How much fun is a 3d printer vs “I forgot I even had one”?

I want one, but I worry I’ll be on the wrong ratio.

I feel like it's not much of an investment really. They are free after all.

Just gotta find a friend that has a 3D printer, and ask them to print out a 3D printer for you.

I think it depends on the person. I don't have much interest, but I know two people that have theirs printing something almost 24/7. I'm also not the creative type, so that's probably a factor for my disinterest.

I've been printing for ~4 years, first with a supplement printer and then with a resin one. Like others said it really depends on the person, there's months where I won't print anything and there's other months where every second of my spare time is spent toying with the things.

OMG

Had me in the first half not gonna lie

Me too, that was a Shyamalamaladoobiedoo level twist at the end.

As far as fun goes, unless you like tinkering it's just consumerism with extra steps. Don't buy one for funsies.

But for functional prints and being able to replace small parts and bring your ideas to life, they're great.

eh, I feel like a lot of people are interested in one just to print a bunch of shit that they won't use

I have three. my original one (ender 3), and two new bambu printers (a1 and a1 mini)

obviously I never use the ender anymore. I mostly just use the a1 mini now, because it's quieter than the a1 and the majority of the prince I do fit on its smaller bed just fine

I use it for functional stuff. When it's printing, it's very convenient. It's not printing all the time.

here's a list of stuff I semi recently printed:

• garbage can lid knob

• drill template

• shower hook

• bracket to hold my computer external power brick on my monitor mount arm

• Kindle stand (although the model I found online sucks and I'm going to just make a better one. or I'll just make one out of wood)

• spacer to fix my car fob button

• bracket to raise the rear leg of the TV stand up to tilt the TV forward

• sheath for a very sharp paint scraper

• sheathes for very sharp chisels

• sheath for pointy awl

• custom mounts for my bike peripherals (camera, computer)

• bracket to hold my Eero blob on a shelf edge

Oh yeah I also printed a centering three jaw chuck that I found online, which actually makes a great fidget toy. I printed that as a test for trying to print a chuck so I could actually turn something on my wood lathe. I ended up going with a four jaw chuck and it actually worked pretty damn well.

Make a friend or significant other who has one and will let you mess around or teach you, then see how you feel.

I've been going strong with printing for a year now. So much so that I bought a second printer because I have projects I'd like to do but each print takes hours which often means only one print a day because it runs over night.

Then there's all the printing to making printing better like wall organizers, new print head designs, etc.

I do mostly functional but the consumerism is also fun because there's a magnitude less Amazon and sludge oil powered shipping from China. The filament is biodegradable and made from corn.

For example I printed an Affe mit Schädel for my desk and it makes me very happy. I know it's stupid but I've wanted one on my desk for over 30 years for reasons.

Biodegradable but only in very specific conditions! Make sure to properly recycle PLA. Recycling Fabrik is great.

I had the same curiosity and concern, so I bought one (in the name of science, obviously).

I've now had it for about half a year, and it is in fact tons of fun still.

There are some supplementary activities/hobbies that help:

• Electronics (holy fuck, I hope my SO doesn't find out how much money I've spent on digikey.com)
• 3d design (doesn't have to be anything fancy. I do most of my stuff in blender, and I consider myself a beginner).
• Minifig painting (not me, but I'm sure some with 3d printers find that useful)

My printer is in use almost daily. I'm currently printing a bicycle pump mounting bracket that I can screw onto the wall, because I'm fed up with having to figure out where the fuck the bicycle pump is every fucking spring. Took me 10 minutes of cobbling together a design in blender.

I bought one mostly just to have a new toy. But it has become an essential tool in my household.

I mostly print functional stuff, but I also use it a lot for my electronics-projects, which does happen to include an RC project that I hope to see fly this summer, budget permitting.

been printing for 9 or so years now. it definitely comes in waves of both of those attitudes, but it also depends on your use cases. if you consider yourself a maker in any regard, it could be a tool you use daily. electronics parts, functional pieces, cosplay, and home goods are just a few of the categories i've used mine for.

3d printers can be super inexpensive to get into if you have the expendable income, especially compared to when i first started.

Looks like this is using the CyberBrick components:

https://makerworld.com/en/cyberbrick

I wonder if the files for this project are shared anywhere.

Some people just want to watch the world burn, others are setting it on fire.

"Make me a remote control setup with a car and a controller"

"This is the perfect time to make a request like that..."

A bunch of people print a lot of dust collectors. All stuff downloaded and printed that don’t amount to any more than toys or novelties. IMO it’s a waste and just ends up in the recycle stream - if recyclers will even process it. But people gonna do what they’re gonna do.

If you learn how to do some 3D modeling to make things you want and can use, then IMO it’s worth it. I’ve printed a ton of things, everything from repair parts for luggage, PC parts, to designing my own toolbox organizers.

My printing tends to go in waves, the printer sits idle for maybe a month or two, but then I’m printing for a week straight.

What I like about this is, watch the gif a few times.

They didn't shoot it once, and then copy x amount of times.

For every video box you see, they shot it AGAIN. She does slightly different things in each box. The direction she turns her head, the movements of her face, and this looks like it came from the 80s. No AI here.

I wonder if there's a second part of this video that the thing looks like a remote then controls the thing that looks like a car..

Some people didn't light it but they tried to fight it.

link to the sauce?
Looks like a fun person.

To me, they are worth it if you learn basic CAD. Otherwise you're just going to be printing garbage most of the time.

The fun isn't being able to print, it's being able to say "I want/need thing, I can make thing."

Even if you just learn to open up FreeCAD and attach cubes and cylinders together, you can do a lot.

I've seen a few on MakersWorld.

Not sure if this is that specific one, but here's a print:
https://makerworld.com/en/models/2053896-the-car-controller-drive-the-remote-with-ae86?from=search#profileId-2217011

I found one, not sure if it's the exact one in the gif.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/2053896-the-car-controller-drive-the-remote-with-ae86?from=search#profileId-2217011

Looks like it! Great job!

Ah yes, the ol' remote control remote control car remote control