In the world of 3D printing - for V1 Engineering @Ryan what sized bed are you using to print off all the wonderful items you print for the shop products? I am about to pull the trigger on an out of the box 3D printer so I can mod my LR3 for knife holder and laser, etc. so I can expand the life and use of my LR3.
Think Ryan uses 200mm x 200mm…
However, in more recent topics sounded like Ryan’s thinking of building a larger version to open up more options for experimenting/prototyping/building.
1 Like
The Prusa Mk$ is 200 x 250 I’ve got almost 5,000 hours on it 4960 of which were spent comfortably within the limits of the machine.
I would love something bigger but I don’t know why, because even duct fittings for 6" ducting can fit, and so far it’s been easy enough to split things that don’t.
I think if I had a significant project in that involved larger parts, I’d buy or build a machine to suit, but I’m about to replace the Mk3 with the new Mk4 which probably says I’m happy as is, 
For the LR3, the only thing that didn’t fit on the bed of the Prusa MK3 was the YZ plate, but you can buy them and save a bunch of time.
There are also a bunch of posts on how people split them in two pieces.
I bought a Prusa Mini a few years ago to be able to build a Primo and haven’t regretted it. Have since umgraded to a MK4.
Yup, 200x200. I do have 300x300 parts but have not built it yet.
Just today I was printing some stuff that I just split in half to work on my 200’s. all depends on what you want to do. Oddly, everyone in my personal circle that has any interest in 3D printing (3 people) want one for printing helmets…so they really need a bigger machine.
Don’t tell me, they want Mandalorian helmets… Or are they trying to join 501st Legion?
Or are they peak gaming nerds, and want to print their favorite Starfield helmet(s)?
1 Like
I have a number of issues with that! Why don’t they just get smaller heads? 
When I got my first 3D printer (I3 clone) it was 200×200, and I kept running into things that needed just a little more.
I had another printer same size, but better and finally was able to make parts that fit together, so I could split larger pieces, but that never seemed.to work as well as it should.
When I designed my own, I increased rhe Y throw a bit and got a 220×275mm bed. It us supposed to be 200×255 printable, but I’ve stepped beylnd that area many times. Most things that I wanted fit on this.
Then I got my Primo, and the LR2.
With those, I built my Repeat. I built that for the 300×300 bed so I could finally print those things that I had wanted the larger build volume for…
And found that I no longer required it. The things that needed the larger print volume were easier to produce with subtractive manufacturing on the CNC than to 3D print. Or with a combination of 3D printed and milled 2.5D components.
The only time I have printed anything on the Repeat that wouldn’t fit on a 200×200 print bed was because I was printing a plate of several items, where the time saving was perhaps dubuous, and more because I didn’t have to delay to start the next print. (Imagine that, printing 2 objects at the same nozzle speed takes twice as long as printing 1. Extra travel moves printing 2, but extra warm up and bed levelling 1 at a time.)
2 Likes
For me, in the unlikely event of a failure, the potential time loss of reprinting multiple items more than compensates for the small amount of inconvenience of printing one or two at a time!
1 Like
Ok. Awesome, by all of you. Thank you for your responses!
Next question, as I’m just getting into this idea of 3D printing. I’ve come across a UV and Wash cure. Is that a thing? I also saw a ISO alcohol bath and put the print in the sun. What’s the deal to work with PLA?
That’s right, no use for FDM printing.
MSLA Printers (resin prints) are also horrible for functional parts like in the V1 designs, so no need for resin printing for anything related to these machines.
Generally, particularly if you buy a reasonable quality brand, I think I’m safe saying it’s one of, if not the most forgiving filaments and unless you have special requirements such as exposure to heat or UV or you want flexibility, you’ll find it will be perfect 99% of the time! 
Resin printing uses a photosensitive resin that hardens with exposure to light (usually UV.) The printing process uses an LCD projector to expose layers of the liquid resin to the light in a similar manner to how FDM printer print layers.
The printed part comes out slightly wet with un-cured resin, so exposure to UV (or sunlight) can help cure the exposed resin keeping it from making a mess. You don’t want too much left over of course or it will form blobs and zits on the finished print, so something that can wash most of the uncured resin off of the print is good. A little uncured resin can help smooth the parts for a nicer surface finish.
About the only thing that might need a wash on FDM printed parts is probably the hair spray or glue that some prints need to keep themselves stuck to the build plate while printing. One thing that I did like for ABS printed parts was the ability to “polish” the parts by exposing them to acetone vapour. Acetone dissolves ABS, so the vapours soften the layer lines and smooth them out. I used that to make things to be handled.
A resin printer uses a reservoir filled with a liquid resin that is toxic until totally cured by UV light. Curing it with UV makes it solidified, and once that happens and it is completely cleaned and dry from any still-uncured, still-liquid resin, it is safe to touch. The resin printer has a UV light emitting source that does the “tablet screen” equivalent of flashing UV light in sliced images, once per cured layer. Each time it cures a small amount against the screen, a “hoist” attached to an inverted print bed raises the cured resin up by one layer’s height, and the UV screen flashes to cure another layer. When the print is done, it is first cleaned in a bath of IPA achohol, and then the remaining solidified part is more fully, more completely cured by resting in a UV rich environment in a curing chamber.
The liquid resin smells like cancer. It stinks to the high heaven. The fumes are probably quite toxic. Some suspect the process is very detrimental to those who do it in a way that subjects them to the fumes.
The following quote is from here.
Stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing is the most common resin 3D printing process that has become vastly popular for its ability to produce high-accuracy, isotropic, and watertight prototypes and end-use parts in a range of advanced materials with fine features and smooth surface finish.
SLA is completely different from FDM — Fused Deposition Modeling.
FDM allows use of many different filament materials, on spools. Some of them can, when heated, emit toxic off-gases, but PLA (polylactic acid) is quite safe. PLA is made from (for the most part) organically sourced plastic (oil/sugary extracts from either soy beans or corn). It can have added chemicals such as plasticizers, but it’s still, even then, mostly odorless while being heated for being “deposited,” and the FDM printing process with PLA is deemed vastly safer than SLA liquid resins.
I bought an FDM printer first. Then I bought some more. But somewhere along the way, I also bought a resin SLA printer. I used it once, hated it beyond words, and now it sits here, a total waste of money. If I were to ever use it, I’d have to print with it located outside the house, on the back deck, under an awning.
I have no desire to use it.
FDM printing, I love. I print with PLA filament almost exclusively.
PS: Don’t let the word ‘acid’ in Polylactic Acid… throw you. If you know anything about chemistry / physical science (and I don’t know much), you may know that sugars are classed as acid. The fact that some acids (sugars) can be liquid when heated and can be solid when cooled, is the essence of the candy-making industry. The concept that things, even important things, can be built with sugars (acids) did not originate with mankind. The most famous, most important thing built out of sugars, was built by God: DNA.
It seems it would be fair to say that the first 3D printing in the history of the universe was done by God Himself when he built DNA for the first time. Each DNA strand is a complex database of code (carrying an unbelievably dense, lengthy amount of data) forming a blueprint for a living thing.
Oh, my favorite acid is Coca-Cola! Also I realize that pH is just a measurement of near perfectly neutral water, but not the stuff from a city supply, at least not mine. Akaline, not enough to counteract the acid in my Cokes though, regretfully.
I do appreciate your candor and explanation. I am an Army Engineer Officer and I enjoy a good nerdy narration! So thank you.
I rest my 3D worries at the get of this forum. PLA it is and I’ll be pickingup a printer shortly. I am looking forward to printing @DougJoseph and @jamiek (remix work) tool mount parts for the LR3.
Ought to be a fun fall and winter!
2 Likes
One printer I really, really recommend as a great printer, including as a great first printer, is the BIQU B1. A lot of people think it’s just a Creality Ender 3-v2 under another brand, but trust me it’s not. I bought one of them, and then later, over time, three more, and also one of its bigger brother, the BIQU B1 SE Plus.
Amazon currently has the B1 for less than $200: Amazon.com
And they have the bigger brother, B1 SE Plus, for less than $250: Amazon.com
My first printer was 180x180. I always ran into build size issues with that thing. I built my MP3DPv4 as a 300x300 and have used the larger size only a few times. I do think 250x250 might be the sweet spot.
1 Like