Just wanted to do a quick appreciation post to all of you awesome folks on this community. I got into printing a little over five years ago. At the time, I was a sophomore in high school and couldn’t afford to purchase the one I really wanted (Printrbot Jr.), so I built my own.
This community is the reason why I was able to successfully build the machine and what has kept me so in love with this technology over the last few years. I’ve since gone on to pursue a career in mechanical engineering with a focus in manufacturing and I don’t think that I would have had I not had the wonderful access to knowledge and inspiration that this community has provided.
@ThantiK Thank you for making this awesome community. Thanks to everyone that has helped me and other members over the years. I hope everyone continues to post on other platforms once G+ is gone.
Enjoy this throwback of a machine from December of 2014. This was my first ever print. And yes, that is what a cheap hotend looked like back in the day. It was hand machined by some guy off eBay:-)
Totally agree!
Is that a… Smartrap? haven’t seen one of those in a while!
@Ryan_Carlyle it is!! I researched the hell out of printers back when I was looking to build this and decided that it was the best inexpensive option. It had the personality of an old British car but that’s what gave it character.
By the time I had “finished” it, it actually printed pretty darn well.
Otherwise it seems like others plan on going over to Reddit. Personally I like the community feel vs. forums. You can basically expect the same kind of feel and content at MeWe as you get here.
@Kevin_Danger_Powers How’s the MeWe phone app? That’s how I do most of my social media stuff these days (commute time etc)
@Ryan_Carlyle It works great. My only gripe is that there isn’t an option to just add a link. You just have to past the link into a text post. I just always end up deleting the link because it bugs me. Lol. But aside from that, it’s awesome. Works just as good as G+ in my opinion. I access it from my phone 95% of the time as well.
That SmartRap… How did you adjust/tilt the bed without spring mounts? I’ve been tempted to build that, but went with the Skeleton 3D instead.
@Francis_Lee there was a microswitch built into the head. This means that the hotend was on a lever mechanism… needless to say I swapped it out for a metal bed and inductive sensor down the road.
Seriously do not waste your time building one of these. It’s not a great design IMO.
