I have limited skills and experience, but this is what I have learned from 3D printing:
- For designing things, you can use Fusion 360 which is free for non-commercial use. While it has been upgraded many times over time and GUI has changed, I found these youtube videos helpfull in learning how to design things: https://www.youtube.com/user/cadcamstuff
- The hard part of 3D printing is not design, it's printing and all the details that affect end result.
- For slicing I have used Ultimaker Cura which keeps changing a lot as it is upgraded. The thing I didn't know in the begining is that you actually need many of the options to... at some point... create succesfull prints. I my case you had to increase wall, top and bottom thickness to create stronger components. (many assume infill density is important, but no... it offers rigidity, but if you create a component that needs mechanical strengh, surface layers are important. Also something like printing speed is important. If you print faster, layer adhesion is worse and object is not as strong and layers might crack apart under stress.
- So many things depend on so many details, it is impossible to give simple advice. For instance I have to print first layers very slowly and lay a lot of brimm around object so it sticks on a glass surface of my printer. The use tape (while printer is running) to make sure objects dont' warp and detach from printing surface.
- Every print has to be placed on specific location, or there might be issues. This is something I think is not an issue if you have something like Prusa or better. My printing bed glass and heated aluminum bed get warped when you heat them to printing temp.
- Pretty much everything under Prusa prising requires a lot of tinkering
- No reason to get a printer that can print large objects as even small ones take a lot of time and the larger the volume, the more likely it will fail unless it is super simple and printed in vase mode
- I this part I wanted to tell about things you might want to think about when choosing a printer. There are just too many. If you want it to go fairly smoothtly, get Prusa or something even more expensive. If you are willing to tinker, try, fail and try again time after time just for the fun of it, get something cheaper. My poison is Creality CR-10 mini and despite upgrading it, I have to adjust the thing for every single print by trial and error. If I knew what I know now, I would get Prusa or something else that doesn't require so much time and effort.
- 3D design is a great skill and you can find many practical uses for it - if not for anything else, than just for 2D prints of your rendered creations, but printing 3D is... still something that.. If you get Prusa or better, is fairly doable. Anything below that and you find yourself battleing with details to get decent prints out.
If you want my advice... get Prusa or better.
