Good day everyone. Been into the hobby since around 2014. I own 3 FDM printers currently.
Started on a Ecker Tech reprap kit.
Got a Wanhao D3, modified the hell outta it.
Latest as of a few years ago is a Ender 5Plus, have a CoreXY kit on there, swapped the board to a 32bit BTT, and added a microswiss extrusion assembly.
The FDMs have done me well over the years, and I’ve highly enjoyed tinkering around with them. But now I have the itch for something new and fresh. I’m thinking of dipping my toes into the resin printer market, and am looking for some reccomdations and experiences of fellow 3D printer enthusiasts.
I’d like to keep it around $2000 CAD (roughly 1500 USD, ouch CAD lol). I’m no stranger to tinkering and modifying. Have a shop with plenty of space, ventilation, and what not.
If you have any suggestions on a new FDM printer I’m all ears! (Maybe somthing multi-filament compatible?) So feel free to suggest some as well.
Thanks in advanced!
Knowing what kind of prints you want to make informs the purchasing decision. I’m with @Hazdaz@lemmy.world - we would want to know what kind of stuff OP wants to print to make the best recommendation. They may not have articulated the concern well, focusing on the impracticality of most SLA parts for mechanical components, but the question to OP stands: what do they want to print? The fineness of feature and speed of printing, the volume - or even single or dual axis size - of parts.
OP - from reading your list of printers, if you just want to “try it out” as you did with cheap FDM, grab a Anycubic Mono 4K to start (currently $160US with a coupon). It will only print small items, but will print them with excellent detail and reasonable speed. Spend a few extra on the magnetic build plate, I find it invaluable to have two spring-steel build plates that lets me swap a blank plate onto the printer while my current print and plate is getting washed/cleaned up.
The wash station is almost useless (or at least I find it quicker to wash by hand/soft brush in small tubs) but a cure station is convenient if you don’t want to wait for daylight to cure your prints. If you want to see if resin is viable for you, skip the station and save the money to begin with.
There are some “tough” and “ABS-like” resins which are quite a bit less fragile/brittle than the basic stuff, but I’d still be wary of using them in parts that get lots of UV exposure over time. I’ve only tried a couple: OPTO ABS-Like seems to have good fracture toughness but it’s super difficult to get it to a final cure state. It sands very easily, though. Anycubic Tough resin is, as it’s name implies, better fracture toughness, but I’ve only done a couple of prints and can’t speak to the long term.
For game pieces and miniatures, resin is amazing compared to FDM. I printed a Niffler (HP/Fantastic Beasts) in FDM and still haven’t gotten around to cleaning up all the support flash. The SLA/resin version I printed was smaller due to my printer size, but required near zero cleanup despite all the crazy fur overhangs, and I got it painted in a weekend.