Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/11/16/new-matters-mod-t-3d-printer.html
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3D printing is finally hitting the price point I’m willing to jump on it.
I’ve always liked it, but the “utility to price to time needed fiddling” was more than I could bear.
6"x4"x5" print area s a little smaller than I want, but I keep realizing, that for the majority of prints I would do, it probably would be fine. Or could be broken down to multiple smaller jobs.
This may make the short list come bonus time.
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No heated bed and a very small print envelope means you’ll find yourself wishing you’d paid a couple hundred more for something that can do 75-80% of the materials on the market versus, well, basically just PLA. The user-friendliness is sort of an expression of limitation on this unit.
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Good to know. As I said, I’ve not kept current with them and just now starting to think about getting one again.
Honestly, my Shapeoko needs more hours on it before I buy another widget
I bought in to the original kickstarter.
So i it arrived almost a year late and lasted a few weeks. I don’t mean it printed for two weeks and failed. I mean if you took out all the weeks, months of down time it would be two weeks of continuous printing.
the heater heads constantly burnt out, there were weird bugs in the software, and new fixes would have by new bugs or new technical problems…
the layout and print size were fine and would be a great intro printer but i cant see this reaching a level of quality where these issues will be stable.
Print volume really is too small. Anyway, no matter what you do you gotta have some control over the slicing software. If you use Cura, you can start w/ the defaults and come out pretty good. Then us nerds can play with support density& placement, speeds, cooling, and a couple dozen other parameters.
It’s easy to build an enclosure if desired. So unless this machine here has some breakthrough in both Z-level setting and sticky printbed surface, why bother. You’re not saving all that much money – think TCO.
As I say whenever this comes up, if you want to make anything other than cheap plastic junk, you want a mill, not a printer.
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In other news, the Tiko is finally shipping! Can’t wait to try it out.
I think I can fit this one in my house. 
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It has its uses. I used a 3d printer to make sliders to replace the worn out and missing ones on patio furniture. I used it to print a new bracket for one that broke in my ice maker. I used it to replace a broken part on a window shade.
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I disagree pretty strongly (with the part about regretting the lack of a heated bed).
All things being equal, yes, I would slightly prefer to print in ABS. That’s why, for the first year or so I had a 3D printer, I persisted in trying to get it to work. I was very willing to spend time tinkering with the process itself, and I still ended up feeling like it was a massive waste of my time. Once I switched to PLA and forgot about the heated bed, I got to just make stuff and it was vastly more satisfying.
3D printing has its limitations – for strong and/or precise parts, and a real range of materials, you are better off looking to hobbyist CNC, as I eventually did – but it’s magic for quickly getting an object in your hands, provided you come at it with realistic expectations.
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…and a coffee pot handle, IIRC?
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I’ve had good results using BuildTak instead of the blue tape.
https://www.buildtak.com/
Comes pre-cut for many popular printers or get a bigger than needed piece and trim it with scissors.
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I’m just looking for an affordable (less than $2K) home laser cutter that will do ~3 mm plywood.
Several of the “Some things I’ve printed” parts appear to have 2 different filament colors. I can’t see any mention of that capability on their site.
Any of the K40 lasers (a few hundred dollars) will cut 3mm plywood. I have a 3.5w laser attached to a cnc router that will do ~6mm poplar and it was only a couple hundred dollars. Any option will require some learning, though.
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any recommendations on this or resources? I’m planning to pick up one for my Shapeoko but haven’t done much research other than “Yep. It’s an option.”
Shapeoko forums and wiki were my resources - the info is scattered. I bought an l-cheapo laser and it took a day’s reading to get it fired up and cutting based on the info there.
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