I’m thinking about buying a small 3D printer for the odd project once in a while.
Problem is, I will not use it very often and I don’t have much desk space for it to sit around.
Ideally (and I know this is utopia), I would like a device that I can pull out of a closet, fasten four screws, plug it in and be ready to go.
Is there something even remotely like that available? Every review I’ve seen just seems to assume that printers are basically static.
The printer require a lot of maintenance.
IMO you should just use an online 3D printing service.
When I checked online printing services the last time, they were really expensive. For my very first project (4 custom card organizers) it would have cost me more than a hundred bucks. My printer + the initial accessoires were around than 200 bucks and I’ve printed so many functional parts since then that it easily amortized itself within the first year.
Usually if you just look for individuals who offer 3D printing, it is much cheaper. Definitely way below 100 bucks for card organizers.
What service would you recommend? I’m only familiar with xometry and pcbway from their ads, so there are probably better services out there.
You could try to find some local dude that got into 3d printing and made it a business.
Yeah, I have a friend who got a used print farm, but I’m looking for large sla printing.
Well that’s definitely a different usecase
I don’t recommend any, I never used those, I’m fine with tinkering with my printer for hours in the other hand.