Meta Hobby

3D printing, for the average joe, is considered a hobby. But I maintain that it isn't so much a hobby as a meta-hobby. That is, it is a hobby that helps you do hobbies. To make it even better,  the main hobby that it helps you do is 3D printing. How Self-Referential !!

For instance, let's take a look at my small 3D printer, a 200mm standard design Ender3 from CReality. I believe it was selling for $250, unassembled in a box at my door, a couple of years ago when I bought it (looks like you can get one for $189 now, but you probably want an upgraded model which is around $300). 

Though the out of the box Ender3 works very well, there are a few things that you start running into pretty quickly that are irksome and encourage you to make..... modifications.

For instance?

Well, the main control box sits under the build plate and it has fan right on top that tends to suck in little threads of filament that come wafting off the build. This gets all clogged up in the fan. Sure would be nice to have a forward facing vent cover. Gee.... there is one on Thingiverse? Great. Lets print that and install it. neat. 

Boy, sometimes if I leave this thing for a while the cables slouch over and get caught on the moving build plate and cause print badness. Is there some cable management system? On Thingiverse there is an entire parallel universe of 3D printer cable management systems and remixes!! Hell, some of them I designed myself!! Cable chains are a wonderful thing and lots of fun to screw with. Ok. Lets get them. 

Hey.... I want a controller for my printer. I hear Octoprint works great (it does) and it runs on a $30 Raspberry Pi. Gonna need a case for that sucker. Look <here> on Thingiverse you say? Great. (ooooh, snap together). But.... I also want a Pi Camera holder. I think I will design my own one of those (you can use it too if you like).

I don't like the bed leveling. Too hard to get things just right. Would like to try out some sort of automatic bed leveling. For that you will need solid bed holders and cable guides (i.e. get rid of the springs). Hey, I got a good design for that too. Uses some bolts for spacers. How clever!!

But, in the winter, it gets too cold in the garage to print (needs to be around 20C for things not to pull themselves apart when cooling). What to do about that? How about a thermal enclosure!! I could use some corrugated plastic sheets for walls and I could print some corner and side holders that just snap things together. Perhaps with some plastic 3D printed bolts. I made this great Enclosure (that is easy to put away in the summer). See the Pictures !! (OK, this turned out to be a big waste of time and plastic. When I make a larger one for my CR10, I am going to use cardboard boxes and duct tape). 

Stupid Enclosure

After a few years I decided I wanted to upgrade to be able to print with flexible materials. For that, you have to get rid of the standard bowden tube and get a (somewhat pricey) direct-drive attachment. I did that and things seemed to be working OK, but after a while my runs started failing because there was too much friction in the filament path. Specifically, the holder for the filament wheel was making the wheel too hard to turn and this was making the filament catch up. What to do about that. Hey, here on thingiverse is a ball bearing based holder that fits on the top of the Ender3. It works Great !! 

Snap together ball-bearing filament holder holder

And there you have it. 3 years of printer design evolution have resulted in a printer that can print ANYTHING (small) !!!  And now..... I have no idea what to do.

Bridges !! Train Lights !! 3D printed Deck !!