It’s gotten a lot better in the last year or so. There’s a whole new class of machines that solved those issues and aren’t nearly as difficult to operate.
Prior to a year ago, I’d say 3D printing was a hobby meant for someone who was into robotics, and programming, etc.
I run a repair shop, and now I see all sorts of children printing stuff, and it’s easier than it ever was.
It doesn’t install a better auto-level sensor or tool-changing on my printer. It doesn’t give me a good print bed (one I bought was damaged by prints) or even just a newer control board. I’m not even going to buy a slicer key, I don’t want to spend more money on this nor do I want to think about it.
I’ve already acknowledged that some of this was my hubris and I would likely still be printing had I just stuck with what I had. Maybe someone could even help me get back there in exchange for/using my spare parts, but I live in nowheresville w/no car and don’t know anybody so that is not happening.
I feel you, my first printer was garbage, my second one was SLOW, the one I bought last year is fantastic and it was cheap. You still have to go through some of the processes like bed leveling but new ones have some sensors that tell you where it isn’t level and adds a height map to the print to compensate for an uneven surface. It prints in 1 hour what took my old printer 11 hours to print. Most slicers are free and don’t require a key or payment to access advanced features. FDM printing is probably as user friendly as it’s going to get.
On the flip side, FDM printing isn’t super useful. You can make a bunch of random stuff but it’s mostly just nick nacks. Resin printing is way more useful but also way less user friendly. I plan to dive into resin printing this year because I’ve been doing 3D modeling and want to make miniatures and stuff for wargames, dice, and dioramas.
Either way, it’s absolutely useless if you have no use for it.
It’s gotten a lot better in the last year or so. There’s a whole new class of machines that solved those issues and aren’t nearly as difficult to operate.
Prior to a year ago, I’d say 3D printing was a hobby meant for someone who was into robotics, and programming, etc.
I run a repair shop, and now I see all sorts of children printing stuff, and it’s easier than it ever was.
Sure, but that doesn’t help me now.
It doesn’t install a better auto-level sensor or tool-changing on my printer. It doesn’t give me a good print bed (one I bought was damaged by prints) or even just a newer control board. I’m not even going to buy a slicer key, I don’t want to spend more money on this nor do I want to think about it.
I’ve already acknowledged that some of this was my hubris and I would likely still be printing had I just stuck with what I had. Maybe someone could even help me get back there in exchange for/using my spare parts, but I live in nowheresville w/no car and don’t know anybody so that is not happening.
I feel you, my first printer was garbage, my second one was SLOW, the one I bought last year is fantastic and it was cheap. You still have to go through some of the processes like bed leveling but new ones have some sensors that tell you where it isn’t level and adds a height map to the print to compensate for an uneven surface. It prints in 1 hour what took my old printer 11 hours to print. Most slicers are free and don’t require a key or payment to access advanced features. FDM printing is probably as user friendly as it’s going to get.
On the flip side, FDM printing isn’t super useful. You can make a bunch of random stuff but it’s mostly just nick nacks. Resin printing is way more useful but also way less user friendly. I plan to dive into resin printing this year because I’ve been doing 3D modeling and want to make miniatures and stuff for wargames, dice, and dioramas.
Either way, it’s absolutely useless if you have no use for it.