Well, I made a commitment today. After a couple of years on an Ender 3 Pro which is totally a ship of Theseus now, I’m building a #Voron 2.4 r2. Wish me luck! It was either that or a Switch and some games.

This is the next (big) step into getting a little more serious about project work with my kids. I hope it pays off for us 😅

  • DancingPickle@lemmy.worldOP
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    1 year ago

    Not so much a move as an addition. And there are a few reasons.

    One, I like projects where the outcome is a useful tool, but the project aspect itself is a significant part of my motivation.

    The reason for the Voron being that project is that it will be a WAY faster and more competent tool than my ender, which was a prohibitive limitation especially for larger prints. A failure at hour 23 of a 24 hour print sucks, but the same print failing at hour 3:45 of 4 hours is way easier to accept. At that point the loss of filament matters more than the lost time in my eyes.

    Also Voron2 has a much better design than ender 3 pro for exotic filaments, making ABS / ASA / nylon more approachable. Better tuning options, compensation (lower / less moving mass), bigger plate, taller build volume.

    The bigger plate is significant for things like ergo mechanical keyboard chassis. I’m a Dactyl Manuform user and builder, and the ender 3 pro can only print one half at a time and takes more than a full day each half. Voron should be able to knock out two halves at once inside of a work day, and do so with better quality to boot.

    The ender still has a place, particularly with the mods I have on it. Specifically, TPU can’t benefit from the speed of Voron, so there’s no reason not to print it on ender. Also it never hurts to have a tuned, working machine if you have to take one offline for maintenance.

    • bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
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      1 year ago

      Thank you, that’s a great explanation. I don’t have time for a new machine right now (I’m only printing minis) but that’s on my radar if I do.

      • DancingPickle@lemmy.worldOP
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        1 year ago

        I’d like to hear how you do minis on fdm. I’m planning pressing resin into service for that and a couple other things, but if you have a good workflow for minis on fdm, I have friends who want them and fdm can do it way way faster than resin at the trade off resolution.

        • bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
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          1 year ago

          I’m just doing them on an Ender3 with PLA, as long as the filament is dry and the heat is tuned I can batch them for monster of the week or what have you. Using a paint to fill gaps and strengthen the form helps.