3d printing has turned into a huge passion of mine. I make and design all types of parts in my home office and then send them to my personal factory in the basement. I experiment with materials such as PLA, PLA+ and PETG. I even will have a project on my projects page of this website that I call the Jankbot. My Jankbot is actually a Piper3d printer that I am building out of electrical conduit. The goal is to leave the Jankbot in the garage in an enclosure with a vent to experiment with other materials that are not suitable for my basement factory. Some of the designs I create I sell on marketplaces such as Etsy and eBay.
I created a series of videos to help you get started 3d printing. I knew abosulutely nothing about 3d printing when I first started. The 3d printing 101 series is my attempt to pass on some of the basics I have learned along the way.
Video #1 - The hardware basics of an FDM type 3d printer. An FDM printer is pretty simple, it just melts plastic and moves around to layer the melted plastic into shapes you tell it to create. Check out this brief video I made showing you the hardware on my Creality Ender 3 3d printer.
The next video in the series is about what software is required to get started 3d printing.
The next video in the series includes how to level your 3d printer bed and make custom bed level code for your printer to make leveling the bed easier.
The next video in the series is all about the Cura Slicer. A slicer prepares your STL file for printing. It converts your 3d object to G-code that is readable by your 3d printer. I did not create this video. This video is by the awesome Dr. Vax.
The next video in the series can show you some of the troubleshooting involved when you start 3d printing. In this video I had some issues with really bad layer shift on my Tevo Tornado. It took me a few minutes to figure this one out, but it ended up being an easy fix.
Now we are cooking! Let's get into some part design. I like to use OpenSCAD to design some parts for 3d printing. You can download OpenSCAD for free here. Let's look at a few quick videos to get you started with OpenSCAD.
I am still making more videos, so please check back often for updates. While you are at it, click the subscribe button on one of my videos and click the little bell to be notified when I publish a new video.
I know many people are interested in gear. I have two main 3d printers at this time. I have a Creality Ender 3 and a Tevo Tornado. If you are looking to buy your first 3d printer, I would highly suggest you get a Creality Ender 3. The Creality Ender 3 is a very popular 3d printer that has been around for quite siome time. The printer is a great kit to get you started printing the day it ships to your house. There are so many videos available for this printer to help you figure out any issues you may run into.
I also have a few pieces of main gear that I use to make Youtube videos. First, I use my iPhone for a lot of impromptu fixit videos. If I have something more in depth, I will use my DJI Osmo action. If I am doing a special project or just sitting at my desk, I will use my Sony A6300. That Sony is an amazing camera. I even splurged and purchased the Sigma 30mm 1.4 lens. I use the Sigma mainly for fixed video type situations. I also purchased the Tamron 24-200mm for an all around carry lens. Check my projects page for more details on my photo adventures. If I am snapping shots of my family or taking video on trips, this is my go to camera. The quality is just amazing.
Please, go explore, check out the navigation at the top of this page, explore the different things we love to do around here. Thanks for stopping by.