Cost of Filament for 3D printer; Brief "Worth-it"-ness question

Space Teams 3D Printers
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Hello there! Newbie to actually using crafting tools beyond “theory”, so I’m at the precipice of “fine, I’ll do it myself” and outsourcing the fabrication of items.

I will be needing to print out 18 copies of what is essentially a 100x120x40mm box; the cheapest online option I found quoted me at ~$11 a pop, so, $200 to get that done.

The class to learn the FDM is $100 (I thought it would be cheaper than the resin, but I just checked and saw I was mistaken); on top of the makerspace fee of $75/mo puts me at ~$175 as well.

That means the deciding part of my equation depends on expected pricing for filament.

I know members are responsible for consumable materials; looking at the Prusa MK3S+ says I’ll need a 1.75mm filament, and there are all sorts of price variations there… so in short, I guess it’ll be better to just hit you with a list of concise questions:

TL;DR QUICK N EASY QUESTIONS

  1. What software should I use to model the designs for 3D printing; I know that you can change the density of “solid” prints, but I’m not sure if that takes place in the design phase or is a setting you tell the printer, etc. (attempting to manually create “thin” walls exponentially increased design complexity and I imagine plays hell with the 3D printer’s automated routines for creating supports and such).

  2. How much modification of the 3D printer should one expect to do? I see that with the MK3S+ you can change nozzle size, but the manufacturer specified “Layer Height: 0.05mm - 0.35mm”; does this reasonably extend to layer width? (I might be mis-applying a term, but “kerf” error by any other name)

  3. How expensive do personal prints end up being; or rather, what’s a good metric to determine the cost of materials? This in part goes with an answer to question [1], is there a way I can figure out how much filament will be used in a print ahead of time? Is it as simple as saying “volumetrically, it should be 100mm^3, but I’m setting the infill to only 25%, so therefore, it’ll be 25mm^3”

  4. is there ASMBLY preferred filament for the machines?

I think that about sums up the questions. A good few of these I imagine would be answered in the 3D printing class; but hopefully you can’t fault a guy for “trying (to learn) before buying (the class)”, y’know? I’d like to imagine joining would mitigate a lot of the upfront costs of just doing it all myself, but I’ll likely also need woodshop safety/lasers class; so without materials and just through classes alone to get oriented with ASMBLY practices, I’d be about $315 in the hole, which is a bit of a bummer considering my project is so technically simple.

Essentially, it feels like I’m doing something wrong when my back of the napkin math has my “board game box” idea winding up to be so expensive any way I cut it, and I’m not sure if these prices are reasonable or not and that I just need to shift my perspective and scale

Thanks for your time in advance! :smile:

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What software should I use to model the designs for 3D printing; I know that you can change the density of “solid” prints, but I’m not sure if that takes place in the design phase or is a setting you tell the printer, etc. (attempting to manually create “thin” walls exponentially increased design complexity and I imagine plays hell with the 3D printer’s automated routines for creating supports and such).

There’s a variety of software available and many opinions out there. Solidworks is my preferred package, it’s versatile but has a higher learning curve and can be expensive. Fusion 360 is another great one, and has some free/cheap options. TinkerCAD and SketchUP I haven’t used but they’re supposed to have a lower learning curve. I got one for my iPad that I’ve been enjoying called Shapr3D which has fewer features but is very easy to use.

If you want to print a solid cube, you’ll design it solid and then import it into the slicer, which is a separate piece of software. In the slicer you can specify infill percentage and it will figure out all the specifics. You said you’ll need a box, so you’re gonna design it hollow and it’ll use that infill % to figure out how to print the walls.

How much modification of the 3D printer should one expect to do? I see that with the MK3S+ you can change nozzle size, but the manufacturer specified “Layer Height: 0.05mm - 0.35mm”; does this reasonably extend to layer width? (I might be mis-applying a term, but “kerf” error by any other name)

I’m not sure that I understand your question exactly, but this is hard to answer and depends on how accurate you need your parts to be. But generally, printers need to be calibrated at least when you first get them. I’m not quite sure how well ours are already calibrated. Since you’re a self proclaimed newbie, it might be a bit more work than you need to do and I’d recommend printing some pieces that you can measure and determine the error yourself, and adjust your model accordingly. (i.e. if you specify something to be 10.0mm and it comes out 11.0mm, then size it down 10% and it should come out 10mm. That’s an exaggeration but you get the point. There are ‘Calibration Cube’ models you can print to determine the error in all three dimensions)

How expensive do personal prints end up being; or rather, what’s a good metric to determine the cost of materials? This in part goes with an answer to question [1], is there a way I can figure out how much filament will be used in a print ahead of time? Is it as simple as saying “volumetrically, it should be 100mm^3, but I’m setting the infill to only 25%, so therefore, it’ll be 25mm^3”

The slicer will tell you how much filament it expects to use, and these estimates are generally fairly accurate. I’ve never measured exactly, but they’re not too bad. From there you can just calculate to get cost per piece.

is there ASMBLY preferred filament for the machines?

Not sure, but I don’t think so @Devmani @pearlgreymusic

I support the noble cause of acquiring more skills, but I’ll say that if you want to go this route it’s probably best to do it because you want to learn how to print and are gonna potentially use it more in the future. If your goal is to save money over the print-on-demand stuff, it may not be the best option to go with as it will take several days (weeks?) to print 18 copies of a print that size and you’ll definitely have failed prints and the like. But it’s a fun hobby and once you know it you’ll definitely have more you’ll want to print, so I’d say go for it!

Hope that answered some questions

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Thanks for the reply!

I got one for my iPad that I’ve been enjoying called Shapr3D which has fewer features but is very easy to use.
If you want to print a solid cube, you’ll design it solid and then import it into the slicer, which is a separate piece of software. In the slicer you can specify infill percentage and it will figure out all the specifics. You said you’ll need a box, so you’re gonna design it hollow and it use that infill to figure out how to print the walls.

I’ve actually been using Shapr3D myself (the other programs weren’t nearly as easy to pick up as I had remembered from years ago when I messed with them/similar programs). I just have my fingers crossed that the [locked-from-free-users > save-as > filetypes] weren’t super important. (Can only save the most bare-bones low quality STL file by default, for example)

Is the slicer a program specific to the printer one uses? (aka: included or free to users who connect with the printer later?)

If you want to print a solid cube, you’ll design it solid and then import it into the slicer, which is a separate piece of software. In the slicer you can specify infill percentage and it will figure out all the specifics. You said you’ll need a box, so you’re gonna design it hollow and it’ll use that infill % to figure out how to print the walls.

Yeah, I gave rough dimensions just because it’s easier to talk about cubes than it is slightly involved geometry; but basically, I’m making a holder for a deck of cards; but the premise is generally the same, I’m hoping that if the program sees “internal/hidden” geometry that’s between 4 walls of the print, it will apply a standard %infill type of equation or geometry to it.

I’m not sure that I understand your question exactly

I think you did perfectly, and answered quite succinctly. Yeah, I’m imagining tolerances should be quite alright by default. I’m just tired of trying to be as precise as possible with mediocre tools and equipment
(see also, my hands and an x-acto knife/multitool) in my designs, so I’m really hype at the idea of being able to have <1mm tolerance.

From there you can just calculate to get cost per piece.

Excellent, thank you, this just goes back to “where do I find the slicer” (which then goes back to “you’ll probably learn that in the FDM class”, so feel free to tell me to just chill on that front)

I support the noble cause of acquiring more skills, but I’ll say that if you want to go this route it’s probably best to do it because you want to learn how to print and are gonna potentially use it more in the future.

Yeah, I’m in the same boat; pursuit of new skills is baller, I was just hoping that it’d be slightly less in terms of upfront costs. (This is the part where I point to a flashing neon sign that just says, “In This Economy?”, and the live-studio audience all errupts into applause and laughter; a good time is had by all at the observational comedy.) Really, I’m just kicking myself for not taking advantage of the makerspace(s) at UT Austin when I was a student, but I don’t like the idea of printing things I wouldn’t use. If this project works out, ideally, I’ll be able to do it for other board games too, so I’m thinking I’m going to go for it. I’ve got a good feeling that filament costs won’t be a limiting factor.

Thanks again for all your assistance! :pray: :blush:

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Unless it’s a super complex model, low quality STL should be perfectly fine (and stl is indeed the correct file type) so that’s good news. And there are several slicer, but Cura is a common one that should work for most printers and it’s free. I know Prusa has a slicer too but I’m not sure if it’s necessary.

Also, if you’d rather go another route, you can buy your own Ender 3 for ~$150 and have it for years. That’s what I did, and it’s a great intro printer.

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1.) @gordoa40 covered this pretty well from a design front, Solid Works, Fusion360, TinkerCad, SketchUp, Blender and now even Adobe has a new program. The intro class doesn’t cover the use of any of these tools and it’s a whole different learning track on actual modeling/design.

2.) For the printers at the space there is zero modification to be done. In the future, we will move to 0.6 nozzles, this may happen by end of the year as I’m waiting for the slicer to support Arachne. As for the Spec of .005-0.35, this is the resolution of the item. The higher the number the fewer layer lines it will require.

3.) Once again Adam answered this pretty well. Cost is varied depending on the material you pick, and your success rate. A failed print is technically lost money, the slicer we use (Prusa Slicer btw) will let you know the cost of your print and the amount of filament required to print.

4.) There isn’t a preferred filament, we use Fulament as they are our sponsor. We are running low and supply issues with said sponsor means we are not sure when we will get more. So really it’s up to you as the end user what filament you wish to use as long as it’s 1.75mm

I understand your concerns regarding costs piling up but that’s honestly the nature of learning how to use any new tool/machine. The 1st couple of times are a loss but once you are comfortable and you gain the skills the price drops significantly (material cost is a whole other bucket of fish lol)

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A Makerspace usually isn’t the right place to get a one time project done and never come back. If the only thing you want out of the makerspace is use of a 3D printer, my recommendation is to buy yourself an ender 3 for $100 from microcenter right now (they have an amazing coupon) and have one for your own use. Filament from there is about $18-25 a KG (depends on material) and good quality. It can be bought cheaper and more expensive elsewhere depending on your requirements. At $75 a month, a Makerspace has to be a serious hobby at the minimum to make sense. However, if you are regularly doing projects like this, and especially if you start using some of the more expensive equipment like lasers, CNC, heat presses, vinyl cutters, etc, you’ll easily be able to make $75 a month worth it.

Good luck with your project!

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I agree, I think some of the costs are too high to be tenable if we want more people to use the equipment, but at this time it’s all teacher time which is what costs money. Dallas Makerspace made the 3D printing and laser class certifications online so they could be free, not sure if that’s something that could potentially be done in the future.

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