Please tell me...

I’m not the only BumbleF*ck who finally gets his MP3DP working really nicely and then promptly starts taking it apart to make it “better”. Lol.

[attachment file=91453]

source.gif

Welcome to my world.

If you haven’t noticed yet, new revisions come about when I need a new machine, I rarely build the same thing twice. Heck sometimes just using the machines spurs a revision.

I can totally see where you are coming from Ryan! Instead of using it this morning, I’ve been spending the entire morning iterating on it -cleaning up the wiring, wiring in my fused switch, etc. I hope to be printing again in the next hour or so. Kinda amazes me that people where ever able to survive without one of these! lol. I have so many things I want to use it for now. When I first decided to build one I thought it would just be a cool project/toy to build but now I’m seeing the possibilities of making life easier. lol.

My printer died, so I’m waiting for the replacement to ship. I might get it before mrrf…

Ug, I just had an “Oh Shit” moment myself about 20 mins ago. I messing with my extruder (putting a new tip in because the last one and the throat weren’t touching and I didn’t notice it at first). Anyway, after changing it out, my printer wouldn’t power up! I thought I fried the miniRambo at first but then I realized my power supply wasn’t getting power either. The switch I just wired in this morning had a bad connection that I had to fix. All good now…

I have a ton of things bookmarked on thingiverse, and then there’s reddit.com/r/functionalprint and then I have a bunch of things I design myself.

I have a hard time explaining it to someone else though.

Them: So you are making stuff you can buy, but cheaper?
me: No, well maybe, but I’ve probably spent more on it that it would have cost to buy the stuff on it’s own.
Them: I have a thing and it’s broke, can you make another one?
me: No, it’s not a copier, it’s a printer. Do you have a 3D model? It takes hours to design something, and usually takes several tries to get it right.
Them: Do you save a lot of time then, by being able to print something instead of going to home depot?
me: No, a box takes about all day to print.
Them: So it must be really fun then, right?
me: Well, sometimes it’s really finicky, and it can take 10 tries to get a part to come out right, and the wasted plastic is just junk.
Them: So you aren’t making stuff cheaper, and it takes forever to make something custom, and it takes much longer than just buying something you can get at the store, and it can be frustrating. So, why?
me:…

me: It’s something in between all of that, like if you find something you like, but only about 10k people want. It’s not popular enough for them to sell it at bed, bath, and beyond. There are enough people that someone has made one at least close to what you want, and you want the satisfaction of making it sort of by yourself, and you can try things without regret because and individual item costs pennies to make, and you can learn every time you print.

Them: Oh… <walks away>

2 Likes

Barry, you need another one. Then you wouldn’t have to wait.

Ha ha. Yeah there have been a few threads started here with a similar theme. I liked the one that had the AA meeting feel. “Hi my name is Aaryn. And I am a tinkerer.” I thinker with…

I was going to start this thread like that, but then I figured that might trigger somebody. ?

Well THAT was quite the rabbit hole…thanks Jeffe. : )

?. I spent about 2 hours last night going down that same hole!

  1. A work friend and I were talking. And he brought up midlife crisis'. And he said people over 40 using e cigarettes or vaping are just trying to recapture thier youth and still trying to be "young" and he didn't get. And I laughed and said why cant they just divorce their wives, buy a Corvette and start dating 20 year olds. And he said yeah or build a cnc machine just to make a single full size arcade cabnit(that's why I started building a lowrider) and I thought. I'm in the middle of a midlife crisis trying to recapture my youth.
And I told my wife this story and we laughed. Then she asked are you having a middle life Crisis?

“hey its cheaper then a Corvette”

We laughed again

 

Sorry, put this story in the wrong place

1 Like

As a lifestyle choice…that checks out.

I have noticed that 3D printing in general involves a constant quest for the ultimate print quality. I don’t think it ever ends.

This is a thing with tools in general, but when you have a tool that can make improvement parts for itself, I think it’s worse. Turtles all the way down…

I know right! I’ll probably see the dude that designed the new printer at mrrf.