly better now... but there wont be much in it! Plus both are pretty reasonably priced, but not something you want in the house with resin smells!