I am new to 3dprinting and got a P2S. I am also interested in building technical things, so I ordered a lot of small components like heat inserts, screw sets, motors, electrical wire, pumps, tubes, rods, timing belts, idler pulles, spring sets, some electrical sensors, etc. I went kind of off the rails but I hate not being able to build something because of missing components.
Now i look for simple things to build like a heat insert press, or a drill mount. and I still don’t have most of the components like a linear guide rails, extrusion rails, extrusion nuts, etc.
Does anyone have a list of components that are essential to have, or maybe a list of components from essential to useful, to not useful. I have asked AI, but it just recommends everyhing
The range of standard components is nearly limitless, unless you have specific projects planned don’t try to pre-buy. You could easily run out of money and space to keep parts and you STILL won’t have exactly what you need for some projects. As a 40-something dude with a lifetime of accumulating project components under my belt, I still need to order things for 20% of projects I take on.
My advice is when doing a project, avoid ordering “just enough” of common components for that one project. The per piece price sucks for small quantities, so use that opportunity to buy a much larger set, usually an assortment of that item instead. That’s going to save some money in the long run and get you up to a “working” inventory of common parts faster.
And if you are really smart you have some kind of inventory management system. I don’t. But I am not smart. I also buy the same thing over and over again until I find enough piles that should have all been one pile.
Thanks, that makes a lot of sense, however frustrating it is, because lots of the components are only available on aliexpress or temu and take weeks for it to arrive. amazon sells a fraction of the stuff here but at double/triple the price for the same product.
It’s sometimes preventing me to start a project and look further because I don’t like waiting for weeks.
Anyway, thanks for the response and I guess it’s the best one can do
I don’t have an excelsheet or something. but I do have dedicated storage drawers, sorted with stuff like screws, inserts, tools, taps, spray paints, acrylpaint, electronics, and on top of that many (like 70) small labelled baskets in a tower. It is easy to lose track.
Maybe there is something open-source to do basic amateur inventory, or i can code it myself
You need a few bolts, and your printed pulleys and printed wheels can just spin around the shaft of the bolt. Cut down a broom handle into 2 pieces to give you towers to use instead of extrusion (use 2 so the carriage doesn’t rotate). The diameter of most broom handles is sufficiently uniform. For counterweights just print a tube with a screw top that can hold coins. And you need string to connect the carriage to the counterweight.
As you do low budget beginner work like this you will develop an understanding of mechanical engineering and gain an intuitive knowledge of what parts you need.
And I know this isn’t the best heat insert press in the world, but it will teach you a lot.
edit PS avoid temu as they don’t care about quality or accurate descriptions. aliexpress does care and you can check traders’ ratings. if they are long established company with a good rating, you will get EXACTLY what was ordered (and the platform will usually refund if you don’t)
Thaks for your response. You are right, there are many ways of building it. I’ve seen many designs and even have a few ideas of my own. I just constantly run into issues while having ideas that most of the parts are not available and that annoys me, hence I asked the question.
I did indeed order many parts from ali, temu and amzn together, I do like ALI a lot, and if you order choice items, they do delivery somewhwat fast, and temu does indeed have either crap or good stuff, much more inconsistent. A hardware store would be paradise
