Hey, I’m Mike from Texas, USA. I’m 48 years old and have been 3D printing ever since I got my Ender 3 about five years ago. I bought that Ender at Micro Center on sale for 99 bucks and modded the heck out of it. I spent a ton of time making sure everything was perfect before each print, and that machine logged over 3,300 hours of print time (thanks to OctoPrint and its logging). It could be even more than that!
I eventually reached a point about a year ago when prints were taking too long, and all the tinkering and prep work burned me out—so I stopped printing altogether. My enthusiasm for 3D printing didn’t come back until I purchased my X1C in May of last year. Now, it’s already caught up to my Ender in print hours, and it’s definitely reignited my passion for 3D design and printing. I just wish this technology had been around when I was younger—the amount of toys and practical prints you can make for pennies on the dollar is amazing!
I do have to say that the MakerWorld and the points reward system is also a big part of my enthusiasm as well. Sharing prints (even if just a few people enjoy them) makes it pretty great being part of this community. My goal is to see how long it would take to save up for another printer just in points!! lol