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3D Printers

Discussion in 'Science & Technology' started by Stitches, Feb 17, 2018.

  1. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    So I just got a 3D Printer last Friday (so about 8 days ago), and it's been quite an adventure getting it to the point I have it at now (which is not to say very far; mostly messed with it on both weekends). I had never seen a 3D printer in person before, and don't know anyone with one, so I found the whole thing pretty fascinating. I had been looking to get one for a while, and eventually jumped in when I found an entry-ish model with an acceptable price (read: on-sale).

    Initially I had problems leveling and loading the filament (completely user error; well really the leveling was fine until I messed up loading the filament), but now I have a remote accesible Raspberry Pi running Octoprint, so I can run and monitor untethered from my PC (and I have an app on my phone that I can monitor/control from).

    At least now it is looking like I might be able to get some longer print time project running, as I was previously concerned about running anything that might need to run when I couldn't be right nearby to check on it.

    Anyway, so much of this hobby is by no means plug and play. That's not to say it's terribly difficult (though I was incredibly frustrated the first day I tried setting it up), but I can see it being too much for some people as I have had to flash OS to microSD cards, re-write config files, and other stuff (luckily you can find answers online with some research time). Maybe that is unfair, because the printer itself would work out of the box just fine, but being able to have more control and visibility with it is what needed work.

    I don't know if anyone else here has a 3D printer or not, but I thought if so you might be able to share your trials and tribulations, maybe things you have done or made, or recommendations, etc.
     

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