Minor Confession Thread

So far, I am remarkably unimpressed by 3D printing.  It sure seems like a lot of work and fiddling for the mediocre quality output.

In reply to Duke :

I've held off on it for similar reasons.  I can see several uses for it on car projects, but I usually just fire up the angle grinder and welder.  However, I can see where brackets and such could be made to look a lot better than what I throw together out of metal.  Hasn't been worth the time/money to give it a shot yet.

In reply to Duke :

As long as you're using it for things within what it can do well, it's definitely got its uses. So far in a like a month of having and using mine I've printed like half a dozen things that are actually useful outside of improving the printer itself (it's a running joke that you spend most of the time printing things out for the printer itself, and it's not wholly wrong...) including a cold air scoop for the E46 that would have cost $100+ to buy buy cost me like $5 worth of filament (plus the cost of the printer :P). I've got a whole folder of interesting and fun things to print out for Christmas presents- but even with the improvements I've made and learning I've done you're not wrong that it takes a good bit of fiddling to get things to work right and it still seems like the roll of a D20 or so to see whether you crit fail and a print just goes horribly wrong. And for the prices most of us are willing to pay, the resolution isn't going to be high enough to be super detailed (especially with FDM printers like most of us have). 

I'm expecting mine to come into play a lot more when I get to the point of putting the DMC back together and making replacement and custom parts for it. I have ambitious plans to try and design and print (in like a dozen pieces that will have to be assembled...) a custom spoiler for the E46 with it as well- but The Dancer also isn't far off from calling it another expensive toy for me to play with...

I put the carbon steel pan on the stove and turned up the burner so I could clean it out.  The kid in charge of dinner cleanup last night missed it.  Right after I turned it on, I got a call from the truck driver delivering my Donut Robot.  They were supposed to call ahead of time, but he was already in the parking lot of the church.  While I was up there, getting it off the skid and checking it out, my daughter texted that the house was full of smoke.   Nothing was on fire and she shut off the stove, moved the pan off the burner, and opened up all the windows to let the smoke out.  Apparently one of the dogs was just sitting in the kitchen looking at it the whole time.  Of course my daughter texted the whole family group so now I'm never going to hear the end of this....

Stumble across a cheapish 1993 Daytona es on faceballs. Says it has a 3.0l v6. Start doing mental math and realize that should be........runs off to Wikipedia to confirm.......an sohc 6g72. Realize that if I'm stupid and don't value my life at all, the swap to the bug scary tt dohc one from the vr4 isn't....THAT hard. 

Calm myself down a little when I realize that they also used variations of the Chrysler 2.4 turbo from that era and that would be a FAR less stupid way to attempt to make power in some garbage I found on Facebook. 

In reply to wae :

"Pot on the stove" is the cause that I list on most of the house fire reports that I write. We actually have a code for it. 

I'm taking my Tacoma to pick up a part for the Jeep, because the Jeep dealership is too far away to drive a Jeep. 

Duke said:

So far, I am remarkably unimpressed by 3D printing.  It sure seems like a lot of work and fiddling for the mediocre quality output.

 

That could be said about most of my motorsports efforts.

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

Everything that comes out of the work machine, which isn't a bad printer, just looks chintzy and homemade. Everything is striped and just amateur looking.

Is it possible to get decent finish quality out of a sub-industrial 3D printer?

In reply to Duke :

Absolutely. Go resin. It'll need a water or alcohol bath depending on the resin used and UV cure, but smooth, finished, and great looking.

I'm just guessing your doing building models, so nothing structural or fragile.

Elegoo Saturn 4k MSLA is now under $400 because it's big brother is launching soon. It'll print a 9 inch cube like most FDM printers. The wash and cure system is under $200.

I've been wanting one for a while, might finally make the jump this Xmas.

There are also metallized filament for FDM printers, but you really need a kiln to get the most of that and it's not cheap.

I was up at 6 this morning to watch Monaco, but with the rain foolishness, I bailed and watched yesterday's xfinity race, which was good, by the way.  Then, Monaco on slight delay,  followed immediately by the 500.  Did laundry, watched the 600, which finished at 10...

In my defense  I worked yesterday, and all 3 days last weekend, so I needed some recliner time.

Still, roughly 14 of the 16 hours I was awake was mostly planted in front of the TV.  Probably not great.

Duke said:

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

Everything that comes out of the work machine, which isn't a bad printer, just looks chintzy and homemade. Everything is striped and just amateur looking.

Is it possible to get decent finish quality out of a sub-industrial 3D printer?

 

That's the nature of an FDM, but a LOT of the final quality also depends on your settings. 

I still use my dirt cheap janky ender 3, but also have a nice industrial one. I can print stuff on either that looks like it came off a kids toy... or professional.  

If you did want to post process that, wouldn't take much.  You just have to go into it knowing that FDM prints require "work" to look perfect.  Resin prints require work as well, but they DO have a much higher "finished" wow factor, once they've been cleaned, cured, etc. 

And that body is a simplified down Mercedes T80 inspired setup that I'm screwing around with, that will eventually be CNC'D for a cheater class pinewood derby car.  Came out decent out.  .1mm layer heights. Slower printer head movements, etc. 

I am immediately suspect of nearly anyone that I see join and start posting a ton at outset. It will remain to be seen if my suspicion is justified. 

In reply to Mndsm :

Same

Yesterday was the kids last day of school. I wish with all my might Monday was the first day back already.

I have decided that the neon is on the chopping block. Its too rare and too nice for me to use as intended. Also, with the fuel costs skyrocketing and my wife's 40th birthday present, it will fail to make the challenge yet again. Time yo cash in while the getting is good.

My confession? Im not sure how to go about getting top dollar and a good home for it. Bring a trailer? Cars and bids? Post on radwood classified ads? Should i start a thread to learn me, or will that make it less likely for the good sites to take it? Arg....

Maybe should have paid attention to the sparks when I was grinding that piece.

Streetwiseguy said:

Maybe should have paid attention to the sparks when I was grinding that piece.

 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Streetwiseguy said:

Maybe should have paid attention to the sparks when I was grinding that piece.

 

Some day I'm going to come to Ohio and buy you a beer...

I admit, the jackass movies will always be funny to me. 

Mndsm said:

I admit, the jackass movies will always be funny to me. 

That's as may be, but the whole Borat / Bad Grampa / Impractical Jokers style of movie, where the actors are intentionally provocative or obnoxious in public, and the alleged 'humor' comes from the reactions of poor innocent bystanders, is just NOT FUNNY, and never will be.

I have a really funny meme, but it does involve a living politician, so it breaks the rules and I can't post it.

In reply to NickD :

I have several of those; all unpostable due to who is in them, what they describe, how they describe it, etc.

I got eye from a woman who thought I was checking her out. I was actually checking out her Volvo C30 but I guess she was cute also.

In reply to Stampie :

I'm always ready with a crisp "I wasn't looking at you I was looking at your car". Usually makes the situation worse, somehow.