Hello world!
Now is an exciting time to be getting into the world of 3d printing. Manufacturers are promising better “out of the box” capability and having the ability to design and construct a functional space station may no longer be a prerequisite to entry.
That being said, we are a long way from being able to identify many functional parts in our day-to-day lives and print them for use. As of right now, printed parts aren’t as strong, don’t have the same level of detail, and take more time to make than their traditionally manufactured counterparts. On top of that, most of the parts you would make for yourself could probably be purchased at the local hardware store for around $5 so… do you really need a $2,000 machine in your office to make them?
If your answer is, well, “yes,” then we have a lot in common. 3d printing first came to my attention in late 2012/early 2013 when the Form 1 from formfabs first burst onto the scene. Clearing their Kickstarter goal in around 2 hours, the printer and company were all over the news and my heart started to beat just a little faster—this was cool. Really cool.
I asked myself, “how in the world am I going to be a part of this?” I came to the conclusion that I needed to learn (a lot!) and I thought that the best way to do that would be to simply follow the workflow of a product and learn along the way. I figured:
Idea -> Design -> Print
Well, I had ideas… I was already 1/3 there. Next stage, Design. I selected some CAD software and set about teaching myself to design things—66% done! Final stage, hit PRINT, right? Okay, I was a bit naive, but I knew that going in (and if you are where I was, you should too). I was prepared to invest a lot more time, energy, and yes, a bit of money along the way—because I figure that that is what learning is all about. I just knew that, at the end of the day, I was going to be involved in the industry (somewhere, somehow).
So where am I along the journey and most importantly, what does that mean for you? Well, as of 1 January 2016, I am involved. That is when I got a web address and a WordPress account and started this blog. Through it I will endeavor to speak to people like me—people with very little technical knowledge but maybe just a little “MacGyver” in them. People who maybe aren’t headed to the RepRap/open-source community (though it has my utmost respect) and who didn’t grow up in tech. If I post an article or video about something, it means I have most likely done it and I did it with little to no applicable experience—bottom line… if I can do it you can do it.
I hope that I will give you quality information that you can use. I will explain what went into the decisions I made. I will “unbox” the products I receive and I will show them in action. Perhaps most importantly, I will try to recommend other sources for the things that I am not competent to address.
I will discuss how I came to select my CAD program and how far I have come with it. Next, I will obtain a couple of “print right out of the box” printers (I will start with M3D’s Micro and Zortrax’s Inventure) to see what the average person can currently do “right out of the box.”
Ultimately, I will work my way to the point were I can get a printer that is designed to allow the user a good deal more flexibility to upgrade all or most of the parts (I am thinking of something like ED3’s BigBox printers) and we will see if we can build a truly superior printer. Finally, I will try to cover the industry a little for you; tell you who is using what, where, how, why, and to do what.
The long and short of it is that I am going to try to provide what I would have liked to have found when I was scouring the web for knowledge to inform my decisions. I just hope it helps.
Thanks for being here and I hope you’ll keep coming back.
a few products:
