robertspark wrote: ↑Tue Aug 09, 2022 5:08 am
have you used a 3d printer before? they are not quick.
Understood. It is like the PlasmaCam. You try to cut a large piece, and 95% into it, the machine takes a hard right turn on a cut path and slices the thing in half because a cable harness connection was loose.
hence my 300x300 bed size is more than enough for a 3d printer in my opinion..... but then it depends upon WHAT you want to print + with what.
I would like to be able to print something the size of a large PC tower, or a modified rear trunk design for my Goldwing.
Again, understood. Some people buy an oven to bake a potato. Other people buy an oven to bake a 30 lb. turkey, even though they will mostly just bake a potato. But when the need arises to bake a turkey, the people with the tiny ovens are S.O.L.
I tend to use PETG. I started with PLA (like everyone), and have tried TPU
I REALLY want a printer that will use ULTEM, but they are 'Spensive, Lucy!
I will start out small, regardless of the printer's capacity, until I become familiar with the most likely errors that can surface during the print process ... running out of element, power failures, etc.
You have also stated that you have a lot of unfinished projects.... is this going to be just another tool that is not used to finish a project?
I DO have many tasks that I would love to complete before I die, and having no helper, nor having the level of energy I had in my thirties makes a lot of them problematic. I will tackle one of them today, in about an hour. I need to make that guitar end plate for my banjo instructor. I am up against a deadline. It doesn't take long to make it, but I am going to make six different designs, and let him choose the one he wants to put onto the guitar. The other five will become items "For Sale" in his music store. He is going through a difficult time right now, and I am trying to help him out.
If you want to calibrate your printer and set it up for interlocking parts ...
I won't be getting into that for quite a while. Basic prints of basic things to start out. Maybe a Chess Set. Maybe a wall clock. But first, I need to be in the position to BUY the printer, and right now, TODAY, given the current circumstances, I am not there. If I were Elon Musk, I could just get everything done at once, by paying people to do them and buying whatever I wanted.
I am NOT Elon Musk.
My financial situation changes
frequently, and
rapidly. Sometimes I have money, and I begin to consider a large purchase of something like a 3D printer, or an ironworker, or a commercial level laser table, etc. Then ... S**T HAPPENS, and the next large purchase will have to wait a while longer.
For example, I was online just a few days ago, debating moving forward with the purchase of the CreatBot D600 PRO printer. I was debating shipping charges vs driving out to CommieFornia to pick it up myself, and visit friends while I was there. I was looking up the price of stocking up on various spools of filiments to have on hand, etc. etc., when my phone rang. A very dear lifelong family friend's husband died unexpectedly under a respirator a few days ago. He went in for other minor issues, but he got
the clot shot, so ... That was bad enough ... but yesterday I learned that her uncle ALSO died last night. She has to deal with TWO funerals now, and she suddenly finds herself needing to move out of their 3 BD/2BA apartment to a smaller unit that is more affordable, now that her income has been drastically cut so suddenly.
Some people post
smarmy comments about my hesitance to just run out and spend my money willy-nilly, and pound their chests
AS IF they have somehow proven me to be insincere, just because I don't rush out to spend $15K or $20K
the very moment I first consider a large purchase. Here is the most recent example:
Please show us some photos of your new Edwards or Scotchman once you have it installed into your shop. It would be nice to know you are serious and not just kidding around like you usually do.
What these CYNICAL FOOLS do not understand is, priorities CHANGE. When a family friend calls, and tells you about the umpteen thousands of dollars of unexpected expenses that have been dropped into her lap, while she also deals with the MOST stressful things a person can do, MOVING IN A HURRY, and right after her spouse and her uncle both DIE, you DON'T tell her,
"Sorry your life sucks so much, but I am going to spend $20K on a new machine now, to prove to some IDIOT on an Internet forum that I am sincere about the purchase!"
As a MATURE ADULT, you immediately divert that money to your friend, to help that person through a very difficult time, and you DROP whatever you are doing and drive to Arkansas if that becomes necessary, to help in any way, if only for moral support.
When another lifelong friend tells you he has terminal prostate cancer, and the puke green Town and Country minivan he was driving has died, you DON'T tell him,
"Sorry your life sucks so much, but I am going to spend $20K on a new machine now, to prove to some IDIOT on an Internet forum that I am sincere about the purchase!"
You get together with his wife and his brother, to raise the funds to purchase the car he has always wanted to drive, a new Dodge Challenger with the V-8 HEMI engine, so that he can enjoy his few remaining years with a little bit of pride, and you don't think about the $25K you kicked in, that COULD have bought the ironworker LAST YEAR.
As a MATURE ADULT, you immediately divert that money to your friend. It is called COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM.
walk before you can run.....
Last night, I was looking att the upper level ENDER 3D printers under a thousand dollars, for just that reason. There ARE a few "potatoes" I could cook until the turkey oven arrives.
Joe
..... saves guessing ... 
) Fusion 360, and start the learning process. I know three people who are adept at 3D designs, so if I want to start quickly, I can just ask (pay?) them to make the designs for me until I learn the software, to give me a kick start.
