On the envelope side: printing is more forgiving of having too small an envelope than machining. Since printing is all about adding material you can usually split the thing you want to print into pieces. I still think it’s worth considering it the usual 200mm^3 will be enough since splitting parts can be annoying.

Harbor freight is a good comparison to an ender. They’re fit for purpose, have some cheap parts, and are a decent platform to modify from. They will work out of the box most of the time, but you’ll find yourself wanting to improve them.

Printer bones are very replaceable, especially if you have a functioning printer. I printed my Voron parts on my old i3 clone. I’ve now used my Voron to print future parts for itself before tearing some of it down and modifying things. People do the same with enders. There’s even an Ender variant that rebuilds the Ender with a lot of Voron design ideas.

The only thing to be aware of is ultimate cost. Yes, you can turn the ender into most anything over time. It could wind up costing more money and time doing this though. Ultimately, the decision on how far to take the modifications will be yours and you can choose whether or not you want to have a frankenprinter. You’ll also learn a lot along the way going this route, which takes me back to my original question: what are your goals for this project?

IMO there are two things to consider. First: do you want FDM or SLA. You’re trading resolution for build volume. If you’re going to be making a lot of smaller things, SLA printers can offer more output since they print the same speed no matter how much of the build plate is occupied. Also consider the size of the things you’ll print. In other words, how much build volume should you be looking for.

Second: are you seeking to tinker with the printer as a point of interest/engagement or are you simply looking for the printer to be a tool?

Off-the cuff list:

• enders are cheap, but will likely result in you wanting to fiddle with the printer
• Sovol are a bit more expensive, but should require less fiddling
• Prusas have the reputation for set it up and forget it workhorses and are priced accordingly
• Voron printers are 100% open source and there is no “official” storefront or kit. Plenty of companies offer a “BOM in a box” option. You’ll build a printer from parts and it’s a very solid base to just print with or to fiddle with. If you dig through my post history you’ll see quite a few posts and comments about mine. Sourcing a Voron can be pricey though

… There are tons of other options too

I suspect it’s a different kind of stress. I waited tables for 5 years when I was younger. It took me nearly a decade before I stopped having the hopelessly in the weeds with a single table and now I’m suddenly naked dream.

I’ve worked corporate jobs ever since. I do not have reoccurring dreams about them, but the stress/frustration is a lot higher because it’s less transactional in nature.

I think this really depends on the store. Our local Lowe’s is very poorly run and organized. Good luck finding a flatbed cart that’s not piled high with returns, fixtures, etc. There is stock waiting to on shelves piled in aisles gathering dust. Employees are few and far between. Our local home cheapo is the exact opposite.

You have my upvote, but it will be a different kind of hate.

OP sounds like they’re coming from corporate America, where office politics and short sighted decisions reign supreme. To make matters worse, they work in IT and maybe even do some software development, where many companies continue to accumulate more and more technical debt.

I think that I wouldn’t really enjoy going back to a retail job. My corporate job has much lower lows than what I used to experience in retail, but it does offer the possibility of higher highs with big/strategic/impactful decisions. But man, I’ve been chasing that carrot for a while now. It’s almost like it’s on the end of a stick that’s attached to my back.

Glad to see them recovering! In my experience, phalaenopsis are very hardy and resilient. If anything, the seem to prefer some level of benign neglect - especially when potted in the junk big box stores sell them in. After repotting ours in well draining potting material about 7 years ago it’s been very smooth sailing.

Most of the gaskets I’ve made are for oily things and I’m not sure all would be clean enough and/or fit on my flatbed. That does sound like a very fast/effective method though! Especially if you found yourself needing to do this fairly frequently.

Ours came from our backyard and we live fairly close to a highway… 🤔

We have a cat who is pretty sure she’s a dog, maybe she was swapped with Luna at birth?

Thanks very much! Will try this out the next time I grind. I like in the Midwest and we have cold/dry winters. Static makes for a messy grinding experience.

Na, functional prints are great! You just have to be wary of “now that I have a big hammer, every screw looks like a nail”.

I do a lot of prototyping and one-offs with my printer that I just wouldn’t make without it.

eBay and PayPal were independent companies. eBay purchased them in 2002 and spun them off in 2016.

I have low hundreds of transactions on eBay and am generally pretty OK with the experience. I don’t understand how people sell on there, especially new products. eBay takes a pretty big slice of the pie, followed by PayPal and friends. Buyers expect free shipping, which also eats into margins. If you choose to charge for shipping, eBay will also take the same commission percentage out of shipping costs. This means you still lose $$ shipping, but you are losing less than you would otherwise.

Selling used stuff makes a lot more sense financially, but eBay will almost always side with the buyer should a dispute occur and not all buyers are good faith actors. This keeps buyers coming to the platform, but it is hard on sellers.

a spray bottle for spraying water on your coffee beans, which reduces the static cling that can cause a mess when you’re grinding your own coffee

This is a great idea! How does it work? Do you most the whole beans pre-grind? Do you need to let them sit for a bit or just go straight to grinding?

I love me some 3D printing, but if you need a fast gasket I would buy a roll of gasket material and cut it to size. Most auto parts stores stock a variety of materials for this use.

Gasket mating surfaces can be… extremely fickle, especially when one of the two sides is stamped sheet metal or even plastic. Too little torque on the fasteners means there won’t be enough clamping force, which means leaking. Too much torque on the fasteners will dimple the stamped or plastic part, which means leaking.

If you’re using this in a low temperature application with beefy mating surfaces, TPU could work fine I guess. It still seems like more effort to get a dimensionall accurate enough design than to grab a roll of gasket material and an exact blade.

Haha, I thought that’s what you were going for!

Also, you’re welcome ;)

Thank you for the information! I’ve been wondering if I should put the print head in a consistent location while waiting for the printer to heat soak. Sounds like it won’t matter a ton.

Knocking is usually pre-ignition and higher octane fuel will reduce that. Knock sensors are one of inputs to the engine control algorithm’s “how much can I mess with timing” game.

It could also be that you’re getting older and you’re developing a wider world view. I’ve been a corporate shill for a while now. When I hired in there were a lot of messes, but I was young/optimistic/saw a lot of opportunity and was rewarded when I cleaned things up. Over a decade later, this place is a mess. I’m coming to think that it’s stuck in a rut of process/technical debt and Conway’s law and that even though leadership has been saying things are changing for the whole time I’ve been here, we’re really just getting more entrenched.

Epic follow up. We keep parchment paper on hand and I’ll give this a go when I’m getting near the bottom of a row. This will be much easier than feeding the new role in mid print.

Back to my home, I dare not go