Anyone into 3D printing?

[Cody]

Ya'll would be blown away at the beat to shit, dirty, warped beds we turn prints on over and over ha ha.

Hairspray works... Spray away from the machine so it doesn't coat the fans. Maybe bring the bed a touch up. If you haven't already you'll learn to tell if a print will succeed within the first couple of lines.

 

[frieed]

Tried a little bit of vase mode stuff yesterday.. Clear, rainbow PLA

 

[Spork]

Buddy bought a Bambu P1S with the 4 color combo tray. I'm impressed, he said he can print a benchy in 20 minutes vs the 2 hours 40 for my Ender. Print quality looked great, next time I'm in the market and have $1k it's going to be one to look at...

 

[N-Smooth]

Buddy bought a Bambu P1S with the 4 color combo tray. I'm impressed, he said he can print a benchy in 20 minutes vs the 2 hours 40 for my Ender. Print quality looked great, next time I'm in the market and have $1k it's going to be one to look at...

I just got home from checking out my neighbor’s new P1S and wow that thing is killer. He’s already printed a ton of stuff since giving it to his kids for Christmas. I have zero experience with these things but the slicer looked super cool and the settings offered seemingly endless possibilities. I hate him now too.

I really should spend some of my LLC income for the sake of taxes you know but man I’d have to get a new computer too…

 

[glockman]

I just got home from checking out my neighbor’s new P1S and wow that thing is killer. He’s already printed a ton of stuff since giving it to his kids for Christmas. I have zero experience with these things but the slicer looked super cool and the settings offered seemingly endless possibilities. I hate him now too.

I really should spend some of my LLC income for the sake of taxes you know but man I’d have to get a new computer too…

One cool thing about 3D printers and the slicers is they work on .stl files and create g code files for the printer to follow. That is pretty common language in my limited experience. So if you get a CNC mill or plasma, they run off g code also. I think it's a good cheap way to learn CNC modeling and operation.

For what it's worth, I run Cura slicer on an entry level laptop. I have had zero issues with this setup.

 

[N-Smooth]

One cool thing about 3D printers and the slicers is they work on .stl files and create g code files for the printer to follow. That is pretty common language in my limited experience. So if you get a CNC mill or plasma, they run off g code also. I think it's a good cheap way to learn CNC modeling and operation.

For what it's worth, I run Cura slicer on an entry level laptop. I have had zero issues with this setup.

Yeah one of my ‘23 personal goals was to learn at least basic CAD functions and I didn’t even start on it. I started messing with tinkercad today and I’m liking it. I really like the idea of getting a printer but again, the computer cost is a little gnarly- especially if I get a machine that’ll run solidworks or similar. If I was to just run the bambu slicer I bet a $300 lpt or desktop would be great. I also just f’n hate having a computer.

Neighbor got my Ryobi battery holders done. These will go nicely on the wall under my chargers.

 

[N-Smooth]

Well I spent most of my workday messing around on Tinkercad, modifying ryobi battery adapters. I added mounting holes to one and made some other minor changes. Then I combined two of them together, filled holes, added structure and of course some amazing text embossed in it.



I use similar battery adapters for our electric dirt bikes and scooters. I actually bet these will be almost the same cost as buying them but if I can make them function better, that’s cool 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[ID Bronco]

Crafts = I could buy something a little better for a little less money

 

[glockman]

Crafts = I could buy something a little better for a little less money

This hurts and is usually accurate but I don't think it applies to most prints. I have printed several things for under $5 that commercially are over $50. GPS mount on my 890 earlier in this thread as an example. Most things I print are just gadgets that aren't worth much but are handy, which I think is another pillars of crafting.

@N-Smooth dump those into a slicer and see how much filament they would take. I pay $20 a kilo for most pla. That should give you a guestimate on cost.

 

[ID Bronco]

This hurts and is usually accurate but I don't think it applies to most prints. I have printed several things for under $5 that commercially are over $50. GPS mount on my 890 earlier in this thread as an example. Most things I print are just gadgets that aren't worth much but are handy, which I think is another pillars of crafting.

@N-Smooth dump those into a slicer and see how much filament they would take. I pay $20 a kilo for most pla. That should give you a guestimate on cost.

I'm sure there are awesome things printed and they are worth it. Crafts in general aren't a good deal unless you like being crafty.

Example, Decoys for sandhill cranes last fall. They are about $300 for a dozen. I didn't want to spend that much. After pricing the wood, paint, stakes, ect I couldn't make poor copies of them for that cost.

 

[glockman]

I'm sure there are awesome things printed and they are worth it. Crafts in general aren't a good deal unless you like being crafty.

Example, Decoys for sandhill cranes last fall. They are about $300 for a dozen. I didn't want to spend that much. After pricing the wood, paint, stakes, ect I couldn't make poor copies of them for that cost.

I totally agree, almost everything I make is more expensive than buying it. 3d printing is possibly the only exception, for me at least, and only because my printer is a super cheap model and I've resisted the urge to modify and "upgrade" it.

 

[Spork]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the majority of stuff I print can't be purchased cheaper than I can print, if they could be purchased at all. I do print a lot of junk that I wouldn't purchase even if it were available also... I did hit a point where I haven't purchased a roll of filament in over 6 months and have just been printing with my leftover spools. I've had my printer for 5 years now, and I've also resisted the urge to purchase an upgrade that cost more than $20.

Sorry this is becoming more of philosophical ramble about how various people either say something is a waste of money, worth the money and don't change anything, change minor things, or they go all in and spend way too much money. This isn't just a 3D printer idea, it carries over into cars, trucks, SxS, jeeps, guns, clothes, shoes, etc, etc. I guess I could have another hobby that consumes my resources since I haven't spent all my $ in printer upgrades...

 

[Herzog]

I'm sure there are awesome things printed and they are worth it. Crafts in general aren't a good deal unless you like being crafty.

Example, Decoys for sandhill cranes last fall. They are about $300 for a dozen. I didn't want to spend that much. After pricing the wood, paint, stakes, ect I couldn't make poor copies of them for that cost.

What you need is jeep ducks. I'll print you some!

 

[ID Bronco]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the majority of stuff I print can't be purchased cheaper than I can print, if they could be purchased at all. I do print a lot of junk that I wouldn't purchase even if it were available also... I did hit a point where I haven't purchased a roll of filament in over 6 months and have just been printing with my leftover spools. I've had my printer for 5 years now, and I've also resisted the urge to purchase an upgrade that cost more than $20.

Sorry this is becoming more of philosophical ramble about how various people either say something is a waste of money, worth the money and don't change anything, change minor things, or they go all in and spend way too much money. This isn't just a 3D printer idea, it carries over into cars, trucks, SxS, jeeps, guns, clothes, shoes, etc, etc. I guess I could have another hobby that consumes my resources since I haven't spent all my $ in printer upgrades...

I was just joking about the craft thing. I think it's funny. I'll keep my jokes in the Lame joke thread. (or at least I'll try to)

 

[N-Smooth]

What you need is jeep ducks. I'll print you some!

Whoa, yet another reason to have a printer. I can print them out of TPU and then put them on friends’ jeeps on the trail every time we stop. That’s some evil genius!

I was just joking about the craft thing. I think it's funny. I'll keep my jokes in the Lame joke thread. (or at least I'll try to)

I don’t think you hurt anyone’s feelings lol and sometimes it’s way cheaper to buy things instead of making them.

In the case of the Ryobi battery mounts I had the neighbor make for me, those would’ve been about $30 to buy. His printer said it was like $5.62 to print and that was with regular price filament. He adjusted it to the bulk filament he had and it was like $3. So there is some savings possible for sure. I tried to pay him and he sent the money back and threatened me to never try that again 🤣

My wife agreed to me getting a printer but it started the ball rolling on “designing” our office space to be able to fit the printer. Seems like a bad deal all of the sudden…

 

[Herzog]

This guy is on a whole different level, holy cow. Learning some things too:

 

[N-Smooth]

Yeah he’s legit, wow. I’ve been messing with 3d scan apps on my phone today. I’ve tried a few different apps but just keep having the glare problem he mentioned. I even did one of the photogrammetry scans that you send off to get processed in the cloud and had the same issue. I bet I could get it to work well enough with that extrude function in F360 like he did but yeah… very interesting stuff.

Oh and using the dots or a scan mat would be beneficial as well.

 

[Herzog]

Yeah he’s legit, wow. I’ve been messing with 3d scan apps on my phone today. I’ve tried a few different apps but just keep having the glare problem he mentioned. I even did one of the photogrammetry scans that you send off to get processed in the cloud and had the same issue. I bet I could get it to work well enough with that extrude function in F360 like he did but yeah… very interesting stuff.

Oh and using the dots or a scan mat would be beneficial as well.

Another cool thing I've seen (I'll have to find it again) was a guy took a photo of something he wanted to replicate (top down photo of mounting surface) pulled it into Fusion then set a couple markers to get the actual dimensions proper (measured from the actual surface) then just traced the photo to build the part. It was stupid easy.

 

[ebryson]

Another cool thing I've seen (I'll have to find it again) was a guy took a photo of something he wanted to replicate (top down photo of mounting surface) pulled it into Fusion then set a couple markers to get the actual dimensions proper (measured from the actual surface) then just traced the photo to build the part. It was stupid easy.

That's what my machining instructor told me to do🤷‍♂️.

 

[N-Smooth]

I'm still working on learning Tinkercad and having fun with it. Today I built a little piece that keys into itself around a 1.5" tube. The idea is having a nice, flat surface to make a straight line (around the tube) with a sharpie- which is the hardest thing ever if you've ever seen me try and mark a tube...

Is it dumb, yes? Do I like the idea of it? Also yes. Most importantly it helped me learn some stuff and things and I'll learn even more about tolerances and whatnot when I go to put it on a tube. Hopefully I can get the neighbor to print it for me.



Oh and I also designed a piece to fit over a Ryobi battery that holds a velcro strap in place. It has a little more detail underneath but it's still nothing that neat to look at. This one should be helpful for me. I actually designed it first today and then realized I could've done it way faster with some tips and tricks I learned later in the day lol



Sorry for continually derailing the 3d printing thread