I’ve finally decided to pull the trigger on purchasing a 3d printer, specifically the Bambu Labs X2D. Those 3d printer users, if you were to start over, what would you purchase to start out with assuming I am going to be printing clamps, storage, and all those other things that a new 3d printer user will print. Also…assume I have nothing for accessories.
3D printing is mostly self-accessorizing these days, and typically, the first couple of days of ownership are filled w/ printing various accessories.
Notable things which I use w/ my 3D printers (which are not 3D printed/specific to a printer):
- a good quality/sharp putty knife for (carefully) removing prints — this should be kept clean and not used for anything else
- a spray bottle filled w/ 91% isopropyl alcohol (to clean print surfaces)
- microfiber cloth (wipe clean/dry after spraying)
- Dawn dish detergent (to clean print surfaces)
- heat gun (for clearing a clogged nozzle)
- specialty filament for cleaning a nozzle (used when switching between materials or after clearing a clog)
- brass brush (for cleaning off nozzles after a clog)
- various T-handle hex keys (cue Adam Savage talking about multiple sets of Bondhus hex tools in his shop)
- a wire shelf/rack to store stuff paired w/ a small table
- lots of desiccant beads
- a 5 gallon bucket w/ a Gamma Seal lid to store filament in
- lots of Ziplock bags for storing filament
- a good quality pair of flush cutters to cut filament — I actually use a pair of Revlon scissor like nail clippers (found on the side of the road when walking to the grocery store — a fair number of my tools are sourced thus) which are slightly curved to as to make a rounded end
- a tool case like to:
https://www.harborfreight.com/toolbox-organizer-with-4-drawers-68238.html
For the 3D printers themselves:
- various sizes of nozzles
- spare silicone socks and so forth
- spare print plates
- a filament dryer (for PETG — various other filaments also want this)
- lots and lots of different filaments
The printers themselves are on small furniture dollies w/ a sandwich of (from top-to-bottom):
- rubber paver
- concrete paver
- foam kneeling pad
- concrete paver
- furniture dolly
since they are in a finished basement and get moved around as necessary to either print or be out-of-the-way.
Once you’ve compleated a print you will need:
- needlenose pliers for removing supports
- files in various sizes and shapes (for refining surfaces)
- deburring tools — Noga brand are supposed to be really nice, but I haven’t splurged thus (yet)
- containers to store scrap filament/poop sorted as appropriate for recycling and so forth — a project for future me is to make a mold out of aluminum to use to cast Gridfinity baseplates
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Thanks Will. That is a fantastically thorough list! I’ll definitely use this as a basis for my accessories.
I’m sure that there’s lots of stuff which I didn’t list, and it may be that some of the stuff I listed won’t be suited for your needs, and it may be that there are better options — in particular, filament storage and drying is something I’d like to improve on…
It sounds extravagant, but I find unloading/loading/stowing filament annoying enough that I’m kind of wishing I’d bought a second printer w/ an MMU, then assembled it mirror imaged and found space for a dedicated table for the pair — then I could have 8 colours loaded and just print a fairly compleat palette (which would of course have to include the 5 MtG colours WUBRG) as well as the bone white and shiny grey I like to use for Gridfinity bins as suggested by Robert Cowan on YouTube.
As it is, I keep the boxes for the currently loaded filaments in the top tray of the wire shelf rack and the hygroscopic stuff is in the afore-mentioned bucket, while PLA and unopened filaments are stacked wherever I can find room.
The other thing I need to sort out is re-using or recycling filament spools…
I’ll probably hold out for a large format 3D printer which will have 8 tool heads… (which will be a long time coming, so not a big priority for me, the setup which I have addresses my needs as opposed to desires).