Stuff...

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5212262442.jpg

A friend of mine let me have his Anet A8 to get my toes wet with FDM and in return I'd set it up and fix since he bought it used from someone with no mechanical know how. I used it for a couple of months and then the bug bit me and I bought the Anycubic Mega X. it's such a huge step up and I've already modded it with better stepper motor drivers and better cooling
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...45d2e1bcf3.jpg

If you've done any progamming, OpenSCAD is a good free alternative to generate STL files for slicing geometric models.

I used it to create the 128x64 OLED housings that mount to the NB's 3x OEM gauge bolts:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7001c755b6.png

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...efd19d1a0c.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3c208a63d0.jpg

I'm a little late to the thread. I've owned an Anet A8 with tons of upgrades and a really nice (when it first came out) Ender 5. I sold the Ender 5 because it just didn't fit well with my "buy cheap shit and have fun upgrading it so it will work" mentality. I did my share of printing toys and stuff and now the Anet it just sits there waiting for me to design a custom part that I need for a job. I probably only turn it on twice a month. My current toy is a K40 laser (cheap shit and having fun upgrading it so it will work). A cabinet is a good addition to your 3D printer. It helps out quite a bit when printing ABS. LED lights in your cab are a big help too. My cab is made from a crazy 8' x 20' (you read that right) sheet of white acrylic I bought off Craigslist and the monitor surround from a Pole Position II arcade machine. Both the printer and laser will go to GoodWill in a few years when I move and start buying nice shit.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...93e75a13d2.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...13f89b71d9.jpg

Lokiel those screens in the cluster look nice! I'm using Fusion360 and just getting the hang of it following tutorials and tinkering.

rmcelwee. man that Anet is a monster with all those add ons. I also totally get the point behind an enclosure and want to build one for the garage so I can house both my resin and FDM printers there and free up space in the hobby room. But how do you manage electronics cooling within a hot enclosure?

Back story... My father worked for NCR in the early days when it was just grease monkeys putting oil on cash register levers to make them move. As the company moved into electronics (computers) most of the old guys retired but my father stuck with it. He told me the most important thing he learned was that electronics would take a licking and keep on ticking. Don't clean off the dust, don't fix the fans that are seized and no longer turning, etc. Have I have problems with the heat? Hmm, my digital display has a shadow on it now (not sure it is heat related) but I use a raspberrypi (octopi) so I don't really look at it. I don't print 24x7 but even if I do kill it, I will just buy another printer and press on. These printers go for $150 right now which I kind of view as disposable.

Oh, FWIW, some people move their electronics outside the enclosure. Best of both worlds...

The bug has bitten. Anyone have an older printer they'd like to sell?

Buy a new budget printer. It is much easier to start with something that works, then solving someone else's problems. Especially your first foray into 3d printing. $150-$300 can get you a decent into level printer that will be extremely modifiable.

^Based on my experience, sir... (owns one printer), just follow the same path I did. Ender 3 pro, glass bed (or not), upgraded silent driver board, and a couple big spools of your favorite color (black and white). Follow the directions to put it together as not following the directions will result in a lot of WTF's?. Download a slicer some basic upgrade parts off Thingaverse and make some upgraded parts for the printer to teach you the basics and fine-tune the printer... it'll take at least a few prints to get it right. Your first prints should be about 30 minutes... no sense in starting off with a 30hr print that goes bad at the 12hr mark because something wasn't tuned right and you've wasted 50yds of filament.

Good advice. Will second the new printer comment, Enders are very decent for the money. Do not get distracted by the "upgrade" bandwagon, some of those mods are useful, some make no difference and some have the potential to mess up a perfectly working machine and lose you a good few hours. Start simple, and upgrade ONLY if you see a need to.

My advice would be to pick one or two materials (besides basic PLA) that cover your needs, and stick to them (and if possible to a single brand/vendor as well). Learn your printer settings, calibrate your printer and settings for the materials you use, keep it clean and maintained, and you will find out it can be as easy as clicking print and getting a successful print every time. Also pay attention to the way you store your filament (dry boxes are almost essential, food dehydrators too if you play around with hydroscopic materials).

Good advice, from what reading I've done. I'm really leaning toward the Ender 3 V2; at $260 shipped, it looks like the best bang for my buck.

My biggest problem is justifying the cost to myself. My son (who is heavily into the robotics thing), is pretty ambivalent to the idea, and I really don't know what I'd do with it except as another toy.

My problem is not knowing how to CAD. If I saw a need for something and could whip it up right quick and make one... would be a lot more useful for me. I need to find a buddy who knows how to CAD to come over and show me the basics so I can make a flower pot or whatever and a few other simple things so I can self-teach the rest via YT. For now, it's a cool toy.

I do CAD for a living, so that's not the issue. It's trying to find things to make that I need, and not just print a bunch of useless miniature Star Trek models.

How much I use mine varies greatly. There are times I have it running 24/7 for a week or two straight. Then it sits for a few weeks doing nothing.

Knowing your son is in FIRST. Having a 3d printer at home. Learning CAD and how to use the printer, will put him so much further ahead long term. As a judge, seeing the teams who know how to use a 3d printer well, verse the teams who don't, the difference is staggering. It is a skill that in the future will never hinder him, and most likely will help him out sometime in some sort of unexpected situation.

I have found some decent ideas on here... https://www.reddit.com/r/functionalprint/

Try sorting by "Top" posts, that helps it to feel less like thingiverse.

I use it a lot to ease myself into drawing by making simple stuff I need but can't access easily.

I have an old Asus zenbook that still works perfect but the charger wires got frayed and I couldn't get the connector apart without breaking the plastic. So I made this

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...239a755fd8.jpg

narrower 2 part plug for my desk cables
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...410e9b13e7.jpg

Mount for the GM E85 sensor (not drawn by me)
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...34eab69c1e.jpg

This is from r/functionalprint.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8abf2e5bcc.jpg

Just some ideas to get you in going in finding something to draw/print

Just purchased a Creality Ender 3 V2. Should be here tomorrow. Less than $260 shipped to my door.

I suck at CAD but sometimes the simplest things can really help out. Last weekend I mounted a new microwave oven under my kitchen cabinets that required a custom spacer. I could have used wood BUT...

FWIW, I have a special setting I call "stupid fast" for things like this. Took 56 minutes to print the pair (100% infill) vs hours to make nice looking parts.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...55fde56817.jpg

I've been playing with an Ender 3 V2 for not quite a month now - my first foray into 3D Printers. Learned how to FreeCAD, and I've made some awesome doo-dads. It's a great hobby on a deployment. After a couple weeks of fiddling, I can design a simple part in minutes now.

My glass bed was low in the center, which was kind of frustrating - when I say "low", I mean like .2mm low.

Also, forgot to tighten my Z-axis mount when I finished assembly, and that led to two weeks of frustration, needing to fully re-level the bed every print, and some spaghetti art. Figured it out and made a world of difference.

Also, picked up the BLTouch and created the Marlin configuration to run it. Worth every penny for both the ever-so-slightly-warped bed and not worrying about leveling nearly as often. Perfect first layers every time now.

Been playing with the flow settings in Cura, I've taken my outer layers down a good bit lower than my interior lines and infill percentage, and now within a few hundredths of a milimeter dimensionally with sexy top/bottom layers.

First print (a holder for the included scraper) is underway. Have to say I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of this unit. Everything (except the printed instructions) is pretty straightforward. The manual is printed in such tiny font and very small pics to make it all but useless. Fortunately, they include a .pdf of the manual to view on a computer. They also include slicer software, a bunch of demo prints, and an actually useful set of tools. All in all, I'd say it's a pretty good deal for the price point.