The BrikWars Forums

Take a look at the Make: Magazine site for good reviews of many 3D printers. https://makezine.com/comparison/3dprinters/ Pretty much any filament printer will be able to extrude ABS, but it is likely that you need a heated bed. You also need to know if the printer takes generic filament spools or only proprietary spools, and then if the printer company offers ABS spools in the colors you like.

I can give more guidance if you give me more details. What are you trying to make? What size, print quality, etc.? What's your level of investment - plug and play or tweak it forever? And how often do you want to use it?

ninja_bait wrote:I can give more guidance if you give me more details. What are you trying to make? What size, print quality, etc.? What's your level of investment - plug and play or tweak it forever? And how often do you want to use it?

I have to admit, you already know more about these things than I do. I'd like to hear about this as well. Personally, I would prefer plug-n-play, but I have plenty of tools to do mechanical tweaking. I'm not so good at computer tweaking. Alas, if I had one? I would use it a LOT, for more than just Brikwars-y stuff...

I am curious to see what kind of recommendations pop up. I had been looking at this one for a while, but have no idea if it would be of use: https://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=15365

the best solution is to just take a chunk of ABS plastic and chisel until you get what you want, Michelangelo style


also if you really are serious about about making bootleg Lego bricks, you should try harder to not leave an electronic trail- it's best to give lego's legal department as little as possible to use against you in court.

Scribonius wrote:I have to admit, you already know more about these things than I do. I'd like to hear about this as well. Personally, I would prefer plug-n-play, but I have plenty of tools to do mechanical tweaking. I'm not so good at computer tweaking. Alas, if I had one? I would use it a LOT, for more than just Brikwars-y stuff...

I am curious to see what kind of recommendations pop up. I had been looking at this one for a while, but have no idea if it would be of use: https://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=15365

I helped start up the makerspace at my college. My contribution was researching and recommending a 3D printer brand.

I have heard that the ones from Monoprice are respectable. I really wanted to get the Printrbot Play ($299) which had a couple upgrade kits available. I didn't get one because I don't realized that it would probably just turn into my latest dusty electronic toy after a couple months. I discovered in college that 3D printing is a really good hobby for making tons of crap, which I don't have shelf space for right now. There are other ways to make pretty much anything, and to be honest 3D printing gives you the worst finished product. (See also "why are there still chefs in Star Trek if they have replicators?")

For anyone looking to do 3D printing, I gotta recommend making sure you enjoy 3D modeling first. Get your hands on Fusion360 (for free), make one of your ideas, and order it through an online print service or a friend or local makerspace. If that process totally sucks you in and turns you into an extruded plastic addict then great, invest in more equipment and software. If it leaves you feeling a little more ambivalent then it might not be time to roll your own yet.

Brikguy0410 wrote:also if you really are serious about about making bootleg Lego bricks, you should try harder to not leave an electronic trail- it's best to give lego's legal department as little as possible to use against you in court.

There are no legal ramifications to making your own LEGO compatible bricks, since the basic patents expired a long time ago. The copyright cases you hear about nowadays are about brands that directly rip off LEGO's set designs.

ninja_bait wrote:I have heard that the ones from Monoprice are respectable. I really wanted to get the Printrbot Play ($299) which had a couple upgrade kits available. I didn't get one because I don't realized that it would probably just turn into my latest dusty electronic toy after a couple months. There are other ways to make pretty much anything, and to be honest 3D printing gives you the worst finished product. (See also "why are there still chefs in Star Trek if they have replicators?")

Alas, I am aware the print quality isn't the best, but for making masters for mold casting it isn't a bad way to start.

ninja_bait wrote:For anyone looking to do 3D printing, I gotta recommend making sure you enjoy 3D modeling first. Get your hands on Fusion360 (for free), make one of your ideas, and order it through an online print service or a friend or local makerspace. If that process totally sucks you in and turns you into an extruded plastic addict then great, invest in more equipment and software. If it leaves you feeling a little more ambivalent then it might not be time to roll your own yet.

Hmm... You make a point there. To be honest, ultimately I suspect a laser cutter or one of the cutters they use for scrapbooking might be more what I need.

Brikguy0410 wrote:also if you really are serious about about making bootleg Lego bricks, you should try harder to not leave an electronic trail- it's best to give lego's legal department as little as possible to use against you in court.

*rolls eyes* I'm not planning on MAKING Lego. Maybe the occasional unusual piece that nobody ELSE makes, but not Lego. I have plenty of basic bricks and such. What I would actually use it for is detail bits for my wargaming hobby or my model train layout. I've also been looking into laser cutters and those scrapbooking cutters as a way to make stuff from ultra-thin styrene. I'm more interested in using it to create masters for mold-making, which I can use to do resin casting for things like locomotive cabs, detail parts (the ones that aren't already available commercially), and the occasional gretchin head or weapon. Yes, blasphemy. I know.

Scribonius, I think you have a great use case for a personal printer. I'm not sure if you have experience with 3D modeling, but I have seen that the learning curve is a lot steeper for drawing good models than for printing good models. Since it's free to play around with software, it doesn't hurt to make sure it's up your alley first.

That being said, if you have access to a big library of designs for your projects then you could get started sooner.

Let me know your findings!