3d printing
Aug. 10th, 2024 11:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spacefemWe finally caved and got our own 3d printer. Olive, age 11, wanted one and I was finally convinced. She'd been messing around in tinkercad making funny little animals and I thought... I have things I like to 3d print sometimes, maybe we should just go for it. For years, every time I wanted to print something I went to the makerspace. They had four printers in great shape, they handled the maintenance and filament ordering, I'd just print. But lately it had been harder. The printers are hitting 5 years old and it seems like one of them is always down for something. Other people mess with the settings, print ABS at PLA temperatures and clog it all up, or just use them for days, so you make this whole trip out and they're all taken. Or you start a print one day, then someone texts you that it failed, so you go back out, then you have to go back again to get it... everything just takes forever.
After talking with some friends I ordered a bambu a1 combo for around $600. It arrived in a gigantic box and Olive and I spent an evening putting it together. She was good at the tiny screws, I helped with the instructions, but it was simple, she said it was like putting together a lego set. They even color coded around which screws went where. Then we all got the software on our laptops and I taught the kids how to download stl files.
The AMS system is nice because we have four spools of filament hooked up at any one time, so when you start a print you just say "this one is blue" and it knows the temperatures and which one to grab, we're not constantly changing out filament. It also does multi-color printing... technically. But I tried that and it is a pain. At every layer of the print, the nozzle has to go purge out a little blob of the old color followed by a little blob of the new color, then go draw it on a block, then go to your print and fill in that color. Repeat. I can see why it's okay to use a little multicolor on the top layer, like for making signs, but if you were wanting to make something vertical it would go through all your filament and take FOREVER.
There's a reddit called functional print that I like - it's people showing USEFUL things they make with 3d printers, not just toys. But let's face it, 3d printing is mostly toys, especially with an 11 year old and 14 year old in the house. olive is making an army of birds in every color, lining them up and now using fabric to make them clothes. I am making awards for a group I'm in, organizers, a lampshade adapter for one that's wobbly.
And she's designing her own little things... houses, musical instruments, looking glasses, she's learning about what support material she likes and print settings.
We got it about a week ago and the novelty has not worn off. This is what kept me from getting one for so long: everybody I know with a 3d printer has it sitting and getting dusty, I swear. There have got to be a billion non-working or semi-working printers in houses around the world. People print what they need, then they forget about it, or try to donate the old printers to our makerspace, I used to see it all the time. I am not terribly interested in being a printer repair person. I just want to print some things. We'll see how long this lasts.
After talking with some friends I ordered a bambu a1 combo for around $600. It arrived in a gigantic box and Olive and I spent an evening putting it together. She was good at the tiny screws, I helped with the instructions, but it was simple, she said it was like putting together a lego set. They even color coded around which screws went where. Then we all got the software on our laptops and I taught the kids how to download stl files.
The AMS system is nice because we have four spools of filament hooked up at any one time, so when you start a print you just say "this one is blue" and it knows the temperatures and which one to grab, we're not constantly changing out filament. It also does multi-color printing... technically. But I tried that and it is a pain. At every layer of the print, the nozzle has to go purge out a little blob of the old color followed by a little blob of the new color, then go draw it on a block, then go to your print and fill in that color. Repeat. I can see why it's okay to use a little multicolor on the top layer, like for making signs, but if you were wanting to make something vertical it would go through all your filament and take FOREVER.
There's a reddit called functional print that I like - it's people showing USEFUL things they make with 3d printers, not just toys. But let's face it, 3d printing is mostly toys, especially with an 11 year old and 14 year old in the house. olive is making an army of birds in every color, lining them up and now using fabric to make them clothes. I am making awards for a group I'm in, organizers, a lampshade adapter for one that's wobbly.
And she's designing her own little things... houses, musical instruments, looking glasses, she's learning about what support material she likes and print settings.
We got it about a week ago and the novelty has not worn off. This is what kept me from getting one for so long: everybody I know with a 3d printer has it sitting and getting dusty, I swear. There have got to be a billion non-working or semi-working printers in houses around the world. People print what they need, then they forget about it, or try to donate the old printers to our makerspace, I used to see it all the time. I am not terribly interested in being a printer repair person. I just want to print some things. We'll see how long this lasts.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-10 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-10 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-11 02:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-11 07:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-12 12:54 am (UTC)My first one gave up the ghost (yielding a somewhat spectacular final abstract art interpretation of my design), and I'm finally getting around to setting up a new 2-nozzle one, which eliminates the problem you are having with the material switching. Sadly, it is not so lego-like in its assembly, so I'm having to do some extra work, and whoever packaged it overheated the plastic wrap in some places.
I've made a few Useful Things with mine, including a replacement piece for a folding table for my girlfriend, and some soap dishes that have gone over very well.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-12 02:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-13 03:54 am (UTC)I hope you guys have a lot of fun with it! The closest maker space is still an hour bus ride from me and I sense it would be a big production to use the machines there too.