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3d printer

  • 14-03-2018 9:02am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 1,262 ✭✭✭


    Im thinking of getting a 3d printer as much to teach myself about 3d printing as anything.

    I guess Im wondering what I could make with it, anyone made anything useful for around the house with it ?


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 6 DutchGoldblum


    I've fixed many a thing with mine from car key buttons to flashlights, my main use for it though is printing stuff I want but I'm not willing to go out and buy it, for instance, I printed off a headphone holder to clamp to my desk, my wallet, and a few phone stands reciently, nearly all of those kind of trinket model files can be found on Thingiverse or myminifactory.

    Now unless you have an ability to use or the willingness to learn CAD then you are stuck to what you can find on sites such as Thingiverse or myminifactory. Now don't get me wrong because CAD isn't that hard to learn if your computer literate and there is a ton of awesome things to be found on those sites, about 80% of what I print is from Thingiverse. If I can't find it there then I just design it myself. As I'm an engineering student I also use it for prototyping and personal design projects but that's only about 20% of the time.

    Another use is that after I showed my friends the sites, they then went and found things they wanted and I just printed them off for the price of the filament/power. Adding to this you can join a service such as 3D hubs and make money with the printer if making it pay for itself is a need for you.

    I started about 4 years ago with a build from scratch kit which was a bit of a pain to get running as there weren't as many resources as there is today and I must admit was never tuned properly, learned a load from it though and I've since upgraded to a Prusa i3 MK2s and its been a dream!


  • Registered Users Posts: 34 daaft


    I got one for the same reason, I just wanted to know more about it. I'm not sorry, I'm loving it.

    Useful? That would depend on what would suit you and if you could find such items (thingiverse etc) or create stuff from scratch. Creating from scratch will mean learning software and there are excellent programs available for free. If you don't like using software try searching for things to print (free and/or paid) and that should give you an idea how useful it might be for you.

    So far I've not made much useful stuff, phone accessories, organisation stuff and toys for grandkids being most popular, but I am learning about it which was the intention. I'm pleased I jumped in when I did.

    Did you get one?


  • Registered Users Posts: 7 alcazar


    I've seen a lot of videos on youtube about 3D printing, it looks fascinating.


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