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Thread: Aldi 3D Printer

  1. #1
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    Default Aldi 3D Printer

    Okay then, who's going to be buying an Aldi 3D printer next Wednesday ($499)?
    Chris
    ========================================

    Life isn't always fair

    ....................but it's better than the alternative.

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  3. #2
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    If you wanted to dip your toe in the 3d printer pool, this would have to be the cheapest way you could do it. . The specs look OK too.
    No ALDI in Tassie - which is perhaps a good thing in this case.

  4. #3
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    What a prize... the main shortcoming with Aldi stuff is when the right thing comes around, the bank account is inevitably a little short of the funds needed...

    I wonder if Aldi does a laser engraver/cutter...

  5. #4
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    My son gave me a 3D printer kit for Xmas in 2012 - some assembly required. I put 99% of it together and then I got stuck with a trivial problem - some of the holes in a couple pf brackets needed to be drilled out and it sat there until last month when my son finally asked if I was ever going to finish making. I said that it was unlikely and so I gave it to him and he got it working within an hour. In the first couple of days he made a bunch of oddly slumped and partially melted blobs before he found out what was wrong and then he used the printer to make some upgraded parts so that it could use finer toothed belts and cogs. My son asked me if I wanted to print anything but I honestly cant think of a single useful thing I want from it.

    Actually there is - I t would be neat if it could print a full size cyclone but I think that DIY version that can print something that size is some ways away.

  6. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    My son gave me a 3D printer kit for Xmas in 2012 - some assembly required. I put 99% of it together and then I got stuck with a trivial problem - some of the holes in a couple pf brackets needed to be drilled out and it sat there until last month when my son finally asked if I was ever going to finish making. I said that it was unlikely and so I gave it to him and he got it working within an hour. In the first couple of days he made a bunch of oddly slumped and partially melted blobs before he found out what was wrong and then he used the printer to make some upgraded parts so that it could use finer toothed belts and cogs. My son asked me if I wanted to print anything but I honestly cant think of a single useful thing I want from it.

    Actually there is - I t would be neat if it could print a full size cyclone but I think that DIY version that can print something that size is some ways away.
    Does it mean that the Aldi printer is good because it is off the shelf working or is it bad because you'll never make anything useful from a small printer like this.

  7. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by justonething View Post
    Does it mean that the Aldi printer is good because it is off the shelf working or is it bad because you'll never make anything useful from a small printer like this.
    The latter.

    We've had 3D plastic printers at work since 2010 and I have to say I have been underwhelmed by what they can do relative to what I like doing.
    The printed parts have limited strength and its not easy to get a decent finish.
    Unless you print from pre-made plans (e.g. items on thingyverse.com) the setup time for a complex object from scratch is much greater than you think.
    The labtechs use the printers mainly to make complex custom lab machine parts that would be tricky to make in our machine shop. They substantially recover their setup time because they often have to make multiples which is where 3D printers really shine but this has no benefit to me as I'm not into production mode.

    I see they are used in school to print out toy racing cars but wouldn't it be more useful if they could print out a spoiler or a taillight housing for a full size car, or they could print out a cyclone or sturdy 6" blast gates?

    I agree it's still early days year but I'll be more interested when a $499 printer can make objects up to say a cubic ft in sintered metal.

  8. #7
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    Here you go Bob Oak Ridge National Lab Working on Huge, Super-Fast 3D Printers - Core77


    Chris thanks for pointing this out yep bank account and space always a problem . Oh the useful things one could learn from this machine.

  9. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by wheelinround View Post
    I'm not that concerned about the speed of printing, e.g. I would happily wait for a couple of days for it to print a cyclone.
    Size is important to make many practical things The other thing is strength and that relates to materials.
    I think both will get better over time.


    Chris thanks for pointing this out yep bank account and space always a problem . Oh the useful things one could learn from this machine.
    I agree the one can learn a lot from small printers but a substantial part of the learning tends to be the idiosyncrasies of the specific printer and most of these will disappear as the problems become ironed out.

    I heard about someone who was printing out replacement small body housings for power tools but I don't know how successful he has been.

  10. #9
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    I have not looked at this printer specifically but here are some of the issues with the cheap 3D printers.

    Poor resolution. The parts are not smooth and are extremely rough finish.
    Poor registration. The accuracy may not be particularly good.
    Poor cabinet design. If the cabinet is not fully enclosed and temperature regulated then the quality of the finish may vary a lot and the part may become distorted.
    Bed temperature. The bed should be heated and temperature regulated for the same reason and if the cabinet is not properly regulated then this will effect the first few layers.
    Calibration difficult to impossible. The base has to be exactly parallel to the head motion and this can be difficult to impossible to achieve. I have heard of people spending all day on calibration only to have it completely go out of wack when nudged or moved. Expensive machines only take a few minutes to calibrate and stay set over time.

    However if accuracy, finish, registration, calibration, ambient temperature and air flow are not issues for you it might be a good deal.

    John

    PS and did someone say slow? yes hours per print.

  11. #10
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    I am of two minds about it. Firstly it is about the same price or just slightly more than a kit set and it comes with a heated bed, so that's appealing. I have some readies that is supposed to be for a thicknesser and so only one of them will get the go ahead right away. More importantly, I don't really know what I could do with it on a day to day basis. Is this thing connected to a network or is it printing via a USB only. What have the experts here used their 3D printer for?

  12. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yanis View Post
    I have not looked at this printer specifically but here are some of the issues with the cheap 3D printers.
    1) Poor resolution. The parts are not smooth and are extremely rough finish.
    2) Poor registration. The accuracy may not be particularly good.
    3) Poor cabinet design. If the cabinet is not fully enclosed and temperature regulated then the quality of the finish may vary a lot and the part may become distorted.
    4) Bed temperature. The bed should be heated and temperature regulated for the same reason and if the cabinet is not properly regulated then this will effect the first few layers.
    5) Calibration difficult to impossible. The base has to be exactly parallel to the head motion and this can be difficult to impossible to achieve. I have heard of people spending all day on calibration only to have it completely go out of wack when nudged or moved. Expensive machines only take a few minutes to calibrate and stay set over time.
    Good summary Yanis,

    The first thing that my son did on my printer was deal with 1), 2) and 5) by upgrading to higher res belts and drive cogs. 5) has been attended to by adding stiff spring loaded height adjustment mechanisms
    See (A) in this Photo
    IMG_0145.jpg.
    These have made a significant difference to the output.

    B is a fan that my son has added to help cool things down in certain circumstances.

    My job is to work on 3). The printers at work with fully enclosed cabinets worked much better than the one that was not enclosed.

    Quote Originally Posted by justonething View Post
    I am of two minds about it. Firstly it is about the same price or just slightly more than a kit set and it comes with a heated bed, so that's appealing. I have some readies that is supposed to be for a thicknesser and so only one of them will get the go ahead right away. More importantly, I don't really know what I could do with it on a day to day basis. Is this thing connected to a network or is it printing via a USB only. What have the experts here used their 3D printer for?
    My understanding is that assembling a kit will show you how it works and them
    allow you to better understand any of the inevitable problems that arise.
    If you have no idea what to do with it then I would get the thicknesser.

  13. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    Good summary Yanis,


    My job is to work on 3). The printers at work with fully enclosed cabinets worked much better than the one that was not enclosed.
    Thanks. Good job with the upgrades. I would imagine that you could do something similar to what I did for a chicken breeder for newborns. I got a thermostat from ebay for $20 and added an ES ceramic heater. Works a treat. I have heard of people doing similar.

    John

  14. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yanis View Post
    Thanks. Good job with the upgrades. I would imagine that you could do something similar to what I did for a chicken breeder for newborns. I got a thermostat from ebay for $20 and added an ES ceramic heater. Works a treat. I have heard of people doing similar.

    John
    Thanks Yanis. just had words with the young bloke and he's now looking at proximity sensor based alignment system. Keeps him off the streets I suppose?

  15. #14
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    So did anybody pick one of these up? I went there today to have a look but it was all gone.

  16. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by justonething View Post
    So did anybody pick one of these up? I went there today to have a look but it was all gone.
    I was thinking about it then read that I could only make 3 X 3cm figures with the reel of plastic that came with it and the replacement reels (1kg) were $34 so I gave it a miss.

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