My desk lamp hinge snapped the other day, roommate said he could print me a new one. Watched the whole process and was weirdly hypnotized.

Back in high school I had access to a UV printer and messed around with CNC a bit, but life got busy and I never really circled back to it. Next day I booked a Creality K2 at the campus makerspace. Compared to the harsh ink smell of the UV printer and the clunky heaviness of CNC, this thing is surprisingly lightweight and almost odorless.

Now I'm not just printing random stuff for myself, I've fixed my buddy's broken headphone holder, printed a custom plant pot for my girlfriend etc, But I'm plateauing, should I learn proper CAD? Fusion360 is cool but I'm barely scratching the surface. I see people making complex assemblies and I'm like... how.

Also what other skills actually matter? Better slicing strategies? Post-processing? What's the one thing you wish you learned earlier? Appreciate any thoughts!

Designed and 3D printed this little Halloween dachshund with his matching themed backpack. 🧛‍♂️

Due to costs, I’ve given up on trying to fix it after the capacitor self destructed. The only reasonable choice would be to just get a new one, but a 3 plus is nowhere to be found below $300 and for that money we can do better. I’ve pretty much ruled out the 4 plus as it’s constantly berated for being too hard to use compared to the 3.

Right now I’m looking at a Centauri Carbon for $309 on Elegoo’s website. Trying to stay in this price range. I do not need an enclosed printer, so I’m hoping to not have to pay for that, and I’d like a bit of a larger build volume. This is fine, but I can’t go below 256x256x256. The Centauri seems like a great printer, but I’d like to hear your guys thoughts before committing and it just blows up in my face again.
Thanks in advance

https://cults3d.com/:4852960

Hello all, I feel like I am drowning in options so any advice would be appreciated!

I have been running my ELEGOO neptune 3 (non-pro) for coming on 3 years now, and its starting to break down. I have spent that time scraping together a budget of $1200 CAD, and I am trying to get the best upgrade I possible can with the money. I am, of course, happy not to spend it all, but if hitting my max budget eeks out better performance, please don't hold back

I am an engineering student, and enjoyed the idea of using some of the higher grade engineering filaments, but realistically I will spend most of my time with the more basics consumer filaments (PLA, ABS, etc.). I want to have the option to get more experimental down the line, so heated chambers are a plus. Multi-color printing is not a top priority for me, however multi material printing is definitely interesting. I have a newborn at home and so something that has carbon/HEPA filtration, or the option to mod it in would be good. Worst case I can get an enclosure and vent it, but built in solutions are available at this price, so I bias towards them.

Some printers I am looking at are the X2D, the Kobra s1 max, as well as some entries from FlashForge, and QIDI. The more I look the more things come up, and I am starting to get very confused. I mainly want a reliable printer that I wont have to tweak too much (I am able to if need be, I just want to avoid the hassle). Bambu labs is very attractive, though the standard concerns apply (closed ecosystem, limited repair-ability etc.)

Sorry for the long post, wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. As I said before, any and all advice would be appreciated!

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Keep having heat creep/nozzle plugging is it from a dirty bed. Also, let’s see the dirtiest beds that work great.

Fits a cheap IKEA base

I could have designed a full fixture with custom hardware and it would have been more fun. But then nobody can build it without ordering parts they have never heard of. So the whole set is built around an IKEA STRÅLA base that costs almost nothing and is available everywhere. The socket position and mounting diameter are fixed before you start, which kills some freedom, but it means anyone can print this and have it hanging the same evening.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/3247157-aeolian-collection-wave-pendant-lamp-ikea-strala

I know this is for the CC1, but from what I understand, the Bambu printers also have a similar cable.

For years I was just hoarding STL files I’d never print. But I love making things, so after last quarter’s bonus, I finally cleared my cart and brought this beast home.

The quiet test for me was night one. I don't have a dedicated workspace, so the printer went in the laundry room where my dog sleeps about two feet away, I assumed he'd have a lot to say about a robot making angry noises. I toss a print in and turned on the silent mode, ten minutes in the dog hadn't even opened one eye. Two hours later, I woke up to check and he'd rolled onto his back with the printer was just ticking along. Now it's our nighttime routine. I load a print, he curls up, and we both call it a night. Safe to say the printer passed the "paws test."

As smooth as a printer goes, the real moment I fell for it wasn’t all those sick STLs and detailed prints i downloaded. It was a random Tuesday night I was washing dishes and noticed my soap dispenser was leaking from a cracked tip. Instead of ordering a replacement and waiting three days, I measured the thread and drew a quick replacement cap, about ten mins in there it was, a perfectly functional little cap that snapped right on.

That said, i'm not gonna pretend it’s flawless though.That silent mode definitely trades speed for peace and quiet, the camera angle doesn’t quite show the whole build volume if you’re printing something tall, just some things you just can’t automate away.

If you live for tweaking firmware and swapping hotends and modding every little piece, you might find it a bit boring, probably worth comparing a few other option. If you’re someone like me who just wants to actually enjoy the hobby and not turn it into a part-time job, this thing’s been a solid experience.

Howdy ya’ll, I’ve been 3D printing for around a year now. Most of what I do is prototyping and modifying small-medium aircraft interior components - majority of my prints are PLA CF or PETG CF (lotta PETG recently).

I want to know if any of ya’ll have a consistent method for electroplating your prints and giving them an elevated professional finish.

These parts will be exposed to sustained high temperatures - around 115F or so - if there’s anything I should be cautious of while electroplating please let me know as well :)

Thanks!

Printers:
2x Bambulabs H2D
Minimum Part Size: 5inx5in
Maximum Part Size: 2ftx2ft

Hello I've got like 320 to spend on a printer on amazon and I'm mainly looking for something that's reliable for the price. I just want to print stuff, I don't really want to constantly perform maintenace and taking my printer apart. I had an a1 mini in the past which I gave to a friend, so I'm familiar with bambu labs and their ecosystem. I don't care about engineering grade filament like abs or doing multicolored prints. I'll stick to just pla, petg, and occasionally tpu.

I was looking at a few like the a1, a1 mini, sparkxi7 (cheapest being 200), elegoo centauri 2 (the noncarbon unenclosed one) and anycubic kobra x, but I'm especially torn between the a1 at 300 and the unenclosed centauri 2 at 270. I would buy the ecc 1 but it's not on available new for me at that price. But yea, my main priority is longevity and reliability. I don't plan on upgrading ever really, Thanks.

Crealitys K3 (Klitek) 3d Printer’s First Public Look at Formnext Asia - Shenzhen, China 08-27-2026
https://youtu.be/KbTFpF8dGmY

Alguém que tem a KOBRA X tá passando por isso?

Tenho uma kobra X e parece que ela "arranha" a mesa de impressão principalmente na hora de fazer os suportes das peças fica fazendo um bagulho muito estranho e deixa um péssimo acabamento

So I've recently got into 3D printing and trying out some ideas. One of the was a convenience for my workplace. I work in a small convenient store in the UK at night just stocking and organising the shop for the day shift ahead. One of my tasks is cleaning the large Costa Coffee machine in our store. We usually keep our cleaning stuff like tablets/spray/bluebell in a crate in the back, and I've often kept a few bags of sugar/sweetener/chocolate topping sachets and stirrers in there for convenience of when taking the crate out to clean the machine.

Basically my idea is make containers for the sachets in the crate to organise it alot better (as other staff when I'm not there just throw shit in and disorganise the whole crate). I've designed the containers themselves with accurate measurements so they fit nicely in it. One thing that is niggling at me is ensuring it doesn't flag any food safety regulations. The sachets themselves don't concern me as since they are sealed, there shouldn't be a risk of contamination, but the stirrers are exposed wooden sticks and feel a 3d printed container would potentially risk contamination. I was going to print a divider as well to better separate the cleaning stuff from the rest and I've been trying to research into food safe PETG to see if that'd help.

I was looking at getting a 3d printer, and was suggested to buy a Bambu brand one. Whats the best 3d printer for making anime figures? Should I get a resin printer or regular filament printer? If I got a resin one, can it print any usual 3d printer file or does it have to be specific ones?

I know there have been a lot of similar questions, but here’s my situation: I have an X2D and a K2 Pro. I use grease on the Z-axis and have no issues with it. For the rods and the rails on the K2 Pro, I’ve been using sewing machine oil, but it dries out very quickly on the rods, so I constantly have to reapply it.

Super Lube isn’t available where I live, so please don’t recommend it. I also don’t want to buy Bambu or Creality-branded lubricants and feel like I’m being ripped off. When I search for ISO VG 68 viscosity oils, I only seem to find hydraulic oils. Is there a similar type of oil that I could use instead?