I use TurboCAD Professional

That material is kinda expensive to get printed. But hell i may give it a whirl. I use Rapid Prototyping, Advance Digital Manufacturing, 3D Printing, 3-D CAD | 3D Systems to print my stuff. I like the online upload of file and instant price. They have a wide range of options. The best thing is that i dont have to talk to a single person. All done online.

 

I use AutoCadd, it sucks, but gets the job done. Solidworks really needs a mac version.

 

Awesome, good to hear, im gonna look into maybe investing in a home 3D printer?
Anything you guys recommend?

 

Micro3D $350

While being slow, it's the most affordable on the market, great for stuff the size of your fist or smaller.

If you wanna print bigger prepare to spend over 2k.

 

Been looking into getting us a machine for small parts.
I had both my manifolds 3D printed prior to tooling being made.
1) white powdery material very easy to break. Just look and place type sample. Couldn't bolt turbo housing to it.
2nd one. A black plastic. Very strong able to bolt some weight in it.
Company printed it in 2pieces. Glued together with alignment pins in place.
Manifold was to big for their machine.

Any recommendation on a machine for small parts?

Quick prototyping.

 

You need to define small. I looked at buying several but none of the affordable ($1000 or less) could print anything that big to be useful

 

Small. Maybe a carb or valve cover

 

Makerbot z18

Thats prolly the biggest consumer based printer you could get, before investing serious cash like the professionals use.

Does a 12" x 12" x 18" max print... still not valve cover capable...

 

Yeah anything less than 2k you're looking at things smaller than softball size

 

Replicator Desktop 3D Printer (5th Generation)

??