I Finally Bought a 3D printer

In 2014 I took an internship at MD Resource, a medical device manufacturer. Buried in the rubble heap that was to be my cubicle, I found a Makerbot Replicator 2. It had been bought to prototype but due to a high turnover rate, nobody in the office knew how to operate it. At that time, I’d never personally operated a 3D printer, so I took it upon myself to get the thing running. I spent countless hours calibrating that old printer. I quickly discovered that operating consumer-grade 3D printers like the Makerbot took a lot of time and know-how. I decided to forgo purchasing one myself until the technology at a consumer price point had improved.

Five years later in September of 2019, Ashley and I moved to London for her to complete a master’s program. Due to a combination of low wages and a high cost of living, we ended up in a tiny studio flat with no room for tools. Though my title at work is Design Engineer, I don’t do any design and it’s 100% computer based. A few months into my new job, I knew I had to find an outlet for my creativity and an opportunity to bring my ideas into the physical world or I’d go crazy. I started looking for a space-saving and inexpensive type of making that was versatile enough to prototype whatever I came up with. After a bunch of research, I concluded that perhaps consumer 3D printers had progressed enough that it was time I finally bought one.

I spent £150 on a new Creality Ender 3 printer. With the help of a few YouTube videos, I had the printer up and running in 2 hours. My very first print was as good or better than anything I ever got off the $2000 Makerbot I had been using in 2014. Needless to say, I was very pleased. While budget 3D printers still require a fair bit of knowledge and tweaking, they’ve come a long way.

Consumer 3D printing still isn’t for the faint of heart, but it has progressed to the point that with a bit of learning I believe most people could get decent results. I hope to share some of the things I’ve been working on in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!