Senior Chief Petty Officer. Starfleet is in my blood, and I’ve spent my entire adult life in service to boldly going.

Keiko and Molly are my favorite humans, but Transporter Room 3 will always be my favorite.

Just don’t ask who what’s in the pattern buffer.

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Joined 4 months ago
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Cake day: August 27th, 2024

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  • Having owned a couple low end printers, the ender 3 is my favorite budget option.

    I’ve installed a couple upgrades, some of which I 3d printed on the printer itself, but my favorite ones are the borosilicate glass bed with a thermal pad to help spread out the heat quickly, and a dual z axis stepper motor.

    If you’re not into tinkering, I’ve heard good things about Bambu, although I do not know much about them myself. Apparently they’re more user-friendly.

    I enjoy working on my devices, but I would like something with more reliability than “recalibrate everything for every single print” sometimes.

    It really is a hobby where spending just a little bit more will get you a ton of extra features and user experience.







  • The most reliable one I have uses an AR style fire control group, and large metal pieces for the bolt, and pre-hardened hydraulic tubing for the barrel.

    There’s plenty of metal in it, all held together via 3d printed parts and frame

    The only things I needed to buy that I would consider “from a firearm” or “from a gun store” would be the fire control group. Everything else was bought from McMaster Carr or local hardware stores.

    Spot on with the woodworking. I’ve made a couple stocks for my grandfather’s old broken long rifles. It’s just more time consuming. (also my 3d printer isn’t that long)


  • The ones I have use 3d printed frames, the fire control group and barrels are metal with 3d printed pieces for making the rifling.

    All the parts that take repeated heavy abuse are reinforced with extra thickness or different infil, but by weight I’d say it’s about 50/50 metal/plastic.

    The 3d printed lowers are quite basic, and since they aren’t designed to take a ton of stress anyway, it’s not really hard to find a decent design.

    All my parts are printed in pla+, and I do minimal work afterwards to make things perfect, only what is necessary for the mechanical parts to cycle properly.

    I actually haven’t been keeping up the last few years, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are even better methods than the ones I’ve used.













  • I just drove to Michigan and back, saw maybe 5 vehicles, including a semi covered in lights.

    One just had a single dollar store strand around the hood, one had followed all the panel lines on the car, and the others were just wrapped a couple times over the top and underside.

    None were flashing or twinkling, just steady lights.

    As long as they don’t flash or move while driving, honestly I don’t think a couple strands would be that distracting except maybe a double-take

    I can see how this many lights would be distracting for some. I would definitely look more than twice, if I had space around me.

    Still though I think I’d just ask them to leave most of the lights off while actually on the move at most.