My son is about ready for his first printer. His school is running Cetus MK3 printers, he has a class using them, and his teacher has recommended this printer. He also has an educational seat of Fusion 360.
I’m proficient with Mastercam and hand written/modified G-code. I can help him with CAD no problem. Alignment, assembly, adjustment, and backlash are second nature for me. Have a little better than layman’s understanding of printers. (Lusted over the Markforged printer that could do continuous carbon fiber.)
Eventually, will be building my own shop and hope my son might work with me. Hope to include printing, especially in metal.
I’ve seen some of the flap about Bambu and them closing up the software tool chain. I would like to avoid that sort of thing, for now, openness is better.
Top of my budget is around $500, with $200 probably being better.
Usable prints for tooling/spacers/repairs would be a bonus as would being able to print UV resistant plastic.
My goal for him is to get gud at modelling and get a feel for computer controlled movement. Another goal, harder to describe, is him finding the joy in mechanical tinkering and producing an idea made physical.
Thank you much! What do?
I guess my ultimate goal is that he learn to model and begin building proficiency with CAD to prepare him for CAM. I also want him to start getting a feel for CNC movement and thinking in Cartesian. I think the best way to get there is by getting him engaged in printing. I’m not sure if tinkering will help or hinder this process. I know it helped for me, but I’m not sure if it will for him. I think it might. Still pondering the appropriate level of tinkering, but am leaning towards Voron, not sure if that’s my personal bias.
I knew my way around a printer before building my Voron, but the act of building it from the ground up really helps get you back to the basics: these are really just CNC hot glue guns and the components are not very hard to modify and replace. It’s easy to build up a layer of mistique, which leads to not wanting to tinker, when confronted with something new.
You don’t have to pick up CAD skills to build a printer, but odds are you’ll find an opportunity to design some parts or iterate on someone else’s design.
I’ve been proficient at CAD for longer than I’ve had printers, but as you know printers make turning ideas into physical parts fairly easy. It took a little while for me to start printint jigs and functional prints, but once I transitioned from thinking “this annoys me” to “I bet I could design something to make this easier” I kept finding more and more opportunities to design things. To me, this matters a lot more than being proficient in CAD. I would say the same thing about programming - understanding where you want to go and why you want to get there can often be more important than writing the actual code.
I’ve been designing and printing things with my kids as long as they’ve been alive. At this point they take for granted that I’ll be able to design and print something to either fix a broken toy or make something better. They’re only 4 and 7, but they do like watching and “helping” me when I have CAD open. More importantly to me, they’re also identifying opportunities to make something.
Good luck with your kid! I hope you’re able to create an environment where their curiosity moves them in the direction of wanting to create things.