Can we discuss printing using services (jlcpcb, pcbway, shapeways etc) here? Materials, limitations, personal experiences etc?
I’m having a strange experience with JLC 3d printing service. 72 hours is looking to be a week tomorrow. Customer support said that they “will try to ship it soon” after I contacted them after the order status hasn’t been changing for 2 days
This is so different to their main business, PCB making, which is extremely sharp and smart.
Upd: after contacting them, they shipped the order.
Have ordered multiple 3D printed parts from JLC, the shipping times are quite longer than with PCBs yeah. The quality is great for the price, they can even print pretty big pieces with resin (I had a flatbox case printed). Tried resin and MJF, honestly quite satisfied with both. Don’t really see the reason to order their FDM.
Here are pics of some stuff I had done by them: TOTEM keyboard, resin Flatbox case and buttons (resin case, MJF buttons)
Nice parts! I’m still waiting for my parts (slow post), which should arrive soon.
After some back and forth with their support I actually like them. When they can’t do something, they explain it plainly and suggest that you modify the model. Time delays are just something I needed to adjust to after many years of using the PCB service.
Is this for a business? Why not get a 3d printer and print yourself?
I don’t have a 3d printer currently and will not be able to get one in near future.
Also not all 3d printing technologies are equal. Each has its strengths and limitations. FDM doesn’t cover all bases.
The general issue is making working parts you can dial in to fit and dialing in to each process. Unless you already know all the details about how to tolerance and design for a process or machine, I wouldn’t expect good results. If your parts are ultra simple, sure you might get away with just having someone make a thing. If your parts really need 3d printing and utilize its design possibilities, you’re probably going to need many iterations. Each material behaves differently and requires tweaking the design accordingly. No service can effectively do this for you. They can add little elements to make something printable, but they can’t troubleshoot and test fit with your final assembly and application. This is why I would never outsource like this. Something like machining is different. With that you can set and test tolerances. With printing, altering the final tolerances usually involves altering the design substantially. If you dial in a FDM print first, you might get away with tweaking it for another process. If you have little to no experience printing, I would greatly limit my expectations. The delay is probably because the prints failed and they just shipped the best they had.
I have decent experience using my own FDM printer and third party services using SLS, I design my own mechanical parts too. I know what you mean and I know joy and frustrations of owning a 3d printer. There’s no arguing that quick turnaround helps design process tremendously. It’s just currently I have to make do without one.
They (JLC) have requirements well specified and automatic rule checker rejects problematic parts. I had several virtual iterations with it before I got my parts dialed in. They should cause no problems.
As for them restarting failed prints, heh. I really hope not. Large machines tend to be loaded to the brim with multiple jobs combined and they are pretty reliable.
I didn’t mention what type of printer to get. If your particular situation makes getting a printer not viable, then don’t get a printer. I was just asking to see if I, or someone else, could help.
