Anyone know much about 3d printers?

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gnat
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Re: Anyone know much about 3d printers?

Post by gnat » Thu Sep 19, 2019 5:14 pm

If I had the space for it, I'd give this a try: https://shop.snapmaker.com/products/sna ... d-printers

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32wildbilly
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Re: Anyone know much about 3d printers?

Post by 32wildbilly » Fri Sep 20, 2019 5:59 am

gnat wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2019 5:14 pm If I had the space for it, I'd give this a try: https://shop.snapmaker.com/products/sna ... d-printers
Just a little under a 2 foot cube does seem to eat up much space and that thing appears to do everything!
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Re: Anyone know much about 3d printers?

Post by gnat » Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:52 am

Some people have too much time on their hands!

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Re: Anyone know much about 3d printers?

Post by gnat » Mon Nov 25, 2019 2:21 pm

For those with printers, give https://www.pushplastic.com/ a check next time you need to order filament.

Found them some time ago and was interested in their 500g MasterSpool refill spools as it hit a couple of buttons for me. In addition to having less filament that I only need a little of laying around, without a (non-recyclable) spool and smaller amount it means I can store many more rolls in the same space (so I can have more variety on hand).

They also have a really wide color selection. Including for their refills (all the other spool-less options I've seen only offer black and white).

I picked up a few rolls, but only finally used my first spool in the last couple of weeks. I've printed with better cheaper filament and I've printed with worse much more expensive filament, but all in all I think the PLA prints great and am happy with the results (haven't tried the PETG roll I have yet).

So I made a couple more orders in the last couple of weeks and it turned out that they screwed up my last one a bit by sending me 2 rolls of white instead of the natural that I ordered. Tried to get them on the phone, but finally got to voicemail after lots of rings. So I dropped them a note through their Contact Us form and within a few minutes I had a shipping notice and a response apologizing and noting that they were shipping out the correct rolls. When I asked how they wanted me to return the white rolls they told me to go ahead and keep them.

Shame that a good product for a reasonable price backed by good customer service is such a shocking thing these days, but here we are.

So next time you need filament, give them a look.


Edit: Here is the master spool that I'm using: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3398910

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Re: Anyone know much about 3d printers?

Post by gnat » Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:22 pm

If you have a iPad and Apple Pencil, look at Shapr3d as a modeling app. It's geared towards professionals, but between their extensive easy to follow tutorials and intuitive interface I found it really easy to pick up as a tinkerer.

Unfortunately the downside is the subscription cost if you want to import existing files or export high quality files. Other than limiting import and export options it appears that the number of projects and ability to add color are the only other limitations. So as free versions go, they are better than most.

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Re: Anyone know much about 3d printers?

Post by gnat » Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:28 pm

Here is an odd thing I created in Shapr while just playing around. No idea what it is supposed to be, just fiddling. It's a silly pointless thing, but I did in about an hour things I haven't figured out with other pro grade options.
409BA2E4-ABCA-4063-A26C-8F76D235FA65.png

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Re: Anyone know much about 3d printers?

Post by 32wildbilly » Thu Jan 02, 2020 7:41 am

gnat wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:28 pm Here is an odd thing I created in Shapr while just playing around. No idea what it is supposed to be, just fiddling. It's a silly pointless thing, but I did in about an hour things I haven't figured out with other pro grade options.
409BA2E4-ABCA-4063-A26C-8F76D235FA65.png
Not sure what that might be either but it is pretty cool! One would think that would be difficult to print.
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Re: Anyone know much about 3d printers?

Post by gnat » Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:05 am

32wildbilly wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2020 7:41 am
gnat wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:28 pm Here is an odd thing I created in Shapr while just playing around. No idea what it is supposed to be, just fiddling. It's a silly pointless thing, but I did in about an hour things I haven't figured out with other pro grade options.
409BA2E4-ABCA-4063-A26C-8F76D235FA65.png
Not sure what that might be either but it is pretty cool! One would think that would be difficult to print.
Actually it's a pretty easy print. It does require supports due to the extrusions I added coming out the sides, but before doing that I wouldn't have even needed support.

I do have it sliced up already and will put it on the printer at some point today. I think it's like a 50 minute print if I recall correctly.

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Re: Anyone know much about 3d printers?

Post by gnat » Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:12 am

gnat wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:22 pm Unfortunately the downside is the subscription cost if you want to import existing files or export high quality files. Other than limiting import and export options it appears that the number of projects and ability to add color are the only other limitations. So as free versions go, they are better than most.
So I traded some emails with them (nice and fast responses from them!) to suggest different pricing models that make more room for tinkerers and they did clarify something. According to the website the subscription is annually and either billed in a lump sum or monthly payments. If you go the monthly route and cancel, however, you are still on the hook for the remaining payments.

Apparently if you purchase the subscription through the App rather than the website it's either the annual lump sum or a auto-renewing monthly charge that you can cancel at anytime with no penalty. I wouldn't spend $20 to be able to export whatever that is that my twisted mind made up, but I could swallow that on the rare occasions that I've gotten something to point that I'm ready to print something detailed and complex.

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Re: Anyone know much about 3d printers?

Post by gnat » Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:00 am

gnat wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:05 am
32wildbilly wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2020 7:41 am

Not sure what that might be either but it is pretty cool! One would think that would be difficult to print.
Actually it's a pretty easy print. It does require supports due to the extrusions I added coming out the sides, but before doing that I wouldn't have even needed support.

I do have it sliced up already and will put it on the printer at some point today. I think it's like a 50 minute print if I recall correctly.
Done.

Here it is on the bed with the supports:
MVIMG_20200102_125342.jpg
MVIMG_20200102_125342.jpg (365.46 KiB) Viewed 2833 times
And after it was popped off and the supports removed:
MVIMG_20200102_125622.jpg
MVIMG_20200102_125622.jpg (230.52 KiB) Viewed 2833 times
Still no idea what it is, but nifty none the less.

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