Ask Slashdot: Economical Lego-Compatible 3-D Printer?

Wycliffe writes: There are plenty of high end 3d printers which allow high precision and large prints. There are also plenty of economical 3d printers but most of them don't have high enough precision for printing good Lego pieces. What is a good economical printer for printing small Lego pieces? Build size is not important as most Lego pieces are tiny but precision and quality prints are very important. What is a good, cheap 3D printer that can reliably print tiny Lego pieces? What is the best bang for the buck when you want a small printer and don't care about large prints?

Comments

LEGO maybe should make custom pieces available?

[BubbaDave]

How about LEGO gets a high-end 3D printer and customers can submit CAD files for custom pieces that then could be avail. in low quantities to everyone?

Ultimaker 2

[Anonymous Coward]

Works OK but the glass effect on the first layer can be a pain.

Re:Copyright

[NJRoadfan]

TYCO used to make their own LEGO clone called "Super Blocks" that caused havoc. They were easy to pick out of the pile though since the pieces were noticeably more "glossy" than the genuine LEGO bricks.

RepRap Pro Ormerod

[Anonymous Coward]

I have been successfully printing lego parts with an RepRapPro Ormerod and a 0.3mm nozzle. It needs fine tuning of the print parameters and PLA was a little harder than ABS (i have not used) but the parts are working.

Re:Doesn't exist yet

[samkass]

This is true-- there is no home 3D printer that can print a reasonable LEGO brick.

However, LEGO makes a lot of other ancillary pieces that you CAN print. Replacement heads for mini-figs, clip-on attachments to things, little flowers, buckets, etc. In addition, the LEGO Technic straight brackets (the long ones with the holes and plusses) are not too hard to print, and you can create your own configuration of those holes. (I have a customizable one up on ThingiVerse here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...).

So a 3D printer is not going to keep you from buying LEGO, but it might make playing and building with LEGO more fun.

LEGO Strength

[chewtoy-11]

I could be wrong, but I think the injection molding process used to manufacture LEGO bricks is the reason they are so strong. Most 3D printers use PLA or ABS, and while ABS should be sufficient, PLA is a softer plastic that just won't have that "LEGO grip". Because of the layering technique used by 3D printers, there will always be more flex in the end product than the rigidity of a dense brick made with a highly-pressurized injection system.

I'm sure in the future these problems will be dealt with, but for now I think you're searching for a unicorn.