There was a stretch of time I was looking at videos of budget gaming PC builds and they’d be like “How to build a gaming PC for $150” and a lot of them went like “Buy a used Optiplex for $120, max out its RAM for $30, then use this GTX 2080 I got from nvidia for free because I have two billion subscribers.”
Me: Should I buy a prebuilt 3D printer?
Reddit 3D printing sub: Oh, heck no. I put mine together for $18.22 plus some spare parts from seven printers I got of craigslist for $1 from some widow. Only took me three weekends to do it, plus a couple hundred hours to update the firmware to match the parts and troubleshoot it.
Me: Uh, so does it print better than the one I could just buy?
Reddit: Well, I’m still tuning it for all my filaments. I’ve been through about 40kg, and I’ve got a trashcan full of benchys though. The last few have been pretty good.
Building a 3d printer is really its own hobby. You don’t build a 3d printer because you want to print stuff, you build one because you want something to tinker with
- Average Linux user
Am the Linux user, can confirm.
Yeah, I made nearly that mistake. Twice, actually. First with a monoprice, then a creality. I probably have more money in upgrades on my CR10s than I have in the purchase, and I still haven’t upgraded the board. I keep thinking I’ll fix it but I’ve resolved to strip a couple of parts and throw it away. My Prusa XL preorder came last month. I made one update to it (for better TPU performance), and printed one QoL add-on (nozzle wipers). That’s it. I’m done. It prints like a dream, multi-material supports are indistinguishable from magic, and even swapping nozzles is fairly quick and easy. Now I’m (almost) exclusively printing things for my other hobbies rather than worrying that something on my CR10s will fail or need re-tuning.
Exactly why Voron is on my to-do list
There’s some foldable makerbeam ones.
Yeah those communities are wild. Before I bought my own printer I thought 3D printing is mostly fixing your printer and buying better parts and bed leveling and tuning etc.
Wasn’t looking forward to it so I bought an off-the-shelf printer with minimal assembly from a “boring” Chinese brand - couldn’t be happier with it, it just prints without any hassle and I have no urge to switch firmwares or tinker with the printer itself instead of with the printed stuff. To each their own I guess.
(Still plugged in a raspberry pi for octoprint and did some initial calibration for the filament of course …)
Octoprint for the win. Fuck SD cards for printing
I feel personally attacked.
There is something to tinkering your own machine to the best of its ability on a budget.
But if you just want to 3d print, nowadays there is no need to build your own. Premade are pretty great.
There is no world in which that machine is under a million dollars.
Hear me out: what if you made it entirely from parts created by a larger CNC machine?
Self replicating CNC Machines. That’s not even a guy operating it, it’s 3 smaller CNC machines in a trench coat and hat
A trench coat made by a slightly bigger CNC machine.
It would be very very impressive if your CNC machine can produce and assemble electric motors, wiring and circuit boards from raw materials. But then it would not be a CNC machine anymore.
Sure it could. A 5 axis CNC head could mill out the shape for a motor and be given a tool that spools out wire… It wouldn’t be easy, but it could build a motor with just that
It could also be given a head to solder circuit boards
CNC (computer numerical control) refers to the control systems rather than the act of milling materials, a 3D printer is a sub category of CNC. They can even use the same control boards.
You also usually process materials before putting them in - they’re good at detail work, but if you start with a block of steel you’re going to lose a fortune changing out expensive heads (and take forever). So it’s fair to assume you’re not using raw materials
It would be even more expensive!
These machines are absolutely under a million dollars. You can even buy used ones right now for pennies on the dollar because a shitload of American metal shops just went out of business.
…if that’s true I’m gonna go talk to my boss. We need a CNC.
Do it! There are tons of machines to be had, you don’t have to buy brand new!
But isn’t it then expensive in upkeep?
Pennies on the dollar? I don’t necessarily doubt you, but where do I get that machine for less than 10 grand?
There’s a few on here that I saw for less than $40,000.
https://cncmachines.com/cnc-mill/for-sale/1
Edit: not that specific machine.
Hmm, that site has a very different definition of “mini mill” than I do.
I don’t understand the point of hiding the price but then having an ai bot email it when someone asks it in the comments. Just list the damn price
Prevents bots scraping the site and either buying it all themselves or getting listed elsewhere.
I can understand that when the site is selling sneakers or a PS3 but is there a big market on scalping CNC machines? Plus I figure it would be trivial to create a bot that would create a comment on each post asking for the price so the sites bot sends the email with the price.
Makes it harder for your competitors to undercut you in prices. Not impossible, just harder. Most locks are just to make something more difficult so you give up. They aren’t impossible.
Another likely reason is that the price varies based on material/labor cost and they don’t want a set price being advertised. The price probably dynamically varies.
Ahhh just a turn of phrase. Not literally pennies on the dollar, but very cheap compared to new!
Literally, on CNCmachines.com they sell 5 axis milling machines for as low as 50K i’ve seen. There’s also tons of auctions on cnc machines due to all of the shops closing like I said.
How much do you suppose it costs to move and set up one of these babies in a new location? I bet the sellers would be happy to have a buyer just get it out of their building.
Why did American metal shops go out of business?
This isn’t even close to a million dollar machine. Those are all at least 6 axis mill turns with full enclosures and insane software packages in the control.
Always buy used. https://www.allsurplus.com/
You see, there is this unwritten agreement between the creator and the viewer that they like stuff explained to them, but they don’t actually replicate anything shown in the video. At best, they half-arsedly order some materials and then never get to it.
I feel personally attacked by this comment.
I know i could totally do it, i just dont want to!
Some of us watch those videos to actually do stuff. I built a FPV racing drone from parts off BangGood with zero experience thanks to those YouTube DIY videos.
It’s the same contract we have with all cooking shows and food videos.
man you’re following the wrong channels then, there’s a good chance any food videos i watch will at least give me ideas for how to improve my own cooking
Just ran into this like a week ago with a wood working video. “How to flatten a board without a planer!”. The whole premise was that planers are expensive, so here a little trick for hobbyist… The next scene was them using a router table jig that’s like 5x more expensive then any planer.
I think they’re just trying to show off…or trying to monetize to pay for the damn thing, lol
Just FYI, you can get a hand planer for pretty cheap. I see them at the thrift store all the time for like $1.
I’ve got plenty of hand planers, but hand planing isnt something you’d want to do for a large piece if you don’t have a lot of time on your hands.
Plus the larger ones that you’d typically want to use for flattening a large board can run you more than an actual planer.
So have you found a solution for that? I’ve also run into the exact problem when i tried to flatten a board and all i can do after getting disappointed is using hand planner/electric hand planner 🤣
A possible solution in a pinch is to get an already flat surface, ideally larger than your board. Cover it in something that will transfer (ink, paint, toner etc). Rub the face of the board you want to flatten across your flat surface**. The** transfer substance will pass onto the high spot in your board. Scrape, chissle or sand the high spots down slightly.
Repeat this until most of your board is marked by the transfer substance. Your board will be mostly flat (or at least as flat as the reference surface).
This technique is used in metal work, but it’s labour intensive. For woodwork to achieve sufficient flatness planes are quicker and produce a better surface finish. But if you don’t have any large ones, this method might work if your desperate and don’t want to buy new tools.
For a less accurate flatness. Place the board on the flat surface and push in the board to fell the points in contact with the flat surface. Then take those parts down.
The solution I have found is a sander and realizing you will never be perfect.
Look for the imperfections in the garbage they sell at the store. The bottom of your kitchen table. The inside of your kitchen cabinets. Those are the mistakes they’re trying to hide.
There’s a pretty easy solution if you have a decent plunging router with a good flattening bit head.
I set up two 2x6" along the length of my board I want to flatten, and then made a jig box for my router. The jig box is able to slide back and forth while resting across the 2x6, using the depth guide to keep the cuts at a level depth as you do your pass overs.
Hey! It’s TranscendentalEmpire’s YouTube experience all over again!
I mean, kinda? But a lot more basic wood working people already have access to a plunging router compared to a planer. One you can find new for 100 bucks or used for next to nothing, and the other is like 500 for a janky one.
Owning a router is a pretty standard purchase for anyone using power tools for woodworking, and if you don’t have one they’re pretty easy to buy for cheap on Craigslist.
There are some professional woodshops or wood suppliers that will run wood through a planer or drum sander for a fee. I have seen $50-100 for a table top size slab, double that if it has resin. So call around.
That machine costs well over $381k. We had a much smaller 3 axis lathe installed in the machine shop I worked in during my early 20’s and it was $3M. That was 25 years ago, so it probably costs infinity dollars now, given recent inflation. Hell, you probably can’t even buy them now, just lease them on a subscription for eleventy bajillion dollars per year.
Or, maybe you can still buy it. It still runs! Maybe it only costs $100,000 now!
…but there’s very specific high-impact parts that are no longer made and the since-abandoned software only works on Win95 with a proper license and some kind of bizarrely proprietary serial port connection…
My first thought, written by someone who has no concept, likely a kid.
Point of order, that particular machine costs at least ten times the amount quoted.
I’m the weirdo that has a full cnc machine shop at home. I was a cnc machinist for 20 years, though. Brain fog from covid killed my ability to do it, though. I do miss it, because that is something I truly love doing.
Don’t push your limits!
If anyone needs an extra reminder for why covid is so terrible, here you go. That shit can fuck you up long term and the odds are not appealing.
Thanks.
I’m pretty sure it fucked my head up too. I’m certainly mentally slower now than I was before I had covid.
I forget words consistently, and it’s harder to structure my sentences. It sucks.
🫂 shit sucks.
Don’t care. I will watch every second of every build project Adam Savage does in his shop.
The wacky thing about Adam Savage’s shop is that he doesn’t have a multimillion dollar CNC machine, but he has every single ordinary tool made by man. The dude has a run of the mill engine lathe and 4,000 pounds of jigs and tooling for it, plus more hardware than the average Fastenal.
The real value in his shop is all the various materials he has squirreled away after decades.
His materials stockpile is the stuff of dreams.
Adam savage is a godsend, his build tend to use the tool that’s either inexpensive or it can be replicated with another tools. His philosophy is always “hiding the crime” so the imperfections is always either out of view or is part of the charm. Perfect role model for a maker just starting out.
His machines aren’t that insane. He has a machine lathe and a mill, but neither is CNC.
Watch Stuff Made Here. He has CNC mills and routers, powder 3D printers, a freaking 5 axis water jet, and more.
Adam just got a 3D printer, it took him until late last year to get one.
Granted his passion is the process to make things and a 3D printer just skips all of that to make something inferior in 1:100th the time and effort, but you would think a gadget lover like him would have had one for years. I can’t wait to see what he does with it.
As a modeler, 3D printers are a bit like AI art to an artist. It’s fast, it can do some things that are nearly impossible to replicate, but it feels like a hack or a crutch at times. Part of the thrill of old-school modeling (for which I’m neither old enough nor patient enough) is taking very basic, simple shapes and making something realistic out of seemingly nothing. Adam is absolutely from that school. And - like AI art - to go from almost good to presentation quality is nearly as much work - or more - that just building from scratch. As a long time model rocket enthusiast, my printer is an amazing utility. But for some of the really intricate models, I have a lot less pride in the final product because I know I just pressed a button and it popped out.
When repairing my car I snapped a bolt in an awkward place. This really sucked.
Worse, so many of the “guy in a garage” youtubers were like “Yeah luckily I already have the engine block out…”
Or “Grab your handy dandy lathe…”
“Super easy you guys, just get your welding torch…”
Welder isn’t too crazy of a tool. It’s usually more like, get your 3d printer AND your welder AND your CNC AND your drill press AND your table saw plus a million other hyper specific gadgets.
Who doesn’t have an edm cutting machine and a metal sintering 3d printer in the cupboard under the stairs?
I’m sure you can get both in a bundle on wish for 14.99
I mean if you have space for them, those are obviously good tools to save up for.
When I bought a welder I started noticing all these shitty fixes I had done that would be so much better welded. It paid itself off in the first week.
Even the $150 harbor freight welder is a game changer for anyone who makes or works on things.
What is a consensual non-consent machine?
Me
*Bow chicka bow wow*
Nice.
M00g00g90f300r1375Q2.0z13.0
That aught to get her going for ya
Sometimes a victim of abuse wants to take power back by dictating that they be subjected to that same violent act willingly with a partner.
Other times it is a bear trap that you stick your dick in with a requested surprise struggle snuggle.
I remember when it had the opposite problem. “Today, we’re going to make a working fusion reactor out of an old HP laptop I found in my garage”, and everything is specific to that particular HP laptop.
That’s the same problem…
Totally different price scale.
Heh, I remember I had stopped following Primitive technology for a while because he stopped uploading videos. Then one day I decided to check on the channel and bloody hell the guy was refining iron in a mud hut with a clay blast furnace and forging an iron knife/arrow head…
I miss when youtube had actual diy videos requiring tools most people had just laying around
How to DIY X first just go to your 400 sq foot shed
No way that thing only costs that much, right? I would think double.
Funny maymay though
Some Chinese mills are becoming really cheap for what they offer.
I have the same problem with most DIY-videos as I don’t own a glue gun.
So buy one? It’s like $20
It’s like 2 dollars and some kisses lmfao glue gun is cheap as shit
The fancier one is like $6. The REALLY FANCY one is $12.
Look at Mr moneybags over here.
It’s honestly more of an arrogance thing. I have a nice drill, screws and different types of cold glue. I don’t want my projects to be anything like the crap I see in 5 Minute Crafts, so I avoid the tool. I know, it makes no sense, but so far I have never really needed a glue gun.
