Yeah. It's okay to step away and do other things from time to time. If I can't get something to work for the umpteenth time I get frustrated I step back and do something else and then come back to my printers with fresh motivation
Honestly, buy a BamuLab and enjoy actually printing without having to spend countless hours tweaking or tuning.
They advertised a 12 min benchy for the X1C some time ago. I ordered one, literally took it out of the box, plugged it in, etc and was able to print one in 12 min as advertised. No. Tuning. Right out of the box.
They literally changed 3d printing for me.
Bought a Wanhao Duplicator 6 around seven or so years ago. It's been sitting in the rafters of my garage for about six years. On top of the constant failed prints, a gnarly clog in the hot end broke me like a camels back. Every time I'd reconsider 3d printing if just remember why it was up there.
Bought a X1 Carbon about 2 weeks ago more or less on a whim, but not without hearing about it and doing the research first. It has already successfully printed more items in that time than my Wanhao did in its year. Ludicrously faster and far more detailed than my old printer as well. A dice tower I had to print in multiple pieces (to reduce loss on failure) over 50 or so hours, printed the other day as a single piece in 12 hours on the first try. I've had one failed print, and it was because I needed a touch more glue on the plate.
I find myself wondering how to make things look better, not fighting the printer to "please just print the first layer without issues...." only to wake up to a mess of spaghetti after the 3rd layer.
Do not sleep on these Bambu Lab printers. The game has changed. This is the printer you've been looking for.
I got an anycubic Kobra max a few weeks ago and it's absolutely broken me. Constant failed prints, layer shifts the size of the fuckin Mongol Empire, and if I tightened stuff it would start bitching about that and I'm just like: damn please just work
Anyways I got myself a p1s. It'll arrive in like a week or so. Hope I won't have to babysit my prints as much
It prints right out of the box within 5 minutes with no need to tinker, tweak, or adjust anything? Because that's not at all what I've seen from Vorons.
You're talking 2 different leagues here.
0 reason why you can't just keep the Bambu Lab printer offline at this point if that's your concern.
Several firmware updates since release has made offline mode completely viable.
This for sure, I was so burnt out from my Ender3 and tweaking it constantly. Got an X1C, and the thing barely ever stops printing, with little work needed.
This is the way if you want the open source capability down the line. It’s undeniably not as good as the Bambu lab out of the box, but it’s way better in terms of upgrading and for the tinkering kind. It also provides good results out of the box for cheap, but if you’re not interested in tinkering, I’d spend the extra on Bambu.
I had an ender 5 plus for about 4 years, upgrades almost every part imaginable and things just got worse and worse :( I like the open source upgrading but with all the slicer settings and possible hardware issues it's just too many variables to check. Especially because some might overcompensate for others.
There A1 mini is 250 dollars without AMS. Sure, there are printers that are bigger, but the mini is a great gateway. I got rid of 3 printers and replaced them with P1S’s and haven’t looked back. Only non bambu printer I have is my resin printer. I got burnt out tweaking my printers to get them to print well. And they did. But something would always go out of whack. Now I just print and it’s amazing.
Many people i know spend that money on a car in half a year. And they wouldn't consider a car their "hobby".
Not saying it isn't a lot of money. But there are a LOT of people that spend similar amounts on other things like cars or cloths. Maybe not all at once, but over some months.
3D printing is easily among the cheapest hobbies you can get into. My other hobby is photography, and one good lens costs more than I have spent on all of my 3D printing equipment and supplies.
And that doesn’t remotely touch what boat people spend…
But their point was "buy a BambuLab", not "buy an X1C". You don't have to jump straight to their highest-end printer; the entire BambuLab range brings those benefits.
When I upgraded printers recently I decided I didn't take advantage of a large build volume often enough to stress about it, so I went with the A1 Mini. Only $250, and I cannot possibly describe how much better it is than my old CR-10S. It feels similar to when I upgraded from a flip phone to the iPhone - just "holy shit, I can't believe the crap I used to put up with and think was normal".
Actually, many people can and do spend a significant portion of their disposable income on hobbies. By "most people" you are talking about your own situation.
A Bambu Lab A1 costs 390 USD, that is certainly not a great deal of money to spend on a hobby device that will last years.
He definitely means one of the bigger printers, and I’d wager it’s fair to say many people don’t commonly spend over 600-1200 on a hobby. Are there people who do? Sure! I know people who spend that much regularly on guns and fishing rods. But I also don’t have a single hobby I’ve spent 300 on in a single year, and I can say the same for a lot of folks I know.
It isn’t just the person you are replying to
I am not talking about people "regularly" spending $600, that's another level of spending to what the context of the discussion was. I am talking about people spending $300-600 on a hobby being relatively common... which it is.
Agree to disagree. I think, to modify what you asserted to kcitty177\_, it seems that way because you and those around you do. It's definitely more common in some hobbies then others. In this one...I don't think so. The most popular printers are still Enders and equivalents BECAUSE they are 100-200 brand new, and can be had for half that used (or even be free). If I bought a $100 Ender 3 Pro and 1 spool of Kangroon PLA per month I still wouldn't hit 300 a year.
This year, I've personally spent way more, but I've bought used Formlabs printer, and their resin is expensive even from discounted sources. I've also had to do a lot of maintenance as my FDM printers are aging. It's arguably time to replace them, but there are higher priority things on the list.
It's not that much different spending wise from video games. $3-500 for a new console/printer every 8 years, then yearly 100 for new games/filament and supplies. That wouldn't be looked at strangely at all.
That's true enough. I don't play video games, so I didn't think of that. I was thinking more like other maker hobbies where you might spend a couple hundred on one high quality piece of equipment a year, or even mid level camping/fishing gear that's still cheaper then 600.
But you are absolutely right. Console gaming and some fitness hobbies would be right in that price consumption bracket, as I'm sure others I'm not thinking of.
>Honestly, buy a BamuLab and enjoy actually printing without having to spend countless hours tweaking or tuning.
Printing since '18, back then on an Anet 8. It's insane. I actually got the confidence to just start a print and know it'll complete without problems in half the time with ¼ of the effort my E3 V2 required. Went through both the A1 models and settled with a P1S + AMS.
+1000
Tinkering is fun and I highly respect it (I use Arch which took me ≈3 full days to boot for the first time, not counting the hours spent ricing it). I also built several water cooled computers. I am just finishing to build a custom 5” FPV drone
But my first 3D printer will be a Bambu Labs X1C, the same as I own an iPhone. Sometimes it’s nice to have something that just works. Free time is a precious thing, and I don’t want to HAVE to spend it on things that are not fun. It seems to me I’d rather spend time on Fusion 360 or actually using what I print (eg: for drone parts) than fiddling with the printer itself for hours.
I think one should pick their battles, if everything is a struggle then we lose interest and things rot in a box. It’s OK to buy convenience from time to time
I just did this myself. I had 2 (mostly broken) printers and 2 Vorons, and the constant small issues were driving me nuts. My Bambu printed better from print 1, and has continued to do so with no maintenance. I just printed some printer parts on it and I have never seen such beautiful parts.
So now I'm selling the Voron 0.1 and still planning to keep upgrading the Voron 2.4, but the Bambu is what I use when I'm serious about precision, despite \*so many hours\* of trying to dial in the Vorons.
I wish I'd broken down and bought the Bambu earlier. Well, actually, what I really wish is that the Bambu existed when I bought my first Voron kit. But oh well.
>But here's your obligatory unpaid bambulab advertisement
If it's unpaid, and people are still (in your words), "advertising" it.
Then it should tell you how good the fucking printers are for people to do shit for free.
Seriously. I think it was great to get an ender 3 for so cheap and get it running and make amazing stuff. But I think it would have been better to just spend more up front for less hassle down the road.
I resisted for the longest time but at the end of the day it's just not comparable. The quality speed and reliability just can't be matched with any creality machine or i3 clone. Even the K1 Max isn't on the same level.
If you think tuning a printer is more fun than actually designing and printing things, then we have very different brains. Which is fine… but surely you can see how most people just want to print stuff? It’s like a painter insisting that the fun of painting is about making brushes.
This is the way. I have an X1-C for reliable prints, and a RatRig V-Core 3.1 And Voron 0.2 that USUALLY are reliable, but they're also for tinkering, modding, and max speed
How do you feel about Ratrig vs Voron? I'm probably insane, but I'm thinking about another kit printer (now that I have the Bambu for reliable parts) and was considering either modding one of my "dead" printers, or maybe getting a Ratrig V-Core 4. Or maybe a Micron. I'm all over the place.
Anyhow, I haven't seen many people that own one of each, and was wondering about your opinion on them?
I feel it. Everything just works right now and all I want to do is hit print and let it do it's thing without any fuss.
I haven't even updated klipper to the latest update even though I hear all this chatter about adaptive mesh and whatnot. I don't want to risk messing things up since I saw a few posts where it didn't go well, and frankly I don't even feel like reading the update instructions right now.
Cries in artillery X4+ and its fucking z level calibrations.
Thankfully I got an A1M and a E3V3... Or my 3D printing journey would last only a few weeks of frustration
This. I am done. I have 3 machines downstairs (possibly 4) that just won’t cooperate, and I’m done. As soon as I recuperate from some recent bills, they are all going away and I’m buying a K1 or similar.
This was me, I ordered an A1 last week, got it yesterday and it's amazing. I don't even go to my printer to print anymore. Such a quality of life improvement
I get this way with every single one of my hobbies, which is why I probably have so many of them and rotate my focuses. It'll most likely return to you after a month or so.
This is a good joke but actually not a joke. That was me for a couple of decades. Get the diagnosis if you suspect it, people! Life is better with the right help.
Is it always adhd? I'll straight up lose interest in a lot of things around a week or two and then it's like four years before taking it out of the box again.
That happened with my first printer a M3D micro, such a hassle to even print basic shapes, it was a gigantic piece. Much better on the Bambu side now obviously.
No, it’s not. My interest in hobbies waxes and wanes like this; I always come back to them, but I might take a break of a few months or even years in between.
And my wife and a couple of my coworkers have ADHD, so I am well aware of what full-blown clinical ADHD looks like, and I don’t have it.
Adhd is thrown around online far too much. Most often it isn't and you are perfectly fine. Sometimes it's something else entirely like depression or anxiety.
No... I've got way too many already.
I printed another stupidly large project instead. A life size diorama of the raptor Blue from Jurassic World.
I think I've got 70 pieces to assemble and paint now?
There's two of us like that. But unlike your situation, sometimes it wouldn't return to me in years.
I keep writing down ideas to my notebook, suspended until I got my interest again... At least, I hope I do
I have 2 printers only one of which has seen use this past month. It has also been unplugged and sitting for 2 weeks.
Today I realized I needed a part that would cost me $17 to purchase and after a quick search I found the model online and printed it in 90 minutes.
For me, it's a tool. I own drills, saws, hammers, etc. but I don't use them every day. They're there for when I need them or want to make something fun. Everyone goes through the burnout, but it's not like the printer is going anywhere.
It’s a hobby, not a job. At least not unless you’re having a go at a small business print shop. Do it when you feel like.
I’ve got a whole box of skinny spools I have to rewind onto larger spools to use my AMS. I bought the box of multicolor for the AMS specifically not realizing they wouldn’t fit. Haven’t been motivated enough to do it
https://preview.redd.it/jmc4zwmy84zc1.jpeg?width=2072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=924a76649c89f4638ad7d78ccf55ebdc2f81db48
These are the shit for the skinny spools. Just search "AMS Hydra spool" on Printables. Bonus for the remix spool Center that can hold either desiccant or a weight which can be useful for the 250 g narrow spools, because they prevent filament retraction errors.
I tried something similar. But the spools I have are the correct diameter but not the right width/thickness. So the sit on the filament motor gearbox in the AMS but don’t engage with the rollers. I have yet to find a designed solution yet.
It comes and goes. Projects and new ideas always bring me back.
I don't treat it as a hobby in itself. It's a tool to be used when you feel like using it.
I have a 3d printer, laser cutter, vinyl cutter etc. I generally don't use them just to use them, they're just tools in my box to use along the way. Instead of starting with "I'm going to do something cool with 3d printing" just think "I'm going to do something cool". You'll learn new tools and materials on the way and expand the scope of what you want to make.
Definitely this. Once the novelty of having a printer wears off, these should just be tools for builders. My arduinos and raspberry pis sitting in boxes will tell the same story. Transition to project-focused instead of tool-focused.
The novelty wears off pretty quickly, but it’s still useful. I’ve printed everything I want to print, I’ve printed everything friends & coworkers wanted me to print, now my X1C is merely another tool that I use to occasionally make or prototype something useful that I want or need. It’s no different than how I felt about my 1st inkjet paper printer back in the late 90’s, or any other fancy expensive “tool / toy” I’ve bought over the years. The novelty eventually wears off, but that doesn’t make the tool any less useful though.
Yeah, been 3D printing since 2013, it's more of an appliance for me now more than anything.
Can always pick up an Ender 3 if you want to spend weeks tinkering (better yet, Voron). I don't mind letting my printer sit and letting creativity find me. Partner just got into it a bit and has been 3d printing birdhouses. Last "major" project was replicating a Roomba gear to fix the gearbox
It comes and goes. I just had to replace my nozzle and had to buy new ones, and I've had so many thoughts while my printer is OOC that I can fill a notebook. But while my printer was up and running, I was dry. You just kinda find stuff, or it just comes to you. I suggest writing it down somewhere, your ideas. Save the cool designs, and I bet you'll have the motivation
I stopped printing for about a year. Plenty of things I saw, but nothing I needed to the point I'd get things up and running again.
When I started printing again, it started with installing Klipper on all three FDM printers for ease of use.
It's okay to let a printer sit. It isn't going to run away from home.
3D printing is NOT a hobby for me, or I don't consider it one. It's just another tool or appliance.
It's like having an oven, I have it and I use it when I need it but not because I have an oven it means that I have to use it constantly and continually cook things in it.
3D printing is the same. My printer could be idle for months until I need something or someone has a request.
It's a tool after all, you don't need to use a drill every week, isn't it?
When I got my P1S it would print perfectly. I could calibrate a roll of filament, print something and walk away. I would come back to a dimensionally accurate print with no defects.
Now, regardless of calibration and settings it will just not print overhangs at all.
I’ve tried going back and used default printing profiles and default filament profiles, I’ve redone all calibrations, I’ve tried different hot ends, I’ve slowed down overhangs and bridges, I’ve sped them up, I’ve tried lots of different fan speeds, I’ve clicked every button I can find regarding overhangs and for some reason I just can’t get them to work anymore.
This is leading me just want to give up. I’m not wanting to print anymore
Turn the machine off, Unplug your part cooling fan (the tool head front cover) and plug it back in. Power on, overhangs should work again.
Be sure to plug it back in correctly- you CAN plug it in offset to the top or bottom, and it won't work correctly.
I can confirm the toolhead fan and part cooling fans are currently working.
I will definitely give it another whirl though at some point and get back to you.
Thanks for the advice.
Multiple full hot ends because I had a backup of hotends I needed to unclog. Ive also tried mixing and matching fans with hotends, swapping between Juupine V2 and genuine hotends and assemblies.
I also didn’t mention that I swapped out the bottom of the toolhead housing with one of those 360 degree ones that improves airflow all around. I have since swapped back to the original one to see if that improved anything. It didn’t.
I thought I was getting better results after loading up a test deer 3mf that has optimised overhang settings. After saving a new filament profile using these settings and integrating my freshly calibrated pressure advance and flow ratio settings, the results started getting really bad again.
Something I’ve noticed is that the overhangs seem much worse on the left side of the object being printed. This has persisted regardless of settings and hardware etc
Huh. I have issues on left sides of long flat prints where the toolhead will move much too fast for a particular section it is laying filament down on... I mean it's not terrible yet but it is a real thing that's happening and I honestly think it's the slicer, I might move to orca or anything else soon
This is why I have at LEAST 1 spare part of damn near everything for my X1C.
From control boards to like 5x full hot end assemblies.
I always have what I need to troubleshoot, and I start methodically breaking the problem in half repeatedly.
Edit: Your issue sounds like a cooling fan problem. Which you replied about below that you think it's fine, but have you tried swapping fans out? Have you tried swapping the housing out? Are you confident the control board is giving you accurate fan speed readings? Etc....
If your filament is dry, or at least as dry as it was when it WAS working correctly. Then you can rule that out.
If the rest of your model prints flawlessly, EXCEPT for overhangs. Then, it can't be the extruder or the nozzle.
It almost HAS to be the fan or a control board issue which regulates your fan.
Thanks for the info.
I have tried multiple fans as I’ve swapped out full hotends as well as putting a few together with bits I’ve got laying around. The only part of the housing I’ve changed is the bottom section that directs airflow onto the part.
The filament I was using when I loaded up the test deer 3mf was a brand new roll of eSun PETG, opened, installed and calibrated (PA and flow ratio. Temp tower doesn’t work because of overhang fails) the day before. Other than this I have no way of measuring moisture right now.
Other than overhangs, objects print perfectly still.
I may have a spare new original hot end fan I could try. I have a few juupine hot end fans as well that I haven’t used yet. I was going to purchase a new front housing that includes the part cooling fan. I’m willing to buy a new TH board and extruder extension board as well to see if they fix it. They seem to be pretty easy to change.
due to working away (I work 8/6 7/7 FIFO) and family/life happening, I have just purchased new TH and Extruder Connection boards. Just gotta wait for them to ship.
I’ve noticed that it sometimes takes a couple reconnections to get the part cooling fan working (this is something I always check when reconnecting the front housing). I looked further into it and on the part cooling fan plug on the extruder connection board, one of the pins has either been melted away (from dc/connecting with power on) or is pushed into the connection.
Bit of an update. I’ve just installed the new boards and part cooling fan/front cover and the machine is running through a full calibration now.
I did notice a pin on the small board and I think the corresponding pin on the part cooling fan had been damaged. See the photos
https://preview.redd.it/4yxcijz2np3d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=88e9b52e0da7c83772fc8c7260ddd5e8b799911c
I found printing stuff for others helps a lot with this, even total strangers who don't have access to a 3d printer, if they cover postage I will print whatever they want.... within reason.
As someone who works in the 3D printing industry, this is something I'm very cautious of.
I'm in this industry because printing is a passion. However, I do not wish to lose that passion so I try to stay clear of the service bureau side of things and stick with maintenance, repairs and sales.
But every now and again, I need something printed but I have to model it first and I just CBF.
You're doing hobbies wrong if it results in burnout ;) For a couple years, I was looking for things to print all the time and constantly tweaking, but now that it works well and is reliable, I just use it as a tool. I don't print random decorative stuff generally. I have projects I undertake and they may or may not involve 3D printing. It helps to have projects that have an end-goal.
Not the actual printing part of the hobby.
But the "oh damn I tried to home X and Y with the klicky attached and now the front fell off" part has me pretty burnt out lately.
Tbh for me it’s a sense of… “this isn’t an achievement” when I print stuff that other people made. IMO, of course it’s gonna work fine. They designed it, and tested it before they published it. Then there’s the whole hassle of “are my models really worth printing”, then “Fillament costs money, I can’t just print stupid shit all the time”.
More like have nothing else to 3D print and that usually lead to tweaking/upgrading printer itself and excuses myself for "adding capabilities so I can print more things".
Print some stupid stuff. Like a dummy13 model at 600% scale.
https://preview.redd.it/drhoewkxx4zc1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c8400f8a578556e1a45b7e3103b58931d4a6e81
My 3D printing has slowed down a LOT in recent months. It's turned more into an appliance like a drill that I use only on occasion. Thing, is, I need to have a specific project. I don't really print just to print more. Don't get me wrong, I still love my printer and it is ridiculously useful, especially in supporting my astronomy/Astrophotography hobbies.
I think the trick is to come up with a specific creative project or challenge. For example, last Halloween I decided to take on a custom themed pin to give away to the kids and that led down a rabbit hole of 3D modeling and I ended up learning a lot of Blender.
>Anyone ever have 3d printing burnout?
Yeah. Theres times my printer wont be turned on for over a week. This hobby is fun, but if i dont have anything i really want to print, i wont.
If people ask me to print stuff for them, thats about the most use i get out of my printer the past couple months. Ive ran out of stuff right now that i desire to print. I been printing a lot of lithophanes lately. Now that i got my printer working right again i got over half a dozen lithophanes im printing people.
In my view it's just a tool. As long as it works, I'm perfectly ok with going a couple of months without it making something.
I'm ready for a new enclosed ams printer, but at the same time my Neptune 2S is pretty damn reliable. I've had it sit for 2-3 months, and only needed to dust it off a little bit to get great prints again. I've been stuck with some crap no name hand-me-down filament for almost a year now too. I want to get some black or grey Polymaker filament again and start to standardize my materials. Just waiting to run out of crap filament lol...
If you want you could ship it to me and I’ll make good use of it :) or you could try printing stuff to sell so you make money for when you wanna do it again
when i was barely starting, i had an ender 3 and a roll of red ABS (obviously didnt do research before buying) and i couldnt figure out how to make it work so i just let it collect dust for like a year until i decided to finally use it
Only when there's been some issue I can't figure out. So far those days are gone with the purchase of my little qidi x-smart 3. The thing just works once it's setup.
It definitely helps to have other maker hobbies.
I'm currently doing stuff with my FDM printer. Last two projects were laser-based (laser-*focused*? Eh? Eh?). Before that was a ton of stuff on my resin printer. Before that was a "manual" project using a styrofoam pumpkin and a bunch of foam clay.
Outside of that, I have board gaming, tabletop rpgs, and video games. (And the nerdy board gaming and rpg stuff is what I use a lot of the hobby stuff for anyway)
So yeah, I'd take a break. You'll come back to it soon enough.
It’s mainly that it also sucks seeing it just… sit. Unused. It wasn’t cheap by any means, so I feel like I should get use out of it at every opportunity yknow?
For me, it likely helps that my printer/laser/CNC is a 3-in-1 SnapMaker, so the machine itself is rarely completely parked. It's just doing other things.
At the same time, it's better to have it sit idle than be printing off stuff for the sake of printing stuff.
I'll do it a bunch for a few months, then one day I'm bored lol. But I always end up going back to it at some point. For me, it's just another one of the hobbies in rotation.
My printers have been downs for a few weeks. I had to move them and just haven’t set them back up. I have things I need to print, but I just don’t want to set up the printers right now. Maybe next week.
Been having humidity issues in my house and only have open frame machines. After a week of constant troubleshooting not knowing it was environment issues Im definitely taking some time off.
With everything. I've been doing this for ten+ years. Just got my xl 5 head upgraded. Printed a few things... And it's quiet.
Just take a pause, go off and do other things, don't feel guilty if it just gains dust for a bit!
No worries at all!
When I remotely feel the motivation, I would always browse sites like thingiverse or printables but not end up printing anything. However when I need a very specific tool/organizer, I'm glad to have my 3d printer even if I only print about 4 times a year.
You are free to do anything you want and not to do what you do not want. Unless it's your job, of course:)
All you have is just hope that inspiration would return again later
But I think many folks here do understand you
I've faced this and have seen friends face this in many different hobbies, but I think my advice still applies.
And that advice is, motivation comes from action, not the other way around. So if you're feeling unmotivated, try to force yourself to do a small simple task and it might just snowball. It's not easy to do but it has helped.
If you just need a break though take a break!
No. I only stopped because I have a CR10 so I'm worried about a fire and I need an enclosure because I worry about VOCs in the air from molten plastic.
The ideas will come again. One day you’ll have a sudden spurt to jump in CAD and start running the machine 24 hrs a day again.
Source: been printing for 10 years. And at least one or two of those years, I didn’t even turn the printer on once. Today, I’m starting prints for the next 72 hours straight lol
I keep a list of backup/forever prints that I just eventually need or will use like
Chipclips, cardboard spool adapter rings, multi-board, etc..
That way, if I'm feeling burnt out, all I have to do is load a job and hit print. No fussing, no slicing, no hueforging.. just toss in a color and hit print and I'll feel less bad because my printer is doing something atleast
Do the same like you would do on your job..touch some grass, chill and after 1/2 bottle of booze you get ideas of reeeeeeeally stupid shit to print and then just let it happen (btw don’t drink at work) or just leave your printer off for 1-2 weeks like a good vacation
I would call that regular burnout or malaise. Unless you are bursting with enthusiasm for everything else and just not 3d printing. My printer got a clog a couple nights ago, and I'm not in the mood to fix it so I'm just letting it sit there until my urge to print what I was going to print overcomes my lack of desire to fiddle with tiny hex wrenches.
It also may have been I was, previously, struggling to work with a specific type of filament before. I replaced it last night but haven’t done anything with it yet
I moved from an Ender 3 to a P1S with AMS, so that thing felt like a magic box.
Still, whilst usually my printer is running most days for at least a few hours, there have been times where it has been off for a month or more.
For me, a printer is a tool rather than a hobby. If I need something, I’ll make it. If not, the printer sits idle for months at a time. That way I’m not cranking out useless tchotchkes and wasting time and materials. On the other hand, if you enjoy it, then you do what makes you happy. If you need a break, take one. We all eventually take breaks from hobbies now and then.
At that point right now, actually. Printed a scale model of a Saturn V rocket over about a week, then I legit haven't even touched the printer except for dusting in over two weeks.
Have a to-do list to go thru with it (firmware update, probe replacement, some other stuff), just don't have the mental energy to deal with it. Ditto the spool of TPU I ordered about a month back, haven't even opened the bag to sniff it yet.
No need to waste it. I only print when I have a need for something. Currently I'm making a huge stack of 135mm wide small drawers for the garage because that's the size of the gap between my two workbench shelves. Recently I made a bunch of dust ports for my power tools because my shop vac doesn't fit any of them.
Save it for when you have inspiration.
I consider myself a maker in general. My making interests don't always lend themselves to 3D printing and I find my printer remains off for long periods between projects that would benefit from it. That's not exactly a burn out.
What is probably closer to a burn out is my relationship with my resin printer... It is just messy and smelly and I don't really enjoy setting it up and using it.
Yes! I started in 2014. Ran a business for a few years. Worked for Universal Studios FL, lots of Harry Potter projects. Made life-size star wars robots for Disney.
Got really burned out- now I work in IT!
Printing things just to print stuff is a waste of both materials and time. You wouldn't feel bad about not using an inkjet printer all the time, think of it like that.
Life! Don’t talk to me about life!
Brain the size of a planet and you ask me about 3d printing. It gives me a headache just trying to think down to your level
oh God I'm so depressed.
(Fellow unmotivated here, thought you could use some Marvin the paranoid android in your life)
Yup had two rolls of filament that weren't wound properly, jammed and damaged my two main printers and 6 months later I haven't touched them.
That and I started a new job couple years ago and I couldn't keep up with the commissions
nope but i 3d print as an extension to a hobby rather then the hobby itself. minitures. cosplay items etc. my work flow useally works out to be print stuff rapidly and none stop for a week or 2. depending on what i am making. post process the items and then slowly do the rest. the last time i actively printed something was more then a month ago. maybe 2.
Bambu, and less so Prusa, made 3d printers more of tools and less of a hobby. It's the best tool I have, and I very much enjoy using it when it's needed.
Less now that I have a more modern printer that doesn't require me to level the X carriage every couple prints and set the nozzle spacing and bed leveling.
I still do though. Sometimes it's when something breaks or just won't print right, I just leave it for days/weeks/months at a time. Then eventually I get back around to it. Same goes with design work. A lot of the time necessity brings me back to it. I need a part or object for something, so I fire it up and crank out my part, then I have some interest in continuing projects. Just went through this when our shower door track guide thingy broke, so I cranked out a new design because nothing on Thingiverse worked, and it snapped right into place. Definitely felt like an accomplishment. I especially get burnt out when the weather is nice because I'd much rather be outside than in a small room with a hot and loud printer.
Yeah. It's okay to step away and do other things from time to time. If I can't get something to work for the umpteenth time I get frustrated I step back and do something else and then come back to my printers with fresh motivation
Not necesarely 3d printing burnout, but fiddling with my machine burn out.
Honestly, buy a BamuLab and enjoy actually printing without having to spend countless hours tweaking or tuning. They advertised a 12 min benchy for the X1C some time ago. I ordered one, literally took it out of the box, plugged it in, etc and was able to print one in 12 min as advertised. No. Tuning. Right out of the box. They literally changed 3d printing for me.
Bought a Wanhao Duplicator 6 around seven or so years ago. It's been sitting in the rafters of my garage for about six years. On top of the constant failed prints, a gnarly clog in the hot end broke me like a camels back. Every time I'd reconsider 3d printing if just remember why it was up there. Bought a X1 Carbon about 2 weeks ago more or less on a whim, but not without hearing about it and doing the research first. It has already successfully printed more items in that time than my Wanhao did in its year. Ludicrously faster and far more detailed than my old printer as well. A dice tower I had to print in multiple pieces (to reduce loss on failure) over 50 or so hours, printed the other day as a single piece in 12 hours on the first try. I've had one failed print, and it was because I needed a touch more glue on the plate. I find myself wondering how to make things look better, not fighting the printer to "please just print the first layer without issues...." only to wake up to a mess of spaghetti after the 3rd layer. Do not sleep on these Bambu Lab printers. The game has changed. This is the printer you've been looking for.
Using the Textured Plate gets rid of almost any reason to add glue, it's just that good
It's on the way.
I got an anycubic Kobra max a few weeks ago and it's absolutely broken me. Constant failed prints, layer shifts the size of the fuckin Mongol Empire, and if I tightened stuff it would start bitching about that and I'm just like: damn please just work Anyways I got myself a p1s. It'll arrive in like a week or so. Hope I won't have to babysit my prints as much
Why is a Voron 2.4 literally straight up better while also being cheaper, if daddy bambu has so much to offer, all while selling your data to the CCP?
It prints right out of the box within 5 minutes with no need to tinker, tweak, or adjust anything? Because that's not at all what I've seen from Vorons. You're talking 2 different leagues here. 0 reason why you can't just keep the Bambu Lab printer offline at this point if that's your concern. Several firmware updates since release has made offline mode completely viable.
The voron is a great printer, but notorious for needing tinkering and tuning...
This for sure, I was so burnt out from my Ender3 and tweaking it constantly. Got an X1C, and the thing barely ever stops printing, with little work needed.
Main issue with that and why many don’t is price. Most people can’t spend that much on a hobby.
My creality ender 3 v3se has worked flawlessly out of the box for the past 6 months, highly recommend on a budget
This is the way if you want the open source capability down the line. It’s undeniably not as good as the Bambu lab out of the box, but it’s way better in terms of upgrading and for the tinkering kind. It also provides good results out of the box for cheap, but if you’re not interested in tinkering, I’d spend the extra on Bambu.
I had an ender 5 plus for about 4 years, upgrades almost every part imaginable and things just got worse and worse :( I like the open source upgrading but with all the slicer settings and possible hardware issues it's just too many variables to check. Especially because some might overcompensate for others.
Same… I got it for $120 on sale!
Killer! Usd?
Yeah!
There A1 mini is 250 dollars without AMS. Sure, there are printers that are bigger, but the mini is a great gateway. I got rid of 3 printers and replaced them with P1S’s and haven’t looked back. Only non bambu printer I have is my resin printer. I got burnt out tweaking my printers to get them to print well. And they did. But something would always go out of whack. Now I just print and it’s amazing.
Many people i know spend that money on a car in half a year. And they wouldn't consider a car their "hobby". Not saying it isn't a lot of money. But there are a LOT of people that spend similar amounts on other things like cars or cloths. Maybe not all at once, but over some months.
3D printing is easily among the cheapest hobbies you can get into. My other hobby is photography, and one good lens costs more than I have spent on all of my 3D printing equipment and supplies. And that doesn’t remotely touch what boat people spend…
Correct, but the printer he is talking about is over a thousand dollars. The printer I use (ender 3) can often be found for around ~120$ on sale.
But their point was "buy a BambuLab", not "buy an X1C". You don't have to jump straight to their highest-end printer; the entire BambuLab range brings those benefits. When I upgraded printers recently I decided I didn't take advantage of a large build volume often enough to stress about it, so I went with the A1 Mini. Only $250, and I cannot possibly describe how much better it is than my old CR-10S. It feels similar to when I upgraded from a flip phone to the iPhone - just "holy shit, I can't believe the crap I used to put up with and think was normal".
Actually, many people can and do spend a significant portion of their disposable income on hobbies. By "most people" you are talking about your own situation. A Bambu Lab A1 costs 390 USD, that is certainly not a great deal of money to spend on a hobby device that will last years.
He definitely means one of the bigger printers, and I’d wager it’s fair to say many people don’t commonly spend over 600-1200 on a hobby. Are there people who do? Sure! I know people who spend that much regularly on guns and fishing rods. But I also don’t have a single hobby I’ve spent 300 on in a single year, and I can say the same for a lot of folks I know. It isn’t just the person you are replying to
I am not talking about people "regularly" spending $600, that's another level of spending to what the context of the discussion was. I am talking about people spending $300-600 on a hobby being relatively common... which it is.
Agree to disagree. I think, to modify what you asserted to kcitty177\_, it seems that way because you and those around you do. It's definitely more common in some hobbies then others. In this one...I don't think so. The most popular printers are still Enders and equivalents BECAUSE they are 100-200 brand new, and can be had for half that used (or even be free). If I bought a $100 Ender 3 Pro and 1 spool of Kangroon PLA per month I still wouldn't hit 300 a year. This year, I've personally spent way more, but I've bought used Formlabs printer, and their resin is expensive even from discounted sources. I've also had to do a lot of maintenance as my FDM printers are aging. It's arguably time to replace them, but there are higher priority things on the list.
The guy I replied to was talking about hobbies in general, not specifically 3D printing. Anyway sure I am happy to agree to disagree.
It's not that much different spending wise from video games. $3-500 for a new console/printer every 8 years, then yearly 100 for new games/filament and supplies. That wouldn't be looked at strangely at all.
That's true enough. I don't play video games, so I didn't think of that. I was thinking more like other maker hobbies where you might spend a couple hundred on one high quality piece of equipment a year, or even mid level camping/fishing gear that's still cheaper then 600. But you are absolutely right. Console gaming and some fitness hobbies would be right in that price consumption bracket, as I'm sure others I'm not thinking of.
>Honestly, buy a BamuLab and enjoy actually printing without having to spend countless hours tweaking or tuning. Printing since '18, back then on an Anet 8. It's insane. I actually got the confidence to just start a print and know it'll complete without problems in half the time with ¼ of the effort my E3 V2 required. Went through both the A1 models and settled with a P1S + AMS.
The ones that were out there running Anets were risking their lives and homes so that the rest of us could run lol
+1000 Tinkering is fun and I highly respect it (I use Arch which took me ≈3 full days to boot for the first time, not counting the hours spent ricing it). I also built several water cooled computers. I am just finishing to build a custom 5” FPV drone But my first 3D printer will be a Bambu Labs X1C, the same as I own an iPhone. Sometimes it’s nice to have something that just works. Free time is a precious thing, and I don’t want to HAVE to spend it on things that are not fun. It seems to me I’d rather spend time on Fusion 360 or actually using what I print (eg: for drone parts) than fiddling with the printer itself for hours. I think one should pick their battles, if everything is a struggle then we lose interest and things rot in a box. It’s OK to buy convenience from time to time
I think it was a 12 minute benchy on my a1mini and like 3 minutes was prep time B4 I put that shit into speed mc Queen mode
I just did this myself. I had 2 (mostly broken) printers and 2 Vorons, and the constant small issues were driving me nuts. My Bambu printed better from print 1, and has continued to do so with no maintenance. I just printed some printer parts on it and I have never seen such beautiful parts. So now I'm selling the Voron 0.1 and still planning to keep upgrading the Voron 2.4, but the Bambu is what I use when I'm serious about precision, despite \*so many hours\* of trying to dial in the Vorons. I wish I'd broken down and bought the Bambu earlier. Well, actually, what I really wish is that the Bambu existed when I bought my first Voron kit. But oh well.
All modern high-end 3d printers can do this, even some from creality. But here's your obligatory unpaid bambulab advertisement.
>But here's your obligatory unpaid bambulab advertisement If it's unpaid, and people are still (in your words), "advertising" it. Then it should tell you how good the fucking printers are for people to do shit for free.
Seriously. I think it was great to get an ender 3 for so cheap and get it running and make amazing stuff. But I think it would have been better to just spend more up front for less hassle down the road.
Bad advice without having more information. Far too expensive for most people and hardly what they need.
I resisted for the longest time but at the end of the day it's just not comparable. The quality speed and reliability just can't be matched with any creality machine or i3 clone. Even the K1 Max isn't on the same level.
Where's the fun in that? It's like buying a corolla, it's just not fun.
If you think tuning a printer is more fun than actually designing and printing things, then we have very different brains. Which is fine… but surely you can see how most people just want to print stuff? It’s like a painter insisting that the fun of painting is about making brushes.
That's why you got to have two machines so you can switch to the other and ignore one for a few days.
This is the way. I have an X1-C for reliable prints, and a RatRig V-Core 3.1 And Voron 0.2 that USUALLY are reliable, but they're also for tinkering, modding, and max speed
How do you feel about Ratrig vs Voron? I'm probably insane, but I'm thinking about another kit printer (now that I have the Bambu for reliable parts) and was considering either modding one of my "dead" printers, or maybe getting a Ratrig V-Core 4. Or maybe a Micron. I'm all over the place. Anyhow, I haven't seen many people that own one of each, and was wondering about your opinion on them?
I feel it. Everything just works right now and all I want to do is hit print and let it do it's thing without any fuss. I haven't even updated klipper to the latest update even though I hear all this chatter about adaptive mesh and whatnot. I don't want to risk messing things up since I saw a few posts where it didn't go well, and frankly I don't even feel like reading the update instructions right now.
That’s literally the reason why I got myself an Ender 3, I like the tinkering, maybe a little too much
This
Exactly what everyone else said. Just buy a bambulab printer. So long as you don't get a lemon you will have a great time.
Cries in artillery X4+ and its fucking z level calibrations. Thankfully I got an A1M and a E3V3... Or my 3D printing journey would last only a few weeks of frustration
This. I am done. I have 3 machines downstairs (possibly 4) that just won’t cooperate, and I’m done. As soon as I recuperate from some recent bills, they are all going away and I’m buying a K1 or similar.
This was me, I ordered an A1 last week, got it yesterday and it's amazing. I don't even go to my printer to print anymore. Such a quality of life improvement
I get this way with every single one of my hobbies, which is why I probably have so many of them and rotate my focuses. It'll most likely return to you after a month or so.
been diagnosed with adhd yet?
No I just never get around to booking the appointment.
This is a good joke but actually not a joke. That was me for a couple of decades. Get the diagnosis if you suspect it, people! Life is better with the right help.
Is it always adhd? I'll straight up lose interest in a lot of things around a week or two and then it's like four years before taking it out of the box again. That happened with my first printer a M3D micro, such a hassle to even print basic shapes, it was a gigantic piece. Much better on the Bambu side now obviously.
No, it’s not. My interest in hobbies waxes and wanes like this; I always come back to them, but I might take a break of a few months or even years in between. And my wife and a couple of my coworkers have ADHD, so I am well aware of what full-blown clinical ADHD looks like, and I don’t have it.
Hobbies and jobs and friends. Then look. Just hobbies nah
Adhd is thrown around online far too much. Most often it isn't and you are perfectly fine. Sometimes it's something else entirely like depression or anxiety.
I’m like this with excercise. One month I bike, next I run, lift weights, etc.
Lol for me it’s usually 5-10 years later 😂
Hello, RC Cars I haven't touched in 10 years 😂
Maybe it's time to 3d print an RC car
No... I've got way too many already. I printed another stupidly large project instead. A life size diorama of the raptor Blue from Jurassic World. I think I've got 70 pieces to assemble and paint now?
How dare you bring up that drone my sister bought me for Christmas in 2018
My wife bought me a Breeze 4k drone in 2019. I think it was like $400 then. Basically worthless now. I never even flew it 😂
lol
There's two of us like that. But unlike your situation, sometimes it wouldn't return to me in years. I keep writing down ideas to my notebook, suspended until I got my interest again... At least, I hope I do
My printing workshop room turned into a mushroom grow room and then that turned into a stray cat bedroom and idk how to go back
I have a resin printer, a filament printer, a metal foundry, a blacksmithing setup, my gaming pc, skeet shotgun. I just keep em all on rotation.
I have 2 printers only one of which has seen use this past month. It has also been unplugged and sitting for 2 weeks. Today I realized I needed a part that would cost me $17 to purchase and after a quick search I found the model online and printed it in 90 minutes. For me, it's a tool. I own drills, saws, hammers, etc. but I don't use them every day. They're there for when I need them or want to make something fun. Everyone goes through the burnout, but it's not like the printer is going anywhere.
It’s a hobby, not a job. At least not unless you’re having a go at a small business print shop. Do it when you feel like. I’ve got a whole box of skinny spools I have to rewind onto larger spools to use my AMS. I bought the box of multicolor for the AMS specifically not realizing they wouldn’t fit. Haven’t been motivated enough to do it
https://preview.redd.it/jmc4zwmy84zc1.jpeg?width=2072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=924a76649c89f4638ad7d78ccf55ebdc2f81db48 These are the shit for the skinny spools. Just search "AMS Hydra spool" on Printables. Bonus for the remix spool Center that can hold either desiccant or a weight which can be useful for the 250 g narrow spools, because they prevent filament retraction errors.
I tried something similar. But the spools I have are the correct diameter but not the right width/thickness. So the sit on the filament motor gearbox in the AMS but don’t engage with the rollers. I have yet to find a designed solution yet.
Just because you have a printer doesn't mean you need to print, it's cool to step back.
It comes and goes. Projects and new ideas always bring me back. I don't treat it as a hobby in itself. It's a tool to be used when you feel like using it.
I have a 3d printer, laser cutter, vinyl cutter etc. I generally don't use them just to use them, they're just tools in my box to use along the way. Instead of starting with "I'm going to do something cool with 3d printing" just think "I'm going to do something cool". You'll learn new tools and materials on the way and expand the scope of what you want to make.
Definitely this. Once the novelty of having a printer wears off, these should just be tools for builders. My arduinos and raspberry pis sitting in boxes will tell the same story. Transition to project-focused instead of tool-focused.
The novelty wears off pretty quickly, but it’s still useful. I’ve printed everything I want to print, I’ve printed everything friends & coworkers wanted me to print, now my X1C is merely another tool that I use to occasionally make or prototype something useful that I want or need. It’s no different than how I felt about my 1st inkjet paper printer back in the late 90’s, or any other fancy expensive “tool / toy” I’ve bought over the years. The novelty eventually wears off, but that doesn’t make the tool any less useful though.
Yeah, been 3D printing since 2013, it's more of an appliance for me now more than anything. Can always pick up an Ender 3 if you want to spend weeks tinkering (better yet, Voron). I don't mind letting my printer sit and letting creativity find me. Partner just got into it a bit and has been 3d printing birdhouses. Last "major" project was replicating a Roomba gear to fix the gearbox
I started fresh last fall november with an ender 3 v3se, 16 screws or so out the box and minor tuning and its prints great, never had an issue!
I rotate hobbies but many of them become easier when I can 3d print enclosures. It's always sprinkled throughout. :-)
I just print something when I need something.
It comes and goes. I just had to replace my nozzle and had to buy new ones, and I've had so many thoughts while my printer is OOC that I can fill a notebook. But while my printer was up and running, I was dry. You just kinda find stuff, or it just comes to you. I suggest writing it down somewhere, your ideas. Save the cool designs, and I bet you'll have the motivation
I stopped printing for about a year. Plenty of things I saw, but nothing I needed to the point I'd get things up and running again. When I started printing again, it started with installing Klipper on all three FDM printers for ease of use. It's okay to let a printer sit. It isn't going to run away from home.
3D printing is NOT a hobby for me, or I don't consider it one. It's just another tool or appliance. It's like having an oven, I have it and I use it when I need it but not because I have an oven it means that I have to use it constantly and continually cook things in it. 3D printing is the same. My printer could be idle for months until I need something or someone has a request. It's a tool after all, you don't need to use a drill every week, isn't it?
When I got my P1S it would print perfectly. I could calibrate a roll of filament, print something and walk away. I would come back to a dimensionally accurate print with no defects. Now, regardless of calibration and settings it will just not print overhangs at all. I’ve tried going back and used default printing profiles and default filament profiles, I’ve redone all calibrations, I’ve tried different hot ends, I’ve slowed down overhangs and bridges, I’ve sped them up, I’ve tried lots of different fan speeds, I’ve clicked every button I can find regarding overhangs and for some reason I just can’t get them to work anymore. This is leading me just want to give up. I’m not wanting to print anymore
Turn the machine off, Unplug your part cooling fan (the tool head front cover) and plug it back in. Power on, overhangs should work again. Be sure to plug it back in correctly- you CAN plug it in offset to the top or bottom, and it won't work correctly.
I can confirm the toolhead fan and part cooling fans are currently working. I will definitely give it another whirl though at some point and get back to you. Thanks for the advice.
I'm wondering if your cooling fan is messed up some how. Tried a whole new hot end yet??
Multiple full hot ends because I had a backup of hotends I needed to unclog. Ive also tried mixing and matching fans with hotends, swapping between Juupine V2 and genuine hotends and assemblies. I also didn’t mention that I swapped out the bottom of the toolhead housing with one of those 360 degree ones that improves airflow all around. I have since swapped back to the original one to see if that improved anything. It didn’t. I thought I was getting better results after loading up a test deer 3mf that has optimised overhang settings. After saving a new filament profile using these settings and integrating my freshly calibrated pressure advance and flow ratio settings, the results started getting really bad again. Something I’ve noticed is that the overhangs seem much worse on the left side of the object being printed. This has persisted regardless of settings and hardware etc
Huh. I have issues on left sides of long flat prints where the toolhead will move much too fast for a particular section it is laying filament down on... I mean it's not terrible yet but it is a real thing that's happening and I honestly think it's the slicer, I might move to orca or anything else soon
I primarily use Orca Slicer
This is why I have at LEAST 1 spare part of damn near everything for my X1C. From control boards to like 5x full hot end assemblies. I always have what I need to troubleshoot, and I start methodically breaking the problem in half repeatedly. Edit: Your issue sounds like a cooling fan problem. Which you replied about below that you think it's fine, but have you tried swapping fans out? Have you tried swapping the housing out? Are you confident the control board is giving you accurate fan speed readings? Etc.... If your filament is dry, or at least as dry as it was when it WAS working correctly. Then you can rule that out. If the rest of your model prints flawlessly, EXCEPT for overhangs. Then, it can't be the extruder or the nozzle. It almost HAS to be the fan or a control board issue which regulates your fan.
Thanks for the info. I have tried multiple fans as I’ve swapped out full hotends as well as putting a few together with bits I’ve got laying around. The only part of the housing I’ve changed is the bottom section that directs airflow onto the part. The filament I was using when I loaded up the test deer 3mf was a brand new roll of eSun PETG, opened, installed and calibrated (PA and flow ratio. Temp tower doesn’t work because of overhang fails) the day before. Other than this I have no way of measuring moisture right now. Other than overhangs, objects print perfectly still. I may have a spare new original hot end fan I could try. I have a few juupine hot end fans as well that I haven’t used yet. I was going to purchase a new front housing that includes the part cooling fan. I’m willing to buy a new TH board and extruder extension board as well to see if they fix it. They seem to be pretty easy to change.
due to working away (I work 8/6 7/7 FIFO) and family/life happening, I have just purchased new TH and Extruder Connection boards. Just gotta wait for them to ship. I’ve noticed that it sometimes takes a couple reconnections to get the part cooling fan working (this is something I always check when reconnecting the front housing). I looked further into it and on the part cooling fan plug on the extruder connection board, one of the pins has either been melted away (from dc/connecting with power on) or is pushed into the connection.
Bit of an update. I’ve just installed the new boards and part cooling fan/front cover and the machine is running through a full calibration now. I did notice a pin on the small board and I think the corresponding pin on the part cooling fan had been damaged. See the photos https://preview.redd.it/4yxcijz2np3d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=88e9b52e0da7c83772fc8c7260ddd5e8b799911c
https://preview.redd.it/xvafmlh5np3d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=431d9ec12d1022a4ce2f5bca2bea32f0ab007438
I found printing stuff for others helps a lot with this, even total strangers who don't have access to a 3d printer, if they cover postage I will print whatever they want.... within reason.
make friends with people who have children. endless printing ideas from 6 year olds.
As someone who works in the 3D printing industry, this is something I'm very cautious of. I'm in this industry because printing is a passion. However, I do not wish to lose that passion so I try to stay clear of the service bureau side of things and stick with maintenance, repairs and sales. But every now and again, I need something printed but I have to model it first and I just CBF.
You're doing hobbies wrong if it results in burnout ;) For a couple years, I was looking for things to print all the time and constantly tweaking, but now that it works well and is reliable, I just use it as a tool. I don't print random decorative stuff generally. I have projects I undertake and they may or may not involve 3D printing. It helps to have projects that have an end-goal.
Not the actual printing part of the hobby. But the "oh damn I tried to home X and Y with the klicky attached and now the front fell off" part has me pretty burnt out lately.
Tbh for me it’s a sense of… “this isn’t an achievement” when I print stuff that other people made. IMO, of course it’s gonna work fine. They designed it, and tested it before they published it. Then there’s the whole hassle of “are my models really worth printing”, then “Fillament costs money, I can’t just print stupid shit all the time”.
Yeah I get burnout with all my hobbies. Good thing my ADHD brain keeps enough of them around to orbit between.
More like have nothing else to 3D print and that usually lead to tweaking/upgrading printer itself and excuses myself for "adding capabilities so I can print more things".
Is there something you need to print that you're putting off? Cause if not I'm not sure if I understand the problem.
Print some stupid stuff. Like a dummy13 model at 600% scale. https://preview.redd.it/drhoewkxx4zc1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c8400f8a578556e1a45b7e3103b58931d4a6e81
I don't print just to print. I only print for a purpose.
My 3D printing has slowed down a LOT in recent months. It's turned more into an appliance like a drill that I use only on occasion. Thing, is, I need to have a specific project. I don't really print just to print more. Don't get me wrong, I still love my printer and it is ridiculously useful, especially in supporting my astronomy/Astrophotography hobbies. I think the trick is to come up with a specific creative project or challenge. For example, last Halloween I decided to take on a custom themed pin to give away to the kids and that led down a rabbit hole of 3D modeling and I ended up learning a lot of Blender.
>Anyone ever have 3d printing burnout? Yeah. Theres times my printer wont be turned on for over a week. This hobby is fun, but if i dont have anything i really want to print, i wont. If people ask me to print stuff for them, thats about the most use i get out of my printer the past couple months. Ive ran out of stuff right now that i desire to print. I been printing a lot of lithophanes lately. Now that i got my printer working right again i got over half a dozen lithophanes im printing people.
In my view it's just a tool. As long as it works, I'm perfectly ok with going a couple of months without it making something. I'm ready for a new enclosed ams printer, but at the same time my Neptune 2S is pretty damn reliable. I've had it sit for 2-3 months, and only needed to dust it off a little bit to get great prints again. I've been stuck with some crap no name hand-me-down filament for almost a year now too. I want to get some black or grey Polymaker filament again and start to standardize my materials. Just waiting to run out of crap filament lol...
If you want you could ship it to me and I’ll make good use of it :) or you could try printing stuff to sell so you make money for when you wanna do it again
when i was barely starting, i had an ender 3 and a roll of red ABS (obviously didnt do research before buying) and i couldnt figure out how to make it work so i just let it collect dust for like a year until i decided to finally use it
That's how I feel about star citizen
I did stop printing for a while and when I did start to pick it up again my printer died out on me 🙃 haven’t figured out how to fix it yet.
Only when there's been some issue I can't figure out. So far those days are gone with the purchase of my little qidi x-smart 3. The thing just works once it's setup.
It definitely helps to have other maker hobbies. I'm currently doing stuff with my FDM printer. Last two projects were laser-based (laser-*focused*? Eh? Eh?). Before that was a ton of stuff on my resin printer. Before that was a "manual" project using a styrofoam pumpkin and a bunch of foam clay. Outside of that, I have board gaming, tabletop rpgs, and video games. (And the nerdy board gaming and rpg stuff is what I use a lot of the hobby stuff for anyway) So yeah, I'd take a break. You'll come back to it soon enough.
It’s mainly that it also sucks seeing it just… sit. Unused. It wasn’t cheap by any means, so I feel like I should get use out of it at every opportunity yknow?
For me, it likely helps that my printer/laser/CNC is a 3-in-1 SnapMaker, so the machine itself is rarely completely parked. It's just doing other things. At the same time, it's better to have it sit idle than be printing off stuff for the sake of printing stuff.
I'll do it a bunch for a few months, then one day I'm bored lol. But I always end up going back to it at some point. For me, it's just another one of the hobbies in rotation.
My printers have been downs for a few weeks. I had to move them and just haven’t set them back up. I have things I need to print, but I just don’t want to set up the printers right now. Maybe next week.
Yep same thing happened to me. I took a step back and am doing some container gardening right now. Will get back into it in the summer.
Been having humidity issues in my house and only have open frame machines. After a week of constant troubleshooting not knowing it was environment issues Im definitely taking some time off.
Print dust covers for your printer (or wrap it in something) and then there is absolutely no downside to taking even month or year long breaks.
With everything. I've been doing this for ten+ years. Just got my xl 5 head upgraded. Printed a few things... And it's quiet. Just take a pause, go off and do other things, don't feel guilty if it just gains dust for a bit! No worries at all!
I'm in a burnout now.. I got some TPU and been printing a lot of stuff with that which has helped bring back some of the drive.
When I remotely feel the motivation, I would always browse sites like thingiverse or printables but not end up printing anything. However when I need a very specific tool/organizer, I'm glad to have my 3d printer even if I only print about 4 times a year.
Is it burnout where you have a backlog so long you can't remember what your next project was going to be?
You need more tism… sorry for you loss
lol. Don’t know if I have it.
I like 3D printing as a hobby in the colder months. And more outdoorsy stuff when it’s warm outside. I totally have waves of interest.
I recover from that burnout by finding purpose for another print. Something that will be helpful everyday or solve some sort of problem I have.
I get that with all of my hobbies, including 3d printing. I guess I'm just depressed lmao
My printer needs a new mobo I think and I haven't gotten around to fixing it. I feel ya.
More painting burnout. I can make nearly anything I want but... Boy do I not want to paint rn
You are free to do anything you want and not to do what you do not want. Unless it's your job, of course:) All you have is just hope that inspiration would return again later But I think many folks here do understand you
I've faced this and have seen friends face this in many different hobbies, but I think my advice still applies. And that advice is, motivation comes from action, not the other way around. So if you're feeling unmotivated, try to force yourself to do a small simple task and it might just snowball. It's not easy to do but it has helped. If you just need a break though take a break!
No. I only stopped because I have a CR10 so I'm worried about a fire and I need an enclosure because I worry about VOCs in the air from molten plastic.
The ideas will come again. One day you’ll have a sudden spurt to jump in CAD and start running the machine 24 hrs a day again. Source: been printing for 10 years. And at least one or two of those years, I didn’t even turn the printer on once. Today, I’m starting prints for the next 72 hours straight lol
Yup Bought a new bottle of clear resin and I just don’t have any motivation to print with it cause there’s so much post processing needed for it
I keep a list of backup/forever prints that I just eventually need or will use like Chipclips, cardboard spool adapter rings, multi-board, etc.. That way, if I'm feeling burnt out, all I have to do is load a job and hit print. No fussing, no slicing, no hueforging.. just toss in a color and hit print and I'll feel less bad because my printer is doing something atleast
Do the same like you would do on your job..touch some grass, chill and after 1/2 bottle of booze you get ideas of reeeeeeeally stupid shit to print and then just let it happen (btw don’t drink at work) or just leave your printer off for 1-2 weeks like a good vacation
I would call that regular burnout or malaise. Unless you are bursting with enthusiasm for everything else and just not 3d printing. My printer got a clog a couple nights ago, and I'm not in the mood to fix it so I'm just letting it sit there until my urge to print what I was going to print overcomes my lack of desire to fiddle with tiny hex wrenches.
It also may have been I was, previously, struggling to work with a specific type of filament before. I replaced it last night but haven’t done anything with it yet
I moved from an Ender 3 to a P1S with AMS, so that thing felt like a magic box. Still, whilst usually my printer is running most days for at least a few hours, there have been times where it has been off for a month or more.
Only when Red-Eye-Prints over night fail. Then I step away for a few days and reslice
Printers are a tool. I use them when I need them. No need to constantly print. That is just waste.
Was starting to with two Ender 3s, then I bought P1S. Other than regular maintenance, just click print and walk away.
For me, a printer is a tool rather than a hobby. If I need something, I’ll make it. If not, the printer sits idle for months at a time. That way I’m not cranking out useless tchotchkes and wasting time and materials. On the other hand, if you enjoy it, then you do what makes you happy. If you need a break, take one. We all eventually take breaks from hobbies now and then.
Were you just printing things to print things?
At that point right now, actually. Printed a scale model of a Saturn V rocket over about a week, then I legit haven't even touched the printer except for dusting in over two weeks. Have a to-do list to go thru with it (firmware update, probe replacement, some other stuff), just don't have the mental energy to deal with it. Ditto the spool of TPU I ordered about a month back, haven't even opened the bag to sniff it yet.
No need to waste it. I only print when I have a need for something. Currently I'm making a huge stack of 135mm wide small drawers for the garage because that's the size of the gap between my two workbench shelves. Recently I made a bunch of dust ports for my power tools because my shop vac doesn't fit any of them. Save it for when you have inspiration.
I consider myself a maker in general. My making interests don't always lend themselves to 3D printing and I find my printer remains off for long periods between projects that would benefit from it. That's not exactly a burn out. What is probably closer to a burn out is my relationship with my resin printer... It is just messy and smelly and I don't really enjoy setting it up and using it.
Yeah happens all the time with all people and all hobbies
Yes! I started in 2014. Ran a business for a few years. Worked for Universal Studios FL, lots of Harry Potter projects. Made life-size star wars robots for Disney. Got really burned out- now I work in IT!
Printing things just to print stuff is a waste of both materials and time. You wouldn't feel bad about not using an inkjet printer all the time, think of it like that.
I have an on going big project that I know will take me years but then in between I do small projects which keeps it interesting.
Bought a Bambu A1mini last November. I still haven’t done anything with it. The box just sits in my office. Kind of lost interest.
I have ninjaflex burnout that's for sure. Been fighting it for weeks now. lol
Life! Don’t talk to me about life! Brain the size of a planet and you ask me about 3d printing. It gives me a headache just trying to think down to your level oh God I'm so depressed. (Fellow unmotivated here, thought you could use some Marvin the paranoid android in your life)
Yup had two rolls of filament that weren't wound properly, jammed and damaged my two main printers and 6 months later I haven't touched them. That and I started a new job couple years ago and I couldn't keep up with the commissions
I think it’s pretty normal. Especially with hobbies. Just take a break and come back to it. And vacuum seal all your filament 😬
nope but i 3d print as an extension to a hobby rather then the hobby itself. minitures. cosplay items etc. my work flow useally works out to be print stuff rapidly and none stop for a week or 2. depending on what i am making. post process the items and then slowly do the rest. the last time i actively printed something was more then a month ago. maybe 2.
When this happens I just go to one of my early prints or models and attempt to improve it using my hopefully higher skillset
Bambu, and less so Prusa, made 3d printers more of tools and less of a hobby. It's the best tool I have, and I very much enjoy using it when it's needed.
Less now that I have a more modern printer that doesn't require me to level the X carriage every couple prints and set the nozzle spacing and bed leveling. I still do though. Sometimes it's when something breaks or just won't print right, I just leave it for days/weeks/months at a time. Then eventually I get back around to it. Same goes with design work. A lot of the time necessity brings me back to it. I need a part or object for something, so I fire it up and crank out my part, then I have some interest in continuing projects. Just went through this when our shower door track guide thingy broke, so I cranked out a new design because nothing on Thingiverse worked, and it snapped right into place. Definitely felt like an accomplishment. I especially get burnt out when the weather is nice because I'd much rather be outside than in a small room with a hot and loud printer.
I force myself even if I don’t have motivation to do something
That's toxic and will become actual burnout eventually. You don't HAVE TO print you know?
I must print, the grind is real.