Newbie to 3D Printing

[icmc]

Hi all
Being a new member of this forum no one has asked those questions already.
I do not have a 3d Printer as yet and want to buy one. The reason being I would like to print things for my cockpit I would love to build for an Airbus A 320.
I am looking to buy the Bambu P2s AMS Pro.
When printing what is the best way to print a part that also has LED's behind it? Do you use any filament at those points at all or will they be empty?
Also if I can get files for parts to print will they have the information already stored which filament to use and do everything automatic or will I have to do that.
As said I do not have a clue and hope anyone here can help me.
Thx
Ian

[N4208T]

Hi Ian,

Does not look like anyone has responded to your questions yet so let me throw my two cents worth in there for you.  Bambu Labs makes excellent printers.

I built a KingAir sim and used my 3D printer to print many of the parts, including the framework for the windscreen.  My machine happens to be a QIDI and I have been doing 3D printing for about 15 years.

You are going to have to learn how to use the machine and the ins and outs of the different filaments though I would recommend simply starting out with using PLA which, for a sim, is probably more than sufficient.

There are some excellent videos on YouTube for explaining how to print backlit parts.  I would suggest doing some research and checking some of these out.

You can find a lot of files online for a lot of what you are looking for.  Some are excellent.  Some not so much.  They do not come, for the most part, with any detailed instructions and the parameters to use for printing them.  Some will contain the parameters the poster used on his/her machine but these are suggestions and you need to determine what works best for you and your machine.  For my QIDI, my default for standard PLA is a bed temp of 50 degrees and an extruder temp of 200.  From there I tweak things as needed.  None of this is "automatic".

There is a learning curve to all of this but that is part of the journey.  You need to learn how to use the 3D printer; where it works, where it does not and really only some experience will help you with that.  The critical things early on are learning to assure that the print bed has been leveled correctly and that you have the first layer being laid down well.  Once you master those, the printing part becomes a lot easier and more straightforward.

You are going to make all kinds of mistakes and lose prints.  We all do but that is part of the learning process.  Enjoy it and by all means get that printer.  It is not difficult to do this, it just takes time and experience.  There are some excellent guides out there on problems with 3D printing and downloading one and keeping it as a reference is worthwhile.

If I can help you, please feel free to contact me.

Steve (N4208T)

PS- you may want also to check out some sites that make these parts.  RUSCOOL Electronics in New Zealand is one I can personally recommend.