Now I Need a Puffy Shirt and Some Goth Tattoos

Temptation got me. I am buying a 3D printer.

This was not an easy decision. I was waiting for printers to become a) affordable and b) useful. I would say I’m 75% of the way there. You can get a fairly decent printer for a little over $200 now, so a) is covered, and the printed parts are useful for certain purposes as long as you don’t push it. That covers b) to the tune of what I reckon to be about 50%.

When 3-D printers came out, they were very pricey. They still are, if you get one that even approaches fulfilling the 3D printer mission. If you want multiple colors, limited glitches, strong parts, large parts, and so on, you pay through the nose. If you’re content to make reasonably good stuff in single colors, with a tolerable level of aggravation, you can get a lot done for a a low three-figure sum.

Why do I want a 3D printer? To print illegal guns, of course. I want to print up a warehouse full of flimsy, dangerous, non-rifled pistols and stick it to the Deep State.

That was my little shout-out to you, DHS people.

I actually want it to improve my CAD skills, prototype stuff I am considering making with machine tools, and make whatever useful printed items are within the limits of the technology. Printed guns are not for me. They are the gas station sushi of guns.

If you truly want to print good stuff, you can now buy 3D printers that do metal. Last time I looked, they started at about $800,000. That’s a little steep; I plan to wait just a little bit longer.

I’m not sure how such a machine can make sense, when you could have astounding casting and CNC capabilities for maybe $100K. You can get a HAAS CNC mill up and running for under $30K.

I never got anywhere with CNC. I did a few things with CAD, but when you’re machining things by hand, CAD is not that tempting. It’s usually easier to just go to the garage and throw metal on the machine, relying on a sketch on a legal pad.

I learned that Fusion 360, the free CAD from AutoCAD, will create designs a printer can use. Now I’ll have a little motivation to use Fusion 360. I won’t be able to make anything unless I have a computer file on hand, so CAD will be mandatory.

At first, I considered getting a $300 Monoprice printer, but I read some bad things about them. I ended up choosing something called an Anet A6. It’s an open source gadget. You buy a kit and put it together. I’m sure manufacturer support is terrible, but the web is full of nerds who use this machine and similar machines, so you can always go to a forum and get advice, if you don’t mind fielding a few snotty remarks from 4chan-dwelling pimple-poppers.

Wow. I just described about 30% of the world’s tech hobby forums.

My understanding is that the vast majority of printer users make useless things like plastic skulls and dolls action figures. I suppose they get excited about the novelty of printing, and they crank out a few items using other people’s designs. Then they get bored and let the printers gather dust. I’m hoping I’ll find uses for my printer. If not, there is always Goodwill.

I don’t want a skull. I don’t understand why printer owners like them so much.

I looked online for useful designs, and I really didn’t find any. One guy made a bottle opener. American homes contain a lot of stuff that has plastic parts that break, though, so I should be able to come up with projects from time to time, even if I can’t invent anything.

I think it’s going to be a long time before 3D printing really works. It seems like the problems printers had three years ago are the same problems they have today. Weak parts. Inaccurate parts. Parts that are too small.

I’ve read that it’s possible to print with nylon. This is a very strong material. I’m wondering if I’ll be able to do it. The obvious question is this: “If it works, why isn’t everyone doing it?” There have to be some issues with the process, or no one would be using relatively crappy products like ABS plastic.

I ordered something called PETG, I think. It’s supposed to be better than ABS. I picked blue. I figured it was a good choice for most parts. Red would be annoying after you made 40 or 50 things with it. Blue has more dignity.

If I create anything useful or even recognizable, I will be back to tell the world. Don’t expect any skulls, though.