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MakerWorld
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Hey, I’m Chuck, and I’m in Salem Oregon. I used to work up in Portland, I did the Salem/Portland commute for 12 years… talk about no fun! I-5 is crazy now-a-days, I’m glad I finally found work down here that was sufficient to pay the bills!

I’m 45, and have been a “CAD Monkey” / Piping Designer since 2005. I’m currently a VDC Engineer (fancy term for CAD Monkey), and use AutoCAD/Revit/Inventor/Fusion daily. I started off in Pulp and Paper, moved to telecommunications (think cell phone towers… that hid in plain sight), and currently in Wastewater Treatment (yay poop water!).

I think for food we’d head over to Mt. Angel, and grab some good German food/beer at Mt. Angel Sausage Company. I’m a sucker for their Bratwurst with curry sauce!

My first printer was an Anet A8 that I never really got to work right. I had a few successful prints, but man did they take forever! I think part of the problem I had with it was I got caught up in all the hype about modifying them (all steel frames, cooling fans galore, MOSFET for the heated bed, PSU upgrades, BLTouch for auto bed leveling, OctoPrint with Raspberry Pi… could probably go on for hours about how cool these upgrades were at the time!).

From there I went to the Ender3, had a few decent prints, but then got caught up in the tinkering and modifying again. I’d say that modifying these printers were my biggest failures! I never took the time to get it set up properly before I started modifying… so I was essentially just upgrading junk.

I’m really happy with my P1S right now, and I’m constantly fighting the urge to upgrade. In all honesty, it works well now, and the only change I would make would be a hardened hotend so I can print more materials. I really want to try ABS and ASA, as well as TPU. I think what’s holding me back on that is the fact that I don’t have anything dialed in for those materials. I don’t suppose there’s any type of repository where people share their printing profiles, for the betterment of the hobby?

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What a great thread! Thank you so much @Josh-3D

I am Bill, from near Kansas City, Missouri, USA. I have been a software developer/engineer/architect for 25 years (transitioning between the roles over the years at the same company).

For the go-to restaurant I would go to “Joe’s KC Barbeque” and get the “Z-man”. It is a smoked brisket barbeque sandwich with onion rings on it. So tender and spicy and delicious!

I started my creative journey with a Glowforge laser printer (cutter). Creating 3D designs from 2D materials. I didn’t get my first 3D printer until Christmas last year (2024), when I got the family our BambuLab X1-Carbon. And since then my laser hasn’t seen as much use.

Learning CAD was certainly a change, most of my laser designs were SVG images. Imagining a 3D design in a 2D world. But now those worlds collide and I can design anything I can imagine and have it a few hours later. The future is now and it is amazing!

My worst print was when I tried to print a full size chicken using some cheap filament on a cardboard spool. Worst experience I have ever had 3D printing, the spool bent and fell apart and made a huge mess in the AMS. It was supposed to be about a 12 hour print that turned into me having to baby-sit it for two days…

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Hi @MaKim! I’m absolutely loving Vietnam, just like the rest of Asia that I’ve traveled to so far. The people here are amazing, always smiling and welcoming. The landscapes and beaches (I’m a big fan of the sea) are stunning, and the food is absolutely delicious (and trust me, I’m Italian, so you can believe me on this one!). Plus, a big bonus: beer costs just about a dollar or even less! :grin::clinking_beer_mugs:

So yes, I highly recommend visiting, you won’t regret it!

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It gives too much envy, last year I made a cruise in the islands gecques, this year I will go on a cruise in the Mediterranean, but I will retain to go to Vietnam.

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Hey there. My name is Hans. I live in the Netherlands. Last year I retired and bought a Creality K1. In fact to print things for my Carrera Digital race track which I got in my living room on a huge table. After nearly a year I had enough of the K1. Terrible thing, many failures. I always was crazy about Bambu lab. So I bought the A1 Mini with ABS. What a difference to the K1. Eventually I also bought a A1 with AMS. My favorite food is Chinese food. I brewed my own beer for many years but after problems with my heart the cardiologist recommended to stop drinking alcohol.

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Hi everyone my name is Nathan and I live in a small town west of Seattle Washington called Keyport (our claim to fame is Bangor nuclear submarine base). I am in the HVAC business on the sales and project management side.

I would introduce you to a El Salvadorian place called El Bacon for a delicious burrito that weighs about 2 pounds (almost a kilo).

My first printer is the A1 with AMS and after a year I am starting to use the Bambu slicer and CAD. Mostly I print whatever my granddaughter wants, presents, or decorations for whatever holiday is coming up next. I purchased a second A1 just in case I want to get serious with my hobby but haven’t set it up yet.

My biggest failure so far is not thinking through the polarity of the magnets and fact that superglue is permanent. Would anyone like five skull containers with lids that will not sit right for some “unknown” reason?

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I bet a lot of us have done that. I’ll trade you a magnetic chess set where the pieces will only sit on certain squares for some “unknown” reason. It adds a new level of complexity to the game.

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Hi all :slight_smile: Lovely thread with lovely people! Thank you @Josh-3D
I’m Lar here in a small town, Southern Ontario, Canada. Not a lot of fancy places to eat so we can grab some delicious fried chicken at a Mary Brown’s franchise.
I’ve only got the one printer, my BambuA1 last May and have been enjoying each 3d milestone as they come. The first spaghetti, the first clog, the first replace a part, cold pull, etc :slight_smile:
I’ve mostly been enjoying sculpting things in NomadSculpt on the iPad and a little TinkerCad for simpler things. Not doing a side hustle or releasing designs, just having fun. Very very happy for the Bambu friendly hardware. I have friends who were earlier 3d printer adopters and I would not have survived the constant adjusting of the tech! :slight_smile:
Have a great weekend all!

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Damn first Australian?

My name is Jason and I’m from Australia. I am an RF Engineer by day and that’s about all I can say about my work :slight_smile:

I originally picked up a Makerbot Mini many years ago, gave up on it to build furniture, then about 2018 I got an Original Anycubic Photon and Ender 3 to print DnD stuff.

I’ve always loved Designing first and foremost, I’ve got loads of my work out there in many art forms, but designing for 3d printing has been the most fun as I don’t have to do the prototyping myself, I get to iterate again and again and the printers in the cupboard do all the work.

I now have a “Print Garden” in a spare room mainly working on all my own designs for Etsy and Local Markets

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Hi, my name is Brent and I’m a freelance engineer from Boston. I went to school for computer engineering and previously spent 10 years as an embedded engineer writing software libraries and algorithms for various microcontrollers and F500 companies. Since COVID I’ve been working independently and I’m very excited to potentially add 3D modeling to my work load as the space grows and evolves.

In 2014 I created a website called DestinyStlGenerator which took the 3D models from the video game Destiny and converted them to STL files for 3D printing scale models, cosplay and props. I ran the site until 2023 when it had to be shutdown due to new management and changes in Bungie’s IP policy. I’ve also created a few FiveM mods that have been used to build popular GTA RP servers.

I’ve been 3D printing since 2013 but have taken several extended breaks during that time. In 2023 I was working on a personal project to design an ultralight wired mouse which is when I discovered Bambu Labs and purchased a P1P. I joined MakerWorld when it first released and have been fortunate enough to have have a few popular designs since then which has allowed me to expand my printer and filament collection (mostly filament lol).

I haven’t been but I’d love to checkout the F1 Arcade they just built here in Boston, looks like a lot of fun :grinning:

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Hi Josh. It is a brilliant idea you’ve come up with, I really like it. There too many stupid and too quick remarks in this world on the internet in general.
I’m Jørn (Jorn) from Denmark. I would take yawl to a Mongolian restaurant, where you take a plate, mix you ingredients and get it cooked on a big plate pan for you. Waites a few minutes and Yummiiiii. It’s better to talk on a full stomach and in the same eye lewel.

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Hi @Josh-3D ,

What a nice idea for a thread :smiley:

I am Eno, not actually from Thrace. But I do love the books :sweat_smile: .

Having lived in the Rhineland, Belgium, the UK and, strangest of all, Bavaria, I did end up in Northern Germany where, contrary to popular opinion, it is not always raining! Honestly!!!

I got my first 3D print (an SLS part) in 2003 in a professional context straight from EOS. So there wasn’t much I could mess up. Other than the design. Which I did :rofl:

Around 2017, I got my first own printer. A Dual-Nozzle Tevo Tarantula. That in itself qualifies as an ultimate 3D printing error :sweat_smile:
Time printing / Time tinkering was about 1:20. “Actual prints” / “Mods to get the printer to print” was also 1:20. So yeah, I learned a lot of things that I never set out to learn. In late 2022 I abandoned the hobby …

Only to come across X1 reviews in mid 2023. Got 1,800h on my first X1 until the LIDAR and mainboard gave up, currently approaching 2,800h on my replacement X1 (fortunately under warranty) with my new Plus 4 somewhere in the low 100h’s.

If we’d be meeting up, you’d probably like to take a tour of a place many of you know the taste of: The Beck’s brewery :beer: in Bremen. Subsequently, we’d probably pass by the “Fountain of the 7 lazies” and the “Schnoor” to go on a leisurly pub crawl in the Bremen quarter called … “Quarter”. Some call us unimaginative, some call us pragmatic, some call us lazy, others call us inventive …

If I’d have a choice of visiting, I’d probably take @The_Crafty_Maker up on his offer. Having grown up in Belgium :belgium:, I find that country to be one of the most underrated travel destinations. Loads of places with really great food from all around the world, as many different types of beer as Germany has brands of beer, any kind of landscape within an hours drive, history, culture, internationallity and loads of those little local quirks that make a small country great!

Edit: @Crow_ck And by god, the chocolate… Freely citing Max von Bülow: “Life without Belgian Chocolate is possible. But pointless!!!”

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@Josh-3D Thanks for this very much needed positive thread.

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Hi,

I’m Alex, from France, in the Corrèze region. It’s a beautiful, hilly area with some serious elevation changes. We even have traces of prehistoric humans who carved into the rock to build their homes. Back then, there were no 3D printers, but plenty of ingenuity turning bones into needles and knife handles, and shaping stones into cutting tools. They were makers before it was cool! I don’t really have a go-to place to grab a bite, but that’s just a detail.

My first 3D printer was an Ultimaker² (first generation). Watching a model build itself layer by layer was pure magic. Pretty quickly, I built my own custom printer using salvaged parts stepper motors, an Arduino, a bit of Marlin, and off I went. It still runs today, and its compatibility with Orca is really impressive. In terms of quality, it’s on par with my X1C, just much slower.

I also had a brief experience with an Anycubic resin printer, but I won’t go into that… Then I moved on to the Bambu Lab X1C, and since then, I’ve been fully back into FDM printing.

My proudest project is probably my robot with an oscillating chassis, a mix of aluminum parts and 3D printing. I even designed my own planetary gears to give it more torque. Unfortunately, time and old materials took their toll, so I don’t plan to rebuild it.

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Back in 2013, with my Ultimaker², I also printed a fully 3D-printed drone frame. It’s still assembled, but I plan to redesign it entirely in PETG.

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And my biggest achievement? Definitely my CNC machine, which I printed in just one week using the Bambu Lab.

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My worst failure? A robot way too specialized for a niche application. It was a total disaster:

  • PETG filament with inconsistent colors.
  • Moisture issues in the filament.
  • Extruder heads overheating.
  • Stringing, wall defects, alignment problems.
  • Too large for a non-enclosed machine.
  • A mix of complex parts and liquid reservoirs in a 3D-printed tank.

Yeah… never again!

I started with Cura, then experimented with Pronterface and a few other slicers. I stuck with Cura for a long time, but now I’ve switched to Bambu Studio (for the X1C) and Orca (for my custom printer).

This wasn’t part of the original question, but since we’re on the topic:

  • Since 2013, I’ve mainly used FreeCAD, because I prefer open-source tools.
  • Since 2010, I’ve also worked with Blender whenever possible.

I think that covers everything! But at the end of the day, behind all these machines and lines of G-code, there are real people.

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Hi all,

I’m from Sweden.
An engineer, 25+ years of work experience. Many roles over the years, like hw dev, test, management, project management. Running two companies now.

Always been interested in tech and also 3D printing, but never had the time to get into 3D printing.
I’m one of those that rather spend more time using the printer than working on the printer itself. Not fond of issues, problems, troubleshooting etc. as I have gotten enough of that through my work :smiley:

Unfortunately my journey didn’t start well. After 40 hours of print time on my new P1S I got heatbed issues and had to troubleshoot and gotten a replacement now which I need to install. Not happy as you can understand.
3D printers and the companies selling them are not quite ready for the mass market as the companies think.
It is not normal to ask a consumer with a brand new (expensive) device to troubleshoot and replace parts themselves where it is requires to dismantle half of the product.

Enough ranting :slight_smile:

Can offer nice beers and good food from other countries as we don’t have that much of original food in Sweden that I’m proud of at least :wink:

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Im in portland. Chows is delicious.

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So some of us ARE local and COULD get a bite together… especially if we liked the same spot. Just to talk about printing and other cool stuff, Vorons maybe? I’m just sayin…

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I tend to visit Seattle and Portland as I have family in WA. I might give you guys a heads up if I manage to travel to Portland again. But don’t hold your breaths :laughing:

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It would also be fun to get together and go nerd out on the west3d folks. They are always excited when a fellow printer nut shows up.

They have some cool printers to check out. Like a watercooled voron and a 7 headed voron. They also stock the plus 4 and some other printers.