3D printer
 

Does anyone own one? I received a Prusa MK3S as an early birthday present (it shipped weeks before it was expected to). So far I have printed a baby bottle travel cap holder, chapstick holder, and some other useless stuff.

Learning the ropes, already damaged the steel sheet PEI. Oh well

Re: 3D printer
 

I have the cheap as chips Ender 3. Had it for 13 months.

I have used it for flower pot holders that attach to the window sill. We have been asked where we bought them, a pity they wouldn't be standard size, or I'd start selling them.
other things ... Feet for a bathroom cabinet to raise it just enough so some baskets can fit underneath.
A caddy that attaches to the bed to hold glasses, phone and Kindle.
Little caddy and shelf for an under used towel rail.
A holder for an attachment for gaming, that links a few peripherals together.
over the year I have found that the PLA does absorb moisture, making it brittle.

Re: 3D printer
 

No guns printed yet? :sneaky:

Re: 3D printer
 

I've always liked the idea of a 3D printer but then I remember how much I hate printers and how they always go batshit crazy when you need them so I'm somewhat wary of them.

Re: 3D printer
 

"Level the bed" has become quite the meme among people who have 3D printers. The print.bed seems to have a mind of it's own. And a slight draft can mess up a print.

Re: 3D printer
 

My kids have one called a Toybox, I think I saw it on shark tank or something. You pick stuff to print on an iPhone app and choose a color of “food” and it does the rest. I think I have printed more on it than them…. Anything big takes 1h or more and they don’t have patience for that yet…

Re: 3D printer
 

Anyone put anything up on Thingiverse yet?
I have one thing up, its a bit niche, but still, no one has made a print of it yet.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4788462

Re: 3D printer
 

My son has a 3D printer that I help him with. It is an Ender3. He mostly uses it to print models of things he likes, often memes or characters from tv shows. He has designed a few things himself, like tokens for playing card games. Tinkercad is what he uses since they taught it at school and it is free online. The most annoying part of printing is levelling the bed to get a good first layer. The temperature of the room affects this a lot and can be the difference between ending up with a pile of plastic spaghetti (too high) or scraping the bed surface (too low). It only takes a few minutes to level the bed, and it isn't difficult, it's just annoying to do and sometimes I get it a little wrong. The boy is still weighing up the costs of an auto bed leveller. We used it daily for the first few months, but about once per month now.

Re: 3D printer
 

Reading this I am glad my printer has auto bed leveling! I have used tinkercad and it's perfect for my basic needs - making a little holder for baby bottle travel caps.

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I thought about getting a small 3D printer for my son, currently at uni doing civil engineering. He says they suck up vast quantities of electricity though and since he's on a pay as you go arrangement in a shared student household that wouldn't be welcome. Is he right?

Re: 3D printer
 

They generate heat to melt the plastic filament, and also operate the motors. Looking online, the Ender 3 has an average power draw of 125 watts, which isn't even as much as a gaming PC. My son's printer is pretty noisy and slow, that would get old in a shared household pretty quickly.

Re: 3D printer
 

I have several as part of my work tools.
Extruded melted plastic version for quick dirty draft prints.
Then a Cheap resin based printer for better quality and finally a $10k resin based printer for extremely high quality parts.

Happy to advise anyone, but everything is out there on YouTube. Lots of lessons, tips on usage.