Total Newb, Rushing Down Another Rabbit Hole!

Ulma Doctor

Infinitely Curious
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Feb 2, 2013
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i had a chance to see a 3d printer, a little too close.
it captured my imagination, but thrust the spear of doubt upon my thoughts.
how can i 3d print something???
i have experience with motor controls and plc industrial thingy's- but i have no experience in g-code or co-ordinate multi-axis control.
that is where the doubt came in, how can i print something if i don't know the first thing about it???
i binge watched youtube on the ender 3, the brand i was going to run with.
i din't buy the pro , as recommended.
not for cost reasons alone, from what i understand you end up customizing just about everything anyway-
i'll spend the money on the better gear as i go :grin:
here is how it came

IMG_3667.jpg


here is a picture of the first print i ever made!
41 minutes!

IMG_3673.jpg
IMG_3674.jpg


i plugged the thumb drive into my tower computer.
the creality 1.2.3 was loaded onto my computer
i loaded the stock rendering from the object file
and scaled it through the slicer
i saved the gcode to the sd card and went through the first warm up sequence and leveled the bed.
after the extruder came to temperature and the bed came to temperature,
i loaded the sliced gcode file with a twist and push of a knob.
the printer and software is incredibly easy to use and i feel like i missed out on a lot of stuff earlier,
due to my own ignorance .

i have a ton to learn, but i'm sure i'll get a whole bunch of use from this amazing tool!

thanks for reading!
 
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Nice. I want one! I have always been scared to get one cause when they first starting getting popular models/brands were getter better so quick & cheaper. I didn't want to end up with something halfway obselete. By now I assume that has tapered off a lot. I just looked up the Ender, had no idea they cost was that low now. Maybe it's time I get one. Is the Ender a pretty popular & reputable printer?
 
Nice. I want one! I have always been scared to get one cause when they first starting getting popular models/brands were getter better so quick & cheaper. I didn't want to end up with something halfway obselete. By now I assume that has tapered off a lot. I just looked up the Ender, had no idea they cost was that low now. Maybe it's time I get one. Is the Ender a pretty popular & reputable printer?
I know next to nothing about 3d printers in general.
They appear to be popular and there are a lot of the ender 3 parts and upgrades
The cura software slicer comes with the kit too!
I would recommend it to anyone curious and would not delay like I did!
 
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Oh Mike, say it aint so!
You drank from the Kool-Aid, you stumbled into the dark side.
Congratulations!
I can see the value of owning one, I just don't know how to make anything.
We talked about reproducing a broken or missing part on a machine that is obsolete.
There are thousands of opportunities but how????
This old dog don't like Kool-Aid.
 
I know next to nothing about 3d printers in general.
They appear to be popular and there are a lot of the ender 3 parts and upgrades
The cura software slicer comes with the kit too!
I would recommend it to anyone curious and would not delay like I did!
I've been watching them for years now as I'm curious about everything. But I wasn't sure I had an application to what Id do with one. So I appreciate you posting your adventures with this. IMHO you still might be early to this as things have been ironed out and more user friendly than the past. As you so aptly point out Doc it is a rabbit hole because it isn't just the machine, but it's also the software that piles up the "daunt" for a guy who doesn't use CAD or CNC.

I had to laugh at myself when I saw the pic of your first print of the owl and was shocked with the next one with your thumb. My brain said "that's the worlds largest thumb!" as I was sure that owl was at least 3-4" tall.
 
here is a picture of the first print i ever made!

Excellent Mike. Welcome to the new world of "additive machining".
You have already shown us your mastery of metal and wood.
What's next after you conquer plastic? Stone carving?

I can see the value of owning one, I just don't know how to make anything.
We talked about reproducing a broken or missing part on a machine that is obsolete.

Jeff, that may not be as tall a hurdle as you think.....
Before I had a clue how to draw much in Fusion-360, I produced a threading dial for a SouthBend lathe:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...nted-threading-dial-for-a-southbend-9c.67878/
The model was already drawn and posted for free on Thingiverse! (link in that thread)

I'm still not very good at CAD (especially with Autodesk recently changing the Fusion-360 interface to a ribbon style; but's that's a rant for another day!).

-brino
 
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Very timely thread as I've been of the same mindset as several others in this thread i.e. I'll get one once the technology matures a bit. I've been eyeing the Ender or Ender Pro myself. I like the CR10S for the extra size but it looks like it's half the speed of the Ender but again I know nothing about 3D printers...yet.
 
Excellent Mike. Welcome to the new world of "additive machining".
You have already shown us your mastery of metal and wood.
What's next after you conquer plastic? Stone carving?

Jeff, that may not be as tall a hurdle as you think.....
Before I had a clue how to draw much in Fusion-360, I produced a threading dial for a SouthBend lathe:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...nted-threading-dial-for-a-southbend-9c.67878/
The model was already drawn and posted for free on Thingiverse! (link in that thread)
I'm still not very good a CAD (especially with Autodesk recently changing the Fusion-360 interface to a ribbon style; but's that's a rant for another day!).
-brino
Thanks Brino!!
you are way too kind in using the word master in description , but thank you! :grin big:
i fear i'm going to the dark side, where gcode and cnc control may take favor :cautious:

fear not, i will unplug or spill a pepsi upon my AI overlord should a revolution arise!
 
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Oh Mike, say it aint so!
You drank from the Kool-Aid, you stumbled into the dark side.
Congratulations!
I can see the value of owning one, I just don't know how to make anything.
We talked about reproducing a broken or missing part on a machine that is obsolete.
There are thousands of opportunities but how????
This old dog don't like Kool-Aid.
the kool aid was a bit easy to swallow, sorry to say
it so dang easy, i'm kicking myself for being scared.
there is a learning curve, but you could do it with some dedication. ;)
 
I've been watching them for years now as I'm curious about everything. But I wasn't sure I had an application to what Id do with one. So I appreciate you posting your adventures with this. IMHO you still might be early to this as things have been ironed out and more user friendly than the past. As you so aptly point out Doc it is a rabbit hole because it isn't just the machine, but it's also the software that piles up the "daunt" for a guy who doesn't use CAD or CNC.

I had to laugh at myself when I saw the pic of your first print of the owl and was shocked with the next one with your thumb. My brain said "that's the worlds largest thumb!" as I was sure that owl was at least 3-4" tall.
@C-Bag , don't be sacred
there is so much 3d stuff that someone else has done the real work on.
you are basically moving files from one program to another
the important program is the slicer, it generates the g-code.
the slicer program comes with the printer !!!! :grin:
there are some basic 3d objects that are also included on the little memory card(SD Card)
you can simply load the cat object file, for example.
the cat would appear in the slicer engine where you can set the size as well as control printing options
or you can print the scale and size as the original is suggested.
there is a site called tinkercad, it is literally the simplest cad program i have used- DON'T BE SCARED
you can take tanything you create from tinkercad and send it to the slicer, the slicer can make size and dimensional changes and create the gcode.
you send the gcode to the SD card and insert the SD card into the 3d printer
after a warm-up sequence, the printer goes to work
you can watch it or go do other things, periodically checking in on progress.
sometimes detailed prints can hours, if not days, for very large objects

come my friend, join me down here in the rabbit hole :grin big:
 
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