Sprang for a 3D printer today, finally. It's a bit of weird way I wound up going for the one I purchased. I was watching some random videos on YouTube, some were on model railroading. The guy who made the videos used a 3D printer to make some of his pieces for his model railroad dioramas. Out of curiosity I looked up the 3D printer he used. Found it online for less than $160.00, you do have to assemble it, but that's not a big deal. It's the Anet A8 Prusa printer. And by looking around online, I found out that for the price and quality of printing it's actually a fantastic printer to start off with. Almost all the reviews are great for it, there are plenty of videos and guide online to get started with as well. And while not really surprising, there are plenty of "upgrades" available for the printer. The upgrades are parts that the printer itself will print. I should get it in a week or so.
I've wanted one so I could take three way views of starship designs and print models. It could do that couldn't it?
Get a free account to thingaverse and see what people have posted. Odds are someone there will have posted models which can be downloaded and 3D printed. If the ones you can find aren't to your liking, there's software out there that can make it easy for you to come up with something you like.
I'm sure some will be. To start with, I'll probably play around with it. I might build some MAME's and use the printer to there cases.
Here's what I'm planning on. I would load into a Raspberry Pi, and use the printer to build a custom case for it. And also generally just fuck around with it.
Ok, I did see the arcade game angle and said naw... A case for a mini game computer sounds cool. How strong are the printed objects?
It depends on the plastic that is used. There's several different types you can use, ABS is durable and can handle repeated use. It's good for a wide variety of projects. Nylon is more flexible, so it's better for parts that are under stress as they can bend or flex more. You can even print with wood filament.
Modelers are already doing that, and many garage kit makers have been using 3D printers to master their model kits for years. As a home 3D-printer-user, you either need to have a 3D program (Sketchup, 3DS, etc) to create your own ship as a 3D mesh, or you can download someone's already-created 3D ship mesh from an online source. You'd probably need to print it in parts, like a kit, and assemble it, for the best results. For example, one of the new kids on the block is UGH! Models. They master their kits on a hi-res 3D printer, then make rubber molds, and cast the kit parts in resin for sale (printing the parts would be way too expensive for mass production, resin casting is cheaper) : https://www.fpkclub.com/ugh-models/?page_id=204
Well... it came in on Monday. I've been too busy to update until today. Monday went with a few guys from work to go try out white water "rafting". It was on inflatable kayaks I guess you could call them. Didn't get home until after 9:00pm. Yesterday had to change a tire on the care after getting home around 7:30. Today didn't get home until after 9:00, long days at work. So it came in fairly large box, motors, belts, the control board, display. The box weighs 20lbs. without the packing I'd guess around 16lbs. So have to find time to start assembling it. May take a while, this weekend I'll probably start putting down the wood flooring in the house my mom bought about 4 miles from me.
