Hello,
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.
1 Like