And nett you really should look into other filaments for functional prints other then abs. There are lots out there now like petg.
I also recommend this guy's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbgBDBrwsikmtoLqtpc59Bw I learned a TON about how to upgrade my Ender 5, and 3d printing in general from him. For instance, when I upgraded mine to have the BLtouch sensor for auto bed leveling, this was the video I learned from:
just bought some amz3d off Amazon, so far it has been great, I bought pla+, glow in the dark(it glows really well), wood pla, and petg. tried them all but the petg, would buy them all again in a heart beat. I would of played with the petg by now except I stripped any other tiny ass set screw, the wood is a little hard on the extruder so I want to change it before I switch, but I am waiting on a tiny drill bit. keep one extruder for wood one for other stuff.
When I bought a bunch of upgrades from AliExpress I pretty well tripled up on everything, so I have a box of replacement parts that covers pretty well everything except the main board. I figured if I was going to wait a month to get inexpensive parts from China for pennies on the dollar, might as well stockpile some of them.
On the more geeky side of 3d printing. Since i had some wood pla, and was browsing reddit someone said they tried staining there but it didn't turn out. So i tried. Above it the results The barrel the square pad on the left and the left colour on the middle piece were a gel stain, the other 2 were just regular stain. It took very well. Of course it went into the lines but so would anything it even stained the high points. For the flat surfaces any of the stains work well. But for most 3d printing object are not going to be flat, so the gel stain worked really well. You could coat it leave it walk away for 10 minutes come back and wipe off the excess. It gives it more time to soak in since it isn't 100percent wood.
Amazon had a flash sale on the anycubic photon s. so I picked it up, running the test print through it now
This video just hit my YouTube subs this morning... very interesting advances in 3D printing, if you ask me...
For you Dnd/table top RPG nerds out there https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/townsmith/townbuilder-unlimited?ref=user_menu looks amazing. Build your own building and download a stl file for printing.
https://phrozen3d.com/products/phrozen-sonic-mini-8k-resin-3d-printer So i backed a kickstarter that if you pledged at 60usd you got a discount code for 200usd for the mini-8k, which i kind of wanted so i backed it. Well it finished a couple of days ago and i got the code today. I go through the forms and calculate the shipping. FFS, 115usd almost 150can for shipping. I wish there was a slow ground option. Kind of wish i didn't spend the money for the discount code.
A few weeks ago I took delivery of a new 3d printer... a Raise3D E2. Holy fuck is this thing a beast. Dual extruder, wireless connectivity, amazing slicer software... it's basically a commercial grade 3d printer. The coolest part is that I can now print in a carbon fibre filament, while using a 2nd, water soluble filament as support. I can print incredibly complex and strong prints that I can soak in water for a few hours, and have all of the supports just dissolve away, leaving a perfect print behind. It's fucking amazing.
@Nettdata what have you printed with the carbon? I would imagine carbon would be expensive. I can look up the prices for the spools but I don't really know how that translates to an item. Like, a 500g spool is $60. Is it super expensive to just print everything in your life out of carbon?
I usually print in petg, which is a very tough plastic. Carbon is just under half again more expensive to print, so not too bad, cost wise. The problem is that it is very abrasive, and requires special nozzles to print with, and they are a wear item. I've only printed a few test pieces so far with the carbon, but am looking to use it for some upgrades in the Airstream. Things like some custom mounting brackets for the Starlink and wifi components, fishing rod mounts, etc. I also have a couple of structural plastic pieces that have broken because of shit manufacturing that I'm looking to replace, one on an otherwise nice folding lawn chair and for my deck umbrella. There's also a nice mount for my fat bike that I'm looking at printing.
One of the landfills in Georgia is also permitted for pyrolysis. The process is not a traditional incinerator with very high temps that results in ash and scrubbed air. Instead, it's a lower cooking (think oven instead of furnace) that produces char and liquid fuel byproducts. They're still in demonstration mode, but have tried a number of things they can use the char for. One thing they've made is a carbon filament for 3D printers. They should be up and running large scale by this time next year. So, print more stuff to increase demand!
I was planning on buying something much better eventually. But... Wife bought a used elegoo off of marketplace for a $100. I've been fucking with it for two days now. After partial disassembly and reassembling properly, trying several slicing programs before finding something compatible with my old laptop and the printer, playing with settings, replacing the nozzle which the PO literally ground the tip off of on the bed, it's actually running and producing something. I'm still sure it needs a new z limit switch, it never stops in the same place twice. I just stopped and started the print a few times until it looked like it hit the sweet spot on the z axis, then let it roll. There is a no way the PO successfully printed anything with it the way it came into my possession. Don't know if it's a score yet, or not. Might be fun to do with the kid, if the print quality is even lower than I'm expecting.
My wife and I were talking about whether or not it would make sense for us to eventually get a 3D printer and whethor or not would they eventually become another common appliance for most homes. Neither one of us are into the geek tech aspect of it, so our thoughts were how exactly would one improve our lives and what exactly would we make with it? We doubt a 3D printer would ever save us money in the long term, but would it provide enough of a convenience that it makes sense to have one? The only thing we could realistically see ourselves making are replacement parts for the kid's toys. After that our best guess is random parts & pieces as needed for things around the house, etc., but we struggled to articulate what those items could be. In addition to some of the items you've all listed above, (Nett's salt shaker & vacuum connections, etc) what are items you find you make? Also, what are things to look for in a 3D printer?
I just gave my BIL my old printer because he's finding a bunch of plastic shit around the house is starting to break and go bad. He just replaced some plastic parts on his shower doors for the second time, taking weeks for parts to show up, that could be printed overnight. Same goes for the plastic wheels in the dishwasher... three replacements until I printed up a set of higher quality ones for pennies worth of filament. I've already printed up a bunch of Scotty replica parts for my fishing kayak, saving me hundreds of dollars. I've printed up other fishing things, like rod mounts, etc. I really think what you get out of it is what you're willing to put into it. The cheaper printers can be fiddly, and it does take some education and trial and error to get shit right or troubleshoot something wrong. And you can't always find the parts you want in some 3d online inventory, so you may have to design your own. That all takes an investment of time to learn. Personally, I enjoyed that time and education, and used it to educate me around buying a larger, more commercial grade printer, which surprisingly made everything easier, just at 5 times the price for the machine. ($5k instead of $500).
Some parts for the Airstream. I cut a hole to pass the Starlink cable through. Added a generic flip top to it, but printed these parts so I could let the cable through while still maintaining a tight fit to keep water, heat, bugs, rodents out.
I didn’t get a chance to take a pic of it in action after I siliconed it into place as it was raining, and then I forgot.