Hi, I am brand new to 3d printing and I think it’s something I’d like to get more into. The only issue is I have extremely limited space, and I travel for work.
I am wondering if there are any 3d printers that would be practical for this type of lifestyle. I was eyeballing the prusa mini +.
Are there any 3d printers that pack/travel well?
Check out the Positron! It’s the most portable one I’ve seen. The guy behind it, Kralyn, been providing the plans to the community so you can make it yourself.
https://github.com/KRALYN/PositronV3
Since he’s released it to the public, it’s possible that you might be able to find someone else selling them commercially rather than having to build it. The latest version is V3. It’s so small it can fit into a filament box!
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/ZAPaOevoeX0
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Wow, that is absolutely incredible. Thanks for sharing that with me, that’s really exciting and I’ve been obsessively chasing after every piece of information I can find since seeing that. So far there is only one kit that I’ve found, but it’s not really verified so I don’t know if I’d want to chance it for that kind of money… I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one though!
I’ve experience with 2 printers: Ender 3 orig and the prusa mini. Of those 2 the prusa wins. It wins on every front but certainly space/portability.
If you find a box that fits it, pad it a bit. I can see this totally working if handled with care. You can lift the thing with one hand steadily with the z motor. Spools with the holder are going in another box. 👌
Don’t buy an Ender 3 or something of the same category. These are only good to thinker with and brute force learn stuff. They absolutely do not travel well and take a lot, A LOT of space/money/time/frustration compared to the mini.
I’m definitely eyeballing this one pretty hard.
I am wondering how easy/difficult is the z axis assembly would be to take apart from the main unit?
Imho that axis is the backbone of the whole unit.
Personally I would not do that: you will disable the whole thing. And while it then can be packed in a flat back I cannot image it will not come at a big cost of stability and loose thingies after doing this over and over.
I would just put in one of those really useful boxes, make sure the bed and other axes cannot move to spare the stepper motors. I image myself using towels or clothes to do this, you know thing that I would have to move anyway.
That said: it’s a great machine at a good price point. You’ll have lots of fun with it!
So, you’re suggesting to just put the whole thing in a box without disconnecting anything and it should be fine so long as I’m padding it appropriately right?
Thank you!
Gotta define by what you actually mean when you say portable. Do you mean pack up for flying? Just driving around? Hotel use? Honestly if you travel that much you might want to just look into maker spaces or libraries.
Driving around. The ability to put it away in a box or protective case would be really nice.
Thanks for the suggestion on makerspaces and libraries, that’s definitely something that’s been on my mind too.
I think the biggest hurdle would be packing it away, putting it back together and recalibrating - that seems like it would get old fast. Someone’s already mentioned it but the ender 2 or prusa mini seem like best bet. That could be small enough you could take the gantry off and put into a foam case
You can add the Kingroon KPS3 Pro to the list of printers you might consider.
I also travel for work and have been missing my mk3s back home. I’ve been eyeballing the Bambu Labs printer to bring on the road with me. My company will ship things around for me as I travel to different sites, so I don’t have to worry about fitting it in a suitcase. I just have to worry about it being packable and shippable, which my mk3s in it’s diy enclosure is absolutely not. The bambu is marketed more like an appliance than a project, in that it’s practically ready to go straight out of the box. Presumably, this means it should be able to go back in the box and ship off to the next site.
