3d printing / RepRapFestival - 2024 edition @ Loveland April 20-21 in Colorado!

Gear up for the second annual Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival! Returning to Loveland, Colorado, on April 20th and 21st, 2024



this years event is set to surpass all expectations. Now spanning an impressive 36,000 square feet, we?re hosting thrilling Death Races, TF Dragsters, and many more fascinating showcases of RepRap technology. Connect with fellow makers, engage with the latest 3D printing innovations, and celebrate our shared passion. Register now and become part of the adventure.

No cost to attend the event other than the drive, and any bad hobbies you might pickup while there...

https://rockymountainreprapfestival.com/

I went last year I went to see the new Prusa XL 3D printer in person, and dang that hardware is cool, a bit expensive and the wait times are still quite long for the multi-headed version.

I did buy a Prusa MK IV which I have had very good results ...mostly [ROFL1] There have been more than a few failed prints, but with the printer sock I use now, clean up is simple.

Compared to the prints on my MK II Prusa printer, the MK IV is simple to use and often provides a major improvement in speed and quality of prints.

Because my 3d life is too simple, I am looking at a LDO Voron 2.4 kit with maybe a more advanced multi-filament support. Saying some assembly required is a significant understatement...

The drive from Colorado Springs is a bit long, but if there is good weather I will make it 2 for 2 on the event.

Ping me when you are going. If I don?t have family obligations I will go.

April's a way out for me... I'm interested but I'll be recovering from a long eclipse-centered vacation at that time.

Maybe a carpool if the GF isn't interested in going.

O2

Me and my boy went last year. Pretty fun and learned a lot since we were only about 2 months into printing. We got our tixs already. If any of you go hit me up and we should all meet up. I know last year a booth was reading 1 kg of filament for a print so make sure to bring a print.

Are these hobby or industrial quality printers at this show?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DDT951

Are these hobby or industrial quality printers at this show?

---

A full mix of printers from food 3d printers (yes, that is a thing), to pico size to hardware that will take at least a 2 man lift.
While a lot of it is aimed at the hobbyist, there many of the mainstream printers are being used commercially.

I would peg this as a nice show and tell aimed at do it yourself people mostly sized in the hobbyist realm, to commercial.

There is a major overlap between commercial and hobbyist area. I think one of the largest print farms is owned by Prusa,
using the core of the normal printers they sell. I have also seen prototypes of h/w from Prusa designed as plug and play
print farms for the commercial market.

I went last year and I’d say it is aimed at the consumer/hobby end. Lots of people selling AM stuff, but also people like students showing off their gear and things they produce.

Bradbn4- Get the XL. I got mine and the thing is a monster. It just prints. The tool swapping works really well- way better than the MMU2 on my Mk3. I also have the Mk4, and I really like it- the best part is that it allows you to swap filaments and bed sheets on the fly.

I’m looking at taking my Mk3 and turning it into a high-temp printer (400C) with the REVO high-temp conversion and some PA11-CF parts I printed. My two Minis with REVOs I use for PETG quick prints.

I’ve printed a few hand/wall stops that fit on 1913 rail. I started making some ARCA rail stuff now too.

Right now I have MK 4, MK 3S+, MK 3, MK 2.

When I started poking at Grid Infinity setups it sort of let me know I needed something a bit
bigger for the larger projects.

I plan on upgrading one of the MK 3 setups to MK 4, and stuff it into an enclosure to aide in
printing with material that requires more TLC like Ninja flex, and ASW. The XL with max
print heads is a bit on the pricey side, and you really need to build it / set it up in its
forever home. Right now the XL is best at multi-head setup so that hardware is
still on my buy list.

When we went last year I felt it was mostly hobby focused, but I think no matter where you are in the 3d world there is something for you. If you’re new to it, I think you’ll be blown away what’s out there. Though be forewarned if you don’t like lack of manners and smells of a gun show it’s worse here, though better than the retro video game expo.

I just started pricing out some upgrades for my ft5. Really tempted to just get the Bamboo printer with the enclosure and call it good. Maybe splurge for the 4 reel attachment too. Loose a bit of print area but honestly I haven?t printed giant items like I thought I would.

My project manager has the Bamboo. She likes the multi color, but you waste a bunch cuse it purges every color each level or change.

Are there any FDM printers that are coming close to the precision of the SLA printers?

I have had good prints with a Forman, but resins are really expensive and the cleanup on those machine is a PITA.

For quick stuff, a decent FDM would be great. (Even better if it could do “exotics” like PEEK)

I have an ender 3. I think it does good, probably not as neat of detail as resin. But I also don’t do insane detailed prints. Everyone says you can’t get them to work, but I payed like 120$ for it on sale and took me to my second print to get it to work without a problem.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DDT951

Are there any FDM printers that are coming close to the precision of the SLA printers?

I have had good prints with a Forman, but resins are really expensive and the cleanup on those machine is a PITA.

For quick stuff, a decent FDM would be great. (Even better if it could do “exotics” like PEEK)

---

I have some 0.2mm nozzles, I haven’t done that much with them. I have enough machines now, and REVO nozzles.

I’m looking into doing some higher temp, specifically PEKK, but I don’t know if I can get the REVO High-Temp to print on a mod’d and enclosure. Glass/Carbon fiber filled might make PEKK (less crystalline than PEEK) printable, but at least I’ll have a good nylon or PC printer.

Mostly just a push back this event to the top - of the forum

Event is scheduled for this weekend reprap thing will be kicking off.

I am doing a full re-build of one of my older printers and there is nothing like
stopping a re-build when your upgrade kit was missing a $2 part. The
refurb printer will be used for ASA and such materials once I get a print box
setup for the hardware.

The $2 dollar part was just a cable wrap sleeve for the z-axis motors. I could
have just used cloth tape, but where is the fun in that? Tho that fix would be
keeping with the odd ball color selection for the new parts....and impossible to
remove without its own set of issues.

For the folks that are making the long drive; remember this - there is now a Buc-ee's in Colorado - not that far
from the event.

5201 Nugget Road
If you go: The address is 5201 Nugget Road in Johnstown
near the southwest corner of Interstate 25 and County Road 48.

Well; the schedule to make it Sat went poof when I looked at the weather forecast and something
snow / rain mixture...

Today was a bit better; just heavy fog until 9-10am....so it was a late start to travel up for the fest.....
It was not bad; I did spot the new Voron Phoenix - which pretty much made the Prusa XL look small.

I was going to stop at Buc-ee's on the way back, but there was a monster line on the off ramp heading
that direction. So that nixed that idea.

On the way back I did spot what looked like a monster deep space dish outside of Denver.

That might be Digital Globe thing - but wow; looked huge. The sun light was hitting it just right and there looked
to be a red beam at the bottom of the dish.

The nice option was that you could get free parking - if you had your cell and license plate #